covie

Agreed, its all about toptube, the seatpost/downtube you can adjust, its all about the reach and the body position due to the reach, and that translates to having the right toptube length, by most bike manufacturer standards im a L and thats what i bought with my anthem, I always felt off balance and twitchy, went for a bike fitting, got a XL rocky and i feel like i am part of the bike, perfect balance. And im only 181cm. but i have a long reach (arm length) and its made the world of difference to my riding and my confidence.

Depends on the bike dude go for a pro bike fitting to get the right measurements, i went from a large anthem 26 to an XL rocky mountain 29. Its bull to either stay the same frame size or go smaller. It depends on your reach and the effective toptube length of your bike. Once you go for a pro fitting, you have the measurements and you can determine the right size bike by simply looking at the specs, best money i have ever spent.

Nah no fighting here this is the hub where everyones opinon is the "right one" but hey always up for a good debate.

Thanks I am

35k for a new bike, one weekend away with my mates on a mtb mission .... priceless. i wont fix my car but be damned sure my bike's in for a service

Anybody can tune XT with enough time patience and a couple of swearwords, its nowhere near as simple as tuning SRAM, Its nowhere as rugged as SRAM, much less noise "chainslap", and SRAM kicks shimano's ass in mud, i.e. i wont even think of riding my anthem with full XT this weekend on the houwhoek challenge since i know it will be a mudfest. As far a shifting, I notice no difference between the lower end SRAM and higher end XT/XTR shimano has on offer. Once shimano decides to drop their 2:1 ratio ill consider going back to it .... maybe. Yes Capri im use to XTR/XT: Bought my new bike came stock with SRAM, even put money aside since i thought thats the first bits about to go and im upgrading to XTR.... couple of rides and I have no desire to replace the lower end SRAM with higher end Shimano, like in none. That 8k is now going to a shiney wheelset rather. Ill ride the lower end SRAM till it breaks and then swap it out I wont go XX or X0 as i think thats a waste of money but ill definitly get X9 instead of XTR.

Try a stage race or two lol I know you kill your kit on the DH stuff but once you go a couple of days hard riding, in adverse conditions being able to quickly and effectivly tune your bike during or after races becomes quite an essential thing. I cant beleive i didnt switch to SRAM earlier.

with respect I disagree totally. Always had issues with mud and my shimano, and to tune them properly you need a degree in voodoo, embrace the darkside and sell your kidney to a shammon. SRAM you can tune 100% while on a trail in 5 minutes if need be. Shimano you can do on trail in about 1 hour and if your lucky you will be able to use at least most of your gears.

Im dissapointed with Shimano always use to love them, but SRAM x7 gives better performance than XT. Works better in mud, shifts more precisely, and soooooo much easier to setup and tune. Dont think ill go back to shimano. The X7 came stock with the bike, but cant wait to upgrade, though i doubt ill see a performance increase it will just be a tad lighter and look better than the x7 kit. Hear loads of good things about XT brakes so might give them a go.

It should be quite muddy thanks to the rain predicted for tonight and tomorrow, generally grabouw doesnt drain too well, so im pre-empting by installing new breakpads for this race, bit of mud can wear them down in hours.

hrrrm doing the houwhoek challenge same area though

Hey what can i say NickGT made his girl cycle all the way to the top of eselfontein, And then when she was to tired to speak he asked her to marry him,,,, we are not quite sure if she said yes yet but the champers at the top made the trail so much of fun on the way down.

http://vimeo.com/25772919

Have to remember the RM designs all their bikes with a trail setup in mind, even their "racing" bikes tend to lean towards a AM design. they proud themselves on making bikes compatible to northshore conditions. And even that quirp about the 29'ers i dare you to take the RM element for a sping and then come chirp them again. That bike absolutly ROCKS!

see this is the stuff we should be playing with not lego http://www.meccano.com/models/50-models-set.html/ Gone are the days where i use to beg for these and got told money doesnt grow on daddy's back

hrmmm have stopped for some champagne and a smoke on the trail the other day does that count?

your assuming im that slow

It looks like all the lego these days are aimed at the grown up market, way to expensive to buy model specific series stuff loose a single block and your @#$#@$#ed.

The birds, the animals, the rivers in nature and the squeels of snakes as they get stuck in my wheelset.

If you dont consume a lot of protein otherwise you will build muscle and gain weight.

If you dont consume a lot of protein otherwise you will build muscle and gain weight.

Hell thats not the internets fault its the medical proffesion in general, One study shows this and then everyone beleives it then another study shows that and everyone beleives it. Take dieting,for decades we get told. must carbo load must carbo load must carboload, then Atkins comes out with a diet that has no carbs in it, and endurance athletes "excel" on this diet. Bla bla bla yahdiyadiya.

The formula is just a guideline, for example we are three chaps that regulary train together all the same age, but three vastly diff heart rate avg's our Maximum is supposedly 187, My maximum determined through a crapload of tests is 174, My one mate is on the 187 (spot on) And the other chap avg's 210. so 3 guys same age totatlly different results as far as heart rates are concerend, best way to determine your max heart rate, vo2max etc etc is to go to a medical professional to be assessed.

depends on your riding style and what you prefer, resin pads have much better bite, than the mixed or sintered pads. I prefer them, yes they do wear quicker than metal, but in my experiance not by that much, and I prefer to have brake power rather than n pad that lasts, That said, if its a wet race i do swop out my organic for metal pads, as metal pads works better under wet conditions for me.

Yet another common sense statement on the hub, the place with the least common scense in the universe , And although i agree that people should have common sense when it comes to these things, the reality is, that the guvment should rather waste their time and resources fining and impounding deathtraps that drive around our roads instead of assigning task teams to target general law obiding citizens. Secondly, there actually might be a case since for example my one bike rack makes no provision for mounting a number plate, thule is selling an item that directly breaks the laws of this country and that my friends "is illegal". If someone had the cash and time to waste you could probably take them to court. But that would just be a waste, Go spend the R50 bucks have another numberplate made up, or do what the rest of us do, ignore the fine till you get summonsed. I simply wish that goverment would prioritze "crime" and attack these from a priority level, but the sad reality is, that if you own a fancy bike and a fancy car you can afford to pay a fine, so you will get fined, if you drive a deathtrap with no lights, no numberplates you will get away with it becuase you can't afford to pay a fine. Just another case of SA where those with money get targeted to make up funding and quota's of inept state departments.