KMC X9 Chains

OK, so this one's not too exciting, but hopefully useful...

This is a long term review proper, just to let you know my chain of choice. It's a kind of vital component! There's basically 3 main makes available, Shimano, SRAM & KMC. As far as I know, KMC make the Shimano chains, which is curious, because in my experience, Shimano are excellent at almost everything, with the possible exception of their chains. KMC however, make some absolute bullet proof offerings under their own name. The X9 series (if you ignore the drilled out lightweight ones)are all the same apart from the colour. They do a grey, a silver/grey & a silver, for slightly different prices. You can pick them up for a huge amount less than the equivalent Shimano or SRAM chains and although it's not easy to judge, they seem to me to outlast the other makes. I've never managed to break one and they seem to wear better.


That's it really, just 4 years worth of use & they've never let me down. There's no sponsorship involved (although I'd be fine if they're interested!), just an honest account of a few years of use.

New Course - Friday afternoon air...

It seems there are a fair few riders who can tackle pretty much any trail they find themselves on, but have never got comfortable with the wheels off the ground.

So if you're one of them and fancy learning to get air safely, knowing you can stay in control & get the landing right, sign up for a course.

We've had great success teaching jumps on the regular courses, so thought it would be good to offer it to people who don't necessarily need to learn other skills.

Next one's on the 10th Sept, but as usual if you have a group together already you can contact us for a time that suits.

See the prices & dates page to book, or contact us to pay by bank transfer or cheque. Feel free to phone for a chat if you have any questions.

Satmap Active10 - update

Got one of these through the post end of April by Special Delivery from the UK distributors. They were after feedback about the unit from a mountain biker's point of view. There'll be a full review after it goes back at the end of June, but here's a few comments:

Battery power seems to be easily good for a day & a bit - so far hasn't lasted 2 whole days with high capacity alkalines. If I owned the unit I'd go for the rechargeable battery (you can always keep AA's as backup).

As with any device with a backlit LCD screen, the brighter the default setting the shorter the battery life. Also the longer the screen stays on before sleep the more battery drain ...obvious to some, not so obvious to others. So far I've left the screen on a mid setting & about 30 seconds until the screen switches off. In bright sunlight the map is quite hard to read, but the waypoint pointer is much easier. As far as I can gather this is the same with all brands.

One thing I need to have a play with is the speed setting at which the compass switches modes. Sometimes at slow speeds, like on a steeper climb, the map flips 180 degrees or the waypoint goes a bit random. This can be a bit of a pain sometimes & send you the wrong way, but not for long. Still annoying though if you end up having to double back & it's uphill... I have a feeling that altering the afore-mentioned mode change speed might sort this.

To me the unit is more useful as a get you home device if I want to explore randomly then switch the unit on to plot a route back. The route maker is easy to use & by all accounts the Satmap is the only unit with a decent one.
For a pre-planned route I prefer to use a traditional map. If you can already read maps then why get rusty? Plus there's no batteries to run out & nothing to malfunction (although the Satmap10 is a reliable unit).

That's all for now, more later.

Satmap Active10

Just received one of these through the post by Special Delivery this morning from the UK distributors. They were after feedback about the unit from a mountain biker's point of view. I've only had a quick look so far as I'm waiting for a map-card to show up. First impressions in no particular order:

Like

• Replaceable screen covers
• Easy to plot routes on the unit
• ...which allows it to be used without a PC
• Personally I like the button control as opposed to touch screen
• OS mapping
• Really solid bike mount
• Decent carry case
• Appears to have good battery life, will report more fully later on

Dislike

• so far, not much except the buttons need a firm press

Singletrack World » Dig For a Pig

Singletrack World » Dig For a Pig

Click the link for info on winning a Ragley Blue Pig in exchange for some trail maintenance with SingletrAction

 Find out more about SingletrAction and other upcoming dig days on their site.

English coast to coast trip

Just a quick post to let you know about the latest trip on offer. The English off-road c2c is a one of those 'must do' trips for mountain bikers, but there are a good few routes you could use. You won't find this exact route in the guide-books; the trails have been carefully chosen to replace some that have been dulled down with trails that give you the MTBers grin!

The trip is fully supported meaning you'll only only need to carry provisions for the day's riding (do I hear cries of cake, Haribo & chocolate?)

It's possible to do the route in 3 days, but we're taking 5, as we reckon real mountain biking is as much about enjoying the trails & the surroundings as eating up the miles. You'll need to be OK with about 35 miles per day, mostly off-road. The route goes west to east, from St Bees to Robin Hoods Bay, and accommodation along the way will be a combination of B&Bs, pubs and better quality bunkhouses. You'll only need to find your own evening meals

More details here - chasingtrails.com

Cyclist No.1

Cyclist No.1 is a new not-for-profit cycling website that's already taking off in a big way

Gary Lake is the editor & designer. His career in digital media shows up in the high standard of the site. There's already a strong team of regular contributors including Phil Saxena the world-class trail builder, Rob Lee who's a top UK endurance racer and lately, me as the MTB Technique contributor

There'll be a short bio up there in the next few days, but the 1st in a series of articles is already up. It's on the basics of braking. More will follow at aprox 1 per month(ish) depending on how busy life is

You can also find Cyclist No1 on Facebook and twitter