Brendog and Brakes

So, following on from Storm Emma (or Maureen if you’re a TFITer) the snow has finally started to melt and there might just be a “wiff of spring” in the air today.

And in 2018 – spring for me means one thing – we have officially reached “bike fiddling” time!

For me, this year’s fiddle is a good one too – Ive been procrastinating (some would say obsessing…) about brakes since we came back from Les Arcs in the summer after yet another end-of-trip-melty-brake experience.

Everything on the Scout was awesome – except once again my brakes. So for 2018, we’re going hardcore, we’re going full on,  we’re going “rip your face off and eat a tree when you even LOOK at the brake levers”. All of that good stuff.

Yep, I’ve just ordered a fresh set of (red… it matters) Hope Tech 3 V4 brakes from the lovely guys down at MB Cyclery in Haslemere. The ever helpful Matt and Tom down there have seen me right and a fresh set of brakes and floating rotors will be winging there way to Surrey shortly.

I’m excited, I’m a bit scared, I can almost hear Bob M’s sigh of relief at my decision and I’m definitely quite a few £ lighter than I was this morning, HOWEVER, this is a long overdue upgrade.

And speaking of MB Cyclery, the guys down there are undergoing a bit of an upgrade themselves with a massive increase in the size of the workshop area. Not only does it look rather cool and have a very fetching “you just need to lean on it and drink an expresso” counter but they also have a certain Brendan Fairclough’s ex-Rampage rig on show.

Now that is a bit of kit thats seen some action. Nice…

Deathgrip

Brendan Fairclough, Brandon Semenuk, Josh Bryceland, Sam Hill, Andreau Lacondeguy, Sam Reynolds, Ryan Howard, Nico Vink, Andrew Neethling, Dan Atherton, Kyle Jameson, Olly Wilkins.

Yeah, that’s kind of a role call of the “somewhat super-talented” and “substantially fearless” right there.

So Mr Fairclough’s long gestating MTB monster of a film “Deathgrip” is out on various channels today. I’ve just pressed the hot and sweaty “buy” button on iTunes and will be enjoying this later tonight but in the meantime, check out the trailer if you are in any doubt at the size of these guys balls.

 

The 7 Biggest MTB Jumps of all time

So Leigh B sent me a cracker of a post on mbr.co.uk today – namely the Seven Most Insane Jumps in MTB History. I think this is highly appropriate given the impending Swinley Forest jumps course on Saturday I’ve managed to wangle my way onto due to a last minute space availability (thanks to Mr B!).

I’m hoping the session at Swinley through Mountain Bike Tuition / Purple Bike Shed with coach Tom Dowie will be decidedly more ‘normal’ than the videos in the above post (they promise it will be… phew) and is very much needed in a “Morzine 2016 is getting ever close” kind of way.

I’ll write a follow up after the session. In the meantime can I recommend you grab a coffee, settle down and enjoy some of the most astounding things I have ever seen on a MTB.

I mean – the height of the drop off on the first video… and as for the size of Cam Zink’s balls… But my absolute favourite is Vink Zico and Brendan Fairclough – just Oh… My… God

Hydons… Fairclough… Wilkins

As Mark T pointed out quite rightly – here we have Olly Wilkins and Brendan Fairclough doing “Back of the Bench” at Hydons – and doing it with some style (and I’m not just talking about the Troy Lee kit)

They do make this look easy…

I’ve also got to post this completely mad bike review James G sent through – the Pole Evolink long travel 29er with what Bike Radar say has the longest wheelbase of any production MTB at the moment. Is it a looker or just the “freaky love child” of some whacked out bike designer? You decide, but here is a review by Seb Stott from Bike Radar to help you make up your mind.

So Steve WAS lost

I thought it was more than a couple of “double back on yourself” moments!

Yes, apparently during last night’s TFIT, Steve took us via Swindon – or at least according to Brendan Fairclough et al he did. Top find by Steve F on PinkBike

So this is the “new downhill” that we had a go at last night. Obviously we tackled it exactly the same as Tom Grundy‘s excellent video shows. I think this sort of sums up why you go riding does it not?

And we did it in the dark!

And we were at least 150% more crap