Paul Ruinaard

Wow, a thread about a supposed unconfirmed assault and we proceed to assault each other irrespective of whether it happened or not and vent our spleens about road/mountain bike/Lycra/new breed bikers and all that cr@p. Has anyone ever mentioned that the ride you have will be determined by the way you approach it and the attitude you go in with. The spruit is a great ride and can be tons of fun with lost of friendly people on it. I reckon it is without doubt the most ridden route in SA and has been the start of MTBing for many people here. I have ridden it as my first ride on an MTB when I was sh*tting to bunny hop kerbs. So lets stick to the facts about what did or didn't happen and keep the black stuff down and be aware of others that may not have our level of skills.

Love my M785. But some other overlooked advice is go 180mm rotor(s) and also look at the Icetech rotors if you want some fade free performance. Shimano M 785's with 180mm rotors = single finger braking and lots of modulation and control.

Hmm interesting. I took Prexum Plus and Zanidip for about 5 years after I had a fall and blood pressure went haywire. I stopped taking them about 18 months ago. I just found that they were having lousy side effects. My GP checks the BP on a regular basis and never panics. I don't think its stellar but the meds are also lousy things. I am 49, a pork pie or three ahead this winter and certainly the least fit I have been for a long time (ask me about the Spring Classic yesterday) but i will be back in fighting trim again in three months so exercise can do wonders. You don't always need the meds, and they do have side effects after a bit.IMHO. its such an emotional subject and we all panic when we hear BP and Cholesterol mentioned and dive for the meds as if we are going to keel over instantly. Don't think you cannot stop and don't think that they don't need to be adjusted.

So in the olden days the spring classic was a lekker little jaunt out at the Riversands farm, kind of like a leg loosener for the new season. This was certainly a couple of steps up from that old race. More like the spring classics in Belgium for me, especially seen as though i have had a winter eating chocolates in front of the fire. The ascent for 41km was over 750m on my Garmin so that equates to an Epic stage if you carried on at that rate. Certainly caught me off guard as I was easing in to the new year. Big wake up call as to how fit I am. Great route - certainly a lot tougher than what i was expecting. I think Avianto is coming on nicely and will now start to rotate this with N Farm if we can do some of the tracks across the way that we rode yesterday.

Remember the issues with Richard Beswick and the teeter totter on the spruit where he was almost sues after a guy fell and had bad spinal injuries. Also all the bad press the jumps received and the furore in the local press. FWIW, my 2 cents. Build the jumps. Smile every time you ride them and build your own lines. Don't tell anyone, don't ask permission and just put them off line.

This pic makes me sick. I imported a set for my tandem some years ago, got divorced and dumped the tandem for small change. The hubs alone were works of art. Solid billet titanium White Industries. I will get myself a set again some time. Really are beautiful to behold.

Listen, the largest threat are the off leash dogs and their dog nazi owners, followed by the clueless riders. And it's always in the Delta where the nuttiest dogs are that can turn 90 degrees in a microsecond. And always with a militant dog nazi walker who is totally aware that they should be on a lead, but hey who gives a toss about the rules? I went arse over tip to avoid a border collie a while back, off a leash of course,only to have the fat twat who was walking the dog pass rude comments. If I wasn't lying around with my head ringing I would have kicked his fat arse. It's not the walkers, or the runners, it's the dog nazis that are at fault. Me, I am all for avoiding the off leash dog, and if I can, running over the freaking dog nazis.

How about wiring the crosses as well. I used this on a tandem. Not sure it will help, but will make the wheels stiff?

Okay I don't often like admitting but with my winter fat I am a very porky 115kg, and ride a little stupid sometimes. I have changed from Stan's Crest rims to Arch EX. I didn't pretzel the Crest, but it was very soft after a year. These were Ruan Deysel built wheels, so not badly built. My vote , well built Arch EX.

my 2 lateral cents worth.... Big tires on narrow rims leads to a squishy/flexy ride, as the rim cant support the Tyre body well. And skewers - get the best, not the lightest. Small amounts of flex at the skewers (center) equals big movements at the edge of the circumference of the wheel.

