Li Mu Bai

dirt-rider

Dont forget Woolies' Belgian chocolate Ice-cream

Exactly. Look at all this stuff! And you are carying this in addition to 2 or 3 kg of water on your shoulders? what on earth for. its tireing. Carry your water in your camelbak, and put the rest onto your bike frame via a saddle bag/bottle cage spare holder tube. even better still is nothing on your person except gels in your pockets: - spares in the saddlebag, and water in bottles - All carried by the bike frame. all you do is pedal and have fun.

in my camelbak is just 2l of Endurapower drink, and my car key. All the other bits/spares/tools are in a saddle bag for the bike to carry. cant stand sucking on a muddy/dusty waterbottle - camelback is easier to use whenever i need it and less filthy

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Honestly, one of the reasons for buying Hope is that its loud! squirt some silicone into the freehub pawls.

yup, dont buy clothing from overseas. rule. You cant try it on to check if it fits, you cant check the quality, you pay huge duties on it when it arrives, and as in your case, it may be the wrong jacket sent.

maintain cartridge bearings? you replace them

Rubbish. The aluminium rear chainstay cracked and broke before anything on my carbon front triangle (which is still rock solid). I have also had welds fail on previous aluminium frames I have ridden, so the idea that Aluminium is superior to carbon is a myth...

To be honest, Scott have been quite on the ball when it comes to replacing parts in my experience so far. (Twinlock, derailure hanger, rear pivot chainstay) I dont believe there is one bike that lasts longer than another, ALL have varying issues and problems. It is a machine that gets drilled over rough terrain, so we cannot expect whatever bike we ride to be unbreakable - unless you are driving miss daisy.

Some lubricant oil sprays can actually dissolve the grease within the bearing. Once water has entered a sealed cartridge bearing it will never get out. it mixes with the grease and forms emulsion and if standing, will start oxidising the ball inside the bearings. Seizure happens soon after.

Good. I would regrease more often though.

The thing is the same design exists in the various top brands: Scott Spark Specialised Epic Trek Superfly Cannonadale Scalpel. the issue comes down to the quality of the bearing and how well it is protected. regular regreasing will help replacing what is washed away and regular checks on these bearings will help reduce the strain the frame gets placed under if they seize. Remember these bearings only turn maybe 5%, its not like a wheel bearing that does revolutions and can stay loose longer. The pivots only turn a tiny amount as the rear triangle flexes over terrain, thus the bearings only do a miniscule ammount of work. If they take on water, it festers, they rust, and they seize.

Actually, this particular bearing is very exposed to water from both riding and washing. It is inevitable that it will seize, so make sure you check and change out this bearing regularily. For example: I had the bearings replaced by my LBS in February as part of its yearlty warrenty service. Then after checking them just after Lowveld Quest in April, I replaced the bearings again as they had already seized. Then 3 days befor Sani2C I did a final pre race check and noted the driveside chainstay cracked just adjacent to the BB/crank area. This item alone was replaced (with one that did not match the existing bike colour, but beggers cant be choosers) It seems this is a problem area, but not unique to Scott - other bikes of similar design need to be regularily checked and serviced, with particular care taken at these bearing points.

yes if you got there early, number collection was fine. thereafter it was a mess. fun single track, but what ruined it was the seeding. Placing previous USN race riders in batches ahead of faster riders in a prodiminantly single track event is nuts. Not only is the traffic jams and waiting abominable and frustrating, but I'm sure its no fun for the slow rider having someone breathing down his/her neck and asking them to move aside as they negotiate the single track. again and again. Whats the point of a national seeding database if it is not going to be used. Good atmosphere though, and no issues with route marking - the bits of blue tape did the job fine.

Could be several things but, I had something similar when changing from 26"to 29" and running 2x10 instead of 3x9 for the first time. It was a deep inner pain rather than they typical side ITB pain, most felt when massaging. The efforts you are using do take some getting used to and your body is letting you know it is battling to cope. Take time to build up into the new gearing. I found that this lasted a few months and went away as I got used to the new platform. I will be using XX1 crank (32T) but 10 speed rear (11/36) soon, and am expecting some adjustment to follow.

Just started using this too, very good product, much better than others out there - has little aluminium shiny dots inside that reflect your body heat back quite high tech.

Good luck to all those taking on this adventure!

SC Highball - just awesome. very envious. The red stem could be black though, Crank could be XX1 for some further adventuring (1x10) but looking great so far. congrats.

You will save weight. Usually when changing these elements the most noticible change to your ride experience comes from upgrading your handle bar from Aluminium to carbon. It certainly does dampen/absorb a lot of the trail chatter and is easier on your wrists etc. Stem would assist this too, but there are some very light aluminium stems out there eg Ritchey C260 Seatpost change is cosmetic and weight saving too.

Better if you were on a snowboard...

interesting, havent considered this before.

Scott Spark Pro Bearings: 6 off 6802 2RS - R240 (bearing man) Seized Jockey wheels - R195 New Pressfit BB - R385 New Chain - R250 Cables - 2 off - R28 redid tubeless both wheels - Stans Tape 5m - R50 (used exist sealent) Serviced Rockshox SID - R780 (long overdue) All DIY- full disassembly of every component, wash, dry, relube/Q20 (except fork, thanks JB, and BB, thanks Cycletec), took 3 evenings approx 5 hours total Total - R1928.00

Where do the Gupta's fit in?

unacceptible. please put yourself on 20 second suspension.