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Random Solo ride around the area
With everyone off to the CORC24 this weekend I thought I would take myself on a solo explore around the area and check out some new (to me) tracks. This was the first proper ride I have done since I broke my ribs in the Angry Doctor so I was anxious to find out how I would go. The idea was to ride from my place to Heath Track, up Quary track, ridgetop track and over the Mona Vale road and around the back of the show ground onto the single track to the start of Wildflower garden and follow that (sort of) through Garden Gully to Ryland and then Sandy Trail. Once in Terry hills I would do the Perimeter track and perhaps long if I had enough time.
Events worth mentioning: On the way down Heath I got a snake bite in the front inner tube and whilst trying out my new CO2 canisters almost blew my head off, and managed to explode the pump. The wrong canisters were the blame. Waited for a passing biker to help.
Thought I would time myself up Quarry and posted a time just under 5 minutes which I am happy with.
There was some great single track somewhere around Ryland, although quite muddy and I did a great face/body plant OTB combo into a deep mud pit.
The hills around the pistol club coming up to Sandy trail are very step, I would say up there with the climb out of Andos, certainly going south. Some really good climbing to be had here. All ridable but loose and lots of water bars.
I managed to get myself sort of lost past the rifle club and ended up on a great bit if single track that ended up on Booralie road where it joins Joalah Rd. The track came out opposite a bus stop. I followed Booralie Rd. into Terry hills and rode Perimeter and back. Perimeter is such a great track on your own, you can get really good rhythm and just slog the few hills that there are. I think I was averaging 30kph which felt fast but good although my front was washing a bit (see below)
Then it was back home, all in all 51 kays and I felt fresh at the end. Happily my ribs didn't give me any problems, so at least I will be up for the Half Fling in a couple of weeks, better than nothing.
The Yeti just gets better and better, can't fault it. One thing I have noticed that is that the sensation of speed just isn't there like my Trek, it doesn't feel that fast, but I know it is. I put the new DX pedals on which are great, I think I have the clip in injuries problem licked finally.
I'm really going off the Ignitor tyre on the front though, and after talking to Whisperer he confirmed what I thought, the profile is far to round for the sort of riding I do. I don't have any confidence in corners, even when hanging off the side like a motorbike. I think I will search for a Panaracer Fire XC Pro and be done with it, the Kenda Nevegal look decent as well.
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Top day out... although if you OTB on your own that's a bit of a worry - imagine bashing your head and laying unconscious on a lesser used trail for hours... cooking in the sun and being eaten by ants!
Anyhow - as for the tires on the front, from my limited experience with Ignitors and Nevegals:
An Ignitor will roll pretty well and has good grip. Trouble is when it decides to let go does so in an instant and can be rather scary. I'm back to using Crossmarks on the front of the Rush as a result.
The Nevegal has much bigger nobs so doesn't roll as well, but the grip is awesome and they really give you confidence in the corners. Ditty reports he's ripped the nobs off these though, and although I haven't the rear on my 575 looks rather sad for the kays it's done (ie. they wear quickly).
Anyhow - I would defo recommend you give the Nevegals a try on your 575 for fun riding, but probably not for an endurance event if you are looking for outright speed.
rob
i have crossmarks front and back on mine. great rolling but my cornering hold could be better although i suspect this is due much more to my poor technique rather than the tyres. I am interested in trying out some alternatives just to get a feel for the difference. do you use the nevegal just on the front and do you use for general riding in sydney ie dam, terry hills, ourimbah etc ?
Forgive my ignorance but what is a snake bite like on the inner tube? I hope it wasn't caused by a real snake on the trails
I'm also looking to put new tires on my bike. My Michelin XCR AT are wearing out. They are good at not holding any mud at all but they lack grip in the corners. I'm looking for a compromise between grip and speed; should I put crossmarks on both? Or a crossmark on the front and ignitor on the back? I think the latter is one of the most common combos with nobmobers?
Tom
I like Crossmarks for the speed and run them on the Rush. Used to have 'em from/back but from other advice have gone to a Larsen on the rear which has more grip climbing rocks and stuff.
The Nevegal experience I have is from use on the 575 front/rear. Few laps of the Dam to test 'em out, some laps of Ourimbah and a long (55Km) ride on GNR. You certainly notice nice grip in the golf course sniggle at the Dam and at twisty parts of Ourimbah. Climbed lots of rocks at GNR very nicely too so pretty impressed really.
I used a Nevegal for about 6 months, front and rear. The problem I experienced was where some of the side nubs got ripped off the tyre. Before I took it off and threw the tyre away, there was 4 nubs missing. In part, I think the compound was quite soft anyway, and also a result of my riding style of riding over rocks and wot not. Your experience may be different to mine. If you purchase one, have a good think about whether you want a soft or hard compound tyre. For the average rider, the soft is probably fine. For the more hard core amongst us, you may want something more durable.
I found my Ignitor on the front (thanks to Sam's recommendation!
) to be great. Never had a problem with it. It gripped well, was a good all-round tyre, and was quite well wearing. I got 6 months out of it. I never rode with an Ignitor on the rear so can't comment on that.
I was kindly gifted a set of unused Panaracer Fire XC Pro's by CB yesterday (thanks CB!). They are the 66TPI Taiwan variety so heavier and less well rolling than the 127TPI Japanese versions, but I'm very happy to have them back in the garage. If I wasn't able to source these I would certainly have tested the Nevegals as they look very grippy and have decent reviews and all of these recommendations can't be bad. The 66TPI's have a very stiff side wall and do weigh more than the Ignitors but I'm going to give them a go and see how they roll, snake bites (the two small holes caused by the rim nipping the tube, often because the pressure is too low) should be far less frequent with these too.
I don't mind Ignitors overall but have been disappointed with the way they let go in loose stuff, much the same way as Rob mentioned above. Observing their profile I think it's understandable really. They roll really well on the road and are grippy enough when on axis.
I'll be keeping the Larsen on the back, it's amazing on rocks and I don't worry about side grip on that as much as the front.
I'll update my blog when I have a ride in, just for the record.
think I will give the Crossmark/Larsen TT a go on my bike then! Do you run them tubeless on your Rush? That's another option I have to think about whether to go tubeless or not with a Stans no tubes...
Tom
Dylan, I was after a good cornering, but reasonably fast tyre for the Scott 24 and CBD Cycles recommended the Maxxis Rendez. It has aggressive side tread for cornering and a long high centre knobs for rolling. I couldn't be happier.
In all the loose, dusty conditions, pushing hard a lot of the time it just stuck and gave me heaps of confidence to rail harder and I could notice no lack of speed on the fast places.
I'm a big fan and have relegated my old Crossmark front tyre to the reserves bench.
Thanks Paul, if my reserve bench gets any bigger I'll need another garage
Next time we are out let me check that tyre out. Must get in a night ride soon, it's been a while and I have my new Deal Extreme goodies to test...
Dylan,
Your loop sounds a lot like the big training loop Gary and I did two weeks ago. 50.6k, 1422 metres of climbing and 3.5 hours in the saddle
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/da...
We may have to compare notes so I can extend the loop
Yeah - tubeless all the way these days. Search the site - lots of talk on that.
Or a bit like this (45.3Km 1326m):
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5296476
Which you note doesn't go anywhere near Duck Hole/Centre/Waratah/Perimeter/Long/Bibbenluke. Wow - imagine what we could do by merging all these!
Ouch Rob!
I do think that the trails over Mona Vale road are worthy training, some horrendous hillage there, certainly when you combine with Cascades. I can feel a large ride coming up, why drive so far when this is so close