amasendeinja

Considering how fast 2x10 moved down the range from XX, we'll have X0-1 by the end of this year and probably down as far as X5-1 by end of next year. Then at least you won't have to sell one of your kids to buy the groupset. So you could actually ride one and thus actual experience as opposed to opinions. I'd certainly like to give it a bash, but at R4k+ for a "consumable" like a cassette, methinks not!

Meh, just done some reading on Budnitz bikes. Designed (and built) initially by James Bleakley of Black Sheep bicycles and now built, with what looks pretty much like James' original Speedster design, by Lynskey. Mr. Budnitz would appear to know little about bikes, other than how to market them and make them pretty expensive. To quote his website; "Paul Budnitz is an artist, author, filmmaker, product designer & entrepreneur." As far as design goes, this is what he designs: http://www.kidrobot.com Black Sheep Speedster pic attached for reference. All that said, they are very pretty bikes...

Buy it! At R60 it's 2/3 of the price of the Mucky Nutz ones I bought in the UK and they work like a charm. Note, by "work" I mean they keep the mud out of your eyes/glasses so you can actually see on fast snotty descents. They do not keep your bike or the rest of you clean and generally do not claim to do so.

Very nice place that Oom, do enjoy it. Spent many misspent youth hours there trout fishing and er.... well other misspent youth kinda stuff! Was not open to the public back then, just a friend's farm.

Raved about his service on here before, so glad others have had similar experiences with him. Other brand importers could learn a lot from him! Have to agree with da butcher though... one man Police File show candidate...bwahahaha, cough, splutter, wheeze....

Unless you are (or intend to be) a serious podium threat, you can use pretty much any bike for XC/marathon. I could think of far worse options than a Pyga OneTen! I'll certainly be using mine for racing... And pretty much any other riding too. Go on, buy niche, you know you want to!

And that man - Sam Whittingham - is the owner and builder of those very awesome bikes: Naked Bicycles!

Yes, definitely

Dangle's such a singleminded sod, he'll convince you to buy that Ritchey soon. Nice bike, but maybe that pornostar on meth paint scheme's not for everyone. You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you don't have a look at the Cotic Simple: 29 or 26 wheelsize as takes your fancy, track style horizontal dropouts are as simple as it gets, good design and handling, only in steel which is no bad thing unless you're a podium threat and best of all, well within your price range at around R6k. Give Matt a call and take a look.

I weigh around 90kg so in your ballpark. Been riding on a Ruan Deysel wheelset with Crest rims for over a year now. Not one ding or dent and they're on my hardtail so take some extra punishment. I'm not really much of a "float like a butterfly" kinda rider! I put my ACs on my full suss because on the hardtail they just took too much punishment. Rear one is quite badly dented - nothing that a set of water pump pliers couldn't fix - but it takes some effort to seat a new tire. Really like the ACs but they're a lot softer than the Crests. Get a handbuilt wheelset from one of the local wheelbuilders and maybe go Crest up front and Arch on the rear. You will not regret it. The comment about light tyres is probably far more important than light wheels. I know lots of guys with nice light wheels and then they put 2.4 UST Mountain Kings on which weigh 800g each for 26" tyres! Look for those Spez tyres mentioned or Schwalbes.

V....ery nice indeed! I do like those hoses very much.

What Splat said, or close enough...it's possessive though, so the dog's balls, or The Dog's Bollocks preferably! Weird avator mystry solved?

Thanks V, please do I'm definitely going the pimping route so I'd be keen to see the Jagwire stuff.

Percyzn, that really looks very very nice. Tasty build, well done!

Received my "Easy Tiger" box yesterday containing my much anticipated OneTen large. I have the obvious bias of a brand new owner, but I must say I'm more impressed than I thought I'd be. I love the overall look and design of the frame and the raw look is just up my street. Considering I do not own a bike that has paint on it, it would be. They really do mean raw though, there is not even a layer of lacquer on the frame, which I quite like. Unlike TheV I love the head badge. I do have a thing about headbadges and must agree there's not much completes a good frame than a nice cast metal headbadge, but this one I do like. The idea comes from a vehicle's chassis plate with all the relevant data captured on it, so I like the originality. I did have a close look at the welds and some may not look that great, but then again I think paint can hide a lot of things and as long as they don't look like mossie kuk and hold the bits together like they should then I'm not too fussy. I weighed my large in at 3.278kg which is quite a porker and thus fits well with it's new owner! I've only taken one pic so far - build will take some time still sadly....do note that serial number though!! I have absolutely no idea what options I have for a gold headset and bottom bracket though, so if anyone has any ideas it would be great? Considering it's a BB92 pressfit bottom bracket I think they're all plastic, so not sure if there are any options at all really. Going with Ryanpmb's tappit theme - too nice not to....

