KnobbyMech

Although not common, most makes supply them. Also try Aerozine. You can set your crank length by simply flipping the ceramic bush. Weight like XTR, cost like XT.

There is no front derailer. It is only a guide as there is only a single chain ring.

The cars are the least of your worries. Please be very cereful on the sharp bends on the fast downhills. Many cyclist gone straight to hospital from there before. If you can, stay to the speed limit on the downhills (I know, I know). Also watch out for the animals too. A friend of mine had a 3 month hospital stint after a meeting there with a duiker. Awesome place to ride.

Don't worry, it's downhill all the way. @FRAIL is probably the best guy to speak to.

Not riding with one, this may be the end result.

Did anyone see how nearnly Hushovd escaped that crash. Yellow jersey could look a lot different. What if there were a mid-pack crash yesterday 8km from the end? We would have to say bye-bye Evans. Tha'ts the fun part of the tour, anything can happen to anyone, anytime.

Does'nt Dangle own Summit Cycles?

Thanks to all who participated and gave their advise. I made a (hard) decision. I rode both bikes on lekker downhill singletrack this Saturday. Now I realize that I am now used to the 29" with wider handlebars etc. but I just never felt as fast or as in control and steady as on the 29". I loved the soft ride of the 26" dually though. Fact is I enjoyed the 29" more and to be true to myself, I will properly never again pick the 26" dually as weapon of choise for any race and can benefit from some cash in the pocket now. Thus I decided to sell the Anthem and save the bucks for either a proper 29" XC dual suspension frame or in future buy a complete light 29" dually. I can even sell the XTC if I go for this option. In the meanwhile lets see what 2012 brings in bike choice.

Good point! Thought about that. What do you recommend for around R18k? 5" or 6" travel?

Thanks. You have the hottest bike (imo) on the hub. That will be the ultimate, but I will need to sell a couple more bikes to afford that. If there is one thing I really miss about the 26" dual is the sweet soft landings after jumps.

My wife tried a number saddles. She had a Selle Italia womens specific, but it never where perfect (your wife is welcome to borrow it to test, her also being a physio like my wife and all). She finally found a perfect saddle in the Specialized Ariel.

I have a great Giant Anthem with mostly 2009/2010 XTR components and wheels and a SID world cup fork. I recently bought a Giant XTC 29" hardtail and upgraded the wheels to American classic. I find that I rarely ride the Anthem these days and haven't raced it since the XTC purchase. What do you recommend? Thanks Please note: there are not a "sell the 29"" option, but I you so wish, flame away.

One more. Danger a-head.bmp

You are welcome to use these ideas of mine. They are only ideas and not designs as they need some serious graphic design work. I don't have a drawing program on my pc and prefer pen. Resize of HELMET SCULL.bmp Resize of HELMET ALLIEN.bmp

Interesting. Most guys have that problem only when they are batchelors.

The key is riding buddies. No one wants to drop a buddie standing under a lamppost at 5am freezing his bud off waiting for you.

I also attended weekly Pilates classes for the last year or so. Where it really makes a difference is on long marathon rides. The body does not get nearly as exhausted as before and concentration stays sharp. Also had a huge problem with lower back pain on long hard rides. This is now also 90% sorted. Oh, and the wine bag is turning into a 6 pack.

This is an interesting tread. PLEASE gents, lets not make it just another us vs you tread. Let's just all be cyclist for one day. The roadies must have picked up 20kg from all the popcorn, watching us fellow mtbers at each other. I AM GETTING GATVOL OFF IT!!!

Seems like there are some varied perceptions here. The way I understand it, a bike "cockpit" is that which relates to the handlebar, stem and stem height from bottom Aheadset bearing. It relates to it's lengths and angles. With other words, what you steer with. I would agree that there must be a more appropriate name. I far as I understand it has nothing to do with saddle or top tube. I do not care what you call that part.

Please be so kind as to give us a name that suits YOU and describes it better than "cockpit". BTW 26er bikes also have them so stop swinging around your sarcasm and not-so-whitty whip and start contributing FFS

Very happy the race is on again this year! Remains one of my favourite SA races. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Same boat for me. I disagree with the Med option in one way: Some people have relativfely long legs and shorter upper boddies and visa versa. If you are from the first group, you might have to use the saddlepost very long exposed or even a extra length one and then battle to get the handlebar to a comfortable relative height unless you are verrrry supple.

Well I just removed the 690mm flat bar from my Giant Xtc 29er and replaced it with a 660mm low rise riser bar WITH bar ends. Feels pretty good. Still wide enough to manipulate those bigger wheels and although I now have a more upright and comfortable riding position, the bar is still 30mm lower than the saddle. Will report again after a long and technical ride.

Except for the 1st stage, all stages are scheduled to start at 7am.

Same air pressure in a different volumes are perceived differently. Pump a road tyre 1.8 bar and it wil feel extremely soft and hardly rideable. Opposite is true when going to a larger volume. I would say 2.0 Bar on 26" is equivalent to 1.7 or 1.8 Bar on 29" of identical tyre. Also, a 2.4 tyre can be run at lower pressure that say a 1.9 for the same reason as above. Hey, all you 26er dudes giving me gas, at the end of the singletrack you are still mounties and I love you too