Witkop

answers to the first two questions buy a steel frame with a decent shock (nothing less than a tora 302- there is a debate about air vs springs). Steel is compliant enough to resolve the HT vs Dual sus debate. MAny steel frames give similar "travel" as a rear shock. On-one, GT and a number of niche manufacturers make good steel frames (titanium is an alternative as well). On shocks tora is a good start but recon, reba and SID are indeed better. However, air shocks require more maintenance and when the go wrong they go terribly wrong (Bad if you do long tours in the Karoo alone) Minumum groupset should be deore, (though if you can fork out for LX or XT- SRAM 7 and up). That is unless you live on the fringe and then single speed is a good start (32x16 or 32 x 18 is a good starting ratio). The debate about 29er or 26er is all wind. If you are planning to race go 29er, if you want to learn how to handle a bike go 26er. On trails, in PTA the Groenkloof, fountains, monument grouping are three very good trails all within 1 km of each other. THere is also Rietvlei dam as well. In Jhb Reitvlei behind Alberton is great, and for canned cycling there is the MTB bike park. For some trails there is Nortyhern Farm (But the proximty of Diepsloot has caused problems in the past). REports about van Gaalens cheese farm are promising, and then there is the legendary "Spruit". For more you can always cycle around the dirt roads around the cradle.

on the side of the tyre there is a recommended minimum and maximum pressure. You can drop below this range, but remember you bought the 29er to go over rocks and not around them, so remember snake bits happen at low pressure. Experiment until you lose a tyre or two to snake bites and a rim to rocks. good luck.

rock and roll chain lube or any disc brake cleaner will work. infact most aeresol sprays should work. Next time don't buy a carbon frame. Stop being a posing wosse. Cycle a real bike. You are almost as bad as the guy who wants to know the correct tyre pressure for his 29er, carbon, dual suspension bike, (did he mention the colour coded hope headset, seat clamp and skewers and the Sid shock?) especially when it is transported on the back of his BMW X6. Too much information, look on the tyre wall, idiot.

cycling is not about racing or results or anything else, but rather about cycling. Enjoy cycling. If you want to win, play monopoly or risk. If you want to get superfit, run. If you want to social, join the Lions or Round table. If you want to support a cause, join rotary. if you want tou ride a bike, cycle.

running is better, harder and cheaper(and takes less time). Duathlon is a good bridge away from cycling and to utopia

steel bikes are better..........

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/04/knee-jerk-reaction-all-out-of.html

start with track cycling and mountain biking.

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.za/images/products/456-Blue-Complete.jpg

fulcrum red metals in both 29 and 26 seem to be good wheels. CRC has a special on the fives

it is a famous women, you crossdressing.........

http://www.yehudamoon.com/images/strips/2008-02-07.gif

Okay, some reality here: On the extreme (towards the simplicity) on one side is the sigle speed rigid fixie (either road or mtb). THe unicycle is another story for another time. People that go this far are either on the fringe of sanity or too poor to afford gears AND brakes. Somewhere near the edge are the single speeders who can still afford brakes and what the save they spend on steel frames and senseless bling for their children (ie SS HT bikes). In the middle, there is the mainstream which is either 26" 27 speed HT mtb or standard 10x2 speed campy road bikes. On the other extreme are the coach potatoes that pretend to mountain bike on their dual suspension carbon 29" Sram XX bicycles that have almost merged to the tailgates of the BMW X6 or Audi 4x4 vehicles. If you think having a fixie will make you cool, and you want to make a fashion statement then buy one and weld it to the book of your car. All your friends will be impressed. However, if you want to be cool in a Bohemian way, buy one and commute with it, read Das Capital, join the Communist party, move into a commune and donate your car to charity. Starting a marxist cycling club and running for parliment on the bike and planet awareness ticket is not mandatory, but will make you ubercool.

too lazy and she has clothes on

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mn2zitS4FAk/TZ3kfWzZCWI/AAAAAAAAnvg/gzKR35tEjiA/s1600/tumblr_lj9j3rIvqw1qaooieo1_500.jpg

I am married with two kids and hold down a day job, so I have given up on the training lark. I now ride whenever I can get the chance to. Mostly on sunday mornings followed by a leisurely brunch, and the org gives me wednesday afternoons occasionally to pump the trails at groenkloof. Also to save money for my son's varisty fees in ten years time, I cycle to work about two to three times a week on my SS commute.

minor repairs: change headset bearings? replace BB? re thread gear cables? align disc breaks? tighten wheel cones? ext

wait don't buy it it has only got 18" wheels..... and the rims are made of titanium??!!!

It is not what you wear (unless you are entered into a single speed "race" or how you treat women that counts, it is a general attitude towards cycling that matters. A mtbker is special in a special school type of way. He/she/it only worries about what is important at the moment, which is definitely not how many races he/she/it has won in the past, but rather on how sweet the single track is now. Difficult to achieve impossible to understand. so the whole debate about technology, which is better ext is irrelevant, except for after a ride over a cup of coffee, and in a sort of "gee having two gears today would have made onion hill a bit easier" or " did you see how that 29er wheel fold like a pretzel on the down hill" or "you road that PnP special excellently, it was a blast when you had to finish without a breaks or gears or tyres">

there we go, fixed it.

XX = double cross. It is now very evident that the whole 29" ten speed phenomonon is a conspriacy to kill mountain biking. Those who are engaging in the "cutting edge" are actually double agents imported from the other side, to spy on and deceive those on the "fun side" of the island. This conspiracy includes the importation of a lot of roadie technology, such as carbon fibre, gears, large wheels and long stage races on roads, which will gradually change the nature of riding from fun in the mud to dry dashes for the podium. (Why could they not just have taken up cyclo cross instead?) The only way to counter them is to go thrash out the single tracks on a steel single speed HT bike.

for any 24 hr the best is either: COFFEE or BEER taken after every lap. Double doese after every night lap, washed down with brandy.

I quit every night, only to restart the next day, there are however, days when I don't start again. This problem is slightly greater for me when it comes to running, as I find cycling to work takes less time and energy. Soon I hope to quit running more often than what I am presently doing.

Did I mention that fixi's score even more points, possibly? THe general idea is to make all the rules so complicated that the judges, in their sober?! state, can make any ruling that seems plausable, without it resulting in court cases and flaming on the hub. Remember if you can intereprete the rules accurately when sober then they are not complicated enough, and thus not going to be any fun. See it as a counter-culture to being serious like the UCI

the general idea is now to make the front wheel as big as possible, and decrease the size of the back wheel (so as to reduce weight). Some have even suggested to remove it altogether, but traditionalists insist that it does serve a purpose. THe wear on the drive chain and frame flex will be greatly reduced by removing it altogether and instead direct drive technology will allow pedals to be placed on the front hub directly. (A secret thermal-gel polyma hub has been developed to provide proper power-speed ratio to the cyclist thus totally eliminating the need for the unrully 10 speed cluster) So after a 100 years the modern bike will look like a pennyfarthing. This is simply because traditionalists cannot totally exclude the rear wheel from the design.