Bad-Sean profile

Thanks for the insight. I’ve been interested in this bike for a while. Long travel downduro bike that is dual crown approved. The perfect bike for me on paper. 

The playfulness was one of the things holding me back from ordering one but it’s great to know it’s still there. I would expect it to be seeing the massive wraps the antidote dark matter got, as the bike that has clearly “influenced” the range design. 

I’m still probably not going to get one as a few details bother me. The lack of internal cable guides, and the problematic rear mech cable routing are big ones. They’re the kind of issues that make me question what other compromises have been made in the quest for production “efficiency”? Weight is another issue. I fully expect my bikes to end up heavy but they usually start from a lighter build. There is also my preference for an air shock, mainly due to my weight. 

I’m now leaning towards a propain spindrift. The fact that they’re available with smaller wheels is just the icing on the cake for me. Although I will probably end up with whatever is replacing the canyon torque soon.

It’s called the Munda Biddi trail. I believe it is the longest continuous off road cycling trail in the world at over 1,000km. 

https://www.mundabiddi.org.au/trip-planning/maps/online-map

It’s really a bike packing or gravel route rather than a MTB trail. I’ve ridden large portions of it over the years, particularly the first third closet to Perth. The more southern two thirds of it has breathtaking scenery, by Western Australian standards. Although it doesn’t hold a candle to the backdrops you guys have in North America and Europe. 

The real fun is had in the fact that it connects to lots of the more technical trails in the regions it passes through. The Munda Biddi is the highway that gets you to them, and they are the real goal of this trip. We will be trying to get in as many as we can from about halfway to three quarters of the way down. There are guys that will pick us up from our accomodation, drop us off where we want to start the day, and pick us up at the end. 

I’m pretty bored with the Perth trails and looking for some inspiration as I’ve been given permission to use machinery to clear some trails in a forest reserve near my farm. Being able to use a quad bike or skid steer  to move some of the trees and vegetation that will sadly need to be cut down will make the process a lot faster. Trail digging will be almost all by hand.

With interstate and international travel being very restricted here, I can’t make it over to different zones in Australia or NZ. So we ended up setting the goal to attempt to ride all the technical trails that come off it over the next few years. That might be a story worth writing up. I’ll mention it to the old battle axe. 

Her trail butter recipe is coming along grandly. Are the ancillary seeds like sunflowers left whole in it or are they ground into a homogenous paste? I will get her to write it up and put it on her YouTube when it’s perfected. 

My other favourite power food is chia pudding. Made with nut or oat milk, berries, nuts and honey or palm syrup. It is the perfect mix of fats (mostly omega 3’s in chia), carbs, protein, amino acids, and all the good stuff. Super easy to make and consume, I will be making up pouches of it for our trail side lunches.

She is one and the same person. I didn’t realise I had rambled for long enough to use both nouns!

I’ve found a waterproof/padded pouch that fits in my cupboard. Given its from a now defunct local outdoors brand it must have been for something to do with hiking originally. I’m still on the fence about keeping it. I’ve ordered encase and the granite designs version. I will keep the one I like more and put the other one on my GF’s bike for this trip.

I agree, I was disappointed when I had to buy link pliers a couple of years ago. When my current chains are getting towards the end of their life, I might take a file to the links to see if I can improve the action without compromising strength/shifting.

This is an awesome piece of advice. Thanks for sharing. I tried it this morning on some of our bikes after you posted it. Works a charm with eagle, hyperglide+, and linkglide. I’m surprised I’ve not come across this method, but I’ve seldom needed to split a chain on the trail. Touch wood of course.

I’ve received my 8bit tool. I’m not sure it’s for me, given that I prefer to not use a pack. It’s brilliant but I probably should have bought bar end plug tools. I will see if I can swap the bits around enough to make it useful to carry on my dirt bike. I should also see if I can actually plug a mx tyre leak with it. If either doesn’t work, I will return it for an encase or similar.

Congratulations on getting your buckle. It really is an epic achievement. 

Another great read as always. Thanks for sharing your experience. Lots of useful info for me as I’m planning a week long mtb tour (about 50km per day) after Christmas. 

My major takeaway was trail butter. I’d not heard of it before. I would much rather eat something like that than my standard epic exertion food of jelly (gummy) snakes. I sent the link to my Mrs and she was whipping her own version up before I had finished the article. I own a spice grinder I bought in Sri Lanka that we use for making our own nut butters, so I’m looking forward to trying what she comes up with. I can also use my vacuum food sealer to create pouches, something I’ve done in the past for hiking. 

It’s also nice to know that Uswe packs are good. I’d never heard of them until recently.  I picked up the Vertical 4, and their waist pack for this trip. I’m impressed so far. Which one I go for on a particular day will depend on the weather and how frequently we will pass a river/creek. I’m generally a bareback rider but really like their harness/strap concept. It is much more comfortable than the traditional backpack with belt layouts for me so far. 

