rudi-h

A while ago I posted a thread asking about geared hubs etc. After lots of reading and research I did buy a Rohloff hub with my recently concluded "alaska" trip in mind. (some pictures from this trip on the "photo's" section) I've done a lot of riding in the remote wilderness over there, so I guess I have used it long and hard enough to post a review. Seeing that I'm impressed by the product I'll start with the Pro's, but there are cons too... I traveled mostly by bike, taking some legs in trains and boats also. I did close to 1300km by bike loaded with full camping kit, food and rain gear. Lots of riding was in rain and mud, at one time going for 800km without being able to wash my bike even once. The only maintenance that I did for an entire month was to lube my chain every morning before riding off. As promised by all the reviews, I didn't have any mechanical issues whatsoever and the gearing was flawless throughout the entire trip. The running costs on the bike are so low now that it is literally comparable to my tiagra groupset road bike, despite being a dual-sus MTB. The hub (not the .co.za one) is expensive and does make your bike marginally slower and heavier, but for me the "worry free" riding and not having to set deraileurs, change cables and breaking chains is a definite thumbs up. If I had to make the choice again, I certainly would buy this product again.

Have spent the better part of last month cycling in and through parts of Alaska. Trails so fast and scenery so beautiful I couldn't keep the tears from my eyes as I was smiling trough every corner! Cycled through the Kenai Peninsula - home to many glaciers and ice fields!!!, then through a part of the Southeast - home to one of earth's greatest rain forests, and finally through Denali National Park - what more should I say than... Mount Mckinley! Awesome trip, awesome adventure, awesome memories and a definite 5-star recommend to everyone!!!!! Seward - Lost Lake Juneau - Mendenhall Glacier Denali

I bought a high pressure cleaner specifically for cleaning my bike about a year ago and it works like magic! The nossle is adjustable, so I set it so that it doesn't hurt when directed at my feet when cleaning the bb, forks, suspension pivots etc. When cleaning the wheels / frame / chain / drivetrain I adjust it a bit more agressive. It cleans the chain / sprockets / deraileurs exceptionally well and once you get the hang of it, it's really quick. Also works great for cleaning muddy shoes and camelbacks after rides! Don't know why people preach not to use it. After a year and I guess 100 washes, my bike is better than ever! I've got a 1.5kW model, so its not nearly "steel cutting" strong.

Hi Anybody know of a club / group that has a nice say 3 - 4 hr ride tomorrow on womans' day? Either MTB or road is fine, just want to spend some time on the saddle. Living in Linden, so anywhere in JHB is within my reach. On mtb I can average around 18 - 20 km/hr and on road about 26 - 28 km/hr depending on terrain

here are some links. The first link is an on-line calculator and is easy to use, but you'll have to convert all the units from km/hr to mile/hr. work out the average speed and average gradient, and then it'll give you the average power required to climb the hill. http://www.exploratorium.edu/cycling/aerodynamics1.html http://www.analyticcycling.com/ForcesPower_Page.html

I've come the same realization a long time ago, seeing that the replacement value of my bike is worth more than my car... I don't mind paying good money for high tech stuff, but I'm sure the compound that they use in these brake pads must have been developed ages ago for motorbikes etc. and they probably make them for R10 per set. The profit margins on these stuff has to be about 5000% (maybe it's cause the packaging says that Steve Peat tested it...?) I've got Formula ORO breaks. Long ago a guy at a bike shop didn't have any pads, so he gave me a handful of used pads for incase just before Sani2C, so maybe that's the way to go. Buy some other expensive stuff from your LBS and ask them to keep some pads for you when a loaded oke replaces pads that are only 30% worn?

