Tips and help for a first time offroader.
Comments
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Wow, a tailor made one off shock. Very nice! Your right about parts being bum rapingly expensive. Where do you work if you dont mind me asking?
I didnt mean a fork literally made of gold ofcourse, you know what i meant!
Mind you, a golden fork would be quite bling 
And shit. Apparently Gold is a very soft metal. lol.
bodging stitches...thats one thing you simply dont bodge! Hate crappy doctors...when i had that incident with head, i got rushed into hospital with blood gushing out of my head and they bloody made me wait an hour and a half to get seen. Ridiculous!!!0 -
GT-Arrowhead wrote:bodging stitches...thats one thing you simply dont bodge! Hate crappy doctors...when i had that incident with head, i got rushed into hospital with blood gushing out of my head and they bloody made me wait an hour and a half to get seen. Ridiculous!!!
Actually I was told on my first aid course that they can sometimes leave you there on purpose and keep an eye on you without you knowing to make sure your condition isn't deteriorating. Head injuries do bleed a lot but there would have been signs if you were loosing too much blood and you are in the best place if you start going into shock or something. The last thing you want is to get the external injury sorted and they send you on your way only to find you have internal injuries.
When I cut my head on my dads old speaker there loads of blood but it certainly wasn't life threatening. It bloody hurt getting it super glued back together though! No idea if it was as bad as stitches mind but I can imagine not if there was no anesthetic involved :shock:
Regarding riding skill, if you're just starting out you really can't expect to be that great (sounds like you were doing pretty well though). Mud and ruts are very tricky things and are more about confidence than skill I have found. If you have the confidence to attack them you don't tense up and you naturally ride better. So as has already been said, just ride some more. Maybe consider a skills course in a bit, they are certainly better than any £100 bike parts you could get. For example, you could get better brakes for £100 but you would still be dragging them in all the wrong places whereas if you spent that money on a skills course instead, you could learn to use your brakes better and in the right places so your brakes work better and don't overheat because you are dragging them down the whole trail and it also means you have far more control, can go faster and cause less damage to the trail. A skills DVD can sometimes be a good idea as well, I would certainly recommend the Dirt School DVD if you are considering one, the guys there really know their stuff and are very good coaches in real life and on a TV screen.0 -
Thats a good point though, Internal would be a million times worse. And im assuming they dont tell patients why they are making them wait a while. The patients would shit themselves. "We are just waiting to see if you pass out or going into a state of shock, alright?
" LOL.
Superglue?!? Im guessing you mean a sort of glue that is purpose made for medical use, and not just your bog standard superglue. Haha.
I was thinking about trying to find a club that rides offroad, but because of where i live there isnt anything good to ride locally. You probably have to drive out somewhere to ride a good and proper trail. Cant do that right now. The only cycling clubs around here are all roadie clubs. I could join that to get my fitness up but i dont have a good enough bike for that either. I could convert my GT to be strictly a road bike, but that still wont be good enough to keep up with dedicated road/racing bikes and grown men riding them day in and day out.
I think i might do what you recommend and start watching some stuff on how to ride properly, should learn some tips and tricks from there. Ill give that Dirt School DVD a look.
I think confidence with my grip is the biggest issue. On the road with slicks i have all the confidence in the world, probably because im used to it. But offroad it feels alot less comfortable for me to do things like lean in and ride up slopes sideways. New tyres would help!
Thanks alot for the tips 0 -
GT-Arrowhead wrote:Superglue?!? Im guessing you mean a sort of glue that is purpose made for medical use, and not just your bog standard superglue. Haha.
There's no difference. Superglue was invented to glue cut soldiers back together. That's why it's so good at sticking your fingers to each other.
On the skills front, I'd say making your bike light is an important skill. I don't mean buying new stuff, but by sort of half-jumping on the pedals before the rough stuff so it's easier for the bike to move under you.
