Doggone

Edited : Size Medium- Should read Giant Hearted Anthem. This bike can do anything if the rider has the guts.....which I am still working on

177 cm tall. Ride a Giant Anthem 29er Size medium

i tried search but could not find comment so please assist. What are theseVori-Berg events like. ? Please comment on route, technical content, general organisation etc Worth the drive from JHB or should I just ride locally?

I have bern riding my Anthem 29 er since feb 2011. The only thing I hate about the bike is the noisy brakes. Dont get me wrong, they stop the bike but irritate me with their noise when not in use. The noise starts at random and goes away in the same fashion. I have tried cleaning them and new pads with differing compounds all to no avail. No one has a definitive answer. Only a trial and error approach. I have reached the end of my patience. Replacing the Avid Elixir cr on my bike with Shimano XT with Ice tech rotors. Cost approx 3k for the set but worth it for my sanity. I will shortly have a set of Avids for sale in classifieds.

I had some problems with the tape on my giant rims on my anthem ad well. Finally got them to seal but once I got a bad cut snd had to insert u tube the conversion had to be done over . I then switched to Bontrager rim strips. My tyres seat without sealant. I only add sealant for sake of punctures. I have had a number of punctures since the conversion and all sealed by themselves. I am now running lower pressure on each race and currently 1.6 bar.

My first monster. What a challenging route. I thought riding Breedtsnek would be a good indication of the route. WRONG. It doesnt even come close. Climbing singletrack littered with boulders and flat paths covered in thick sand that felt like climbing hills were all surprises for me.Going down rocky descents presented the largest challenge for me though. Forearms were on fire from braking while everyone passed me. I think I walked twice as much downhill as uphill. I need to go for lessons in descending. Saw Eric Skipper after the race and he says I should come ride Van Gaalens to practice these technical skills, All told the race was an excellent challenge and I will be back next year hopefully better equipped. My legs should also be in better shape after the Joberg2c.

Just did a rough estimate and the distance is about 30 km by road. Would love to see the actual route.

I have been experimenting over the past 3 months and have finally settled at 1.7 bar front and back. I ride a dually and run a Hutchison Python upfront and a Conti Mountain King at the back. My rides are quite varied but my test bench for tyre research has been Breedtsnek. Quite rocky with some aggressive descent and reasonably big hits on the downhill seems like a reasonable test for me. I weigh in at 83 kg. Riding the Mabalingwe Lionman 2 weeks ago on these pressures also confirmed that they work well in sand. Obviously if you have less rock you can reduce pressures even further but I am comfortable with my setup for now. I agree with the previous post regarding accuracy of pressure gauge. Don't trust your pump gauge blindly. Last Year had a couple of front wheel burps until i tested the gauge. 1.9 bar was actually 1.1 bar!

Good for them !

I saw this at the 94.7 expo last year. Will be buying one as soon as I need to fly with my bike. They also rent them out so you can try before you buy. Good SA invention. http://www.bikesafe.co.za/

So we entered the event today. Now to start the preparation. . . . . . .

Anthem is like the Toyota Hilux of xc bikes. Just keeps going.Ok I am biased. . . . .

Linden has a special service ethic. They talked me out of spending more than I needed to my my first bike even though it was not in their own interest to do so. I have supported them ever since and have yet to be disappointed. Sometimes I get irritated when I stand waiting in line on a Saturday until I remember that the reason they are always so busy is just they have so many good customers returning. A big up to Jonene and her team. May Linden cycles go from strength to strength.

Great event. Really enjoyed myself. Rocky descents quite technical but I will be back next year to improve my skills.Some issues with riders making wrong turns and ending up doing more or less than the required distance. I had no issues except I lost some mates who took a wrong turn that turned out to be a shortcut. I caught up to them 10 km later. Well organized and friendly and helpful staff. Commendable!

Sounds like mine. Maybe the oem battery was not very good.

Yes the battery in the speed cadence sensor. You remove it with a coin in the slot and quick turn and the cap pops off. Battery available from Dischem . I think it cost about 20 Zars. One tends to firget about this battery as you charge the gps unit but eventually the battery dies. Hope this helps

On the Edge 800 I had a similar problem , then replaced the battery after talking to a Garmin techie. Solved the problem. Must say that the speed and cadence unit does not add much value fir me so will remove when battery fails next time

I have been using a Garmin 800 for about a year now. Very happy as it gives heart rate and all other info very well. I have heard some good and some bad reports about the Bryton but it seems like these were teething problens and they seem quite capable as gps units. http://www.bryton.co.za/ Best part of the unit I use is the interchangeability between bikes. I have the cadence unit on my mtb but dont miss that info on my roadbike. My only reason for not wearing a watch based unit is that the screen sizes on polar, suunto and bryton are too small for me to access while I am riding.(Older eyes dont focus so well) Really love the ease of use and the turn by turn navigation is also handy.

Purchase plus running costs of approx R30k . 4000 km in pas 13 About R7.50/ km but dropping rapidly. Once it gets below R5 I need to upgrade BTW. This is not a cost - Rather an investment in Health and Sanity - and not necessarily in that order!!

My 2011 Anthem came with xt except for the brakes which are avid elixir cr. I am looking at replacing the avids with xt 2012. I am having trouble with them binding or rubbing depending on the conditions on a regular basis. I am told that the xt's are lower maintenance. But the real reason is that my @r$€ is itching and I need to upgrade something and everything else on my bike seems too good to get rid of. . . . . . .although the seatpost and bars are probably next with a new wheelset for Xmas. . .

I take your point on the smartness of the technology and admit that I was not aware that the calculation includes a change in altitude. This will make it more accurate and therefore the difference in the two distances measured will be so small that it is not noticeable.

The difference between the speed sensor reading and the satellite reading is technically vast as they measure two different things. The actual readouts however dont differ by much so people assume they are the same thing. The satellite reading is the dustance travelled as measured in the vertical plane. When riding a bicycle hiwever we encounter uphills and downhills. This effect is negated by the gps reading. Consequently the distance measured by the gps should always be slightly less than the sensor gives. Most races these days use gps distances. Btw I have switched off my cadence and distance sensor as I am too lazy to replace the battery and who needs cadence on a mtb anyway. The sensor has no problem on my ds swingarm when the battery is new. Im just a lazy bugger and the gps info is good enough for me.

Kids played Gotye -" Somebody that I used to know" and I cant get it out of my head. Buddy mentioned that the base track is " baa baa black sheep" damn I think he is right . +1 for nursery rhymes!

So you want to remove the debate factor from the hub? I dont like the whingeing either but I know that opinion differences is what drives this forum. Anyone else want to watch paint dry? More exciting than the Hub without the fun factor. You gotta learn to love this community , warts and all!!

I was looking at the problem you want to solve and wondered if it would not be easier to just use silicone insulation tape and wrap the batteries. I have used that stuff on a number of varied applications and it really seals well, especially if you heat it slightly with a hot air blower afterwards. it doesnt seem likely that you will need better sealing than this for batteries on a bike light..............unless you fall over into rivers at night !