What stupid thing did you do with your bike this week?

7869hodgy

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2020
395
628
Reading
Since my first ebike in 2020 I have broken 2 x XT and 2 x XTR rear derailleurs on three bikes. All by sticks in the woods. Expensive hobby.

Before e-bikes, in 15 years alive only broken a chain.
 

Jurassic

Active member
Subscriber
Jul 22, 2022
236
244
Helensburgh, Scotland.
Since my first ebike in 2020 I have broken 2 x XT and 2 x XTR rear derailleurs on three bikes. All by sticks in the woods. Expensive hobby.

Before e-bikes, in 15 years alive only broken a chain.
I snapped an XT rear mech on my ebike with a fallen twig as well and I've only had the bike for a couple of months. Previously, I only ever remember wrecking one in thirty plus years mountain biking (that one was caused by a flying rock kicked up by the wheel).
 

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
9,043
9,505
Lincolnshire, UK
Stuck in a village in SW Wales, no trails to ride. I was staying with my daughter and her family. I leant my emtb to my 15-years old grandson. He did 18 miles riding up and down the tarmac hills and pretty much wore out the centre treads on the rear tyre. I told him not to use Boost, and he said he didn't. But the battery drain said otherwise! Ah well, you're only young once. :)
 
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steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
9,043
9,505
Lincolnshire, UK
Since my first ebike in 2020 I have broken 2 x XT and 2 x XTR rear derailleurs on three bikes. All by sticks in the woods. Expensive hobby.

Before e-bikes, in 15 years alive only broken a chain.
Also to @Jurassic Probably all 12-speed with that low hanging mech arm. Previous rides were probs 9-10-speed. I have a similar track record. The latest M8100 XT mechs seem to be made of plastic and shear right across the body where it has not only a low cross-sectional area, but has an embedded metal stud.
 

ilostmypassword

Active member
Apr 5, 2022
397
431
New Zealand
Hope-Fortus-30-MTB-Front-Wheel-Front-Wheels-Black-HFW27F30P4STN.jpg
Hope-Headset-Top-Cap-Headsets-Purple-NotSet-HS113PU-0.jpg

Hope-Grip-Doctor-Bar-End-Plugs-Bar-Ends-Purple-NotSet-GDOCPU.jpg
Hope-Fortus-30-MTB-Front-Wheel-Front-Wheels-Purple-HFW29F30P4STPU-0.jpg
Screenshot 2022-10-26 at 8.54.20 PM.png
 

Labrador29

Well-known member
Jun 24, 2019
210
173
Marlborough New Zealand
In the vain of What did you buy your ebike this week? I like to try out a new thread, more of warning thread, so noobs like me avoid these situations instead of getting caught in it. As I noted in in that buy thread, I got myself a nice mudhugger, and thus thought "hey, lets do that cool trail I know, should be fun and muddy", and muddy it was....

Well at least the good thing was that it was a lot of fun, but for the warning part, when in .ch you see white-red-white, that is a mountain pass, and typically that means wearing proper shoes. Indeed, a emtb rides up on it perfectly fine, lots of fun, and much quicker to take in the sights; but at one point that white-red-white .... well, take a look at the pix:

It started out quite reasonble, bit leafy, but very rideable and amazing scenery:
View attachment 43093

View attachment 43094
oh yes, you can't go left... it is a 200m++ drop already at this stage.

Nice little waterfall, which we'll pass next at the top...

View attachment 43095

top, or actually middle of that waterfall, it goes up more to the right...
View attachment 43096
up to here it was a bit leafy with small rocks under it, all good fun and very nice.

and the 'top' (flat-ish section) of this part of the trail:
View attachment 43097

upto here, all good, see that dirt road on the other side though, that is where the first fun slowly starts...going more up there and we'll encounter the first wee bit of snow:

View attachment 43098

still a decent trail, though getting narrower:
View attachment 43099

and another waterfall, even narrower and a wee bit more steeper and rockier and rootier....
View attachment 43100

mmm, snowy bridges, had to walk as wheel kept on spinning (even with engine off) and sliding and did not want to risk going down the drop on the right...:
View attachment 43101
and then a bunch of no pix, as it would not make sense to even attempt to make photos during that section due to slippery and steepy.

thus after quite a bit of climbing, some 400m up..., left-hand bottom is where the above pic was taken... climbing meant thus lifting & pushing the bike as the roots where too much to either get a grip or get anywhere that would have been safe... btw "walk mode" is useful, just make sure you have grip yourself too...
View attachment 43102

and a wee bit further up from there:
View attachment 43103

which fortunately was the top of the trail which gave me these amazing presents:

View attachment 43104

View attachment 43105

bike still looking fine fortunately after having been dragged up the mountain:
View attachment 43106

and fortunately the proper road I knew was up there was mostly snow free (though downhill it was covered in snow, thus had to do some balance exercises :))

View attachment 43107

and as the climbing was not really done, a bonus pic from the ridge in the above picture:
View attachment 43108

bonus pic from the other side:
View attachment 43109

TLDR:
- in .ch white-red-white is a mountain pass, likely not very appropriate for a bike due to the small paths, possible snow, rooty paths, slipperyness, etc etc...
- thanks to Lupine SL X for getting me safely down again as night has properly set before I was down the mountain again and then all the way home
- thanks to Goretex (inventor, RIP) for keeping my feet dry, even though puddles of molten snow got me quite a few times...
- ensure your phone is charged, and that you have that walky talky with you, just in case..... and likely go with multiple people not alone
- thanks to my ribs for catching me for a few slips and not breaking....
- thanks to my amazing bike for making it up there... and not having a blown tire or some other malfunction ;)

Now a little Q: anybody got tips on how to determine if a trail is doable by bike and what, other than white-red-white (and definitely not white-blue-white, aka alpine trail, which thus means ropes and possible climbing).

The fun thing is, the Bosch app thinks this is a doable path... even funnier it marks it as scenic, well scenic it is... but bikeable, not for me at least.

Tips/comments/questions, wanted! ;)
What make/model number is your rear mudguard thanks. Be ideal in winter!!!!
 

Labrador29

Well-known member
Jun 24, 2019
210
173
Marlborough New Zealand
Not my bike, but my clothing. I lobbed all my sweaty and mucky kit into the washing machine and added a dishwasher tablet instead of a detergent tablet! DOH! :eek:

I was expecting my clothing to come out in tatters or at least bleached, but the 30degC setting was too low to dissolve the dishwasher tablet (phew!)red :giggle:
Not as embarrassing as the Aussie who pumped $291 worth of petrol into a rod holder on the back of his Boat. (Boat was on a trailer behind his vehicle). Doh!!!!!
How dumb is that!!!!!
 

Ark

Active member
Mar 8, 2023
464
390
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Edinburgh is hoaching with foreign visitors just now. Mainly seems to be Asians though. Where it would usually be getting busy with European visitors just now.
The video I posted towards the bottom of the thread is in the centre of Edinburgh. The cairn (highest point) was incredibly busy and 90% of the people up there were tourists.
We get loads of foreign students in Newcastle from Asia, seem to be pretty well off too from the cars some of them drive at that young age :O

Edinburgh will be one of the easiest cool places to go sight seeing for the day or weekend for them.

We get all your stag parties in return it seems....
 

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