So Hoc postponed his ride out from the 19th to the 26th November which meant I was able to put my name down, along with Jez, Neil and Matt, after a little maintenance on the Saturday morning I loaded the Beta and riding gear in the van ready for the morning.
Left my place at 0745hrs in the rain and headed for Bideford via Bovey Tracy and Winkleigh etc., luckily once past Moretonhempstead the rain stopped and it brightened up a lot, I arrived at Hocs just as Neil was unloading and we were shortly joined by Matt and Jez.
The bikes were KTM500, Beta 390, Honda CRF230 and KTM 690, looking around I was wondering if I should have fitted my other rear wheel with a Trialmaxx on as it seemed to be the tyre of choice up North, anyway off we set on what was meant to be a 105 mile scenic route, we had been warned of the first lane, 180-094, but everyone survived, then on to a couple of whiteys before dropping down to the foreshore via 180-136, Coffin lane and the first photo stop with a view down the river to Appledore and Instow, back up the lane we continued across the Torridge bridge and 180-095 and then 180-097, then on to Stony Cross and 180-112 with a few rocky steps. By this time the rain had started again, but we continued North to 180-078, then a bit of road work and across the river to Barnstable and on through Chivenor and Braunton to get us to the next bunch of lanes and 180-040, a rocky climb and then 180-201, 180-033, 180-166, 180-035, 180-034 and 180-026 then a claim lane, Stony Lane C032, then a relatively new addition, 180-215, partly tarmacked which will hopefully break up a bit more with time, then on to a pretty long flat lane, 180-027, as we got to the end of this lane, Hocs bike looked like it was crabbing a lot and on stopping at the end we all realized that he had a flat, as he was running Tubliss, first thing was to find the leak, pumping it back up a little we couldnt seem to find the leak, so a plastic bag was used to collect some water to pour over the tyre, still nothing!! It was flat again! We pumped it up again and we could hear it leaking, turned out it was a large split in the side wall which no plug was going to repair so off with the Tubliss and in with an inner tube, but with no rim lock, as its an integrated part of the Tubliss system so no throttle, happy riding so as not to spin the tyre on the rim and pumping it up extra hard, or so we thought, but we couldnt get it to stay up even with 3 or more Co2 canisters, a pump and a can of tyre weld!! So off it came to discover a small hole, had we pinched it putting it on or had it always been there as it was a used tube, well never know!! So in with a second new tube, whilst fitting this we had to move the propped up bike to allow a couple of Land Rover Defenders and a couple or Can-am ATVs through, finally with the puncture fixed it was time for Jez to leave us, we said our goodbyes and the rest of use continued on to Aylrescott Lane, a long whitey, then on to 180-019 and by this time we were realizing that their North Devon lanes and mud was different to down South, in that under our mud there is often a hard packed lane only a few inches underneath, but up here there was just more slippery mud!
Next was 180-114 and 180-018, then a little road work to take us down for a late lunch in Ilfracombe as we had lost over an hour on the puncture stop.
We filled up with fuel, but only one sandwich left in the garage so a trip to Lidl was also required before riding down to the harbour to eat lunch, there was already another large group or riders here so we went and introduced ourselves and found out that they were from Birmingham and were being shown around by someone from Tiverton.
After feeding ourselves we headed to 180-009, a long lane which is part of the South West Coastal Path, I remember riding this before and the views are normally stunning, but today we saw nothing through the fog and rain! We exited this lane and continued on the coast road to Lee Bay for a few more photos of the sea and the abandoned hotel, then on to Poole Farm and 180-017, then a quick stop at Woolacombe and another picture of the beach (lots of surfers) onto 180-021 with a horrible rut, then 180-024, then on to Croyde Bay where we did 180-192, 180-193, 180-029, then on to Nethercott and 180-030 as well as 180-031, by this time it was nearly dark so we made our way back through Braunton, Barnstable and on to Instow where we did our last lane, 180-077, in the dark and then back across the bridge to Bideford and Hocs place.It was a wet, but fun day with great friends, roll on the next one and a big thanks to everyone, especially Tony for showing us all around.
I have had reservations about the Tubliss system, Hoc's recent experience has convinced me to stick with mousses for now
It was an unfortunate combination of Tubliss with a Maxxis Trialmaxx tyre. Being able (on most occasions) to continue riding after a puncture is one of the great advantages of the Tubliss system.
On most tyres, with a normally stiff sidewall, you can continue to ride them totally deflated as the Tubliss acts as a 360deg rimlock and prevents the tyre coming off the rim. Routinely running only 4-5psi in the rear, I have finished a couple of rides without even realising the tyre was flat.
