Yeah, it was George/Tom/Moshe/Chris and some other guys which names I forgot.
I haven’t seen any one do the bigger stuff, but haven’t been there for long either.
I was looking at the one off the “wall”, that’s something I can work towards to having the balls to do it if I could go there a few times more. That biggest one though…
Miles better than JFG? The thing that really sells JFG to me is that it’s only 8km from my house and I can go on the scooter.
I’ve got a Konig in the post so to speak, Andrew’s going to bring it to my house at the weekend!
Give me a few weeks to get it sorted and I’ll try to arrange Johnny, Barry and us a shuttle day with Johnny’s bro. They did it on Saturday at Beitou apparently but Johnny smashed his hand up pretty badly and ended up in the hospo! How much are you willing to pay for a day of shuttling? $500? $1000? I don’t know how much he’d want. It might do a tank of fuel that would do him for $1000 like.
In my opinion, yes, way better than JFG. More flow, more (good) jumps, longer, definitely more fun to ride.
About the price for shuttling I don’t really care that much. When I do Wuzushan I pay a taxi 350 dollar just to get me to the top once and I find it well worth it. On Speedtrap I’d reckon if you want to spend some time playing around on the middle section (which is the most fun and you can walk back up yourself to practice some jumps), then I think you’ll be pretty exhausted after like 4 runs total.
Great news about the Konig, already bought it or just checking?
Who’s Barry?
I just spoke to Johnny on the phone, he’s broken his little finger and can’t ride for a month. Barry is another guy from JFG that can speak English. He has an orange Banshee 29er hardtail, a Mongoose Boot’R and something else I’ve forgotten. He’s a good bloke, I think Johnny rides with him quite a bit. He drives a silver Toyota SUV, wears glasses, is a bit chubby. Know the one?
I’ve told Andrew I definitely want one, he said they have an orange/long (23.5" top tube) “on clearance special” at $30k. Johnny said the retail was close to $50k last year so I think it’s a decent deal. It comes with the Marzocchi Roco air shock which wouldn’t be my first choice but it’s easy to change later on. I’m going to have it resprayed fluorescent yellow before I ride it. It could take some time as it comes with 12mm maxle rear dropouts and I don’t have a 12mm hub, just a QR one. QR dropouts “could take a couple of months” to get. He’s going to give me some +/- 1 degree headset cups too, so I can have 66.5, 67.5 or 68.5 deg head angle.
I’m planning to chuck everything from my STP onto it. All I need to buy to get it running is a new backplate for my chainguide. Everything else will go straight over after I get the QR dropouts. I eventually came to the conclusion that I want a hundred thousand dollar bike but I don’t need one. I talked to the wife two days ago, she approved the money but I know I’d be wasting it really. From what Pommes said about our track I think the 130mm Konig might just be the perfect bike for me. I’m thinking to maybe get some Rock Shox Domain forks with the U-turn travel adjust, 115-160mm travel.
Get it together, put in a day of shuttles before the next race, go into it confident of a podium, finish 13th, cry about all the money down the pan!
Do they ever have races at the speedrap do you know?
Guess I know who your talking about.
No races at Speedtrap as far as I know. I heard that the local farmers are not happy about “those damn downhillers” crossing through their bamboo plantations. Therefore organising a race there would probably only attract negative publicity.
By the way, the most fun part of Speedtrap could be done without problems on your current bike. Then we could just meet up at the bottom, take my car to top and leave it there, ride down + play around on middle part and later you drive me to top to pick up my car. So if you ever have time for a couple of hours + car available, let me know!
Will do cous!
The flow is coming Roel.
Saturday I did 3 hrs single handed on the pumptrack to make it better. Today me and six other blokes did an hour on the pumptrack. The flow is coming for sure!
Johnny came over to give me his old forks. I’m going to just use them for as long as I need to then give them back if or when I get some new forks.
I picked up my new chainguide yesterday and sent the frame off for repainting. It’s an exciting time for me this is!
I’ve found some Shimano Hone cranks on Ruten for $2700 which would fit like a glove. The thing is, I’ve read on the internet (not from shimano though) that they have an aluminium bottom bracket spindle. Have you ever had any Hone cranks? Can you confirm or deny the aluminium spindle? I’ve got my wife to ask the seller but it’s a long and painstaking process which I should be doing myself!
Wondering have you guys been out to Ilan County recently? Was hiking in the hills behind Wai’ao last week and there are wide dirt trails and roads everywhere. Seems the county has been clearing a lot of old trails in the past year. Looked like some good potential riding.
I’ve never been riding there but I went surfing there quite a few times when I first got to TW and the guy I stayed with, Pablo, had a mountain bike and he said he used it there. I never thought about it but the hill is pretty steep hey. Maybe I’ll get my wife to give his shiela a call to ask about it. It could be combined with a surf trip - morning in the water, arvo on the bikes.
Sorry, no experience with Hones.
