MeridaV

Yip nice circular route that to accumulate some miles. I'll be in K.kgat (surf spot Stilbaai side of Jongens)from the 2nd and will probably try to ride it a couple fo times.

no, you land up in hospital to have the iRenew removed from your eye

Ja, I don't buy the safety argument - it might be valid for something like the Transbaviaans, but not so much for most of the multi-stage races that are popping up these days.

I am by no means a prude when it comes to language, but I hate inconsisten arguments, so erm, last time I checked k.k was no more funny nor less smelly than sh.t regardless of having passed trough an English p..ph.l or an Afrikaans a.hole - just a technicallity

Just a thought, but am I alone in being irritated by races that you can only enter as a team? Don't get me wrong, I fully support the notion of having the option of entering teams, but how about allowing solo riders to do their own thing?

If you distrust carbon, get light alu parts - you can shave kilos off your bike by picking the correct alloy parts. We had a disagreement about carbon frames before, so I guess that is why you are not including frames in your poll, but for my money - my carbon frame has been a joy from day one and no worries about failures. One of my riding partners has been racing and training on a Scott Scale Ltd for more than 15000km without a sign of frame trouble.

To those who roll through red lights: Do you do the same when in your car – cross when safe and yield when you deem it not to be safe? Do you get righteously indignant when taxis do things that you consider to be illegal but they consider to be efficient? Do you see a significant difference? Once you start regarding laws as guidelines that you can decide to adhere to or ignore depending on your personal take on the risks and practicalities you are on a slippery slope On a positive note – “:Howzit “ to the roadie on the Madone that stopped opposite me (guy on matt black mtb with slightly euphoric muddy grin) at the red light on Constantia main road this morning. Not a car in sight and guess what we survived taking a 15 second track stand breather.

I blame the bling creeping into mtbing on roadies.

Thanks Might give them a go. Currently also looking at Bontragers and Specialized.

I am considering trying tubless Rubena Scylla or Charybdis - anybody with experience of these tyres? (I intend using it for XC racing, training and general messing around in Tokai and Jonkershoek)

I am sorry, but that is a hillariously daft statement

I know we'll miss some of the plantation once it is gone, but I am looking forward to seeing the fynbos recover.

The ref to "his mother" was intended as an ironic stab at people who presume to know Contador's motives, morals ... and even mother. Intended as an absurd statement that I thought would be clear from the rest of my post (devil, BOB, JuJu... )but since it did not: I appologise to you and your saintly mother. I see you do get my point about it being natural for parents to defend their children... plain salted?

geesh, I always see people commenting about popcorn, but I never fail to be amazed at how worked-up hubbers can get about crap. I followed the link expecting to find some realy pathetic moaning by the dispicable Conatador and his slutty mother with comments from their closest allies the devil, Mugabe and Julius... ...real disappointment when I all I found was an article about a mother being worried about her son, that she said the pressure of the last couple of years is rough on him and that he has second thoughts about wether it is worth it... shocking, I would never have thought

Rode with gripshifts for years. Changed back to triggers about 5 years ago and somehow found it just so much more intuitive - you know shifting up or down without thinking even after 8 hours on the bike....so my advice would be to test ride a friend's bike first and make a call on your preference before changing... oh and for me: SRAM all the way when it comes to triggers

Might as well face it: most people are p.pols - and most cyclists are people ... so go figure.... that said, if any p.pol shouldered me in a race I would feel obliged to donner him

You need to take up MTBing

Thanks, yip all comments help.

I need to pick disc rotors for my new wheelset and would appreciate some feedback on real experience with Aligator discs compared to the Avid Clean Sweep G3? The Aligator Windcutters are priced very well and apparently are lighter, but I would like to know about performance and pad life (subjectively it looks like a pad muncher). For what its worth, the rest of the hardware that I am running: Juicy 7s Thanks

You should be fairly confused by now with all the different options For what its worth I used to run Larsen TTs front and rear and was very very happy with it. Tried Crossmark when I couldn't find Larsens and hated it on the front (be assured that it is not purely down to your positioning on the bike.) Changed the front for a Monorail and combined with the Crossmark rear it worked very well for me.

Well actually GT1's statement was ridiculed. I thought that I should point out that while, granted there are many examples of carbon being used purely for marketing purposes that does not mean that GT1's statement is bull and I couldn't leave it alone when I read some of the incorrect statements about material properties. The true beauty to me of composites (in general) as an engineering material is that you can use the anisotropic properties to design something that has strenght and stiffness that is dependant on the direction of the load being applied - which is what I thought Covie was ignoring. Yes it does require decent design that utilises the material propperties correctly and no it will not solve a poor geometry, but that is true of all frame materials. (also think about it - GT1 said "I ride a carbon mountain bike, but not for weight saving, the ride is a lot nicer than aluminium." - he never said all carbon bikes ride nicer than alu bikes.... he just stated his experience which happens to be similar to mine on my hardtail)

OK "Mate" please spend a second or two and re-read what I wrote. (hint, there was sarcasm involved, so do not take it all literally and google the meaning of "objective" and "subjective" before you shoot you mouth off because it spoils a pleasant argument quite quickly if one realises you are engaging with the village idiot.) On the technical merrits of what you are saying and in defence of the "crap" that I am "selling" - your pseudo science is no better. You are correct that the carbon fibres are ridgid, but the matrix and the "design" of the lay-up results in an anisotropic material that can be more ridgid in one direction and less so in another. I suppose the reason why felt compelled to reply in the first place was that this is all basic second year Strength of Materials stuff and just because one is a natural sceptic does not change the fact that propper composite design can utilise this anisotropy. While I am at it, I think we should also clear something up about geometry.... ....actually whatever - you'll continue believing what you want - so long dude, hope you have a nice ride

You appear to be missing my point, so let's say that you clearly have objectively come to your current position and I arrived at mine after twenty years of reading subjective jounalists' opinions and not riding mountain bikes... so long, life is too short PS It sounds like we'll have an equally divergent view when it comes to suspension

Calm your bullsh!t-o-meter down - it has to do with comfort regardless of geometry (which plays a massive role, but lets assume you have that to be a non negotiable). There is actual science to it if you are interested, spend a few minutes quietly in the corner with Google before ridiculing, or ask anyone who rides a hardtail carbon frame if you may take it for a spin

I queried No Tubes on the reported issues and for what it is worth: They apparently identified the problem and rectified it.