It arrived :D ... + pics from 1st ride :)

The Northern Monkey

well here she is



already scratched it tho only tiny on the top tube but its kinda annoying

taken it out for a ride n everything seem really nice, love the forks, the bike is super light and just about the right size, possibly half an inch too big, but i'd rather that than straining my back on the smaller size

now i gotta wait to nick my dads car so i can actually go somewhere decent lol

Salsa

Very nice looking bike, should serve you well
I've set one of those bikes up before, they have good kit & a nice feel to them. At least with the black frame any scratches are easy to touch up.

You think it's super light though, maybe it is compared to what your used too but my XC bike is about 10lbs lighter so you have quite a few upgrades to go before you get into the super light category.

supersonic

God, that looks nice!

Anonymous

the good thing about scratching the frame alreay is that now you can just get out and ride it without worrying about it any more, mtbs are definately supposed to be scratched, or else you are not riding right!!

(i only say this as my willow is absolutely covered in scratches!!!)

supersonic

My Zaskar is like Cameron Diaz - looks great, but up close lots of zits.

beski

Very nice 8) - you'll have loads of scratches after a few rides - enjoy it!
Whats that bike in the background?

Team515

Nice bike

The Northern Monkey

lol, its light for me

aye i'm not that arsed about the scratch, i mean if it doesn't get scratched then i cant be using it right!!

bike in the background is my GT Chucker 2.0. don't ride it that much as the frame is tiny 14" i think and i really hate the geometry.....had been handed on to my lil bro for the time being!!

once again annoyed tho, as one of the allen key nuts on the stem has been chewed up noticed a little chewing as i wanted to move my bars round a bit and managed to chew it up more in the process its on tight for now but i'ma go my LBS on saturday to try n get a spare

ohhh and where do i go 1st....
1) north face trail at grizedale
2) delamere forest

I cant decide but i'm off on sunday no matter what!!!


oh and i think i might just add....the Halfords Bike team in Blackpool have done an excellent job with putting the bike together and their customer service was brilliant...highly recommended if you need to go halfords. Got chatting to the guy that actually built up my bike and MTB's are his hobby, so it was nice to know it was built by someone that enjoys bikes at least!

Anonymous

so he did a good job except for chewing up the bolt and scratching the frame!!

have fun this weekend and let us know how the bike behaves.

The Northern Monkey

nah i scratched the frame and prolly didnt help matters with the bolt...its was a very soft and crap metal neways...might try and find some stronger ones??

aye i'll report back on sunday/monday night....its raining sunday in both places so it could be fun

Anonymous

well, bike looks good, and good luck in the wet, rather you than me!!

The Northern Monkey

lol cheers definitely have to go find some waterproof trousers tomorrow, dont want to drown :shock:

Anonymous

is that a bit of toast at the bottom of the picture?

The Northern Monkey

nope, tis my duffs.....does look like a loaf of bread tho!


anyways.....me n my "lil" brother just got back from the north face trail.....and it was FU**ING BRILLIANT!!!

the first climb killed us a bit but then the adrenaline kicked in n we really got into it! was nothing like what i had anticipated, waaaay more rocks lol!!

Twas spitting now n then n there were plenty of puddles....some of the rocks were incredibly greasy n we slipped all over the place!

Got round in about 2hr20min, which we were pretty pleased with seeing as though we havent done any serous exercise for a few years and the track being so slippy i managed to fall off right at the end on one of the plank walkways...was very slippy and cambered and i had jelly legs by that point! (i thought there was mesh over the wooden bits for safety??!!)

so having got back and cleaned the bikes, i've decided i need the following things...
1) possibly some different tyres...found the going tough on the greasy stuff and they didnt seem to offer much grip at times.
2) a camelback...we took water in waterbottles, and top up in a back pack, but it ran out about 2/3rds the way round.
3) a bash ring....cought my leg a few times on the top cog and never used it.
4) possibly some new gloves...got a nice juicy blister on my hand!!
5) a new allen key set....look what happened to my MBUK one that was in my saddle bag..(i'm not joking either, i didnt take it out at all and was fine when i put it in!)*see pics*

either way.....were goin back next sunday

Few pics after the ride
ME

BRO

BIKES

BIKES

RUBBISH MBUK ALLEN KEY SET

Anonymous

bigbenj_08 wrote:

nope, tis my duffs.....does look like a loaf of bread tho!

no no no.
at the very bottom of the picture, near the left side, by the front wheel, on the carpet/mat.

GibboGT

yeehaamcgee wrote:

bigbenj_08 wrote:

nope, tis my duffs.....does look like a loaf of bread tho!

no no no.
at the very bottom of the picture, near the left side, by the front wheel, on the carpet/mat.

looks like someones dropped a hot iron on a doormat?

djkmtb

It's the shadow of the front wheel. Isn't the bike on a stand? Maybe not.

tjm

supersonic wrote:

My Zaskar is like Cameron Diaz - looks great, but up close lots of zits.

You have been up close with Cameron Diaz? lucky, lucky you.....

The Northern Monkey

tis just a mat lol!

Megatron-UK

Looks like a perfectly well toasted slice of wholemeal to me :-)

MrKawamura

That's definitely a peice of toast, butter side down of course.