Cannock Final Section Reopening!

prawny

I think the evo is slacker than the c456 by a degree or two. On a thread on singletrack brant was saying how you make evo geometry with a c456 using a slackset and an inline seat post.

I'm not sure now, might get a rock rider and be done with it!!

angry_bird

I reckon an Evo with say 140-150mm travel revs or sektors built with a set of AM wheels as opposed to lightweight XC ones wouldn't be too bad around Cannock and could cope with Stile Cop nicely.

I built the SS for the sole purpose of playing around DH on, it weighs well over 14kg, I believe the frame is supposed to be a bit heavier than the standard 456 (and the evo for that) it has stupidly strong and heavy wheels, 3kg forks, and heavy heavy tyres, along with the gearing it's not suited to XC really. I do put up with it at times and drag it round just for the fun on the descents or if I'm at the chase for some DH and fancy doing a bit of XC too I don't like taking both bikes with me. Normally though I'd take the XC bike round Cannock. This might also be an issue, the real comparisson I draw when riding around Cannock is between the 456 to my Orange, because they're the bikes I spend the most time on and they're poles apart. The Orange weighs 10.something kg, is very steep, very responsive etc, climbs nicely and has to be ridden completely differently.

Guess what I'm saying is don't let me moaning about my 456 put you off getting one, they do make very good allrounders. It just so happens mine is a stupid bike. (unless you intend on building it big and heavy, in which case it will be limited).


FWIW I was just in a position whereby I had the money to spend on a new bike, wanted to get more DH orientated and didn't need a bike for doing everything on. I like riding hardtails and felt like getting a bike I'd keep for 2-3 years while I didn't have much time what with uni that wouldn't take masses of maintenance with a few parts that I could keep and move on to the next bike potentially.

prawny

Cheers guys, I'm cash and space limited so I've only got enough of both for one MTB so I think I not too heavy 456 would probably be best, and carbon one would be better but I'd have to build it over time then.

I'll see how much money I've got when my drums are gone.

adrenalinemunki

I've done it a few times now... a decent last section I reckon, especially if you go over the black obstacles.

Totally agree the rollers themselves are not particularly nice, the armour plating has made them pretty bone shattering on a HT.

So yeah, rollers bad, but jumps and drops a nice addition to conclude the dog

(now we just need them to reopen the centre section of the monkey before you get to upper cliff... I hate going down one (precarious) fire road only to go straight up another rather that going through a flatish section of singletrack)

peter_booker2003

adrenalinemunki wrote:

(now we just need them to reopen the centre section of the monkey before you get to upper cliff... I hate going down one (precarious) fire road only to go straight up another rather that going through a flatish section of singletrack)

As you get to the diversion you can go towards 11 o clock rather than going down the diversion (9 O clock)) and it brings you out halfway along the fireroad climb. Quite a steep downhill but great fun!

Woody80

I've been back this evening and I'm really not sure I'm convinced by the new rollers. The first turn onto them seems to fire you out to the right I'd you're not careful and in danger of stacking it going into the rollers. Maybe I'm just not paying enough attention at the end of a ride but really not sure it's better...

prawny

Got to ride it last night for the first time.

It's a nice end to the ride. The rollers arent as much fun as they were, a bit harsh and not as fast but the bit's before are better, nearly took a dive on the last rock lip, back wheel kicked up and I landed front wheel first, luckily we'd just caught some slower riders so I wasn't going that fast otherwise I think i would have landed on my face!.

The berms to finish are good, they could do with reshaping the ones after weirwolf to be more like that.

.blitz

Have been along a couple of times since Sunday I think the steps and resurfacing is good but I'm not sure about what's left of the rollers. My first reaction is that they are very tame compared to the sensational feature they were back in April 2010. Shame how they've been filled in, then churned up, and now this

Nice touch btw leaving the rut on the outside of the left-hander about halfway down I always run wide there it would've been nice to have a log to scrape off

prawny

Is that the bit where you can see all the front wheel washouts over the edge of the trail?

.blitz

yes mate one or two of them might be mine :oops:

angry_bird

Just been round tonight and know the bit you're talking about, I got very close to the edge there too . Got to say if felt much nicer in the dry, obviously. Still don't like the rollers though.

prawny

As it was my first time down since it reopened and only probably my 2nd or 3rd time down the last section ever I was taking it easy and still nearly went down there. I suppose it's quite a nice feature actually, if they'd put a berm there it would be another flat out (at my speed) corner, gives you something to think about.

It's cornering I like most about MTBing to be honest, spending most of my time on the road, there aren't that many corners you can get enough speed up to make them much fun. Gonna have to get a better front tyre though, Conti explorers are poo.

angry_bird

As a feature it's poo, it's a feature that doesn't really fit in with the rest of the trail, the rocks just seem really out of place. If its a naturally rocky area then by all means use them, but Cannock isn't and for me they just feel wrong, the odd rock here and there is alright but 25m of them just seems stupid to me. If they really wanted to change the ending why not put a few tabletops in at most to give people a treat before the end.

prawny

I was talking about the corner that it's easy to drop off the end of.

The rollers don't really float my boat. Neither does stegosaurus to be honest. But hey, it's shed loads better than the riding I had growing up in Norton in the early-mid 90's. Thank god for the Marti(y)ns and the street trails boom.

angry_bird

Ahh sorry, brain wasn't functioning massively well this morning.

Same feeling about Stegosaurus, I've never quite understood why them rocks are there really. Can understand the boards because there's that little stream to get over and it's quite wet down there, and the rocks down onto the boards, just on the corner make sense. Other than that I don't quite get why there's those rocks all the way into it, don't seem to add anything to the trail really.

