Bos

Depends what kind of finish it is.. I love backing the underdogs.. Go Rob (slightly better climber than cav so Im hoping one of the days cav isnt there at the finish and Rob gets a shot.. Same for Impey who might take one of the "classics" like days... AS for GC.. Its still way early.. Big efforts takes a toll on the legs and I think some of the top climbers are ust keeping out of the sudden accelerations and big efforts whilst keeping an eye on the clock.. 40 sec's is nothing in a real mountain stage. I think some of the greats will shine through and show experiance. As for Shleck and Basso, as they both proclaimed before the race they are still coming into form, I think a flat day or two following the initial mountains might give their form a boost and we'll definately see those names on a break on some big hills. If they have the legs..

I just saw a video shot of Robbie Hunter sliding down the peleton.. oops I guess one must remember that these sprinters have ben working the last 5 days (except rst day) and the climbers GC contenders been sitting around in the bunch.. Cav already off..

Not a hellova lot of time in it though.. 150 out of the 200 riders are within 5 minutes of the leaders.. So They definately wont be letting the break get to big a gap. But 15 men are big enough to make it count.

So I had another look at Phinney"s foot after reading this tweet... Taylor Phinney ‏ @taylorphinney You know...for my 3 crashes, the only real damage came from the broken spoke that impaled my ankle! Otherwise, I'm quite alright.

Mind me asking.. What kind of stage would really suit someone like Daryl Impey ? On a day like today Id say some of the classics style riders like Ballan etc might have a chance at staying away? @Cavendish.. If Farrar, Hushovt etc got dropped on the little cat 4 climb yesterday I dont think they have a chance today. Youre right I think teams like Liquigass and guys with a strong GC rider should have team members able to support in the mountains and those teams will make the race hard to get rid of as many ass possible and then I think we"ll se a break on one of those rollers near the end?

Its funny to see guys like Thor blown out the back.. and will be interresting to see how he progresses during the tour..If he rides himself into form..

Hunter vs Cav...? Go Robbie!

Check that the shock isnt just low on air..? This sounds bezar after only 5 months of use.. Unless you pulled it through properly, but it doesnt sound like it.. put a little bit of lube on the stancions (the gold/silver parts that slide into the seals) and work it a bit..

About Phinney... Unless he recons he can contribute to today's TTT..in his state.. I dont actually see the point in him doing much riding at all.. BMC has 9 team members this year so can he not start and fall off the pace 2km into the ride and go recover some more?? that foot looks BAD..

Haha youguys crack me up.. You wouldnt beleve the R&D that goes into a simple dogbowl.. thats if you want to be the best @ Crow.. my phone just kakked.. google camissa bicycles they have a landing page on which you can sign up for the newsletter, which will have the dates of the next shipment

The bikes I can not really elaborate on because Im not involved anymore. Its called Camissa..the Idea to get a bicycle at a good enough price for anyone to be able to buy one..If you walk into a bikeshop and you want to buy a bike to ride 4km to work and back you prob dont need a 27sp deore specced 29er for 8-9k.. So we were looking for good value but not high end.. This was not my business and I was mearly involved because I did other design work for them and I happened to know a thing or 2 about bicycles. My own bike stuff. you'll all oneday use I work for ROGZ, and we do pet accessories. manufacture simple things like leash's etc here in Cape Town, but balls, toys, rubber bones etc in china and Thailand. heres a pic of me putting together some sample bikes which we tested for about 3 months when I was still involved.. but this is getting way off topic I guess

Sho, good points made here Bad Girl Im not trying to put them down, they probably buying from a reputable carbon frame factory and buying standard frames (non custom mould) which do exist ( I forgot to mention this above) some factory like this.. http://www.gotobike.com.cn/ Kinesis that you mention is a well known company (though they are Taiwanese) they make frames for Voodoo etc.. so this might not render the frames bad, but maybe souldnt be priced up there alongside other brands who is forking out on their own R&D.. Very valid point..

After agreeing to dis agree I saw a part of the horse that wasnt dead yet cause I havnt had my say ! Blackvoodoo, you trust chineese way to much.. Trust me, Ive delt with guys that want to help you as much they can and Ive dealth with guys that took 8 months to finish frames I paid for in full.. when they initially got here they were half rusted and some unusable.. This is after they sent me samples etc and seemed very legit.. I dont trust a chinese factory as far as I can see one, and I promise you there are chineese guys who take old moulds modify them a littlebit and keep manufacturing defective products.. But not the same guy's making the frames for santacruz and spez for sure.. I often see other competing brands's products in the same factory as what we use but I dont nesseceraly see copies of my or other brands products around, I know it sounds like Im contradicting myself but I agree with covie that guys like santacruz, etc have a very exclusive deal with their manufacturer (as a example, I think their carbon bikes is made in the east) The manufacturer will honour that agreement only because santacruze is paying them to, and because he cares about his companies repetation. It takes me months of back and forth to find a "legit" factory for something as simple as say a rubber ball.. So in short, cheap carbon frames are not high end frames without decalls. They come from different factories. Not saying they are no good but definately not the same amount of R&D in these frames. Not 100% sure which "mould" Momsen falls into.. But I want to give em the bennefit of the doubt

I hope you guys dosing up on the corenza etc is drinking enough water or you'll be killing your kidney's

but but but.. I ride a morewood.. although some tubes are made in the east at least its put together here. I hear "China" being thrown around here..(not you black voodoo) I know in the old days Taiwan and china was considered one country.. but there is a big difference. I have had to scource bikes for a low key singlespeed startup here in cape town.. Ive been to china 3 times and do business with them all the time. Taiwan is lightyears ahead when It comes to bicycles..

