LONG-TERM Riders MBUK

ED’S YT JEFFSY CORE 3 29 £3,749 + shipping

Ed’s been paying the price for his lacklustre maintenance efforts

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not always the most proactive when it comes to bike maintenance – and it repeatedly comes back to bite me. Like recently, when I got midway round a big loop of the Welsh Valleys before realising that my brake pads were ground down to the metal and the tyre plug I’d repaired my rear Maxxis Minion DHR II with was pulling out and leaking air. Cue a string of mild expletives and a lot of tyre sealant all over my hands, followed by some horrible rasping noises on the remaining downhills.

My mechanical oversights aside, the Jeffsy has stood up well to everything I’ve thrown at it so far. This includes the DT Swiss M 1900 wheels, which, despite being dinged pretty hard on a stray rock in the Wye Valley (not due to rider error in the slightest, of course!), have stayed tight and true, and the spoke key has remained in my toolbox. With new sintered pads in