potent

Welcome to the hub I myself have a silverback alpine. In races some guys eyeballs almost pop out when i cruise past them. just because you have a R20K bike doesn't mean you can ride the specs on the silverback are not bad component wise. i upgraded my RD to a XT for reliability in races. added some BBB triple compound brake pads for extra stopping power & shimano SPD pedals. The best upgrade you can do is to through away that useless Suntour fork away and get yourself a decent one. I got a Tora 318 air solo and what a difference it made. Your body will thank you for it. best of luck

thanks TNT.....i have hammers, drill presses, routers, tablesaws, anglegrinders etc at my disposal. how to use them without destroying the wheel is the prob!!

thanks Johan for the great advice. after all the stuff about hammers etc i decided to just take it to the LBS and let them sort it out. I'll definately keep your post and use it for future reference. I usually find the appropriate videos on-line that help you to perform any repairs needed on my bike but there were no great ones for truing a wheel that i could find. I'm always keen to learn so i'll give your advice a try neext time i have a prob. thanks again for the help it's much appreciated!

could easy be....was racing the camera man on his four wheeler down one of the final descents near the finish.

i tried giving each spoke a bit of a pull, which was suggested on a website. they all seemed fine. i would understand if i had taken a fall or something that would have caused the wheel to buckle. but no big hits at all. thats why i thought it could be the spoke tension.

hammer sounds good i'm not scared to get hands on and learn. looked at a you tube video where the guy used spoke tensioning to straighten the wheel. not sure if this is a good option or not.

didn't fall. had a fairly good race thats why i'm surprised it happened. no big hits either!

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice. did the illovo eston on sun and have managed to "buckle" my rear wheel. when spinning the wheel it jams on the left v-brake pad. this is not a v-brake adjustment issue. is it best to take the bike to the LBS and see if they are able to true it or is there a way of doing it myself? thanks in advance Byron

I'd stick to the Tora. From what i've read there don't seem to be any benefits in changing to the black. The Tora is a decent fork and if you're doing some freeriding or all-mountain riding the extra travel will help. my 2 cents!

shock pump will set you back R250 - R300. as mentioned you'll need to play aqround with the settings for the first few rides. after that you'll need to pump to replenish air every few rides. best to have your own!!

will definately save guys time, instead of having to search each thread for goodies

nice bike man

well glad that's cleared that up

I've also done a few deals on the hub and all have been done so without hassle. I think the best weapon against fraudsters etc is to speakout as soon as anything seems dodgy. As has been seen by previous problems, people remember names and once you have a bad reputation here youre' toast!

It sounds similar to the test you do at virgin for discovery points except for the cycle bit

BA allows up to 23kg. i think my mtb should be fine at 13kg plus a few accessories.

Thats not a bad price considering I'll only need it one way but It works out the same just to buy a soft bike bag and wrap the frame in bubble wrap.

I've looked at BA travel advice but it only shows proper bike bags thats why i was asking about normal cardboard boxes. Ane have you a rough price on how much U-bag charge to take you bike over? thanks

Hi Guys, Does anyone know if you're able to dismantle your bike and pack it in a normal cardboard box that new bikes normally are shipped with instead of purchasing bike bags? I thought it might be a cheaper alternative. I'm flying on BA. thanks Byron

Put in the effort and you'll reap the rewards without the need for stuff like that. the problem is with all these products is that it works differently for everyone. I personally would stay clear.

25km race on sat @13:30. check out giba gorge website.

what pressure do you run your tora 318 at turtlek?

Tora 318 air is a good fork. i bought one a few months ago with poplock for R2500. normally are around R3500. Go for the air if you have the option. only prob with the 318 air fork is that you have to internally set the bikes travel between 80, 100, 120mm. best to get it done at LBS. 318 also features motion control which allows you to tune your fork with poplock adjust.

Come do some races. there is almost one every weekend. its a good way to check out new tracks that you would normally never ride. unfortunately most of them are around PMB area. There is also the Kenneth Stainbank Reserve track in dbn. Giba is probably the best in the area though. if you want some details on races PM me

I have the 2008 Silverback Alpine which is a model below the phoenix but has exactly the same frame and componenets except for a slightly different front fork and the phoenix has mechanical disks. I'm pretty happy with my alpine. bang for buck, nothing comes close. I've been racing mine for a couple of months now and so far so good. You might want to change your fork once you get into it as the Suntours are pretty crappy. I upgraded mine to Tora 318 air solo. All in all i would say a great bike though.