Hehe.. It was the DW link and all things IBS.. Or something about finding his MOJO

Hoesit Crow! Explain "we"..? you obviously have a connection with Momsen, explain..?

Hokay.. as someone mentioned Theres far to much sentiment involved and thus the mudslinging already started.. I think you’ll hear what you want to hear and believe what you feel like.. I’ll briefly list what components I have ridden (on my bike/s for long enough to have a opinion) and try give a unbiased opinion. SRAM X0 R-der (9sp) X0 Shifters(9sp) Juicy ultimate brakes Juicy 7 Shimano XT – 9sp XTR-9sp xt 2010 brakes Starting with shifting.. I found the major difference with shimano vs sram that sram was more rigid/harsh shifting.. this is where most of you get your SRAM raves from. This might mean better shifting in mud and SRAM is better at is shifting with dirty cables, HOWEVER this becomes really hard because the 2:1 ratio. So much so that on a long (70km muddy ride with cold fingers) it became so hard to shift I was afraid of braking the shifter) this was obviously intensified by the cold hands but the almost metal on metal feel of the sram shifters has its cons. I spent the vast majority of my rime on shimano riding xt rear deraleurs and SLX shifters.. these worked fine 90% of the time and as any drive train would with clean cables and fresh chain/cassette it was great. In this state I prefer it to the harsh feel of sram, but in the real world sram got my votes over xt because the accurate shifting through most conditions. Then one day I got chain suck because there was mud and grass in my cassette and SNAP! Sram Xo snapped couldn’t believe that a derailleur could snap from yes, cahinsuck, so be ware that theres a price you pay for the “quiet) sram r-derailleur’s, there’s far les movement which also makes wheels harder to install. So..I upgraded to XTR.. big difference.. I really think the heart of XTR is the shifters.. It has a bit more of the SRAM feel to it, but not the harshness. One can do multiple shifts from 3 different positions in either direction and Its much more robust than xt. Ive been riding it for 14 months now and Im still loving it, wont go back to sram If I can keep using XTR. It doesnt lose its settings in mud and it doesnt need babying as much. I have heard others go back to XTR after using stam xx.. interesting still not sure why..I would ride sram over shimano if I couldnt ride xtr and had the choice. I think shimano might age better as stam is quite highly strung with low tollerances and some serious metal on metal action, again the very reason it might perform better initially. as for chains and casettes, I found shimano last longer. I cant vouch for everything as I havent ridden XX or new 10 speed grouppo's but this is my humble opinion.. again.. biased as Im currently riding the xtr

Back in 1996 ? when you rode a giant atx 870 funny the dirst thing I thought when I saw that was that must be Stu or Warren.

Interesting..@Airborne, I cant beleve your wife's bike still comes in at over 12.5? is she running very heavy tyres? My Zula is around 11.5 with xtr, fairly light wheels and light ali parts.. I'm running specialised 2bliss tires which are about 250g lighter than a maxxis LUST per wheel! so I'd say your best bet is saving some gramms there, however, being the "rather large legend" you might be best running the near indestructable lust's.. On the fork topic. Although the Zula can apparently be ran with a 120 fork I found it to be terrible.. Maybe since Im a bit of a lanky oke and even ran my Blur LT with a slammed stem and 100mm fork I just like the front end low, but here's what I found... When Riding my reba 120mm the bike was more playfull and a bit easier to loft about, but when taking hits or G-outs at speed the fact that the rear ramped up quicker than the front almost sent me over the bars a few times, and the only way this would stop was when I adjusted the fork to ramp up prematurely. Further more, I found the bike climed like a pig with the front end that high..and needed to drop the fork to 105mm which finally did the trick..Now The fact that I do most of my Mtbing around tablemountain which is steep up or steep down and nothing inbetween could have something to do with it. Horses for courses... just interrested to know what you guys found.

mm...Im going to be in Natures valley this weekend and would have liked a solid ride or two.. that race sounds pretty nice, bit of a drive from natures thought.. I called The bike shop, Leon said there are normally a groupride saturday mornings, If you called back later today they would be able to have details about it. I might join this ride, however If you wanted to join the knysna crew, theres a lot going on in knysna with hot new singletrack everywhere and 2 or 3 local group mtb rides happening every day

If I can add my 5c.. You want to ride the bike for 5 years.. Your Tallboy will still be a top bike and probably not have been replaced by a new frame 4 times like the Cannondale would have.. Go look at a santacruz from 5 years ago, and a Dale from 2007.. see which holds the best value. I agree that you can build the tallboy into a race bike by simply tweaking a few components, Ec wide flatbars, flip the stem If you really want to get the front low, etc. The way frames are going at the moment the geometry seems to be getting more relaxed in general and your tallboy's relax geometry might verywell be the direction the dale is heading into. I currently ride a Morewood Zula, but owned a Santacruz before and I'll be honnest, those cruz's are bloody amazing.. I'f I had to buy a bike I would have to ride for 5 years.. I'd not think twice..

Why not something like easton's wheelsets? I think Johan B would advise you on a pair of these..?

:clap: well done saffas

nobrainer..I wont buy a manitou again...the last fox I had is still going 2004float R Although Ive since switched to RS. Confused?