The waist pack just fits all my stuff in it. I’m only bringing my: wolftooth 8bit set, flint, space blanket, nitecore micro torch, personal locator beacon, basic first aid (water purification tablets, iodine, bandaids, tourniquet, etc), ID, phone, electrolyte tablets, spare GoPro battery (and memory card) and some food. On the bike I have a tube, inflator kit, zip ties, spokes with nipples, and some duct tape on the top tube.  I get to carry all that because my GF is insisting that she needs to bring her camera gear. 

I’m not sold on the wolftooth, as my normal riding is without pack. It would be pretty handy to reconfigure and use on my enduro motorbike. I might return it and get bar plug tools instead. If I do, I will probably carry a tiny and light leather man style tool I have.

I will probably get Hope pro 4 hubs for my next wheel builds. Front and rear for just over $200usd total. My cousins will post them to me. I’m waiting to hear back from a shop for pricing on hydra’s, but I don’t think they will be anywhere near as cheap as the Hope.

Well firstly Shimano costs nothing there. Literally 60-80% less than the cheapest North American online pricing. There are tiny stores hidden in industrial parks filled to the brim with everything shimano has ever made for no cost. A couple of months ago I picked up two sets of xt linkglide cassettes, mechs, shifters, and twelve chains (LG and 12x) for a grand total of about $200usd. Im thinking about selling the 12s chains to make my money back haha. 

A couple of years ago I got Front and rear dominions with 200mm rotors for a total of about $180usd. The day after I got the drivetrain stuff, I picked up front and rear Hope V4’s with matching rotors for $160usd total. I haven’t even gotten around to installing them yet haha.

The real bargains are a result of MTB’s being all about posing there. I get “2nd hand” but never ridden off anything higher than a kerb, parts all the time. My best are the dorado’s a couple of years ago. $500usd. The guy had a V10 fully kitted out. He “used” the forks for a couple of weeks then decided he wanted Boxxers to match his shock and traded them in. I swooped and have been in heaven ever since.

Tbh whenever I've had wheels built, I've almost always used shimano hubs. 

They're cheap. Extremely reliable. Pretty easy to work on (if you use their service manuals), easy to get parts for. Occasionally I've used a different front hub, but rear I've always used shimano. I've never had a problem using or replacing centrelock discs eitherm

I'm really hard on gear, but my current xt hubs are four years old and have worked flawlessly through too many rims to remember. The only time I've had them apart was to replace seals preemptively (twice), and only because I was waiting on new rims to arrive for them.

I would add that a swiss ball and half ball are very good and cheap additions to any gym. I use the swiss ball instead of a bench for everything except vertical rows and standing stuff. Standing stuff I do on a half ball.

Pro athletes often do their standing stuff whilst balanced on top of swiss balls. Madness to me. The half ball is tough enough.

It really works wonders for your fast twitch balance. My riding has definitely benefited from using the balls. My main gym goal (aside from weight loss) is to improve my conditioning for moto enduro riding. I ride with former mx racer bros and can keep up with them for the first half of the days but start to lag and fatigue later in our rides. 

My trainer friend also said if I want to benefit my riding, I should use a broomstick cut down to bar width and hold it when doing stuff like squats, box jumps, side skips and general body weight stuff. I hate that stuff so I should probably do more of it.

Posted by: craw

Go try them. They all fit differently. I tried the Smith, TLD, IXS, Fox and Leatt. The IXS was perfect for me, the Fox second.

I would but there simply isn't much stock in larger sizes in my city. I haven't found a single full face remotely large enough at any of the lbs in my city. The proframe being the exception. I will just have a chat with the adult dh crew next time I visit my lbs.

Wish and Ali maxxis are legit. They source them from maxxis se asia. Btw tyres and shimano stuff cost nothing in se asia for obvious reasons....

Regarding the jerseys, I wish the counterfeit vendors would sort themselves out and make them in western sizes. I find asian sizing so unsuitable at 6'5". They have some comically laid out jerseys covered in the most random logos that I would use for the sheer humour.

Do any of you guys have an enduro full face that goes up to 65cm or 25.6 inches? The fox proframe is just a touch too small for me. I know the TLD D3 comes in my size but want something a bit more breezy than a DH helmet. 

I currently run my MX helmet for rowdy stuff but it's just too hot for the pedaling in summer. I think a DH helmet is probably overkill for me too.

I'm looking for a new open face lid. My head is a true 65cm and my LBS has Giro in my size but I was wondering what other lids you guys with larger heads have had success with?

Posted by: velocipedestrian

He said it was from the same factory, and the North Face guys just had someone on site doing QC while their order was made. When he left the factory kept sewing...

The fabrics seemed legit, but the seams were a bit shit.

Haha that's the classic fake sellers story. My Dad was suckered into buying me a jacket by them with the same story. 

Living in a warm and very dry part of the world it still served its purpose for a year until I took it on a fishing trip up north of the state. The first sign of rain and whatever they had sprayed on it washed away. Our battery packed it in so that was a nice wet 4 hours drifting until the other tender found us. At least it wasn't cold.

The moment I got home, I went and bought a proper warm weather breathable jacket. The moral of the story is, cheap chinese stuff only if it isn't critical. 

I hope the op doesn't need the cassette soon. Multiple things I ordered off aliexpress end of April still haven't arrived.