AM The Big, Black and Thick German

teK--

Eats Squid
Yeah my photography stinks haha. Should've taken cockpit photos.
Yup! Black lines
Sounds great take some close up pics when you can cheers. How easy were they to cut and join the barbs on? I was thinking about the Hope ones at one point but don't like the silver and apparently they are a bitch to cut cleanly without fraying.
 

Chriso_29er

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Was that taken today? Saw a ute heading that direction with a couple of bikes in the back this morning.
Would have been a cracking day for it!
 

tkdbboy

Likes Dirt
Sounds great take some close up pics when you can cheers. How easy were they to cut and join the barbs on? I was thinking about the Hope ones at one point but don't like the silver and apparently they are a bitch to cut cleanly without fraying.
Will do next wash!
Brakes were installed by Astroboyracer. Braided lines are outside of my skillset and tools.

Was that taken today? Saw a ute heading that direction with a couple of bikes in the back this morning.
Would have been a cracking day for it!
Nah was on this past Sunday. No snakes spotted for once at Buxton haha.
 

tkdbboy

Likes Dirt
Installed debonair spring yesterday and today went down to Red Hill to test it out. Perfect place as its fast, bumpy and has off camber sections. Good to see how well it'd soak up chatter and track. Was a cracker day so smashed out 4 runs down Pins n Needles and 4 down Fall Line.
The debonair air spring is an extremely bang for buck upgrade.
Straight after the install when messing around with pressures, I could notice the initial breakaway took less force ... to the point where the bike has static sag of a few mm just from the weight of itself. End user comments on the interwebs say this is pretty normal.
Chatter and high speed bumps were soaked up well by the fork. It was great previously and I wasn't expecting to feel much of a difference but it's noticeable. It's not day and night difference, but if you're in tune with the feel of your fork, you'll definitely be able to tell. If I could put a number on the improvement you'd get in small bump, it'd be about 15%. The bonus of this is also less forearm and wrist fatigue which was noticeable to me as the trails here can take their toll with constant roots and ruts.
At about 85kg kitted, I ran 80 PSI and found that comfortable. Anything less and I was getting too much brake dive.

Below is some footage of the two trails. Was toying around with the Hero 7 Black on chin mount to point a bit lower than my last setup to get a bit more of the bike in but looks like you see less of the upcoming trail. Will give the chesty a go next time and see how the 'hypersmooth' deals with being on a less stable part on me.
Mind the swearing ... it was dry as hell and the front almost came out from under me in the sandy bits .... and just trying to concentrate hah


 

Chriso_29er

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Nice!

Had to laugh at the "fark" on the lower roots of Pins, that is a prick section to stay on line.
I found it impossible to stay high if you were carrying a lot of speed.
 

tkdbboy

Likes Dirt
Nice!

Had to laugh at the "fark" on the lower roots of Pins, that is a prick section to stay on line.
I found it impossible to stay high if you were carrying a lot of speed.
haha! ... Yeah that section is a killer ... doesn't help that it's near the very end too when I'm quite gassed.
The one or two times I've done it cleanly is when thought far enough ahead to compress before it and float over the start bit that usually sucks up most of my momentum
 

teK--

Eats Squid
Is that the electronic stabiliser on the GoPro? Looks crazy smooth but the brighter areas look overexposed unfortunately not sure if you can tweak that.
 

tkdbboy

Likes Dirt
Is that the electronic stabiliser on the GoPro? Looks crazy smooth but the brighter areas look overexposed unfortunately not sure if you can tweak that.
Yup , still only have HypoerSmooth turned on with no other tweaks. I've seen that quite a few of the youtube riders tweak their color settings so I'll have to put some time into stuffing around with that. First gotta find a decent position! haha
 

tkdbboy

Likes Dirt

Perfect conditions today at Red Hill. Swapped the Oury slip ons for Ergon GE1's and went full enduro. Comfy grips and I can see why people love them. The different patterns and shapes on the grip act as a good reminder of where your hands should be, and also promotes the elbows being flared out.

Also messed around with a cheapo chest mount for the GoPro to see how well HyperSmooth deals with a barrage of bumps.
I think I need to fasten the mount tighter to me so it doesn't bounce around as much ... and try work the legs more soaking up bumps haha .... plus tilt the camera up more .. doh

spoiler: No swearing this time as it all went quite smoothly
 

Yet1

Likes Dirt
My 2019 Torque CF8.0 just arrived! Turn around from pressing 'go' on the website was only a week which amazed me. I also got 'boring' stealth black. Am going to put some frame guards on it with some colour..
Torque.jpg
 

tkdbboy

Likes Dirt
Love it. No issues to report.
It performs really well but I guess that also comes down to the suspension design of the frame too.

Was surprised when I saw it had LSC adjustment so thats a bonus.
RC3 has the 3 pos lever (this one - RCT has 2 pos) but without LSC dial. R just has rebound adjustment.

I was entertaining the idea of a coil but so far, I can't fault this setup ... maybe I have low standards :D
 

tkdbboy

Likes Dirt
Spent 4 days in Maydena on the first weekend of December. Didn't have the best luck in terms of weather unfortunately.
In July when booking we thought 'First weekend of Summer! Weather is gonna be perfect!'
Day 1 - Sunny and slightly muddy
Day 2 - Overnight rain and more muddy
Day 3 - All day rain, had to call it at half day as we were drenched
Day 4 - No rain but damn muddy

For those who have been before, you can understand what I mean when I say the steep trails go up a grade in the mud haha. Fun nonetheless.

This was my second trip to Maydena so was stoked to check out the new trails. I planned on working on my jumping skills as I'd like to hit bigger jumps.
Flight School and Super Funk are cool but I was most attracted by Supercross for the high speed and big tabletops.

The top section has had a lot of work since and drains much better and they've smoothened sections out to make it easier for beginners.

I took a lot of footage and am still sifting through it all ... especially when it was all shot via upside down GoPro... ha



 

tkdbboy

Likes Dirt
Two days in Bright the past weekend ... No stacks on Mystic DH or Graveyard this time ... phew!

Shred Kelly is great! Get in whilst it's fresh



 
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