Bos

So I have not been riding much over the last 2 years, been surfing, and BORED with tablemountain...recently started getting back into it and looking at all kinds of reasons for upgrading. Those of you who know me, I like the technical and fast stuff, hitting jumps and playing around, although I also do marathon races and distance stuff. All on the same bike ofcourse, so the bike I ride might not reveal my real love. My old Zula was getting boring although nothing wrong with it at all. light, bullet proof, etc but my XTR 2 x 9 and 26er settup was just obviously not good enough anymore.. you know how it goes. So I started reading up.. I always had something for the Rocky Mountains.. I read up about them a bit and apparently they made excellent trail bikes and one can make them go fast. although the 95mm rear tracel suggested its a distance machine. However the 20mm front and 12 x 142 rear, short wheelbase and chainstays with relaxed head angle was getting some rave reviews for singletrack and apparently 26er like performance. Long story short I saw 2 x Element 930s In classifieds and that same night without saying good bye I stripped my Zula for parts and the next day it was uploaded. Im now the proud owner of a heavy and low specced but very capable 29er. Ive ridden her about 3 times. the first ride was getting acustomd to low level parts and heft ! Second ride.. SOLD! This thing goes through ruts, roots, rocks and almost anything like a bulldozer. On my ist proper ride I got a KOM for a very rutty and rooty downhill section that ive ridden 100s of times. Again. You might not understand that I like my stem slammed and my seat at shoulder hight, but I make it work Would love to Enduro on this thing. Once I got lome lighter wheels and dropped weight to about 12kg. Id think this is the best of both worlds..and no more "26er for singletrack"..

Yip. Thats what I'll do, and hope the crests isnt gone by the time the masses gets back to work tomorrow. Thanks for the response.

mm... Thanks for the response. If I may ask: What bike were you on? What rims have you had before? What kind of trails do you ride? 95% of the time I spend racing marathon or riding relatively smooth trails, rough dirtroads. If I do hit Tokai or some bike park I would hit the jumps. I use to dirt jump and rode a hardtail so as I said, Its not heavy hits. I just know that some folk are heavier on wheels than others. Not Implying anything, just saying. But. As you say, the last thing you need when pinning down a rutted singletrack at 35km/h is the front to pringle. Thats broken collarbone stuff. But, If It does that. Then I cant see a 85kg "racer" on a HT riding down a rutted singletrack on a marathon course not doing the same..And that should be within what this rim can do.

Since it looks like Bullet has decided what he's going with, Id like to ask some recomendations on this same topic. Dont want to start a new thread. I Recently moved to a 29er from my trusty Zula. So far enjoying it but while my Zula was 11,6kg my new bike is a Rocky Mountain element 930 Ful sus @ 13.2kg. So the first things Im replacing is cranks and wheels which should knock off almost a full kg. Reg the wheels. I weight 68kg, I ride smooth and am really not heavy on wheels but I do hit the jumps and do like to push it on the technical downhills. I was running Sun Equiliser 23 rims(410g) laced(DT Revolution) to Hope Pro 2 hubs on my Zula. I was very happy with them and never had to true them, only had the rear tensioned once. Theres a set of Crests on the hub for R750 a op right now. I'll build whatever rims I choose onto my hopes with DT competition spokes(might be a bit stiffer on the bigger wheels) Will I be OK on the Crests? If not who stocks the Arch EX 's ? Replies apprechated

I take it Bero would not have recovered..? That would have been a showdown..Berto, Quantana and Froom.. Bring it

Not sure how good a move it is to leave Wiggo out the team right now. A month ago Froom looked like a sure thing, but right now I think having options and more importantly more help from a team perspective might not be a bad idea. Unless Wiggo has refused to ride for Froom. I know he wont go head to head against him, but why not ride for Froom, try go for a couple of stage wins, and might just come away with a top 5 anyway.. To proud?

Stage 17 of the 2012 Vuelta...Nuff said. Berto's comment post race: "I am not in my best moment but I had a really strong desire to win. Second place is fine but I was always going to try to win," Contador, who rides for Saxo Bank, said afterwards. Got to love that, putting second place on the line to go after gold. Thats hard not to like.

Here I agree 100% I think for what ever reason they were clearly just not up to scratch. If they had it in them they would have tried to dish it out but they knew they were going nowhere slowly, so just sat up and rode the last 2 days like recovery days. I feel for them. They need to regroup and think of a way to get out of this mess.

It think he was refering to the 5m distance it was from the one singletrack to the other If thats the lie youre refering to it might be that you are refering to different things. The rest, Im just saying is mostly assumptions. The fact that they stopped racing was bad form for sure. Unless they have something to rest up for. Anyways. Its over now yes and I think Scott would have taken them as they were definately getting stronger. So the outcome didnt change that much. They (scott) might have just robbed us of a nice "race" for the African Jersey.

1. sure, I can not make out who It was, video not clear enough, please let me know where one can see this better. Im just stating what he said as it seems to be overlooked. 2. not sure what youre getting at? 3. My point is, Im my opinion he was asked to give a report of what happened, his side of the story, not to say sorry.. All Im saying here is that there is no evidence of what else might have happened here. And that there is sense in what he was saying. If the group ahead of him did contain some "non players" who was potentially holding up a bunch of guys. @Talus, Im just stating that without more evidence im not sure why everyone seems to just assume his (KE) account of what happened was a lie and he took the gap with Intent to cheat and be a Idiot.

