ED’S TRANSITION PATROL ALLOY GX £4,299.95

The bike’s ready, the kit bag is by the door, all Ed needs is the all-clear

Like pretty much every other UK mountain biker, I suspect, riding for me has been on hold for the past two months. I have, of course, been making full use of my daily permitted exercise, and I’m thankful to have the local Bristol spots of Ashton Court and Leigh Woods within easy distance of my house. Both are pancake-flat and very mellow though, so a 160mm-travel enduro rig isn’t exactly the tool for the job. This means that my Patrol has been collecting dust – and not the good type of dust.

To while away the hours staring wistfully at it, I’ve taken the opportunity to fit some new parts in readiness for when restrictions lift fully and I can get back to South Wales. First up was a longer dropper

from OneUp Components. Although I couldn’t fault the smooth action of the BikeYoke REVIVE post that came on the bike, and the 185mm of drop it offers is far from short, my preference is to slam the saddle for steep descents, so I still found myself adjusting the post in the clamp. Now, for the first time in my life, that’s a thing of the past! OneUp’s new V2 post has a massive 210mm of drop – the most out there – and the seat tube on my large-sized Patrol was just long enough to squeeze it all in. Its travel can be adjusted down by either 10 or 20mm, but I’m finding it perfect at full height. All that remains to be seen is how silkily it’s moving after 1,000 cycles.

As you’ll know if you’ve kept up to speed with my previous long-term reports, it’s taken a bit of a trial and error with spring weights to get my rear shock soft enough. For this reason, I thought I was the perfect candidate to try out one of the new adjustable coils from American start-up Sprindex. Unlike adding preload to a shock, which simply ups the force needed to get it moving and screws up the small-bump sensitivity, Sprindex’s solution works by using a threaded plastic ring that fits into the steel spring, essentially reducing the number of coils available. Fewer coils equals a harder spring. It gives 40lb of adjustment range, and in my chosen size that equates to 390-430lb/in. I found it super-easy to fit and it’s soaked up Bristol’s best blue trails just fine – I can’t wait to try it on some bigger, burlier stuff in the Valleys! www.windwave.co.uk