Bos

Ah Man I miss that place. Good to see the Phantom Pass DH open again. What was it like? Did you get to ride the singletracks up at Simola? Some sweet BC like goodness up there.

Know the feeling dude!

Ive done the 60 a vouple of times, really love this race. Never thought of doing the 30km before, but I'm sooo unfit and need some kind of motivation. Did the 30km still include the singletracks?

New Silverback that launched last week?! Nice looking bike. Their top dog Marathon bike looks amazing. Although not for this thread.

So I hit Helderberg On Sunday morning. Man I forgot how fast that middle bit is. So much fun. I rode it once last year in May, so hitting jumps and drops is like hitting them blind, which adds to the rush for sure. The climb to the top.. Pretty much killed me in that wind though. Better get fit If I want to do any real Enduro's this year.

Great event. The route has always been real mtb with a good mix of singletrack and jeeptrack. Pretty rocky but not unlike most races around here. Makes it interesting though. Bit to unfit this year, but really great event.

I think a 90deg side on shot would have showed it better. The perspective is balancing it out in the photo. Never knew he was running it. Did he run it last year?

Ol Steel city is quite the unit! Good to see him still involved and enjoying Mtb' ing

You have much to learn son! https://bmxdirect.net/category/grips/ From back in my dirt jumping days when half my bike was made up of BMX parts I would shop at bmxdirect. I got a couple of pairs of BMX grips because they were so cheap. The ones I got are not for sale anymore but are similar to these.. I know they are not lock-on, but I don't have issues with grips turning, unless I've had a crash and sand gets in between the bar and grip. PreviousNext STRANGER QUAN KRATON GRIP GUMZAR125.00 In stock

About the same..?

Might end up trying the Paarl DH, should be in good condition after the provincial. Will ask the wife If she will drive me up and down a few times while the kids are getting car sick in the back.. CHANCES!!?? That Saaltjie Climb is a fricken killer. Weather will be perfect though.. should be mid twenties.

Theres a DH Bikehub team and the password is posted on the Downhill thread.. Perhaps try the same password? It was something silly, try "bikehub"?? More importantly.. Who's jointing me for a Jonkershoek Saturday morning? Should be mint after the rain. I need some new mates since the others are always full of excuses (snotty knee high ones)when I want to ride.

Has anyone entered the Pinkbike Enduro Fantasy league? Cant be asked to try find a Bikehub or SA league to join. https://www.pinkbike.com/contest/fantasy/enduro/ Can the season get going already!?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall initial tests suggesting a 180mm bike that pedals like a trailbike.. Whats not to like

Looks a bit like a pregnant dog dunnit

At first these bikes looked hideous, but its starting to grow on me. Great riding, this young lady rips! Nice trails though https://www.vitalmtb.com/v/36408?width=780&height=440'

Another vote for the 29'' I think its all going in that direction anyway. Very interesting to see how in the Enduro-mtb mag, trailbike catagory bikes have gone from averaging 120/130mm to 150mm. I think a 140 rear end is enough. I guess it depends how you dress it up as well. https://enduro-mtb.com/en/trail-bike-3000-group-test/ https://enduro-mtb.com/en/high-end-trail-bike-group-test/ https://enduro-mtb.com/en/best-trail-bike-you-can-buy/ in the earliest test 28% of bikes were 29'' in the last, 61 were 29'' In my humble opinion, as someone also interested in the mythical no compromise one bike quiver (its all a compromise BTW) in this day and age I think the biggest two factors in the one bike quiver is weight and the height of the front end. If you can keep the front end as low as possible, even better adjustable.. you're winning. Weight, In the distance game, it will always be a factor. Therefore, get two wheelsets, since swapping wheels are about as much haste as one would want to go through, but also quite an important part when it comes to confidence,ability,weight and strength.

You sound well stoked I haven't had a bunch of modern enduro /trail bikes like a bunch of the guys but I did recently go from a 110R/120Fmm bike to a 135R/140F. The confidence it adds is mind blowing. I'm loving it. and As you said, I typically blast into hairy sections hot and the wheels and skin ends up paying the price. I've actually gone over to a convertible full-face lid, Im a father and ever so slightly more responsible now:) Amazing how well the Vitus seems to climb!? To me the biggest drawback is the high front, when things get steep. Attempting to answer some q's.. 1. Maxxis, most online shops stock them. Trailboss, I havent seen anything wider then 2.3's in SA, Dont discount some of the faster rolling semislick type tyres that still corner well, If you're not riding wet much, they roll unbelievably well. 2. 30% sag.. Cant tell, what do you weigh? I took my volume spacer out, I'm only 72kg's kitted though. So If you're heavier, perhaps you should try it? 3. Cant tell, but If you burped the rear you might have been running to little pressure? I cant get myself to run those things since they do make your wheels feel I've been naughty/lazy to check my pressures of late and have been awarded with some dings, front and rear.. I ride about 27 PSI front and 30 Rear but that is very weight dependent. Listening to some WC circuit Mech's on the Downtime Podcast, they say how they typically increase the tire pressure as the rider gets closer to race day. Since the speeds increase. This makes sense. It all depends at what speed you're hitting the rocks.

https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/OneUp,37548/blog/02/08/2019/entry/1911 Just to take the ease off your Mondays.. I love this.. Its what I want to ride all day long.

