slippery pete
Well-known member
I've spent my Christmas riding in the Tweed valley in the Scottish Borders: Glentress and Innerleithen. I'm a new eMTBer but an old MTBer. The Tweed valley is an area I've visited, ridden and raced a good few times on enduro bikes. Since getting my ebike a month ago (Commencal 29er) I've been travelling; I hadn't had much more than shakedown runs up until this trip. The plan has been to use the ebike to get more laps on the fun stuff.
Plan has worked out.
I've had the last four days to pay proper attention to switching over to a bike with a motor. It helps that the Commencal is kitted our very similarly to my non-e enduro bike. Setup and fit have both been a simple transfer of everything learnt on MTBs over the years. While I didn't get things 100% right first time I was definitely in the ballpark.
So that brings us to today and working out the fine tuning.
There is a side of the hill... where I've dragged myself up many a time, deep in enduro events, beyond fatigue... where many years ago I had a couple of uplift days... where a self-powered day on the hill ends up being one enjoyable lap and any others for penance because the climb is such a bastard. The DH trails are epic survival-fests; there is one trail that is comparatively just a red run... with jumps... with beautifully built jumps.
First lap, the bike was launching tail heavy on the big ramps; dropped the shock LSC two clicks. On the smaller kickers it was now bucking a little; one LSC click back on and a tweak of rebound. The fork was a touch harsh; I'd experimented on zero tokens and 99psi; I'd gone back to a single token and had gradually been backing off the pressure to keep the support but bring in a bit more suppleness. 92psi hit the sweet spot. Tried it out on a DH run.
The weather is typical for this time of year and the trails are slick. Gold Run is a trail that I'd last have been on against the clock in an Enduro. Today I was wearing an open face helmet and only my knees had pads; GF was riding her own lap on the red run but was definitely expecting me to come back in one piece so this was a risk-managed lap. OMG what a heap of fun. Bike definitely working well now. Rear Code RSC taken to its limit, perhaps.
Back to the top. Feet like ice blocks. Red run with feeling. Incidentally, Shockwiz.
Five and a half minutes, top to bottom and 27 jumps flying long and level. Brakes off in the berms; bike just leaning into completely natural cutties.
Shockwiz score 100% on Playful.
Plan has worked out.
I've had the last four days to pay proper attention to switching over to a bike with a motor. It helps that the Commencal is kitted our very similarly to my non-e enduro bike. Setup and fit have both been a simple transfer of everything learnt on MTBs over the years. While I didn't get things 100% right first time I was definitely in the ballpark.
So that brings us to today and working out the fine tuning.
There is a side of the hill... where I've dragged myself up many a time, deep in enduro events, beyond fatigue... where many years ago I had a couple of uplift days... where a self-powered day on the hill ends up being one enjoyable lap and any others for penance because the climb is such a bastard. The DH trails are epic survival-fests; there is one trail that is comparatively just a red run... with jumps... with beautifully built jumps.
First lap, the bike was launching tail heavy on the big ramps; dropped the shock LSC two clicks. On the smaller kickers it was now bucking a little; one LSC click back on and a tweak of rebound. The fork was a touch harsh; I'd experimented on zero tokens and 99psi; I'd gone back to a single token and had gradually been backing off the pressure to keep the support but bring in a bit more suppleness. 92psi hit the sweet spot. Tried it out on a DH run.
The weather is typical for this time of year and the trails are slick. Gold Run is a trail that I'd last have been on against the clock in an Enduro. Today I was wearing an open face helmet and only my knees had pads; GF was riding her own lap on the red run but was definitely expecting me to come back in one piece so this was a risk-managed lap. OMG what a heap of fun. Bike definitely working well now. Rear Code RSC taken to its limit, perhaps.
Back to the top. Feet like ice blocks. Red run with feeling. Incidentally, Shockwiz.
Five and a half minutes, top to bottom and 27 jumps flying long and level. Brakes off in the berms; bike just leaning into completely natural cutties.
Shockwiz score 100% on Playful.