Also, I've found that on those tyre-ruts, lifting your front wheel up over them makes it easier, as it's the front wheel moving around that puts me off, but I can happily just let the rear wheel do it's own thing.Big guy; small air!0 -
thegiantbiker wrote:GT-Arrowhead wrote:Superglue?!? Im guessing you mean a sort of glue that is purpose made for medical use, and not just your bog standard superglue. Haha.
There's no difference. Superglue was invented to glue cut soldiers back together. That's why it's so good at sticking your fingers to each other.
On the skills front, I'd say making your bike light is an important skill. I don't mean buying new stuff, but by sort of half-jumping on the pedals before the rough stuff so it's easier for the bike to move under you.
Also, I've found that on those tyre-ruts, lifting your front wheel up over them makes it easier, as it's the front wheel moving around that puts me off, but I can happily just let the rear wheel do it's own thing.
Ohh? I didnt know that! Quite cool.
I always use that half jumping technique. And i almost always allow the bike to do its own thing under me. Thats why rigid was slowing me down so badly, it kept bouncing around like crazy as thats how i ride my bike, allowing it to just move by itself. I could have suppressed the bouncing by pushing the down but thats never a good idea off road.
Ill give that technique for the ruts a try next time i go out. Ill repeatedly go over the ruts and see if i can find the best way to do it.
Thanks alot for the tips mate. 0 -
No problem. You just have to make sure your front wheel can make it over the whole length of the rutted/bumpy patch, otherwise your front wheel will come down in the ruts and will likely buck you off.Big guy; small air!0
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So you essentially have to do a small/low wheelie over the whole thing? 0
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GT-Arrowhead wrote:So you essentially have to do a small/low wheelie over the whole thing?
What, you mean you can't? :roll:
I actually meant that you use this for small parts of/obstacles on the trail that are rougher than the rest rather than a whole trail that's just ruts...
For example, muddy puddles across the trail that have been churned up and dried; they bounce your front wheel around, but if you're carrying a little speed, you can easily pop the front wheel up and over and the rear will skip over behind without unsettling everything so much.
If I'm honest, it's hard to explain when and where to use every different little technique you develop over the years. Just get out a lot and you'll figure it out. Not immediately, but if you put the time in and try to challenge yourself then you'll notice yourself advancing the more often you get out.Big guy; small air!0 -
thegiantbiker wrote:GT-Arrowhead wrote:So you essentially have to do a small/low wheelie over the whole thing?
What, you mean you can't? :roll:
I actually meant that you use this for small parts of/obstacles on the trail that are rougher than the rest rather than a whole trail that's just ruts...
For example, muddy puddles across the trail that have been churned up and dried; they bounce your front wheel around, but if you're carrying a little speed, you can easily pop the front wheel up and over and the rear will skip over behind without unsettling everything so much.
If I'm honest, it's hard to explain when and where to use every different little technique you develop over the years. Just get out a lot and you'll figure it out. Not immediately, but if you put the time in and try to challenge yourself then you'll notice yourself advancing the more often you get out.
LOL! Ofcourse i can! Wheelies are like my strongest point been practising them for years!
I understand what you meant, obviously i didnt think you were talking about doing a whole trail full of ruts on one wheel
Thanks for the help0 -
If faced with such a trail though you can do a lot worse than just manual the lot of them!0
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thegiantbiker wrote:GT-Arrowhead wrote:Superglue?!? Im guessing you mean a sort of glue that is purpose made for medical use, and not just your bog standard superglue. Haha.
There's no difference. Superglue was invented to glue cut soldiers back together. That's why it's so good at sticking your fingers to each other.
Aye, the story I heard was that the Americans invented it for use in Vietnam (no shortage of blokes needing sticking back together during those few years).0 -
njee20 wrote:If faced with such a trail though you can do a lot worse than just manual the lot of them!
Not if (like me) you can't do manuals, lol...0 -
thegiantbiker wrote:No problem. You just have to make sure your front wheel can make it over the whole length of the rutted/bumpy patch, otherwise your front wheel will come down in the ruts and will likely buck you off.
