The Hemlock

Cy sent me a new Cotic Hemlock to play with for a few weeks. Unfortunately demo season is now on us and I have had to return the bike. It is now sat in my hall all boxed up ready to leave, today is a sad day. Having had exams cluttering up the last month I havent been able to give it as much of a thrashing as I would have liked. I have however had the Hemlock out around Afan and taken it to some local DH tracks to see how it handles when the riding gets tougher. Anyway heres how it got on.

Obviously riding for Cotic my opinion is a little biased, I ride for them though because I love riding their bikes, I think Cy has the right philosophy and at end of the day makes bikes that really do put a grin on your face. On this count the Hemlock really is no exception I had an absolute blast with this bike. The Hemlock is the first 'full susser' I have ridden with less than 7 inches of travel and it was an absolute revelation. DH bikes are slow, take a lot of effort to chuck about and suck too much fun out of the terrain, this is a totally different kettle of fish. The Hemlock shares the sharpness and nimble feeling of a hardtail, it pedals amazingly, very little energy is lost to the shock and it really drives forward when hammering on the pedals. I believe with good suspension you shouldnt really be aware of what it is doing and with the hemlock this is definately the case. I was hammering a section in the same way I would the hardtail and the Hemlock lets you carry a lot more speed and softens the blow on your body. It rewards good riding in the sense that soft legs and good line choice can let you absolutely fly down the trail.

The last descent on the wall is an epic section of trail. It is very Alpine feeling traversing a steep hill side, littered with rocks and trees, it is the kind of trail that can get very nasty if you get off line or catch a rock wrong. The Hemlock gave me a lot of confidence to stay off the brakes and chuck it into the corners, the back end keeps the rear wheel under control and in check despite taking some really decent hits. Unlike a Dh bike I felt very aware of the terrain and it makes you really ride the bike to get the most out of it rather than get lazy and let the suspension do all the work for you. It responds really well to pumping through sections and picking up the front wheel and rewards an active riding style.

On the super steep DH tracks I dont think the bars were helping it out. To me they were too high and the sweep slightly wrong in that holding onto them didnt give me that planted feel I have with the BFe. The brake levers (Magura Julies) also sat a long way from the handlebars so that when you were hanging off the back of the bike it was a struggle not to drag the brakes, being maguras though I am sure there is a way to adjust this with a bit of fiddling, stopping wise they were ace. The Hemlock really didnt feel that out of place and was able to handle some pretty lairy descents. I did get pitched over the bars once where perhaps a lower bottom bracket and super slack head angle could have saved me. Considering this isnt the Hemlocks natural home it did a very admirable job and gave me a lot of extra control than I wouldnt have had on the hardtail.

At the end of the day the proof is in the riding. Cy has a load of Demo days coming up and I would really recommend giving the Hemlock a go. I think the way UK riding is heading a bike like this is near on the perfect bike, having ridden this I dont think I would ever go for a pure DH bike again. For the new stage races and even grass roots, short course DH where you can pedal efficiently to the top and have an absolute blast on the way down, a bike like the Hemlock has to be the future. Oh and not to mention the mega! For trail centers I just dont think you can really beat a short travel bike, it does everything you need it to and keeps a grin thoroughly planted on your face.

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Powerkite Mag - Flying for Swansea

The signiture green potty appeared in PowerKite mag this month as part of their report on Aussie-Kiss the UK's biggest student kite festival. Aussie-Kiss was way back in October now, we had 20 students representing Swansea and are own Jess Barker made the podium in the comps. It was an awesome event that mixed decent winds, epic piss ups and hundeds of kiters of all abilities mashing it up down in Westward Ho. I was having loads of fun flying my 15m Lynn and riding a proto Rickman mountainboard, Tim Harley was also featured in the article ripping some very stylish tricks on his Instinct, demonstrating all weekend how to man-up and get the tricks out of the bag.

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Velodrome

I just had a great session at Newport Velodrome. Rocking it in style with piss-pot and baggies riding a sketchy fixed gear, brakeless rig and trying to chase down Swansea Uni's Lycra crew. It is a far scarier experience than DH! Those walls are steep and riding (or attempting to ride) on someone elses wheels with an inconsitant ability to slow down gave a huge sense of impending carnage. If you think I am exadurating a quick check of YouTube turned out this beauty:


Maybe roadies deserve some respect!! It was a great thing to experience and a disturbingly addictive sensation, aparantly I am now on a slippery slope and I will soon be converted to a full blown lycra wearing, skinny tyred, carbon junkie...

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Keeping it local

I had a mint session yesterday out on Kilvey with the Swansea boys. Sometimes the local hills are the best, nothings better than charging down your favourite line wheel to wheel with your mates, banter flying in all directions, awesome!

Will Soffe has come back from this summer looking insanely quick, he's definately one to keep an eye on next season!!

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Rickman Boards

Rickman Boards are now trading check out the new website here: www.rickmanboards.co.uk

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Surf/Bike Van Conversion

The plan for this summer was all based around travelling on the cheap out the back of the van. The first roadtrip of the summer however ended abruptly after the van had to be scrapped at the bottom of France as a result of it practically bursting into flames on the autoroute. I was left with a stripped bank account and no wheels. This project was born to get back on the road and on the cheap.