The Trialmaxx is a great tyre with superb grip but an exceptionally soft sidewall that means it can't be ridden flat.
Great report Russell, glad you doing it, I am useless at writing.
Just a bit of practice Neil
I encourage anyone to write up a report, spelling, grammar not needed, the news letter is defunct in the world of of DTRF
You already do a good job on reporting your lane/tree clearing activities, love the photos, more photos, videos even better, come on guys more write ups....
absolutely great to see these write ups on the forum, there use to hundreds of write ups along with ride outs advertised, banter, chat along with great stories of adventure/s
Great report Russell, glad you doing it, I am useless at writing.
Just a bit of practice Neil
I encourage anyone to write up a report, spelling, grammar not needed, the news letter is defunct in the world of of DTRF
You already do a good job on reporting your lane/tree clearing activities, love the photos, more photos, videos even better, come on guys more write ups....
absolutely great to see these write ups on the forum, there use to hundreds of write ups along with ride outs advertised, banter, chat along with great stories of adventure/s
I look forward to all write ups
My wife proof read it, and correct any grammar and spelling mistakes
I have had reservations about the Tubliss system, Hoc's recent experience has convinced me to stick with mousses for now
It was an unfortunate combination of Tubliss with a Maxxis Trialmaxx tyre. Being able (on most occasions) to continue riding after a puncture is one of the great advantages of the Tubliss system.
On most tyres, with a normally stiff sidewall, you can continue to ride them totally deflated as the Tubliss acts as a 360deg rimlock and prevents the tyre coming off the rim. Routinely running only 4-5psi in the rear, I have finished a couple of rides without even realising the tyre was flat.
The Trialmaxx is a great tyre with superb grip but an exceptionally soft sidewall that means it can't be ridden flat.
My tublliss have been hanging in the garage for years, been there tried that, I'll stick to mousses, basically Hoc had every tool to fix tubliss system, levers, repair kit and even a tube as a last resort, if your carrying all that you might as well just have a tube fitted from the start!!!!! I'll stick to a mousses and no other tools needed.
I have found that the sidewall of the maxiss trailmax is its most vulnerable part particularly with tubliss. At low pressures the sidewall seems to suffer pinch punctures and splits. The answere in part may be to keep the pressure over 10psi. It does help a little and doesn't seem to compromise grip too much.
Having said that my last ride out with Tony resulted in me riding for about 8 miles with a badly injured knee and a flat rear which was swapping sides randomly. It stayed on (as did i just ) but that's the best you can say about it. It was a lively half hour.
I have had reservations about the Tubliss system, Hoc's recent experience has convinced me to stick with mousses for now
It was an unfortunate combination of Tubliss with a Maxxis Trialmaxx tyre. Being able (on most occasions) to continue riding after a puncture is one of the great advantages of the Tubliss system.
On most tyres, with a normally stiff sidewall, you can continue to ride them totally deflated as the Tubliss acts as a 360deg rimlock and prevents the tyre coming off the rim. Routinely running only 4-5psi in the rear, I have finished a couple of rides without even realising the tyre was flat.
The Trialmaxx is a great tyre with superb grip but an exceptionally soft sidewall that means it can't be ridden flat.
My tublliss have been hanging in the garage for years, been there tried that, I'll stick to mousses, basically Hoc had every tool to fix tubliss system, levers, repair kit and even a tube as a last resort, if your carrying all that you might as well just have a tube fitted from the start!!!!! I'll stick to a mousses and no other tools needed.
I guess Tubliss are a bit Marmite - love them or hate them. Personally I think they are great: I don't run them with the Trialmaxx tyre (as Hoc knows - we have had the discussion) for this very reason. With a suitable tyre there is no need to carry any more than the 'dog turd' repair kit.
Mousses are also a matter of taste; I don't like that you can't vary the pressure as you want it and they shrink with age (come to think of it, I'm doing that myself ). There are also, of course, those (I'm not one of them) who care that mousses are not road legal.
If you've got Tubliss in good condition hanging in the garage I'll take them off you for a suitable amount of beer tokens, please PM me if you want to sell.
Yes Colin trailmax is too soft to ride flat, would work better with a enduro tyre, I have rode 50 miles with a flat enduro front with tubliss, Bit challenging on corners but do able with care.
Normally i can plug a nail or thorn puncture even a split, but this was a torn sidewall against the rim
-- Edited by hoc on Monday 4th of December 2023 11:11:08 AM
). There are also, of course, those (I'm not one of them) who care that mousses are not road legal.