Some European Advice Please

Hi there,

I now live in lovely mainland europe (Denmark). I am hoping the wonderful retrobike community can help me with a couple of things.

1. Are there any cheap mail order sorts that will deliver to me in Denmark. I know Wiggle will from the UK but there must be some other from Europe.

2. Which are the most fun Danish or North German enduro type events (don't want to waste my commuting fitness!!) The ones I have found also all seem to be in Septemeber.

Thanks for your help.

cheers

Matt

Hi there,

Germany has a flourishing on-line market for Bikebits, so much that there's a sticky on the Dutch forum just for German webshops:

http://www.mountainbike.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=23813

Personally, I have good experiences with Hi Bike, Bike-components.de and Rose Versand, 3 of the bigger ones. lately I'm finding that CRC and Wiggle will beat the Germans on price with the current exchange rates. But German products, notably Schwalbe tires, are still the better deal in Germany. It's worth checking for special offers in each.

Enjoy!!

Matt.

I'm an exiled Brit aswell. Where are you in Denmark?

Can fill you in on probably everything as I've been stranded here since 94.

If you happen to be in the Cph area, I can take you out for a spin on the local trails.

Both Wiggle and CRC are very popular here, as well as all the online German shops.

As for enduro type races, if I haven't misunderstood what you mean, there are 12 and 24 hour races every year (the 24 is next month.) You can also check the local mtb club pages when you get better at Danish. The first link is the biggest site and is used by mtb'ers in general...in a club or not, the other two are smaller clubs and are mostly used by the club members I think.
http://mtb.dk/
http://www.hmtbk.dk/
http://www.teamhustler.dk/

EDIT: can see you are in Esbjerg from other posts.

whats it like in Denmark for mountain biking? only asking as atm i'm working over their every other week, i fly into Billund and stay in Esjberg, and so far i have not seen 1 hill, its all completely flat!

It's pretty nice on Zealand, though the whole country is flat or with small rolling hills. The trails around here are quite nice pieces of singletrack, and very nice to ride in the summer when/if it's dry. There are some hilly climbs that are short but steepish, so a couple of hours of riding can tire you out quite a bit. I'm not to familiar with the Esbjerg scene, but I'm sure there are some good trails around. I recently posted a link to youtube with a digital camera taped to my bottle cage to show one of the trails here. Ok quality, fun to make, but not sure how much of a sense of the trail you get.

Kona Paul":3gd7fac8 said:

It's pretty nice on Zealand, though the whole country is flat or with small rolling hills. The trails around here are quite nice pieces of singletrack, and very nice to ride in the summer when/if it's dry. There are some hilly climbs that are short but steepish, so a couple of hours of riding can tire you out quite a bit. I'm not to familiar with the Esbjerg scene, but I'm sure there are some good trails around. I recently posted a link to youtube with a digital camera taped to my bottle cage to show one of the trails here. Ok quality, fun to make, but not sure how much of a sense of the trail you get.

Click to expand...

cheers 4 the info, not that my employer would let me take 1 of my bikes over! i found 1 bike shop in Esbjerg selling Cannondale & Specialized but the prices where alot, well compared to UK prices, but then i find Denmark a very expensive country, luckily my company cover all my costs

Here's part of one of the local forests on a large path connecting two mtb trail sections. This was a nice evening ride a few weeks ago.

thesneaker":gxy3v9k4 said:

whats it like in Denmark for mountain biking? only asking as atm i'm working over their every other week, i fly into Billund and stay in Esjberg, and so far i have not seen 1 hill, its all completely flat!

Click to expand...

Billund isn't too far from some really good woodland - we often drive past Egtved on the way to Legoland or the airport and at some point I'll get round to taking a bike with me.

Otherwise Vejle / Silkeborg are very good.

I've found some really great rides on Fyn now I've been here for a couple of years. Sorry Paul but Copenhagen area is rubbish in comparison - lived there for 12 years - and last couple of years I lived there did all my off-roading on a cyclocross bike.

Epic rides always involve a few transitionary miles on tarmac unfortunately but I'm riding my MTB a lot more than I've ever done before in Denmark.

Couple of things I really have a hard time with in Denmark though. It's always train train train.... And Lycra lycra lycra....

Cafe, cake shop and baggy shorts type riding just doesn't exist in this country and it's doing my head in.

dbmtb":2irnrkil said:

last couple of years I lived there did all my off-roading on a cyclocross bike.

It's always train train train.... And Lycra lycra lycra....

Click to expand...

We have a lot of this here in Holland as well the "hard rechtdoor" kind of riders. They like the farmers dirt roads, wide, long and straight and are always out to punish each other on speed and more speed. Lycra, hardtails and semislicks pumped to 50 psi are mandatory. IMHO Most of them would be better off on a 29er, but they are typically very conservative in their choices.

I attribute this to "not enough hills" which is definitely the case in Holland. I reckon when there's some more challenging terrain around there's also more "baggy shorts" riding.

Enjoy!!