The big difference, to me, is how a simple deg or two can make the worlds difference in confidence. On sections one use to hang on for dear life, one suddenly starts looking for even faster lines or ways to gap stuff. BUT, One eventually gets use to that too.. My 2 C, (and its just what I've read) Is that to big a taboo is made of the offset and that even to the pro's the difference is almost negligible.

Nice looking bike. Not going to be cheap though.

@ Headshot. Its made by a ICAN and they called it the P8..

I'm on a Chinese carbon 135mm Horst-link varient. Looks a bit like a Trek EX. Reasonably updated geo. Really wanted a one bike quiver since I use to be into marathons for a couple of years.. Got that last year and then upgraded wheels and fork for Christmass. I found as it became more capable, I rode less distance and more fun stuff and I just wrote off tires and rims, so I decided, the hell with it, I'm letting go and going back over to the dark side Its been a fun journey. Speaking of Kinematics.. I quite like the Horst link. I have had VPP and Singlepivot's before. The HLink is incredibly sensitive and active with minimal feedback, so much so that I really use the middle position on my Fox DPS rear shock a lot. Pretty much only open her up for downhills. Makes the bike feel like I went from a 110mm to 135mm instantly. I'm pretty happy with the rear I must say. I hope to see some options similar to what Scott is doing available aftermarket. Reducing the volume is really the best way to make a bike feel like a shorter travel version since it doesn't mess with small-bump sensitivity etc. Regarding the Grips, Heck yes. I'm getting some real rubber. Will look at those options. My Front tyre is a 2.25 IBEX on a 30mm ID rim. The tyre is pretty good, I quite like it. I will replace with wider once worn out though. Got a couple of upgrades to sort out and a family to feed so its a work in progress. I feel like its a capable enough for what I need and can build on it..

So I squeezed in a ride in Jonkershoek on Saturday morning and thought I'd share my experience. Its always nice to measure yourself against some trails of relevance. You might be KOM'ing your local trails but when you get faced with proper trails it challenges you on new levels. Wish I lived closer or had some proper space to build(and a truckload of freetime It would also be the first time I ride there with my new bike and bigger wheels so was really keen to see how I'd go. The last time I rode the plumber on my RM Element with saddle dropped wasn't a very nice experience(the trail wasn't in the best condition to ad) One can be pretty competitive on the bottom flatter trails. One thing I noted was that Maxim Marott is KOM on a lot of the middle to lower trails and he probably rode his 4'' Cannondale FS. Mans got skills. So once at the top of Saaltjie I had a choice of either Armageddon or Status Quo. I was a bit pushed for time so opted for the Armageddon 8 (bad decision). Main reason was that I've seen some of the features on Status Quo, which some are blind and since being alone and pressed for time, I wasn't keen on stopping to push back up all the time. Armageddon 8 is boring as SH*s though. But then there's Iron monkey, which I really wanted to ride (never rode it before) and the top bit of that was really awesome. Wow. Flows so well. IM 5 is however a proper test of strength and skill. Also really enjoyed it. The two doubles halfway down just before the drop(If I remember correctly) I rode around and I'm not sure I would have made since there was also a bit of headwind, but that trail is awesome. A real trail rewarding aggressive riding and a real test of the bikes most of us seem to be riding these days. Some pointers to take away for me: 1. I almost lost my grip on the bar for a second. These foam grips are not grippy enough for the rough stuff) 2. I can do with a wider front tire.. need a 2.4/2.5 for those rocks 3. I'm not so sure my fork is set up right. However It could be that I started getting tired, or that im just not use to it. Its set up quite progressively and I have a bit of LSC to keep it riding higher. My Formula 35 fork has these interchangable compression valves that serve as custom tunes. It felt to me that the combination of the slightly harsh LSC which I felt on rounderslow to medium speed hits especially Iron Monkey 5 and the sharp increase in progression from 3 volume spacers gave me a real workout. Id be keen to ride a Pike down there and see how it feels. However I think I need to swap out the Compression circuit for one with a flatter end of stroke(falling rate) and a firmer initial and mid stroke. Ride slightly higher pressure and take some volume spacers out. Felt perfect on everything else up to now..