I was doing 20mph (I'm unfit, that's all I could manage, lol) along a dry fire road this afternoon, then came across some sizeable potholes/ruts full of gloopy mud. Didn't get the front wheel up enough and went through the gloopy mud - didn't fall off, but it certainly slowed me down pretty quickly, lol.0 -
peter413 wrote:No idea if it was as bad as stitches mind but I can imagine not if there was no anesthetic involved :shock:
If you're considering trying the lip & gum stitches (sans anaesthetic) for purposes of comparison, I wouldn't recommend it. Take my word for it - it smarts a bit. :shock:0 -
GT-Arrowhead wrote:Wow, a tailor made one off shock. Very nice! Your right about parts being bum rapingly expensive. Where do you work if you dont mind me asking?
Until I got made redundant I was working in head office of a motorcycle clothing/accessory company (I don't know if you've realised, but it's a motorbike shock, not one for an MTB (it lives in the back of my Triumph).I didnt mean a fork literally made of gold ofcourse, you know what i meant!
I did, I was just taking the michael, lol. I hate anything gold though, I stripped my brake calipers last summer so I could get them anodised black, 'cos I found their gold anodising so aesthetically offensive. Mmm, lovely sexy black, so much classier than vulgar, tarty gold:
bodging stitches...thats one thing you simply dont bodge! Hate crappy doctors...
Yeah, I would've liked to give him a slap. You don't mind a small scar anywhere else, but on your face it's different.0 -
Isnt a manual just doing a wheelie without pedalling? I can only do it by accident when i find the balance point and i shit my pants cause i think im gonna go off the back!
Got made redundant? Ouch...
I thought it was a MTB suspension if im honest... :oops: I was actually thinking that it was extremely OTT to have all of that tailor made stuff and advanved adjustment stuff on a MTB, especially since you say your a beginner, but im not one to mock! For a Triumph though its totally fine. They are lovely bikes. And obivously motorbikes need finer adjustments.
Still looks sexy though!
Ive never been a fan of gold bling myself either, regardless of the colour of the bike. Black and red ano is the best
Do you have a picture of your Triumph? Would love to see it.
Did you pay alot to get them anodized? I WANT A RED ANO FRAME! 0 -
Isnt a manual just doing a wheelie without pedalling? I can only do it by accident when i find the balance point and i shoot my pants cause i think im gonna go off the back!
Yep, practice, it's a more useful skill than wheelieing, if you can already do that you're half way there!And obivously motorbikes need finer adjustments.
Why?0 -
Ill give it some practice. I only do wheelies just for pleasure, and the odd showing off I shall learn the way of the manual!
I think so because you are going alot faster, your life is at risk, and you have alot more power available so the suspension would make alot of difference to how the bike would behave and how it puts its power down...im guessing?
Maybe Kowalski can confirm or deny my quote of it needing more finer adjustment.0 -
GT-Arrowhead wrote:Isnt a manual just doing a wheelie without pedalling?
I can't do wheelies either though, lol. Not without an engine, anyway. The best I can manage is a couple of yards if I'm lucky, and I always seem to tip over to the left, lol (to be fair, I was crap at wheelies when I had a BMX as a kid, too). I'm not much better at them with an engine between my wheels either, but at least they go a bit longer (but it gets an awful lot more expensive when you get it wrong, flip it over backwards and cartwheel your bike over a hedge and into a field, lol...) I did once manage 124 on the back wheel of an old mate's R1, but that thing was cheating - it was violent, and wheelied whether you wanted it to or not, lol.Got made redundant? Ouch...
For the second time by the same company (albeit a few years apart), somewhat unluckily, lol.Still looks sexy though!
Aye, it does, but it damn well should for that price, lol.Do you have a picture of your Triumph? Would love to see it.
This is her (I've done quite a lot of modifications to her):
Did you pay alot to get them anodized? I WANT A RED ANO FRAME!