My choice of vans was severly limited by budget anything with a VW badge was well out of my league so the search was for an old Japanese van that from what I have heard are meant to last forever. The only issue was that none were popping up in the pages of autotrader. After a month of looking I got lucky and found one down the road off of Gumtree.com. The van was an electricans well used Mitsubishi L300 with a mere 180,000 miles on the clock. Worrying numbers, but it drived nicely and there was no major rust that needed sorting.

First job was to plyline and carpet the inside. This helps insulate the back which is a must for camping but also helps with deadening the noise and making it look considerably more tidy. The ply was cut to shape and screwed into the pillars using selftapping screws. Any big voids were filled with polystyrene ceiling roll I found in B&Q. Ply was also screwed to the ceiling creating an instant transformation, the inside of the van had almost lost the whole retired builders van look.

The layout was very difficult to work out. I wanted a sort of 'rock and roll' setup where a seat lifted up to form the bed. Putting any permanent structure in severly limits the useability of the back of the van. As there was not much room to play with it is crucial that bikes and surfboards could still fit in when wanted. As a result the bed had to be very high so that bike wheels could fit underneith and we are still able to load up several bikes. The seat is fully removable and lifts up to hang on metal supports I had made forming the bottom half of the bed. It is also possible to have one fully built bike standing inside the van with the bed up along with loads of room for storage underneith. The advantage with this setup is also that with the seat down muddy/wet gear can be stashed behind the seat in the rear section keeping it fully sepparate from the front living area.

The seat and rear shelf were made out of varnished MDF with a supporting structure made out of 2*2 beams again self-tapped and glued to the side of the van. Once the structure was in place I carpeted the inside. I managed to get the end of a roll of carpet for £10 which was enought to do all the areas in the back I wanted. The carpet had a rubber lining that had to be peeled off first and then it was cut and glued using spray glue to the sides. The edges of the carpet were tucked behind the ply panels giving a crisp pro finnish.

The outside of the van was looking really ropy I wanted to do a full respray. First any major dings were filled and sanded so that the pannels were all nice and flat. the next stage was the hardest part of the job in that all the exterior trim had to be removed or masked. This takes a lot longer than you might imagine!! The van was then fully cleaned using thinners to take off any dirt grease and residues. Followed by a light rub down to key the surface ready for the paint.

I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a spray room and guns to do the van in. The painting itself was quite a simple process. First a dust coat was added where a very thin speckling of paint is sprayed and let to tack off to give something for the first layer to stick to. Then spraying along the full length of the van at as constant a speed and distance as possible to give an even covering of paint. Getting the right ammount of paint applied on each coat is crucial. Too little and the droplets wont converge together leaving a textured finnish, too much and the paint will run. After 2 coats we had a couple of runs and so left it to set before giving the runs a careful rubdown. The final coat was then applied and left to set. We ended up only getting one small run on the whole van. the finnish of the paint has come out really well. Opening the tin of paint for the first time was a bit scary, the colour was brutally loud!! It has thankfully mellowed down now the paint has set!



With the paint done the trim was refitted and the inside given a good clean up. The van is more or less finnished for the meantime. Mechanically it seems to be running sound and has passed its MOT with no issues so fingers crossed this one will last a bit longer than the last!!

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One BFe, One day, Four disciplines

This post got lost in all of the end of term fun. However the pictures are too good to let sit unseen and are definitely a bit of a reminder of what our summer weather should look like!!

The plan was to hit the road early with the guys for a lap of Afan, then on to Tredegar BMX track for a few motos. This was followed up by some DH, valley style, ready for an evening of Dirt Jumping at Caerphilly to use up all the remaining light. Finally our activities were chased down by the compulsory sweet and sour chicken-balls and chips outside the castle!!

Rd1 Afan - The Wall

Eventually having made it out of Swansea, late thanks to jack ripping the handle off his garage door locking his bike in and some overly officious car park attendants up at uni. We were on the road with the prospect of The Walls long fireroad climb as a warm up and a painful wake up call. This, my first ride of the wall and as far as Mega training goes it really is one of the best. The trail is seriously Alpine feeling, the hot summer air and smell of pine trees makes for the start of an amazing ride. The views from the sides of the hill look down the near deserted valley down towards the welsh coast, stunning. Likewise the riding is top notch. Another full on descent fast, narrow, rocky that for an xc route really tests the nerve of us DH boys.


Rd2 Tredegar BMX

The track looked in great condition after having been groomed for the national up there the previous week. Jason's new pump/play track is now up and running and really finishes off the place. The view across from the start hill is now an unbroken mass of jumps and berms. The play track is also great for less experienced riders providing them an opportunity to get the feel of what a BMX track is about with out having to face a full sized track straight off. It is however incredibly tight so small wheels recommended.


Rd3 Valley Dh

Valley loom is so much fun!! This trail is loose drifty but even in a week since we were last there the ferns had grown. They were poised ready to grab you leaving no room for error. This is the perfect afternoon track with nice easy push, lots of sun and a cool breeze.



Rd4 Caerfilly DJ

This is still one of my favourite places to spend an evening. The sun goes down behind the trails and the orange hue of the dirt blends into the sunset. The jumps are big challenging and a lot of fun. More trails need to be this way they are built with corners and hips in mind so you do lots of changing of direction and makes it really lively and fun to ride. Rob was seriously on form. Not having much dirtjumping experience and on his 'sx trail' he was making it smoothly half way down the main line. He was more than proving our philosophy that one bike can be all thats needed to have fun in any type/style of riding.

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