Sorry dud post earlier. Scotty, Perhaps because there wasnt 25 pages on the hub about people how people wrote them off and lost all their respect for them? The hub will be the hub and judgements clouded by personal preference. YES I am obviously for KE, but am asking you to look at the actual event with a bit of insight. What the big haters seem to miss was not that KE was trying to gain time or position, but that the outcasts were playing a roll in the race by blocking riders behind them and possibly being split off from a bunch in front, it was a singletrack climb, If you know anything about racing you'll know this is where gaps happen, not on flat dirt roads... so the point isnt that he gapped fair playing riders in the "race" the point was he was trying to get back to "the race".. Scott would obviously have sour grapes, they then had to sit behind the slower outcasts, and they were fighting for the jersy. No one knows what was going on just before the "clip".. Kevin was obviously getting irritated, you can hear/see it in the clip. Who knows how long this went on for? He states there might even have been some blocking going on, which we have no evidence of being true or not true. The guys claiming they lost their last respect after the Soundcloud clip..why?? For five shakes, Did they post a clip of "KE appologising" no!! So why are some peeps claiming they lost final respect because it seems theres "im so sorry please forgive me"??

Oh man.. Brainfart of note... One can see he was thinking about it..and the guys were going damn slow! Ai Shame man. that singletrack right next to you with your mate coming passed was a big carrot, and Im sure If Max wasnt up in the line he wouldnt even have been thinking about it..It was obviously not to gain time but to get back to Max He's...kicking himself now! Without getting caught up in the moment.. I know Kev and its sad to read all the comments from Hubbers who gets all keyboard happy in the moment, slating a rider so many of you have cheered for in the passed. But so they say about "us South Africans and our sports hero’s" KE has come back fighting after the DG doping issue, losing a team, then getting 2 more Opps post a burst appendix. On top of that He has had a frustrating season while showing some of the form that has taken him to the top but obviously just not having the legs yet.. Kevin is the mellowest of guys off the bike but in racing he is damn competitive! As many top athletes are, and If I get cut off in traffic I for one lose it after a long day at the office... No ways I will write him off as a person, for a mistake that any non hubbers could have made. PS. can someone now please post the link to the "Alleged Incident at OP's house on 14Feb 2013"

Bliksem. That does not look good any way you look at it. they must be crapping themselves..

That my son is a good question If I try do this on the spot.. 26 + (2.25x 2) = 30.5'' and 27.5 + (2 x 2") = 31.5'' this would be true if a tire was round (so the 2.25'' tire was also 2.25'' high.. )

Hoe groot verskil is daar tussen die 26'' en 27.5" ? Ek sal graag dieselfde met my zula wil doen. Soos jy se, ek gan nie my XTR Zula vir 10k verkoop om n 29hart tail te koop vir R15 000 of wat dan nou ookal nie.

Oh my Im so damn fat and unfit. I might have to do the short one. But I see. One month to train. The short one its "less technical" ?Eselfontein, non technical? ? really..thats why we come! Theres a new route now, so you climb more upfront and dont repeat so much on the south eastern flat part.. It was a bit of a surprise last year. And I lost my sence of humor half way up dead man walking. I was the dead man walking. I was moaning the whole way. haha. I remember how hot it can get at Eselfontein..now its in Nov ?..oh dear. One last thought.. THis event would do great as a ENDURO but on the MTb.. not the MX bikes.

Nah, youd be so luckey Fand, long time bru...Im just your side for this weekend and next. The inlaws are staying in a house on Erinvale, and Brother inlaw stay on Longridge wine farm, so thought we could connect the two. I thought of bringing the roadbike, calling you and attempting the 4 passes.. but Im not sure Im in any shape for that. Eks nog *** sleg! Maybe next weekend. PhilipV gave me some details.. there are some rides on lourensford saturday and sunday that I'll maybe join for. Cassie, No tresspassing, I understand. Wouldnt want to spoil it for the ones who's putting in the work to do it the right way. Thanks for all the replies gents!

Hi guys, I know this thread was last active a year ago, but If any of you can respond.. Are there ways to get from Stellenzight further to Somerset west, or Lourensford in particular?

So, What are your predictions for the stage wins? Let me put my predictions out there and be proven wrong at the end of the "show" I think some climbers without a GC hope might try get away over the HC col de Pailheres for a stage victory. I think the big cats will be busy playing mind games with each other and let the "no threats go". However, I think Sky will drive a furious pace like Cannondale did yesterday to try and blow up as many riders they can which might make it near impossible to attack on the climbs.. Dont be surprised if one or two of the big guns dont fire properly today either, sometimes it takes the guys a while to find their climbing legs and Ive seen Cuddles for an example get in a bit of a bother on early mountain stages. Berto must be the most unpredictable rider in the pack, but I can not see him attacking the way he did on the first mountain stage in the Vuelta Espana this early in the tour. however on the Domaines the guys will start testing each other for sure..Chris Froome has also been agressive and he might very well go for it with Porte and put Berto on the back foot.. Oh how I love this!! Viva le Tour!

I think the break will be caught by some counter attacks. I think its a nice day for some "unknown" guys to make a run for it around the 50km to go mark.. To be honnest listening to the comentary, some 10% sections might cause some break ups and there will definately be some "stragglers" at the back..

I heard this podcast... http://www.humansinvent.com/ Where they speculated that dropping guys back that late in a stage is dangerous as one could get riders eliminated. It makes good sence, the peleton really gets moving in the last 20-30km..Maybe they were not sure and hesitated? Check out that Podcast, quite intertaining and nice to listen to the morning after.

I am well trained, but a bit unfit Do you mean by that I already have to be quite fit? as I definately am not very fit right now. But normally pick up fitness quite quickely.. Surely you need someone like this in your program so see the effect of your training in "early season" training?

:clap: Thanks!

Has anyone seen the clip Phill Liggett was talking about? Apparently one of the spectators was running alongside the peleton and was tripped or bumped out the way..??