This was the first mtb race of my season, in fact, it was the first mtb race of my life, and it may well be my last. I had spent the previous week on bike choice and foolishly harboured the idea that an orange Nomad would give me an advantage on a technical course. In case this was unfounded, I had tried my 2003 Marin East Peak and although this was lighter on the climbs the Rockshox Pilot fork was the main weakness. A generous offer of a Blur LT seemed the sensible option and a comparison run or two over bridleways and a little off-piste illuminated the advantages of the VPP counter rotating links over a standard four bar configuration.
On this spring day, it seemed lovely and warm arriving at 10 a.m. and after a change of tyres and a puncture repair, I set ready for a practice lap.
Unfortunately, time was against me so I rolled around the field for a warm up before heading to the start line. A familiarity lap was probably unnecessary as the course would be clearly marked and I could take the first lap easy before powering through the last three laps finishing with a sprint to the line. Good plan that.
At the line, Mike was waiting on his Orange. Prudence said start slow and try to ride evenly paced and then the gun went and so did Mike. I had never seen that Orange go so fast and it was the last I saw of him for quite some time.
Using a heart monitor to ensure I would last four laps, I had determined an upper limit of 170 as a maximum so I immediately went to 180. I was in last place and I do not mean just behind a line of riders I mean ten metres behind after only one hundred metres. Unless Lance Armstrong’s old Motorola team were in disguise as a bunch of middle-aged men then it seemed a few people had started too quickly.
After a few minutes, I began to catch a few riders and as their adrenaline surge ended, the pace in front began to fade. I made progress through a few riders until a few of us missed a turn and we went the wrong way. At the road, we turned around and retraced out steps. We were last and a long way back now. Our race was over for the day and in the first lap so maybe a familiarity lap would have been better or even a few signs that said “Stop, not race route” for us race novices.
I spoke to several people on the way around and rode along with one of my fellow detourers who had the best encouragement of the day when several little people called “come on Grandad!” on every lap.
I also tagged along with one of the Southdown girls for a bit before she eventually pulled away as youth exerted its advantage.
My favourite bike of the day was not any of the lightweight carbon race machines but a Specialized in bright orange. Can’t think why exactly…
I was still running at 9mph according to my Garmin Gps readout and was remaining within my 170 heart rate limit but I could feel the hills and the heat were beginning to pay.
A few cheers at the start/finish line helped immeasurably but my legs had no zing after lap two.
So overall, would I recommend it to you? Perhaps, but only if you like racing your riding friends and you do not mind it hurting a bit.
I did learn that the advantage of a lightweight hardtail on the climbs offsets the lack of suspension in other areas; that weather conditions may be the most important factor as although the heat punished everyone the older and the least fit seemed to suffer disproportionately.
As for times and positions Alec’s 2:41 was the best race time. Samantha Bryant who rode with some of us in Whiteways last year won the girl’s race and was second in the boys! However, the best point made to me was by Kim Bang Sorensen riding in his Sussex-mtb jersey when he said that Ian Petherbridge had won his group easily, with an improved margin from last year, in 2:12. Kim’s own 2:38 put him in second place again but the fact he pointed out his rival’s achievement rather than his own was a generous touch.
As for my own lowly 16th, I learned that Father Time has caught and well and truly passed me.
marin
last bike
The last bike I need to buy…ever. Continue reading
East Peak
Bought April 2003 after reading extensively about a range of bikes within the $1k to $2k range Test rides on a range of demonstration models clearly showed a wide variance in the strengths and weaknesses of different manufacturers and even different ranges.Some mainstream models, e.g. Fisher, seemed poor value and surprisingly models within any range could vary enormously, e.g. Trek, where the promising Fuel was disappointing but the Liquid felt considerably better. Test rides on several paper possibilities proved disappointing especially strong contenders from Cannondale and Specialized. The Epic was originally publicised as a full suspension bike but rode like a hardtail and the Enduro which should have been a strong contender was eliminated in part due to a poor set-up on a trial bike.Eventually the VPP emerged as the future although the actual success of different suspensions seemed to ally more closely with the geometry of the frame and less than expected with the difference of the fundamental mechanics of the system.Of the Marin range each one seemed to have more detrimental points than beneficial ones as if the differences had been forced in order to extend the range to reach particular price points rather than to offer clearly different levels of performance.The East Peak was bought because the Mount Vision seemed expensive and I was advised away from the Skareb fork. The brakes were upgraded to Shimano discs but apart from that the bike started as standard. Moving up from a Hardrock the bike seemed an improvement in every department but a better bike makes a better rider and a better rider finds the limitations. The worst one of these was the somewhat flexible Pilot fork which was only suitable for a lighter weight rider and limited the bikes rough ground abilities severely compared to the Fox replacement.In fact it had to be returned early on for re-building. Other characteristics included a less than rigid rear end which provided sketchy handling on downhill sections and a rapid ramp up over large bumps which can catch the unwary.The strength of the bike is as a long distance cross country cruiser and not as a single track or play bike but it can be encouraged towards anything as several thousand miles from SDW to Wales can testify. It is not recommended as a ride straight out of the ski cabine at Deux Alps.
The main downside of the bike was the maintenance factor. The astonishingly cheap headset survived one brief clean and grease before complete submission. However the main problem area has been the Quad links. Although the mud clearance is good both links act as collectors and this kills the bearings. The bearings were changed continuously either in pairs or in full sets of eight. Some lasted a few months others as little as a few weeks. The original two piece links were upgraded to one piece links and this has been a partial success. The problem is due to several factors. The sideways flex of the frame causes a grinding effect , the quality of the actual bearings and the poor seal of the bearings.
American bikes suffered from warranty repairs and the bearings were supposedly upgraded to Japanese units. This may be a solution for US conditions but sometimes the seals and grease do not last one bad mud ride. Changing to a fully waterproof grease has been the key to keeping the mud, chalk and clay to the outside but the one piece links, although improving the rigidity , reduce access to cleaning and re-greasing two of the bearings.
Jon Whyte has stated that the external mounting of the links was an area he revisited before designing the new E5. All of the current models now have an improved rear trail arm increasing rigidity but that might not be a complete solution. Early on some of the through bolts snapped and this seemed to be a known problem suggesting a quality problem with the bolts. Bushes and washers have also all being changed and although that should be expected with high mileage the overall aftertaste is one of mediocre quality.
Other kit lasted well with the best component being the Shimano Deore brakes which have been 100% reliable with no leaks, few squeaks and with excellent dry and wet stopping power although less than a more expensive system, e.g. Hope M4.
With trail bikes all moving towards six inch travel a fairly heavy four inch would seem to be edging towards the end of its lifetime.
Buy it again? Perhaps. Keep it as long? No. Buy it now? I would rather have a Nomad.
Brightonmtb.org 