I noticed flex in my wheels of my Specialized, and spent a long time looking at the rims and the build and tightening the pivots and plucking at spokes. After some time I found out the suspension pivots were worn on the back end and the flex was being caused by the pivot on the LHS moving forward when the RHS was still okay. Replaced the pivots and the problem went away... Use it, don't use it ....

The F8ckers that run the show seem to have released a dam full of water. The Jukskei single track after the nice twisty section is a marsh. I wasn't a happy bunny...... I hate mud at the best of times - I have ridden too much in it and it destroys your bike.

Also greatest hubs in the world for clearing the single track in front of you as they make such a lot of noise that the guy or girl thinks you are about to attack with a buzz saw and they clear off in to the weeds. A couple of back pedals and a bit of free wheeling works wonders. Reduces the overtaking manoeuvrings a lot...

Love my Hope's. Not only I was up to my axles in mud at N Farm this weekend, so dont lie to yourself about not needing those seals locally.

Hmm, wasn't going to reply, but thought you should know that not all tyres are created equal. A UST tyre will simplify your conversion. In fact IMHO about 90% of all the issues are tyre related, and the balance are rim related. And get a compressor to do it. I did a set of non UST contis once and the sidewalks were like sieves, they leaked latex for weeks and were always flat. Eventually they worked and gripped like crazy, but they were a mission. Agreed on GEAX. You need to be Tarzan. Another hint. Take it to a shop. I almost ended up wearing about 500 ml of latex when I was wrestling with a difficult tyre last time. But you can, with enough time, make almost any wheel and tyre combo tubeless. Without rim strips that is.

Don't do it. Use openmtbmaps. Free and good coverage

step far away from that - even the photo is ugly.

Wow I am jealous. One of my favorite cities in the world, and a major cycling haven. Been there a number of times and have brought whole bicycles back in bags. And whole wardrobes as well as new suitcases. Its a marvelous place and a marvelous time of year to be there. Avoid all the tourist traps on Pier 39 - they are a rip off Things to do or get: 1.) Hire a bike and ride on the cycle tracks over the bridge and down to Sausalito. Stop in the small coffee shop along the way on your RHS in the town - Italian looking place. Over the road is a boutique road bike shop - have a look there. Nice stuff, but all very expensive. Further on up the road is Mikes Cyclery which is a more MTB shop - they have some nice stuff in there, and some wicked specials. 2.) Ride all the way to Tiburon (small town at the ferry terminal) and catch the ferry back - its on the above route and you can get maps.\ 3.) If you are determined to go big you can ride Mt Tamalpais - where all the MTB stuff started - Repack is the major trail of historic significance but it is closed. You can ride other trails there 4.) If you are strong and want to ride up hills then go across Golden Gate and left in to the Marin hills - you will climb for a long time up long hills. 5.) Depending where you are - if you are near Stanford University around the Palo Alto area go to Palo Alto Cycles - nice shop, with nice stuff. You can score some nice specials at this time of year. General shopping - hire a car and go to the Outlet malls at Gilroy. Its about 80km down the highway towards Carmel, and Carmel is a nice town and is a great day trip. - but be prepared to buy another case if you end up going moggy The prices are ridiculously cheap and everything is great quality - especially clothes. The risk is you go completely bonkers and end up with three suitcases full of gear. And it is all top notch and they have every size.

The shops used the exchange rate as an excuse when they were colluding the last time, so don't expect prices to come down even if the ZAR recovers.

Little trip to Namibia - I took the bike along and rode in to the Brandberg on my morning ride. There is a lot of really good riding in that desert.

There are guys locally who can repair the frame if he doesn't come right.

Latissima

Lynskey Procross Titanium with ZTR Ironcross Rims and all I need is the new Shimano Hydraulic group....

Its called a Volagi -made by some ex Specialized engineers. I am lusting after disc based frames.

welcome to the addiction