Nic Brigando

1 hr penalty for Dricus, apparently he will sit it out at RV5

V3 up on the DRI site now - looking forward to it

I unfortunately sold my Tigre earlier this year - mistake on my part, but I wasn't really using her as much as I would have liked. I actually ended up buying that Scout that was up recently - would prefer a Tigre however haha, so if you want to trade, let me know The Tigre wasn't a particularly light bike. My trail setup (Fox factory 34 at 2kg, rapide wheelset at 1800g, 400g csixx double foamo insert, 2,4 ardent tyres, dropper, deore groupset etc) ended up around 14.5kg. Not the lightest, but didn't notice it on any sort of MTB races - even did a few of the smaller Munga events on her and she was great. I definitely noticed it on the road, but I think that's more the tyres than the bike.

On this, does anyone know where to get replacement Scott Spark rear triangles? Is it an easy process?

Custom Marino dualie! Perfect for the trails Very similar geometry to the Rapide Tigre that came before her, just with a bit of a seat angle update, and of course the coil rear shock. Super flowy on the trails, and just fits my riding style perfectly.

Fun > Reliability > Weight. That being said, at the start of the year I built an 11.5kg carbon hardtail to swap over from my 17.8kg steel enduro bike, and there is an incredible difference. Faster on everything pointing up, and my average pace on mtb rides went from around 17kmh to around 21kmh. This is obviously anecdotal evidence - that may be the weight, or the lack of rear (coil) suspension, or the lighter wheels, or the thinner tyres, or even reluctance to take sketchier trails (don't want to crack your carbon frame) - but more likely a big combination of all of them. I promptly sold that hardtail, and with nothing to compare it to, my 17.8kg heavy steel enduro bike does everything I need it to do, and makes me fitter in the process she does feel like a pig of a bike to ride at slower speeds, but once the wheels start turning, I completely forget the weight and just enjoy the ride.

The Tigre and the Marino, my 2 steel beauties. Marino for pointing downwards mostly, and Tigre for everything else.

OP, for reference, this guy also has a Tigre

Or they like having fun ;D Time and place for all types of bikes. Depending on the type of riding you do, some are faster, some are more fun. Don't discount a gravel bike with a small suspension fork - maybe look at a Lauf fork on a cheap-ish gravel bike, it'll probably be faster than even the lightest FS bikes on a longer gravel ride, and you can definitively take it out on the trails still.

Any chance individual framesets will be sold?

Hmm, no I did not - didn't even think of that. I'll do that right now, thank you for the tip off!

Just for future reference, if anyone finds the thread: My current bikes are 2 steel beauties, both sitting at 65.6 and 65.5 HA, and close to 500 reach, so it's definitely going to be a big change! Bike is being built for the Munga, so more conservative is not necessarily a bad thing.

Yup, honestly that would be first choice for the little bit of plushness on the rear, but unfortunately you don't seem to be able to purchase a new frameset from them. I've already got the full bike build ready to go, just need the frame I've seen a few on the classifieds for sale too (could always sell whatever components it comes with, for sure), but nothing yet in Large in the price range I want to spend.

If that's an option, I would love to speak to him directly!

Hey all! Has anyone had any dealings with the brand Elves? They seem to be a malaysian [edit:] Taiwanese bike brand that has a supplier here in SA. They've got a bunch of pretty solid looking carbon frames on their site, of which I'm specifically interested in the Nandor Pro: https://elvesbikesouthafrica.co.za/shop/frames/elves-nandor-pro-29er-xc-mtb-hardtail-carbon-frame Does anyone know if they offer (and will honour) any sort of warranty, as I can't find it on the site? Looks like be a decent frame at a decent price. On that note, any other carbon hardtail frame alternatives? I'm mainly looking for frames with some sort of warranty at the moment, but if a second hand one comes up with a decent price then I would be interested in that too. Thanks!