Flippa

Ja, I'm going to fit a chin pad to it for those long, flat jeep track sections.

Some more pictures. At this point she is about 90% done. Just needs grips and to cut the steerer tube. Apologies for the poor quality.

Thanks. 1. I was specifically looking for Paragon style sliding dropouts. I'm not a fan of EBB's as they are known for their issues, and horizontal dropouts are not great with discs, having to adjust the caliper if you take the rear wheel out. There are very few stock bikes available in SA with sliding dropouts and I narrowed my choice down to the Kona Unit, Ragley TD1 and Ritchey P-29. The Ragley was out of my budget, I couldn't get the Ritchey in a medium until July 2012, so I went with the Kona. The Kona matches the geometry of my XTC the closest, plus it has the shortest chain stays, great for agility in a 29r. 2. I think the fork has an A-C of 465mm which I think is suspension corrected for 80mm. I know that Kona has OK'ed fitment of 100mm suspension forks for this frame. 3. Steel is real.

Thanks! I've converted them to tubeless using a 26r tubeless rubber strip and valve with Maxxis CrossMark LUST. That anodised green is an awesome match for the matt orange of the frame.

Got it from Maverick Cycles. They are distributors for Kona in South Africa. It took an absolute age for them to get it to me, but that's a story for another time. Looking forward to getting it going.

OK, so after wrestling unsuccessfully the whole of Sunday to fit headset cups, the frame is going to the LBS today to get them pressed in. On the bright side though, I got the bars (Ragley Carnegies), stem (KCNC Fly Ride) and seatpost (Truvativ Stylo). I'll post more pictures tonight.

Forget about the 29r and 26r fanboys. Test ride as many bikes as you can beg, borrow or steal. Make your choice on the one that feels best and meets your riding needs.

Great race. The trail was fantastic, some tricky sections to catch out the unwary, but overall, a good one to do next year. Just a note to the organizers, though. It's not reasonable to expect a bicycle negotiating a tricky ascent sharing the same track as a 4x4 negotiating a tricky descent. Also, the cars leaving through the finish area and driving up the road where the cyclists are coming down could have caused a nasty accident.

Racing tomorrow, Krugersdorp Game Reserve 40km. I'll give you a buzz tomorrow when we are on our way back to arrange to pick up the bars. Also need to get a headset, chain and seatpost and then she's done.

Now for the wheels.

Mmmmmm, 2012 Kona Unit with Kona P2 rigid fork.

This is what I found in the box.

After riding a "converted to SS" 26" Giant XTC for a year, I decided to take the plunge and get myself a SS specific frame. The order I placed on 7 December arrived today.

Get hold of rad006 on this forum by PM. He rides a tricycle at the big races, 94.7, Amashova, etc. I'm sure he can help you.

Is the chain not too long?

Great wheelset. I've got a set of 2010's and tyres are easy to fit, they've needed no attention except to clean (I have white ones ), and are nice and stiff.

Rode it this time last year. Was absolutely fantastic. Wish I could get down that way more often.

I just ride. If I had to give it a name, it would be cross country, trail, marathon, endurance type stuff.

Maverick Cycles in Pmb is the official Kona distributor for SA. I'll reserve judgement at this point.

Why not? I don't give a toss what people think when they see me in my lycra, riding my rigid, 26 inch, singlespeed. Although, looking back at the above sentence, maybe that's why I am a pariah.

Try www.iceid.co.za.

Yip. Trick is to let your upper body and arms be your suspension. There's plenty rocky ascents and descents where I ride.

26" Giant Anthem X with 120mm Reba 26" Giant XTC rigid SS 29" Kona Unit rigid SS

I've been riding a carbon rigid fork for the last year, one of those no-name, carbon tube with aluminium dropout and crown jobbies. I ride predominantly at Rietvlei (blue and green routes) and Thaba Trails (green route) and its great. There's a little bit of brake chatter under heavy front wheel braking, but otherwise its great to have so little weight to lift in front. WARNING!!!!! Subjective opinion below! I feel that its made me a smoother rider. I pick my lines more carefully, but I don't seem to be riding any slower.

Height: 166cm Discipline: MTB Bike type: Rigid SS 29 Cranklength: 175mm Front blade combination: 32 Cassette: 18 Discipline: MTB Bike type: Dual sus 26 Cranklength: 175mm Front blade combination: 22/32/44 Cassette: 11-34