Not a lot, no. Three brake calipers, pair of handlebar risers and top yoke nut for £40 all in (including stripping the original anodising, chemical polishing and a light bead blasting on the risers for a semi satin finish)). I had them done here, I imagine they could do bike frames no problem, the vats looked big enough (I thought if/when my frame paint starts getting tatty then I might have it anodised):
http://www.customcolour.co.uk/index.htm ... tAodiF8HrQ
The outcome of anodising depends a lot on the composition of the ally though (and quality of casting on cast ally parts). If you can tell them exactly what grade of ally it is then a decent anodiser will be able to tell you whether it can be done succesfully, but if they don't know what ally it is then it's a case of suck it and see, and you'll not know how well the colour's going to take until the part comes out of the vats. One thing to bear in mind with red anodising is that it fades more quickly than other colours, and can often end up looking pink after a while.0 -
GT-Arrowhead wrote:the suspension would make alot of difference to how the bike would behave and how it puts its power down...im guessing?
Correct, young man.Maybe Kowalski can confirm or deny my quote of it needing more finer adjustment.
I've been riding motorbikes for half my life (passed my test in 1991) and know a fair bit about them, but I'm a newbie to the world of MTB, so I'm not qualified to say what's what with mountainbikes, but watching vids on youtube of fast trail riders or world cup downhill lunatics, I'd say quality suspension is gonna be a lot more important for them than it is for someone like me, pottering about on his 2007 Carrera Kraken (although I'm already hankering after a full suspension bike, if only for the improved comfort, lol). With motorcycle suspension the first thing you have to get right is your sag (static sag and dynamic sag) - if the sag's not right then the suspension's not going to work properly no matter what you do with the damping adjusters. I believe it's the same with MTB suspension in that respect- the starting point is setting your sag right, so that the suspension's working in the right part of its stroke (but I make no claims to knowing much more about MTBs than which bits to put my hands, feet and ass on, which bits are the pedals, and which are the brakes, lol).0 -
I can't do wheelies either though, lol. Not without an engine, anyway. The best I can manage is a couple of yards if I'm lucky, and I always seem to tip over to the left, lol (to be fair, I was crap at wheelies when I had a BMX as a kid, too). I'm not much better at them with an engine between my wheels either, but at least they go a bit longer (but it gets an awful lot more expensive when you get it wrong, flip it over backwards and cartwheel your bike over a hedge and into a field, lol...)
I can never imagine myself doing a wheelie on a motorbike, the cost and pain of going off the back would be unbearable! I find it a million times harder to wheelie on a BMX. The best bikes i find are oversize frames, god knows why. Wider handlebars help too. And a fat and slightly low rear tyre. I shall teach you one day!I did once manage 124 on the back wheel of an old mate's R1, but that thing was cheating - it was violent, and wheelied whether you wanted it to or not, lol.
124 :shock: Mate, you must have balls of steel. Haha, ive heard a few stories about R1s.
My brother had an Aprillia R125 GP. The one with the 2 stroke engine. That thing sounded incredible! And it looked it too. All in matt black. The one he had was falling apart, my dad refused to fix it for him because he didnt want my brother to kill himselfFor the second time by the same company (albeit a few years apart), somewhat unluckily, lol.
Unlucky? More like total bullshit! I would have gone mental!This is her (I've done quite a lot of modifications to her):
Wow. :shock: Thats proper sexy! For some reason i was expecting a classic Triumph, but this looks better than the classic ones ive seen. Id sleep with thatNot a lot, no. Three brake calipers, pair of handlebar risers and top yoke nut for £40 all in (including stripping the original anodising, chemical polishing and a light bead blasting on the risers for a semi satin finish)). I had them done here, I imagine they could do bike frames no problem, the vats looked big enough (I thought if/when my frame paint starts getting tatty then I might have it anodised):
http://www.customcolour.co.uk/index.htm ... tAodiF8HrQ
Wow, they are on the other side of the country to me. Would cost a fortune to post a frame to them, let alone strip and anodize it. That sounds really cheap for everything they do though.The outcome of anodising depends a lot on the composition of the ally though (and quality of casting on cast ally parts). If you can tell them exactly what grade of ally it is then a decent anodiser will be able to tell you whether it can be done succesfully, but if they don't know what ally it is then it's a case of suck it and see, and you'll not know how well the colour's going to take until the part comes out of the vats. One thing to bear in mind with red anodising is that it fades more quickly than other colours, and can often end up looking pink after a while.
