gparsons

My two cents worth... Brandon 'the crusher' Els, just saying the name makes my knees shake !! If that email was really from him then not a 'businessman' I would like to deal with!! But that's just me.... In SA, the economic crunch hits, prices go up, disposable income goes down and luxury good prices (e.g. cars, mbikes, bicycles) get really out of hand. In other parts of the world, suppliers offer discounts, try and move stock, etc. In SA, apart from probike it would seem, suppliers stick to prices and do not budge. Thus they will not move stock, won't get sales, and will go under if they don't have the financial means to weather this storm. So, at least the consumers and (for a change) suppliers are in the dwang together. It might be sad, but with the current status quo, what else can we expect???? Heres hoping things improve for everyone though...

Niterider, that is a very wise suggestion. R28K on a frame, eish...

IanJ it worked perfectly. Thanks!

Thanks KDEE, and I don't think so Slowbee because if there is a whole in your tyre it will still go flat (although as you can see I am no expert.... yet!).

Cool - thanks IanJ. I will give it a go and see how it works. Cheers.

I didn't, the bike shop did it for me and they are not road tyres as such but road mtb tyres. I have been riding to work and home on the bike and wanted mtb road tyres to make this trip less noisy and smoother.

Hey all. Some advice please. I have road tyres on my mtb with slime in the tubes. I want to change over to knobbly mtb tyres as I am off to Giba this weekend and need to deflate the tubes, remove the road tyres and put on the knobblies. How do I do this without getting slime coming out the tube, are the tubes reusable, will I need a new tube, etc, etc. Could anyone tell me what to expect and how best to do this. Thanks!!

Hi Karen. Welcome - this is something all us newbies go through so welcome to the club. My advice is to get a well fitting bike asap and just get out there and enjoy the great outdoors. The longer you worry about the bike you are going to get, the longer it will be before before you can enjoy mtb riding. My advice would be to go to a good bike store, get someone to fit you properly on a bike and ride it home (if its close enough to your home!). After looking and looking, my favourites were Silverback (www.silverback.co.za) (I bought the S-Sierra) and Giant (in Durban, I liked Cyclesphere for Giant bikes: www.cyclesphere.co.za). However, in the end it will come down to what you like best (colour, components, feel, etc), so do a little looking, go and spend a bit of time at a good bike store, and buy the one you like the most in your price range. Just remember though, try not to over-analyse. Hope this helps, G.

Nabraska has better components for the price. I have just gone through all this and settled on the Sierra (bigger brother of the Nabraska), although all the parts are on a Nabraska frame beacause there are no XL Sierra frames available in Durban at the moment. First ride on it (and first ever on a mtb!) today - very good buy and completely happy - my new urban assault vehicle!! Highly recommend the Silverback (a local company too), and this after not liking it when I test rode it a while ago. Cheers!

SRAM, Rockshox, Truvativ, etc all part of the same stable - don't know who owns who though. Price is around R8K.

Last Thursday I decided I wanted the Giant XTC2 - but not available at the moment (apparently very little demand!)! ****, just when I thought I had my mind made up. Anyway, spent the weekend thinking, etc and had a look at GTs. Um, ah, not sure, then went this morning to look at the Silverbacks again..... and ordered a Sierra before I left the store. Really like the look of it, and the components.... yum. Can't wait!!

Looks are just as important . When you tested the bikes, what did you prefer? I am sure that the M485s would work just fine! The Tora is the better fork (see www.sram.com), but does this mean that the Dart 2 is worse?? Perhaps the Dart 2 will do for you depending on where you want to ride?? The Silverbacks generally offer about the best price for components at the moment.

Thanks... still learning..

Just an update - I made up my mind today after too long to go for the XTC...... Go to Cyclesphere, none on the floor but proudly ask if they can order me one..... sorry, demand for the XTC is nil so giant are only bringing in the XTC C0 frames at the moment So near and yet so far......

Sorry to hear this, but if you are okay, thank God you got out of this close call!!!

Sorry, my mate has the Scott 40. Nice bike - know why you like it. Want hydr discs, etc and I think the first Scott to do that is the 40? A bit hefty price tag. Have you ridden the gt? Not bad, I also didn't really like it until I rode it

De ja vu! I am in your position exactly. And then yesterday I rode the Dual Susp. Commencal 5.5.1?. Big mistake ? now I want one. Getting back to you though, the bikes you mention are the ones I have also looked at, all 2008 and namely: <?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Giant Alias, Talon: Really like the Talon and the fact that the Giant frame is one of the best imho. Both bikes felt really nice to ride, although spec wise I would prefer the Talon. The only thing still bothering me is should I go for the Talon frame or the XTC frame?!? The Talon is quite a heavy bike at something like 14kg, where as the XTC is lighter (although the weight thing is relative, i.e. me vs the bikeJ) GT Avalanche 1: Nice bike (I like the silver ones but no stock in the country presentlyL, only black with yellow decals) and given a very good review at www.bikeradar.com (best bike in price category by far, according to them) <?:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Merida?. Not really a fan, but that?s not to say they are bad as their riders and bikes have won many races. Silverback?. I have not been able to find a local dealer with the full range. Rode the Nabraska and then directly after rode the Talon. For me, the Talon felt much better, but then I think it must be to do with frame geometry (or bike feelJ) and what suits me... Felt: Nice with light frame and good components. Can?t get to test one though, and I won?t buy what I can?t test. Q720 sells for R5995 and the Q920 sells for R8000. Kona: Nice bikes but quite expensive. Tempted though ? like the Kula all the way at R11.5K. Bloody hell, I wish I was rolling in the cash!! Raleigh: Recommended to me as the best bike in its price range. I ride a Raleigh road bike which I love, so am also tempted toward that too. Mongoose: There is a mongoose that is very similarly specced to the GT Avalanche that retails for about R5800. If bikeradar is to be believed, and I haven?t read a bad thing about mongoose frames, then perhaps this bike is the best in the R5-R6K range. My lbs also weighs it at a very reasonable 13.3kg too. Just some thought for you?.. Sorry if they confuse even more Be sure to test ride each one you are interested in!

Holy, you like the Talon? Tell me why??

So, XTC or Talon. Promise not to bother you again!!

Yeah, your right about the weight thing, not too much over my fighting weight but definitely could be a little lighter I want to use it for everything, offroad and onroad (after a quick tyre change). Thanks.

So, most think I should go HT to improve my mtb skills - so the question remains Talon or XTC 2?? Is the XTC that much lighter?

Thats perfect

Under, the Talon is a nice bike albeit a bit heavy (although that means you must be stronger than the others on lighter bikes). How long have you had it and when are you upgrading..... Would you buy it again or would you go Anthem if you could? Ta

Thanks Mampara although since when isn't lazy good BB, you are aloud to be lazy but that doesn't mean you can fall asleep at the handle bars! Cheers.

Thanks everyone. Have seriously being considering this for a while - thank goodness for patient bike store folk (and those on the hub)! Does having a full susp mean that your skill quotient need not be as high when going offroad - i.e. the bike is more forgiving and makes you look good? I could always do with some of that !!!