cannock or general trail riding hardtail teqnique???

EH_Rob

stanny_uk wrote:

thanks for all your input.. i upgraded to reba dual air forks a while back so have that area covered.. after reading peoples views i'm gonna stave off temptation and stick with the hard tail and learn to ride it and find this technique thing you all talk of lol.. what about a chase based school,, would a school be benifitial to me do you think??? anyone done it??

Experiment with the settings on these forks - bags of adjustability, really makes a difference if you find the best settings to suit your style. There's a thread in the FAQs about it.

blablablacksheep

Based on these bikeradar videos they posting you need to buy a 29er HT then you can easly beat any 26" FS

The Rookie

I'm not that fit, yet I don't seem, to have any trouble embarrasing owners of much more expensive FS's on my £400 HT on the uphills at Cannock.

Simon

.blitz

The Beginner wrote:

I'm not that fit, yet I don't seem, to have any trouble embarrasing owners of much more expensive FS's on my £400 HT on the uphills at Cannock.

Oh hai!

Thewaylander

bails87 wrote:

The OP didn't mention fireroads....

Some of the ones at Cannock are fine, some are extremely steep, with gullies where landrover wheels have torn then up, which are full of fist size rocks/pebbles and dust or mud depending on the time of year.

I haven't spotted a steep one in the few rides i've been there?

bails87

Thewaylander wrote:

bails87 wrote:

The OP didn't mention fireroads....

Some of the ones at Cannock are fine, some are extremely steep, with gullies where landrover wheels have torn then up, which are full of fist size rocks/pebbles and dust or mud depending on the time of year.

I haven't spotted a steep one in the few rides i've been there?

Did you go 'off piste'? You wouldn't ride the ones I was talking about if you just did FTD and the Monkey.

Though there are obviously steep bits there. After you cross the railway and road for the first time, then do the first set of switchbacks there is a short sharp climb up a loose bit of fireroad width trail. It's covered in really fine deep dust?

Also, if you look off to the side of the bit of fireroad after you've climbed the switchbacks before the upper cliff section there's a very steep, very rutted bit of fireroad. Stuff obviously can get up there because there are tyre tracks, but I've no idea how!

prawny

I managed to find a hella steep bit of churned up fire road not far off the dog, my garmin clocked it at 30+% I thought I was going to have to get off and walk, no fun. There are probablys 100+ miles of fire roads over the chase, and they differ a lot. Years ago I refused to ride down one clipped in because it was surfaced with smooth fist size stones right the way across for about half a mile. Horrible.

IBISMojoHDamon

This may help you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVEh9Tby54g

Ryan Jones

bails87 wrote:

Thewaylander wrote:

bails87 wrote:

The OP didn't mention fireroads....

Some of the ones at Cannock are fine, some are extremely steep, with gullies where landrover wheels have torn then up, which are full of fist size rocks/pebbles and dust or mud depending on the time of year.

I haven't spotted a steep one in the few rides i've been there?

Did you go 'off piste'? You wouldn't ride the ones I was talking about if you just did FTD and the Monkey.

Though there are obviously steep bits there. After you cross the railway and road for the first time, then do the first set of switchbacks there is a short sharp climb up a loose bit of fireroad width trail. It's covered in really fine deep dust?

Also, if you look off to the side of the bit of fireroad after you've climbed the switchbacks before the upper cliff section there's a very steep, very rutted bit of fireroad. Stuff obviously can get up there because there are tyre tracks, but I've no idea how!

Or maybe they've all just ridden down it ?

bails87

:oops: Hadn't thought of that!

toasty

My lap times on my Meta are within about 1 minute of lap times on my Scandal 29er around FTD, if you just cruise along the easier bits, then try your hardest down the really rough stuff, they're going to be faster. Paste them on the stuff your bike does better.

Were it not for the Tackeroo return bit on the end the Scandal would be miles faster. The Scandal can do more laps on the trot without killing me, is the main difference

spankone

my top tips for any riding HT /FS

1) chin up look forward
2) pick your line
3) shift your weight and work the bike
4) learn the attach postion
5) grow some balls.

I've seen cycle cross bikes at cannock and they have no suspension or silly bars / brakes, you'll soon be zipping along don't worry and enjoy it

adhallingno1

Never had a problem riding my hardtail on Cannock Chase, personally i think its more fun and teaches you to get out the saddle a lot more, work your bike and the best suspension you have your arms and legs!

Couple of tips for riding a HT compared to a full susser would be to drop you saddle on the descends as you need to use your legs to soak up the bumps and act like suspension! Try to be as smooth as possible with no jerky braking, body moments and pick smoother areas for braking point!

A bike will only get you so far the rest is what's on the pedals!!

Video of Cannock on a hardtail with all the black sections etc.

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/216717/

Cheers Adam @ http://www.thebikeschool.net

NJG01

I ride a HT but i dont ride with other people, and I'm a beginner (well, been riding for about a year) so this whole post is probably BS but ill say it anyway, you never know, it may not be or I may get some advice.

Ive found that picking a line when the trail points down and weighting off the front and just let the forks and wheel lift up and over the rough and leave the back wheel and indeed the majority of the frame pick its own way down the rough - within the limits of my legs but I just try not to touch the frame at all except for the pedals and the bars obviously. It tends to just leave the back to float up/down and to the sides within my legs... Does lead to a few bruises on the inside of the legs if the frame gets kicked hard sideways but only if I havent ridden for a while - Try to limit how much the frame can be kicked however with your feet as this will help you maintain rear wheel traction such that at a nice point (ie smoothest bit of the section as possible) you can brake and keep control of direction rather than braking and ending up with a rear wheel, and possibly front wheel skid.

*EDIT* Forgot quite a crucial bit, keep the weight low and bend your arms and legs to absorb the bumps from the rear wheel.

I have only once, that I can recall, ridden a rough bit with a FS rider (twas a Scott of some variety with Fox forks) nearby and I was heading down in front and he was no closer at the bottom than he had been at the top, admittedly he and I were both looking for an orienteering control on the descent so neither of us were flying but not hanging around. And he may have hung back for safety so he didn't hit me if I bailed or w/e but I doubt that.

I ride a Cannondale SL3 from 2010 with stock kit except the pedals which are pretty darn good given how little I had to pay - Nice, cheap but grippy pair of studded flats that happened to be alongside the v8's at half price the price of the v8s in my LBS and the shop owner recommended them over the v8s and I wear an old pair of trainers with the grip worn flat so the spikes grip the rubber sole as much as possible).

** Post cannot be guaranteed 100% BS free. Excluding the last paragraph. That isn't BS. **