lloydkayak

So I lost the battle with the boss and have been sent to secunda for a month for work. I am staying in a B&B for most of that time and have brought my Giant Trance X3 and gear to hopefully occuply my afternoons after work. Anyone know of any general areas/ tracks one could ride in the area. Note: I am not expecting wonders but maybe there are some hubbers stuck out here... AWEH!

Hijack on : "Just be careful with your cheapie foods that are sold at places like fruit and veg city, under names like power pooch and super dog or something... They have had a hectic mould outbreak and dogs are dying within a couple of hours of ingesting it (my gf is in final year at Onderstepoort and they have had many many deaths over the last month or so) It pays to check out your premium brands like Vet's Choice etc... they might be more expensive but you end up feeding your dog way less, our rottie male gets two cups a day, his R600 a bag Eukanuba lasts almost 2 months and the food is way better for your dog... Also less poop scopping... breath I assume would be better and as the previous posters said, get some dog tooth paste from a vet shop, dogs like the taste and it makes their breath way less offensive" Hijack off

Got mine this week... Awesome magazine, I want the Specialized Goodies

just an update on the serfas... Did some riding with it and I am very impressed. It cost R400 and the difference on the ride was very impressive. Not the prettiest looking saddle but seriously comfortable

I bought a Serfas Tegu yesterday (All I could find in the >145mm category was this or the Rav X Race) Pretty cool that the Serfas Saddles come with a 90 Day comfort guarantee and if you not happy you can return it within 90 days. Doing a 20km this afternoon to check it out. Its replacing my Fizik Gobi that the bike came with... I am a BIG guy and my seat bones are way off the 133mm saddles Those looking for a Gobi keep an eye on the classifieds, I will be posting my well used saddle there. Whats a reasonable price? It has a few nics but looks like it will still go a while?

Also, having watched the "air being pulled out of suspension" Johan is correct in saying it is cavitation (fluid suddenly exposed to a negative pressure that causes the water to "boil" out. It is a huge problems in hydraulic design of pumps and eats impellors. I wouldn't think the pulling back on the plunger really makes that much of a difference. Bleeding the air out of the caliper and lever however is crucial (I found this out the hard way)

I have attached a pic of how the "kit" came out in the end... My first issue was the O-rings were too big and I quickly went back to the hardware store to buy smaller ones and replacement sprinkler nipples as I broke one trying to "make a plan" without the orings... Next and main issue was what to use to create an airtight seal between the hose and the syringe and nipple, cable ties do not work. In a pinch I used thin wire twisted tight but am told that there are proper small little hose clamps one can buy which would have been a big help. After those issues I am happy with how it worked. The nipples screw in perfectly. I eventually managed to bleed the brakes properly and theyworked as usual for my ride in the morning. I will post more pics once I refine the kit

I will surmize that someone placed the polisher too close to the big big magent and switched it on... someone got fired thats for sure

After removing the wrong screw last night and ending up with brake fluid everywhere I am having to do an emergency bleed after work so that I can ride the Dirtmax ride in Parys tomorrow morning. I did some research (cant get the kit out here easily at all) and bought the following : - 200ml Dot 4 fluid - 2 x 20ml Syringes - Clear Plastic Hose and O rings - 2 x Micro Sprayer Sprinkler Head All of the above cost R35... the sprinkler heads are like the ones as shown and they have a little 5mm plastic nipples attached to the bottom of the sprinkler... Hopefully this will work

I just bought my first full sus trail bike off the hub and was invited along by a kayaking buddy to join in on their sunday ride at Van Gaalen's cheese farm in Harties... With the river section being a wash out because of the intense rain the route was changed to ride the pofadder loop and then come back up to do the daggapad?? loop. It was super intense, especially the decent from the top of pofadder but after that super technical section, and some legendary superman impressions, we hit the single track through the forest, easily the best single track I have ever ridden... what an awesome experience!! definitely recommended!

I see you in Cape Town Get to Cycle Factory Store and look at maybe a nabraska or something... Really good prices on their sale

Dude, I feel like a merida salesman... find an indian bike store to negoatiate You can get the Merida TFS 1000D LITE for under R10k I had prices of R8500 on that one and R6999 on the 800D As far as I know the 800D is out of stock though...

I would say it depends on what you are paying for the bikes... Right now merida has brought out pricing that is better than what you can get a similar specced silverback for... I love my merida. You could pick up the 1000D lite for R9k and it weighs 11.7kg standard!!! Amazing race bike and good review in the latest tread magazine

As a new MTBek trying to decide... I rode some sweet single track yesterday on my ancient merida that is 2" to big for me. Fell off at every technical turn and rode home with more mud on my ass and legs than on the bike and guess what... It was awesome!!! who cares about wheels... haha

Currently Merida has great stock and if you chat nicely with your local dealer they can organise some incredible prices... One-Twenty 800D is around R12k and the One-Twenty 1500D is around R16-R17k Really good components for those prices!! But they have excess stock where everyone else has nothing...

I have been looking hard for a replacement to my old merida hard tail. I disregarded FS at first because they cost more than I was willing to invest at this stage. then I found a specialised stumpjumper fsr for 11k that fell through Now I am thinking that I might get a FS for a reasonable price. I am looking at the large trance x3 currently in the classifieds here Does anyone have experience on these bikes. The problem with this specific one is I would need to upgrade the front to have a FD ie. shifters, chain rings/crankset, FD what would these upgrades cost me realistically?

I wasnt really doubting the Alex rims... More the suitability of the XD-LITE for use by a prop not a race snake They look the business Thanks for all the help guys

Check out the Merida 1000D Lite... You can pick it up for between R8500-R9500 at some shops... they have dropped the recommended retail It is very very nice

Thank You... I will report back once this is done OFF TOPIC So these arent too bad for a biker built like a prop?

You guys just made my morning... Johan by get the wheel re-built are we talking get the guy at the LBS to tweak it or rather rebuild the wheel from scratch? I bought it from some indian dudes in potch for a real good price an al man... So thinking it makes more sense to take it to a clued up LBS

So yesterday I eventually caved and bought a Merida TFS 1000 D Lite... Very happy with the bike, looks awesome, good components and is light for a stock standard (11.7kg) While riding it in the parking lot I hopped the bike maybe 3 times with the wheels not getting more than I would say 20cm off the ground Took the beauty home and while admiring it on the bike stand, spinning the wheels I noticed that the back wheel was already out of true, a little. I know that the Alex rims on the bike arent the best but man, it was barely any air at all. I do weigh 110kg Could it just be that the spokes were not set properly in the initial build (read not all tight enough) and the wheel just needs a good trueing? I am half keen to take it back to the guys and demand my cash back (A bit extreme perhaps) I will post pics of the legend looking bike soon

I am beginning to think that I will rather buy a good used hard tail for a lot less than R10k... fox fork, good enough components Then look out for a top end frame (at a good dea - morewood or anthem x or something) to buy when I am more serious about mtb-ing then build across what I have and slowly end up with a killer top end machine... Man kayaking is way simpler than this biking stuff

I am stuck in many a decision : - Go hard tail or full suspension - Buy new or used - to 29 or not to 29 The latest question to pose to the knowledgable hubbers... I have found quite a nice price on a Cube XMS 2011 Lower spec dually but for the price of most hard tails and it seems to be a very good entry level bike. Would you buy one? Or would you buy a used hardtail and save up for the ultimate soft tail? http://www.cube-bike.co.za/images/stories/XMS/xms%20image.jpg

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If cycle lab has the merida for 10.5k it must be more around the 8.5k I found at a lot of places... haha