Also after all my complaining I would like to make it clear I'm not having a go at the trail builders, well I am moaning a bit, but I do appreciate all the work that goes into them and they're good trails on the whole. Little bits just bemuse me

.blitz

Angry Bird wrote:

Little bits just bemuse me

+ several million

Had a few more attempts at the rollers over the weekend and decided the best way to tackle them is to take a firm grip on the bars aim for the far end and just pin it

prawny

Yeah I had another blatt, this morning. The faster I hit the rollers the less it hurt, still not that much fun. Alright though, I aint complaining, not many people who can ride a trail centre before work on a monday Although, it might influence my next choice of bike!

prawny

Right, new bike bought and I've done the last section a few times now, I love it. Yes the rollers were better before and to be honest the trail would be no worse without them but it's a really good bit of trail now, drains really well too.

Hoping it doesn't rain for a few days now, so I can get another few fast laps in before this week to set my shocks up

That last rock kicker is still twisting my melon though. Going to have a few runs at that in the morning I think.

Roostoids

Any chance of a video, or a few pics from you local fellas?

I ride there sporadically as my girlfriends family live nearby, but i've never seen that last section open.

prawny

First post has a pretty good video. I think there's a couple more on YouTube too.

Edit: ignore me wrong thread, it's on the chase trails forum, google it there's a thread a few pages long on there.

phz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YYR-keA ... tu.be&hd=1

slainte rob

Roostoids

Wahey thx mate. Looks ok. Alot slower than the fire road though and not that much harder. Armoured rollers look like more of a speed sapper than a fast feature too.

Makes me feel a bit 'meeeh'.

Cool tune tho

prawny

Roostoids wrote:

Wahey thx mate. Looks ok. Alot slower than the fire road though and not that much harder. Armoured rollers look like more of a speed sapper than a fast feature too.

Makes me feel a bit 'meeeh'.

Cool tune tho

It's pretty good, not much harder than the fire road and nowhere near as fast but it's a lot more fun, couple of drops and a couple of jumps, flows nicely too, rollers aren't as good as they were, but on the whole it's good. It's one of my favourite sections now, I keep trying to clear the biggest drop now, front wheel is clear now, not got the bottle to get the back wheel over yet.

Woody80

prawny wrote:

Roostoids wrote:

Wahey thx mate. Looks ok. Alot slower than the fire road though and not that much harder. Armoured rollers look like more of a speed sapper than a fast feature too.

Makes me feel a bit 'meeeh'.

Cool tune tho

It's pretty good, not much harder than the fire road and nowhere near as fast but it's a lot more fun, couple of drops and a couple of jumps, flows nicely too, rollers aren't as good as they were, but on the whole it's good. It's one of my favourite sections now, I keep trying to clear the biggest drop now, front wheel is clear now, not got the bottle to get the back wheel over yet.

If the front wheel is over surely the rear is as well? Which drop are you struggling with?

prawny

Third one? The biggest one, rocky steps if you take the left hand side, bit of a drop on the right, little stump in the middle. I'm dropping the top part fine, just trying to clear the whole shebang, probably didn't word it correctly. It's at 1.13 in the video, the one they're talking about in the post on 13th of May here http://chasetrails.blogspot.co.uk/2012_ ... chive.html

I'm not really struggling as such, it's probably easily do-able, I've just not been that comfortable with drops to flat in the past and I've been more of a roadie for a long time, just getting back into mtbing. It's taking me a bit to get my bottle up to hit it fast enough.

.blitz

Have started to enjoy it a lot now. Must admit I skip that last rock jump I have to get lined up for the rollers

Was very good on Friday all we need now is for someone to hit that tree stump on Lower Cliff hard enough to dislodge it and send it down the hillside

bamba

Just got back from the chase,first time since reopening of the last bit of tacksblast,was pleasantly surprised with the rollers at the end,was expecting bit of dissapointment with all the chat and when i watched the videos i failed to notice the rollers the first time.
Job well done was able to ride them at full pelt with no drama (on a fs)

Clank

bamba wrote:

Just got back from the chase,first time since reopening of the last bit of tacksblast,was pleasantly surprised with the rollers at the end,was expecting bit of dissapointment with all the chat and when i watched the videos i failed to notice the rollers the first time.
Job well done was able to ride them at full pelt with no drama (on a fs)

That whole final section after Hugh's Bridge has been nicely done. The drop-offs have been stoned, and there's a couple of lovely slabby rock gardens - it rolls really well. And yeah, the rollers are pretty quick now too. Nice to see the berms that followed have been repaired too.

The Werewolf Bypass is now also open, and that too is quite good. It's windy and narrow through the trees with a short boardwalk bridge - very pleasant and it doesn't spoil the area. Rejoins halfway up the bowl from the bottom of the Drops on the left hander.

bails87

The WW bypass is a great idea, stops the drop being clogged up. I'm sure people can/will argue about whether a black grading is appropriate, but it looks scarier than it is, so people pootle up to it and then stop at the top for a panic.

As for the last section. I like everything except the rollers. Maybe I need a bit more practice on them but the 'corrugated' feel of them seems to suck speed out of the bike. The rest of it is very good though, and from a longevity point of view the rocks on the rollers are an improvement so I can see why they've done it.

angry_bird

Was up there yesterday and had a look down the bypass, seems like it should do the job, yes the black grading of the werewolf is a joke but it's to stop people trying it who will just clog it up and makes it clear that it's one of the trickier features, seems sensible.

Really like what they've done with those few drops now at the start of the final section though. Spent a fair time playing around on it, still not fond of them rollers though, although I do concede it's probably for the best.

Quick viddy with some bits from yesterday