Ive had that problem with my dustcaps, now they have a sort of pinkish tint to them. Does anodizing only work on Aluminium?0 -
If it's done well it shouldn't fade too quickly, I've got plenty of red ano bolts that are still red, but yes some parts can appear/turn pink quickly.
You can anodise titanium, but it's a much more washed out colour. You can DIY with some diet Coke and a 9v battery though.0 -
Can you get spray paint that just looks like red anodize?0
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Not really no. What are you wanting to have anodised?0
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njee20 wrote:Not really no. What are you wanting to have anodised?
If i had the chance, a load of bolts, and a frame.0 -
Painting bolts is a bad idea, as it'll chip as soon as you put a tool in the head, if you don't clog the head/threads.
Getting a frame anodised won't be cheap, certainly not something I'd focus on as a priority given your limited budget.0 -
njee20 wrote:Painting bolts is a bad idea, as it'll chip as soon as you put a tool in the head, if you don't clog the head/threads.
Getting a frame anodised won't be cheap, certainly not something I'd focus on as a priority given your limited budget.
True that.0 -
So, today i went back to the same place for day #2 and im happy to report that i have massively improved since the 1st ride! I felt much more confident now that ive got a good feel for the bike, and i extended the fork length to the maximum in an attempt to gain the extra BB clearance and that seemed to have worked, i can go over some generously sized logs now! Tyres could be better, had a loss of traction a couple of times, and i had a small moment where i locked the rear trying to go round a sharp bend.
I did push it hard today, i tried going as fast as possible over everything. I might get my hands on a bike computer and time myself through the whole trail. Its only probably about 3 minutes long...POS. LOL. I think i may know some other local trails that should be longer though, havent been there but have read about them, so i might give them a try.
In the process of pushing it, i gained alot more confidence, and i can tackle the terrain a lot better than i did before. My technique was just to go over it flat out and stop being a pussy!
I didnt try that ruts technique today, they were all softened up but not gloopy, it rained this morning and it was still rather moist when i went over it, so i didnt have any troubles with that. I did however give the rear end of my bike quite a bashing, walloped the wheel up and against a few parts of the trails like massive roots, didnt feel to comfortable doing that, and i dont think it did it any favours, but it still spins perfectly true and i havent got any problems.
I did the trail completely about 4-5 times
I took some photos of the terrain, just to give you guys a clear picture.
Blurry because i took it while i was riding.
Onboard shot...just because. LOL.
Loose leaves and dirt track
When i stray of the dirt track, it becomes just purely natural forest with a bit of overgrown plants etc, havent captured the overgrowing in this picture though.
You can cross over that stream, im going to ride straight down the middle once i finish the Chucker...
But this part is the start (on that bridge) and its just dirt tracks that go on that slope i was talking about having confidence issues about before.
Massive ruts and massive roots
My bike was dreadful on this, particularly going downhill on it. Going downhill made it feel like my bike was made of rubber! Couldnt go straight, or very fast, or very comfortably.
Any further tips and ideas are welcome (need new tyres ofcourse)0 -
That coarse gravel will always be a tough surface to ride on, you've just got to go with it, and avoid turning sharply. Look to make any changes of direction before you get onto it.
There looks to be a very obvious line through those roots to the left on the penultimate picture - speed is your friend on a things like that - in the previous photo you'll be able to skip over most of those roots if you carry a bit of speed.0 -
Yeah i did take that line through those roots as fast i could, and as for the other roots i just bolted over it, on the first time i didnt. Flying over them is alot better.
Thanks for the tips mate.0
