Buller XC trail launch - woohoo!

[yuley95]

Bike Buller event

I just entered the Bike Buller event for the first time and was getting really excited about it but after reading this I'm not so sure. I've got a dual suspension xc bike but by the sound of some of the comments on here, I might struggle on stage 2 a bit.

Any idea if they do maintenance before the event?

 

[Snuffy]

You'll be fine.

Just got back from a weekend at Buller - I rode my On One 456 Ti hardtail all weekend and did multiple runs of Copperhead, all three approaches to the Delatite Trail and the ride out to Stonefly and back. Was planning on hitting Klingsporn as well, but my hands were suffering a bit too much from braking.

While I do agree that Copperhead is getting pretty loose, I'm not exactly the greatest descender (although two Highrollers do help my confidence) and I pretty easily handled it.

QR seat collar (or dropper post) will help to make things a whole lot more fun.

Heck, you could even be like my mate and ride a CX bike

[video=youtube;mhiCBk8gwkE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhiCBk8gwkE[/video]

(more videos coming soon)

 

[kbekus]

wow Delatite on a hardtail, colour me impressed. I was up at Buller on the weekend too and was blown away by how good the whole setup was - the chairlift for the downhillers, the cross country trails, the number of shops catering to bikers... I didn't really enjoy the run off the Picnic trail for the first few corners down onto Delatite though, it was rocky and quite steep, hence my being impressed at riding it on a hardtail or CX (yikes).

 

[Snuffy]

The Gang Gangs descent onto Picnic trail is one of the best bits!

We crossed paths with the Flow MTB guys there while they were filming on Saturday morning. Hopefully they caught my mate on his CX bike leading us all out

But seriously, the hardtail isn't all that tough to ride around Buller if you just accept that the rear end is going to do its own thing while ultimately following the front. Actually I think our group had more hardtails than duallies (On One 456, Cotic Soul, Giant TCX, Carver KillerB, Klein Adroit, some old Avanti hardtail vs Epic 29, SJ 29, Anthem, Ibis Mojo, Trek Y frame).

It's a rather eclectic range of bikes from several eras...

 

[yuley95]

Thanks Snuffy. Officially pumped for the event again.

 

[Snuffy]

Stay pumped, but make sure you get lots of training done. The ride up Stonefly is a heck of a slog.

For the average rider, my two bits of equipment advice are

• Have two sets of tyres (or wheels with different tyres). Beefcake tyres for the going down stages. Lighter tyres for the long XC ride out to Stonefly. Don't be stupid like me and pedal two Highroller 2.35" up Stonefly with only 1x10 gearing. Failing that, consider having a big tyre up front for grip in the corners and a lighter tyre out back to save some weight
• If you don't have a dropped post, have a way to fiddle with seatpost height between stages. Even dropping it by 1cm can help heaps on a trail like Copperhead, without sacrificing your ability to pedal.

 

[Snuffy]

Oh

Don't do this

[video=youtube;KqL_aSy7PKc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqL_aSy7PKc[/video]

(just uploaded, so YouTube is still processing the 720p version)

 

[OT]

Stay pumped, but make sure you get lots of training done. The ride up Stonefly is a heck of a slog.

For the average rider, my two bits of equipment advice are

• Have two sets of tyres (or wheels with different tyres). Beefcake tyres for the going down stages. Lighter tyres for the long XC ride out to Stonefly. Don't be stupid like me and pedal two Highroller 2.35" up Stonefly with only 1x10 gearing. Failing that, consider having a big tyre up front for grip in the corners and a lighter tyre out back to save some weight
• If you don't have a dropped post, have a way to fiddle with seatpost height between stages. Even dropping it by 1cm can help heaps on a trail like Copperhead, without sacrificing your ability to pedal.

Delatite is pretty smooth compared to most of bullers rocky xc tracks. How did your mate on the cx go on stonefly? Looks like he's on the tcx advanced 1, is he still running the recalled hydro brakes or has he swapped to mechanicals?

 

[Snuffy]

Not sure what model TCX, but I'll assume it's a pretty high spec given that it's a team bike. It's still running the SRAM hydros because he just got it out of the box recently and figured that it wasn't going to hit sub-zero at any point during the Buller ride. Not sure if he's planning on getting it changed over or not.

Either way, he's just a gun rider, who's super strong with the technical skills to back it up. He'd whip me around pretty much any kind of pedally XC track on his CX bike. Heck, he smashed me down Follow Me a few months ago.

 

[creaky]

I didn't really enjoy the run off the Picnic trail for the first few corners down onto Delatite though, it was rocky and quite steep, hence my being impressed at riding it on a hardtail or CX (yikes).

You're clearly a sook :behindsofa:, my wife rode that whist pregnant (only 6 weeks) :faint2:. I will say it was much faster on my second run solo.

I reckon Delatite would be the best trail around buller for a hard tail.

 

[Snuffy]

Anyway... faster is better

You have to gliiiiiiiiiiiide over those rocks

That's what I tell myself anyway

 

[OT]

Not sure what model TCX, but I'll assume it's a pretty high spec given that it's a team bike. It's still running the SRAM hydros because he just got it out of the box recently and figured that it wasn't going to hit sub-zero at any point during the Buller ride. Not sure if he's planning on getting it changed over or not.

Either way, he's just a gun rider, who's super strong with the technical skills to back it up. He'd whip me around pretty much any kind of pedally XC track on his CX bike. Heck, he smashed me down Follow Me a few months ago.

Sram are saying the seal in the master cyclinder can fail in any conditions, the cold just sped up the process.

Follow me is a lot less rocky than stone fly. If he rode all of stone fly with out getting off on a cx bike he is a gun! There is a couple of sections where I would be going over the bars and probably buckling my wheels on my cx bike. Lysterfield is a lot of fun on the cx bike but I think i will stick to the mtb for buller.

 

[Snuffy]

Follow me is a lot less rocky than stone fly. If he rode all of stone fly with out getting off on a cx bike he is a gun!

Yeah, he got off once on the climb.... to turn around and take photos of his wife riding past

I think he even rode THAT steep roll in off the right hander on the descent.