Geeeessss. I went to get some new "brake pads" the other day and my jaw dropped so hard it's still not quite aligned after I've seen the price. Per kilo, this stuff must be the most expensive S&*^t on the planet right up there with Diamonds and other shiny stones that chicks dig. I know it's supposed to be some "super high tech composite" material of some sort. Maybe if you make it into powder and sniff it it gets you on a high! Are there any cheaper alternative out there? The brand I almost bought is somehing like EB for around R400

Thanks!!! seems I had it wrong then. Rodti, seeing that the TDF is over would you mind to share your WB experience?

Go ride one and you'll know why. Get hold of Graeme (he's the importer of Commencal), he'll arrange a bike for you that you can use for an entire morning - at least he did that for me a year or two ago. Then decide! Good luck

dual sus!!! does wonders for the size of obstacles you can bunny hop and also turns horrible rocky downhills into smiles!!!! I might be a bit slower, but spending the extra time on a dually is even more reason to get one!

I've been reading quite a bit of the TDF posts. What keeps blowing my mind is how obsessed you (fandacious) are with Armstrong and the Shack. Have you started maybe 10+ anti-armstrong threads? 20+ anti-armstrong posts??? Dude, I'm seriously starting to think that you've got a crush on the guy?

nope, it's white brothers. they started off making motorbike forks but went into the MTB market. I'm not too sure, but I was under the impression that they are the "rolls royce" of mtb forks?

Is there anybody in SA that can service / maintain white brothers forks? (not only to do the physical work, but also stock the seals etc?) My fork has had its better days and I'm off to Alaska in August to do some biking. Wondered if I can fit a White Bros Fork while I'm in the US and not pay any import duties...? It seems that you can get a White Bros Magic 100 cheaper in the US than you can get a Fox F100 in SA. Anybody that has a White Brothers fork? Are they really that good?

it's not that simple I guess. The bike and component manufacturers have improved so much lately that they've already looked at all the obvious improvements of efficiency / performance, so I guess they're shifting attention to things that've been previously accepted as "perfect". I think the past decade the guys have focused on improvements in materials, but now that the bike weights are below the UCI's 6kg limit, the R&D guys must be looking at geometry and other stuff. Whether it actually works or not, it obviously won't make a huge difference. Maybe it can shave off a second or two over a 1hr time trial, so I guess it counts for those guys...

I'm with cbrunsdon on the phylosophy that use a helmet until you have a hard fall. I'm also in the engineering industry, and some of the mining companies even require you to replace your "Hard Hat" every year. I mean, this is just rediculous, what could possibly happen to a hard hat in a year. It's just marketing to get the regular joe to spend even more money on cycling accessories.

I'm not big on supplements, but was wondering how much difference it really makes. In the past I have pretty much stuck to energade and black cat bars (they're the cheapest) for most of my riding. After rides I'd either have a beer, glass of coke or the occasional glass of milk. I've also recently started to get heartburn from training (especially running) if I train on an empty stomach. So I walked into a supplement shop and asked for a shake that would give me some energy, sort out the heartburn problem and also have the necessary "recovery" qualities so that I can drink half of the shake after my run / ride. It was a typical body builder type of dude at the counter and I assume they didn't have much "cycling specific" products, so he suggested I get some of the "mass gainer" stuff that okes drink after gym sessions. This shake is about 70% carbs and 30% whey protein (not hat I know the difference between protein and "whey" protein). To me it seems to make sense, the carbs give you energy, and the protein is vital for recovery. It's reasonably cheap (I mix it half strength with full cream milk) and doesn't taste too bad. Was just wondering how this stuff would compare to USN Recover Max or some of the more dedicated cycling products?

my boet and I built MTB lights a few years ago (www.blixemligte.com for reference - we don't sell them anymore). We researched all these things extensively and we were also very clued up with the available lights on the market back then. The short answer: 200 Lumens is a fair amount of light and should be more than enough for any road ride as long as the light has a fairly narrow (+-30 degrees) beam angle. To put things in perspective, a 3-cell maglite (the big ones that you can hit somebody with) only puts out 80-100 Lumens, so you've got more than two of those in your 200 Lumen light. Headlamps also typically put out 80 lumens, but is useually not good for riding, because the reflectors are designed to give a very wide spread, thus its no good further than 5-10m. The lights that we have built had a 240 Lumen setting and a 480 Lumen setting with a beam angle of 34 degrees. The 240 lumen setting is more than appropriate for any road riding and the 480 lumen setting I only use for downhill singletrack.