Finally built up my first SS (after 6 years of sitting on the fence ). Pretty damn nice if I say so myself! Cotic Soda, Hope hubs, BB, headset, and seat collar, Stans Crest/Hope Ruan Deysel wheelset, Ritchey Classic stem, post and bar, Middleburn Uno crankset, Chris King stainless cog, Gusset 1/2 link chain, Rennen Rollenlager tensioner, Rockshox 120mm XX 20mm thru axle fork (not hardcore enough for rigid!), XT brakeset, Flite 110th anniversary brown leather saddle, PDW Whiskey Ergo stitched brown leather grips, Blackburn Chicane stainless waterbottle cages, XT pedals. Carbon! Sorry, kuk iPhone pic!

very nice build! What chain is that, need one for my bike?

KY...oh f&*% wrong forum

Wireless electronic shifting and even braking for that matter. Battery technology is advancing pretty damn fast these days and in 20 years time will likely have made a quantum shift so that recharging will become something done every few weeks, maybe longer. Electronic far better and more reliable than hydraulic if it's all solid state and most certainly will weight a fraction of anything hydraulic. Shifting via a gearbox located in the BB area of course. Guys like these - http://pinion.eu/ - are already making serious inroads into this area already, with reliability and longevity already there. Decreasing the size and weight - certainly achievable well within 20 years - and gone are those pesky derailleurs. I'd say all the above more likely within 10 years even.

Mr. Bob Brown who has been building steel frames for 15 years or so, and seems pretty qualified to make these statements/observations, would not agree with the whole thing about steel being less stiff than other materials. See attached link to his article on Material Myths and draw your own conclusions - he actually allows you to do so... http://www.bobbrowncycles.com/eng.htm#section1

As per Eldron, Cotic Solaris/Soul should definitely be on your list. www.cotic.co.za. You're assured of brilliant service too and they're up the road in Centurion, so you can actually go have a look and more than likely get a test ride in. Speak to Matt.

Found this on thisispeaty.com - Steve Peat following Greg Minnaar down the DH WC course at PMB. HD quality looks really cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui5_0IcSZA0

Agree with what dodger said! Just read that issue and it certainly seems like Mr. Morewood has not lost his touch. Very badly want one of these now!! PS. I was equally - if not even more - impressed that Bicycling actually applied a points scoring system to each bike - and had an actual winner! I have not bought an issue in years - not a fan of the "Men's Health but with bikes" look and feel - but was well impressed that have grown a pair. Have not seen that in other local publications - refreshing change. Tread do make a note please!

Snakeskin is only available on the Evo range of tyres from Schwalbe, i.e. only on their most expensive range. Snakeskin is (as Gambit said) a layer in the sidewall of the tyres for better sidewall protection, particularly from rock cuts which Racing Ralphs are particularly susceptible to. You also get Double Defense on some tyre models and sizes which is an additional layer under the rolling surface or tread for improved puncture protection. Both these options are only available on tubeless ready (TR) tyres. Tubeless or UST tyres have an airtight inner liner in the tyre and are designed to run without sealant. Seeing as in this country (well most places anyway) we have lots of rocks and/or thorns, anyone who runs tubeless tyres always puts sealant in anyway. The TR tyres should be run with sealant. So in the case with Schwalbe tyres I see no reason as all to use the UST versions when the TR version is quite bit lighter and offers at least the same - if not better - sidewall protection. In the case of the Snakeskin or DD versions that is. As preference I use the Ralph on the back with either Rocket Ron, or if you want something beefier and more "Mountain Kingy", a Nobby Nic on the front. I can't say the Ralph's have the greatest longevity as tyres go, and certainly nowhere near what the Monorails or other Maxxis tyres have, but they are quite a bit lighter and lighter where really it counts - on the outside of your wheels. With the Ron or the Nic on the front, I've had no issues - my last Ron I've had for 14 months and whilst looking a bit skanky is still more than capable. In the same time frame I went through 3 Ralphs. Well one had got a major sidewall cut when brand new, so pretty sure any other tyre would also have failed.