TheV

Condolences. RIP.

Classic footage your shiner will heal-up, and you will always have that recording. Imagine in 20 years from now how you going to laugh when watching that again. Looks like you just hesitated a bit too much there, the other rider in front didn't help either, maybe caused you to slow down cause before that you were going at a lekker speed, in sections like those, speed is your friend and the slightest hesitation a fkup.

Too many pies?

Yes, but you push you bike most of the time. I'm around 1.8 bars in front, and closer to 2 bars in the rear for me..

Hi Ludolf, welcome to thehubsa. Buy a continental Race-King for real, and X-King for the fron, and never worry about grip, punctures, weight, speed or anything tire related again. 2.3 bar is high, the trend is lower pressures nowadays, try going down slowly.

From your list, the Silverback offers best value/spec. The lightest, Shimano brakes a big +, try and get a better deal/discount on it.

Charged as a criminal? Wow, really?

Sad to have contenders pull out. But I think the days of having a single rider/team dominating for years in succession are over. Tour getting harder, riders more competitive. We all like to have our tour favorites and heroes, but for now I'm enjoying the idea of just seeing it all unfold. This is going to the best tour in a long time. I'm loving it!

Post from phone, sorry for grammar, spelling, ranting, too difficult to edit, etc.

Couple of things can cause noisy brakes, common issue with new bikes, especially the entry level brake sets and rotors. Brakes have to be run in. But before you do that you have to get the basics right first. Firstly take out the pads and ensure pistons are pushed in evenly and flush on both sides. If they are not flush/equally set you won't get them to move in concert. Be careful not to pull the brake lever too much without the pads/rotor installed otherwise the pistons will pop out. But sometimes it helps oiling the pistons by braking them out and dabbing some brake fluid around them, pushing them back in/out till the move together. Install pads, and try to align caliper as perfectly centered as possible, taking into account the alignment is aimed at having both pads making contact at the same time on the rotor when braking. After you can spin the wheel freely without pad contact, and also get both pads to engage at the same time, as as close balance as you can get, then you have to make a couple of high speed straight line tar road brakes by going fast, braking slowly and increasing breaking force until total stop. Do a couple of runs breaking back only, then front only, then both front/back, easing into braking power to seat pads and rotors. After than you can check alignments again, maybe have to another couple of braking sessions. Not many shop mechanics will spend this amount if time getting brakes run in and set up for you. It's a personal investment. Be very careful when you clean your bike to never contaminate the pads or rotors, use isopropyl alcohol to clean rotors and pads.

If you have Chrome - you just right click on the Image and choose "Search Google for this Image" - you will find other listings on other sites. It should be the #1 thing you do when buying online. It will uncover 95%+ of scams.

Continental X-King front, Continental Race King rear.

Spez or Cannondale, they like to mix X7/X9? Don't know why they don't just make the bike R500-R750 more and make full X9. Irks me. In any case, the X9 is awesome, what you could probably do is just upgrade the X7 shifters they usually sneak in to X9, because you would notice a difference there, but do it in your own time as fun spoil yourself upgrade down the line... next major upgrade could be the brakes, if they gave you 5 or 7 series brakeset then it's going to suck. Wheels on Spez or Cannondale are usually not too bad on X7/9 level bikes.

You are joking right, did you take his badge number?

Delta Park being taken over by the organised fun walks and runs anyhow these days.... gazillions of them nowadays.

Just goto Morningside Cycles and look at the Yeti's, for enduro I'd certainly go for the 66 or 75, not to keen on the 95 unless you splash out on the carbon.

You just dwaal in front of the pie counter, no getting past you there. Seriously, forget about the letter and check out the hairy-leg model they put in the mag wearing R20,000 racing outfits and garments. I'm having nightmares. Almost like seeing mayhem in Lycra.

Serious? So cheap they can't even afford to shave his legs or photoshop in a vein or cyclist tan, etc?

On the topic of this Bicycling issue, did anyone notice the model they used to show off +- R10,000 winter riding outfits- he look the part, at first glance... if you then take another look and see his scrawny hairy legs with no calves or any sign of ever being a real cyclist, wtf is up with choosing such a poser to pose such expensive kit?

Was she hot? Cause it totally matters to me if the chick who rides into me is hot or not....

About 15%-16% for the vat and admin fees, no tax on frames.

What's an "Epic", I've never heard of it? 1. Servicing a "Brain" is just as much a pain in the ass as looking after a "Lefty". 2. The Pro's of the lefty (weight, stiffness, response, etc.) is way more prominent than the "FSR/Brain" suspension and can be felt, it's not placebo. 3. IMHO the Scalpel rides/handles just so so much bette than the Spaz 4. The epic might feel faster, or actually be slightly faster 5. If you ride/race both bikes over the same course, the smile factor on the Scalpel will be better than that of the Spaz. (Stumpjumper FSR is another story.... totally). 6. I think on a downhill the Scalpel is much faster, on a climb/flats the Epic will be better 7. The Scalpel is a bit more versatile than than the pure race ready Epic. just my couple of cents.... "GOOD wheelset choices are a pain in the ass and limited on the lefty hub, but changing a front flat is so easy on the front with the lefty cuz you don't have to remove the wheel... "

Hi Ruan, the BB is not going to be a problem, but unfortunately the steerer will be. Current bike/forks is std. straight and new frame is tapered. So if you want to run current forks you need a reducer headset, will cost a couple hundreds, so maybe look for another frame, a new forks, cuz spending bucks on a headset is a bit of a dead investment in what you are trying to do.

Yup +1- agree with Mayhem. Get the SLX, these days they are virtually the exact same as XT, mostly finish/material that differs, braking power the same. Rather spend the extra bucks on a set of IceTec rotors, it makes a huge difference. But to start off you can use your current rotors, no problem, Shimano brakes are not fussy with rotor/alignment/setup, they just work. Best thing to do if you are fitting yourself is to measure current hoses with a string and then get the shop/someone to cut and bleed the new brakes the same length. If you are lucky (most cases) you can route the caliper along the frame without having to disconnect a hose.

This is a design issue, and some frames suffer more than others, some don't have this issue at all. You will find that the BMC's are often scratched in the workshop or oven on the shop floor because of this. The KTM'S also have this problem. It's not a fall that's going to scratch your bike/damage, it's going to happen from loading/storing/etc. Not much you can do about it, except for grip shifters and a good frame protection film.