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Rapide Sky Rize 780 bar arrived this morning. Ordered yesterday at 14h28. Amazing speedy delivery. Wow!

All set to try Aggressor at both ends but no DD casing available...

My Enduro has 50mm with 489 reach ( XL) My HT has a 75mm with 450 reach (L) Both work for me without back pain or any significant issues, although the HT is more of a handful on the downs Maybe play around with your seat position. If you can get comfy with the seat as far forward as possible then stick to a shorter stem. You also need to shift your body weight forward on climbs with a shorter stem, to keep the wheel on the ground.

I had my first ride of 2019 at Tokai on Sunday and a second last night. The place is such fun but tiring. Need to recalibrate my tech dial too. Riding the belts has lowered my capacity to ride steeper terrain. I found the Agggressor on the front of my bike to work brilliantly there - seems the theory about our relatively firm terrain not needing the biggest widest spaced knobs is correct. I am now thinking of getting a DD casing for the rear and seeing how that pairing works out. The low bar height on my bike is the only issue with my current set up - higher rise bars to be ordered this week.

They don't even bother with an XC bike - they are niche products overseas. :-)

I rode a 3 day on my old 160mm enduro a few years ago. Was never the best climbing bike but fairly light and an absolute blast on the rocky descents. One Scalpel rider was amazed at how swiftly my 26er handled the big rocks ...

Yes for you but it would put a limit on what I can ride and have fun on. Like rock drops and high speed baby head descents and fast skiddy corners and chunky rock gardens etc...

Only the rider holds you back not the bike. Well yes, I bet a WC dh rider could beat anyone here down a DH course on his XC bike, but would be left in the dust by his friends on their DH bikes. In any event, the manufacturers and pro riders dont agree with you. Marathon bikes have gradually been getting longer, lower and slacker and now even come with dropper posts. They're basically mini enduro bikes. #Enduro is taking over and theres nothing you can do to stop it ... :-) Soon everyone will be on 120mm trail bikes with dropper posts and the Q's on the tech bits on the Epic will be shorter and those Epic smiles even broader during the ride, not just at the finish line ..

I have a Polar GPS - its a bit of a tank. I used to mount it on the TT with extra long rubbers but its harder to read there than on the bars close to the stem which is where I mount it mostly these days. It is more vulerable there but so far I havent had any issues.

On the 737 Max disaters - The basic 737 airframe is an old design. This led to regulatory laxity as because of its legacy, it seems certification of the new versions was less stringent than a brand new airframe. Had Boeing redesigned the plane as they should have once they started hanging much bigger engines under the wings, the MCAS system would not have been needed in its current form or perhaps at all. The old airframe was good but the engine changes made it poor in certain performance areas. One of the root cause of the crashes is Boeing's attempts to remain competitive and maximize profits by reusing an old airframe and even then keeping the MCAS system effectively a secret to avoid retraining costs for airlines. This is the very ugly side of big business. Expect a movie or two about this... Will a software fix alone actaully make the plane safe bearing in mind that to do it properly may require airframe changes like adding a second or third AOA sensor? What scares me is how the poor design and implementation of the system by Boeing was permitted by the FAA which outsourced its core function to Boeing itself. Thats a massive conflict of interest issue that I am sure lawyers for victims will seize on. What Boeing will do in any legal action it faces is argue that a competent crew following standard procedures could have saved both planes. They will point to how other pilots in other planes were able to manage similar situations and survive. It will be interesting to see the final reports rate the crew performance. Politics and public relations are already playing out in this area.The Ethiopians have claimed that the pilots did everything right which is clealry not the case. They kept the plane at full throttle which contrubuted to the loss of control. Very interesting but scary and tragic too.

Much better!

Okay, I'm struggling to understand how a suspension and geo thread has morphed into a pie eating and surfing war story thread :-) Oh, I guess the baggies doubled as riding shorts and the pies cause a weight gain leading to suspension adjustments...

The FIM have the right idea - speeds up to 45km/h. I'd like to self shuttle up Tokai and Jonks with one of those beasts :-)

https://mobile-reuters-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1RH298?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2Fus-cycling-uci-ebikes-idUSKCN1RH298

Clearly the debate is not over. The FIM think eMTBs are moto's and the UCI think they are bicycles. What both agree on is that a revenue stream can be generated currently.

Repost - because its red and pretty and mine.

A skilled rider - Nino? The Brit riders I have encountered have all had above average skills because they mess about in the short but steep hills and slippery mud and also go and ride the Alps, because they can. Most people on XCO bikes in SA are on the wrong bike. I've seen people walking their bikes down Armageddon at JH being passed by trail runners. Far better to get the skills on a proper trail bike and then try those black and red trails on an XC bike. The other way around is the rather stupid SA way. People here say - "Oooh, I can't ride downhill fast I'm too scared, I must buy a marathon bike (that makes me even more fearful on the downs because I dont know how to progress my skills) I'll hurt myself on a trail bike". Then they promptly go and fall off going over a speed bump on the tar and can't use their Epic ticket. This "you can ride anything on an XCO bike" applies to a select few very skilled mainly pro riders and is poor advice for an aspiring mountain biker. Its a sure fire way to ensure that the necessary skills are learned far more slowly than they need be by beginners. Alan Hatherly started out as a downhiller and Beers used to race MX. Thats not your average Epic participant or beginner XC rider in SA.

Ha ha , you must be an ace like Nino then? What you say is half true - you clearly want a bike that makes the uphills easier hence the XC bike and are quite hapy to compromise on the fun going down. Have you thought about going full rigid for the ultimate challenge :-)

SA is marathon bevok.

Back on topic. Went for a ride last night - half in the dark too (spooky) and found my rear suspension awfully firm. Looked down and realized I was on my hard tail.

Is that you in the pics?

#1 The more you ride the more beer can be drunk.

My BIL has a chopper very like that in black. Not built for corners at all ..