When will ur bike be complete?
[quote=“jaame”]
Can you confirm or deny the aluminium spindle?[/quote]
what else would you like it to be? No worries about that…
Count me in on the surf & ride trip - My wife and me will land on April 8th. 
From what my internet research has told me the Hone cranks were available in two versions - three rings with aluminium spindle or double ring and bashguard setup with steel BB spindle and pedal inserts. I don’t want to be putting cranks with an aluminium BB spindle on my F’about bike. It probably won’t break but it’s designed for XC and Shimano have stopped making ally BB spindles now which tells me they weren’t that good.
I’m getting my frame back at the weekend so all I’m waiting for are the QR dropouts. According to Corsair they are in the process of having a new batch made at the factory. Maybe I’ll have to wait another month. I have my new chainguide and that’s the only thing from my STP that won’t fit the Konig frame. Literally everything else is the same right down to the seatpost diameter. Unreal.
I’m planning to get a few other new things but when it rolls is really down to the dropouts. I’ll probably get some new wheels in the summer with Hope hubs and bring them back with me. I’m debating whether or not to bother with the 12mm Maxle rear end. The Konig has a very small, tight unified swingarm. I can’t see the 12mm Maxle maing any difference to stiffness on this particular frame but it’s certainly less convenient than a normal QR. What advice would you give?
How long are you staying in April?
[quote=“jaame”]
1: I can’t see the 12mm Maxle maing any difference to stiffness on this particular frame but it’s certainly less convenient than a normal QR. What advice would you give?
2: How long are you staying in April?[/quote]
1; I think getting a cheap (Maxle-suitable) rear wheel will solve all your problems quickly. Also, it’s not inconvenient at all.
2; leaving May 5th
I went to look at some wheels but I’m a picky bugger and if I’m going to part with cash it has to be exactly what I want. I’d rather wait and get the ones I want later. Spending $4000 on a crappy heavy wheel that I only use for four months isn’t me. The wheels I have are fine for now, I don’t mind the wait for the dropouts. It’s still shitty weather isn’t it.
Are you and the shiela thinking of moving here? Do you speak English or Deutsch to her?
[quote=“jaame”]
1.It’s still shitty weather isn’t it.
2.Are you and the shiela thinking of moving here?[/quote]
- As long as it gets better in April…
When I’m back in the company, we might even be able to find you a wheel, will see. - If she likes it there; I definitly do. So far, she only been to Taipei. Yes, english at home… Can we stay on topic here?
I’ve been transporting my bike to the riding area by tying it upside down onto the handrail on my wife’s scooter for several months. It occasionally jumps gears which is bad news as its pedalling backwards the whole time with the back wheel on the floor. A couple of weeks ago it snagged and fucked the mech hanger and twisted the mech to shit. It’s a sram x5 which is like toffee so I bent it back and got a new hanger. Today it happened again but one of the jockey wheels has chunked off this time.
There were a lot of people there today but still no word as to when the next race will be. I wish they’d put five or six dates down at the start of the year and stick to them.
I found a shop that sells the pink Muc-Off bike cleaner near my house too!
Taipei show was a good day out on Sat. Saw some stuff I’m interested in and that.
I still haven’t got my frame back from the paint shop. I’ve got my chainguide, forks, headset and cable housing waiting now and I’ve painted the silver bits of my brakes black to mimic Saint. I think I’m going to get the Hone cranks with aluminium BB spindle this arvo. I was thinking about the strength thing and I reckon they’ll be OK. Even an aluminium BB in large diameter has to be at least as strong as the old school steel square taper BBs of yesteryear. I never broke one of those, even in my jumping off everything I could get up on trials phase. If aluminium steerer tubes are strong enough the BB spindle should be too right? I hope so!
Just stumbled upon this:
That’s a sick video hey, is it the Red Bull urban downhill in Peru?
He’s not holding back and that bit where he’s at the left of the road going down the steps just letting the brakes off with the handrail inches away… I bet a few people came a shitter there. Certainly “pucker inducing”!
Coming Sunday there’s a race of some sort in Taichung:
http://www.bears-bike.com/news.asp?id=90
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5bYt4NV_pg&feature=youtu.be
From the video the track looks not at all that exciting, at least I’m not scared at all.
But anyway, think I’m gonna head over there and join the race together with Georg and some of the local Speedtrap riders. Probably will take both bikes down there, because if the track is really like shown in the video, the Glory might be just a “little bit” overkill 
Judging by that video you’ve got a pretty good chance of victory as long as Mr. Fan doesn’t turn up.
I have to take care of the Bubu on Sunday and I feel rough as guts but if I had my new bike rolling I’d move heaven and earth to get involved!
The paint job is finished so I’m told by Johnny, not the guy who actually has the frame, so hopefully I’ll have it back tomollow.
I sold the standard Roco shock from the new frame, I’ve ordered a new one and it’s going to take a while to arrive along with the dropouts…