Thanks, I'll run my tyres a bit harder. I would still like some advice on tyre pressure though, as it's quite expensive to find a "trial and error" solution @ R1000+ for each "error". If I do get new rims, what rims can I look at that are strong? I mostly ride XC and marathons, so I don't want an extra heavy downhill rim.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. There's been quite a few questions, so I'll try to answer them: 1) It was the rear rim in all cases 2) I ride a full sus XC bike 3) I did break spokes on my previous rim (Mavic 317), but I was told that that was as a result of the cracked rim 4) I never bent a rim, its just dents. The first rim was dinged on the weld, thus it cracked I thought the whole purpose of tubeless is so that you can run your tyres at lower pressure for better ride handling on rocks, so I would not like to inflate more? Also, if I inflate tubeless tyres to 2.8 - 3 Bar as suggested by Mojoman, then the Stans fluid would not seal any punctures. What pressure is ideal then? It seems however that it is likely to be my riding style, but it still sucks to replace the rim every year (pricey!!!). Maybe I'll try stronger rims next time I replace.

In the last year I managed to crack one rim to the point that I had to throw it away (Mavic 317 Disc). My new rim (DT Swiss) is supposed to be of better quality, but that also has two seriaas dents presumably after the rocky riding in either Lionman or Clarense MTB race. I'm no Greg Minnaar, but I weight 90kg's and ride way faster than average midfielder on the downhills. 1) Is it common to dent / break rims, or is there something wrong here? 2) The rims don't show any scratch marks. Wouldn't a rock normally take off the paint? Oh yes, I normally inflate my tyres to 2.2 Bar. Any feedback would be appreciated.

What Stephan explained is correct, and I also believe that "bigger is better" up to a point. Other than the strenght / weight issue, there's also more surface area = larger wear surface = less wear / pressure on stanchions and seals. However, I've been in a cycle shop a few weeks ago and there was a top of the range KTM bike fitted with a DT Swiss Fork with 28mm stanchions. Don't know the reason, but it seems that DT Swiss is going for 28mm stanchions on XC bikes while Rock Shox and Fox have pretty much standardized on 32mm.

I've never tried anything else, but I can say is that I've been running on stans for over 5000km, riding on all sorts of terrain without a single flat. Based on my 5000km+ flat free run, this is my advice: 1) Never inflate tyres more than 2.2 Bar 2) Run Cross Mark tubeless tyres.

If I only had 9 weeks, I'd throw in some running. The benefits are two fold: 1) You lose weight a lot easier while running. lighter = faster 2) It's easy to fit in 3 20-40 min easy runs into a week and still cycle mid week and on the weekends. Its different muscles, so over training shouldn't be a problem. I'd also lose the gym work, as this requires longer recovery. Put in easy rides at first, focus on time and not distance. From week 6 onwards I'd start with "time trial" and interval work. no expert, but that's what I'd do

the nerdy answer: fact 1: cold air = increase in air pressure = more air / oxygen to the lungs = increase in performance fact 2: higher air pressure + speed = higher wind resistance In my case: higher air pressure + slow riding = no measureable increase in wind resistance conclusion: For me, it should be better riding in the cold. For Cancellara at 50 km/hr it's probably doesn't make a difference. Bottom line. I don't train when it's below 10 degrees, so I won't ever be able to put all this theory to test...

thought about this again. I've seen a million Giant Anthems before, but none was this colour, and all of them had a big "Giant" painted on the tube. Seems like someone is trying to cover up something. Might not be such a bad idea to involve the cops...