BergForce

Can you host an Epic there no cause you`ll ride into a fence and die.

No Somerset West dammit!

I think my town Somerset West might win this: On my doorstep: Lourensford with 120km dirt road including lots of single tracks, this is mtb heaven Schapenberg trails, can stay on the dirt and ride into Grabouw MTO area Helderberg College trails Helderberg trails, can ride into the Eden Stellenbosch trails Can ride along the railway line to Bottelary trails in Stellenbosch Then Stellenbosch is just 20min away by car with: Jonkershoek is a world class mtb area Bottelary trails Eden forrest Then Grabouw is also just 20mins away by car: Ok Im getting tired now Grabouw is another world class mtb mecca with lots of different options For mtb Somerset West is hard to beat, no wonder the Epic ends here.

Somerset West is MTB heaven...As soon as the hot weather calms down I`m gonna plan a Skaap&berg/Wagontrail/GrabouwMTO and back ride, watch this space if anybody wanna join. Skaap&berg only opens @8am and will result in too much heat on a long ride like this, but surely there`s gonna be a mild weekend soon.

But this is the hub, all here are active, not sure about your statement also, Tim Nokes said that unless you are carbo resistant, you can go stuff your face with low GI carbs.

Yep all those that do not say Maxxis Ikon Exo`s are those that have not tried it yet.

What not to carry: DSTV Decoder A brick An ekstra bicycle frame A bad attitude A hosepipe A Lawn mower I`m sure there is lots more, cant think of everything now...

1.5L Camelbak with a few stick on patches in holding pocket Tube and tire lever taped to the seatpost Small pump on frame Optional: Wind/water repellent jacket that folds up small in centre jersey pocket, can be sleeveless too - weather dependent Energy bar in jersey pocket Small lightweight cellphone for when I`m feeling brave and riding alone in jersey pocket BTW this is what to carry...

Hey whats wrong with this track? It is still perfectly ride-able . Just kidding, the point is to me Jonkers is great and the open single tracks seems to be in good condition, I will start complaining when a single-track becomes unride-able and no effort is made to make a new one or do repairs. If the tracks are in good shape they can go spend their profits on the can-can girls for all I care. As for the DH vs XC doing repairs at Tokai, jeez chill out people.

The DT Swiss M210 shock is entry level, it does not perform as well as the Fox, the Giant wins by far in the rear suspension department.

How could he win with that wind resistance disadvantage? Did he strap them down or did he take advantage of a tailwind?

Its great yes, keeps the trails nice n fresh for us.

Merida Big Nine 3000 carbon 9.4kg

<sarcasmAllowed='true'>What`s the purpose of a saddle on a bike? I mean it is just ridiculous don`t you know that standing is the best position to ride in? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --!script error, the sarcasmAllowed tag does not have a closing tag.

Ikon Exo is much better than Ralphs or Racekings or Fastcraps or Nevagoes, but please don`t believe me, I need them to stay in stock for all time.

Silverback is great value but lacks racing pedigree. It seems that Silverback frames are a bit less high tech and tends to be heavier (may be stronger?). As for Sram vs Shimano I have XT Dynasys and it has super smooth gear changes, and when there is some dirt involved I believe Shimano outperforms Sram. I have full XT except for the brakes which are Avid/Sram and is the weakpoint in the groupset.

Take it back and tell them to sort out the brakes and remember to bed the new pads. Else replace the brakes with a brand that actually works - Shimano.

Running a Maxxis Ikon Exo 2.2 front and a Ritchey WCS Shield 2.1 rear, both tubeless. The Ikon seems rock solid and shows no signs of wear after 2 months with lots of riding. The Ritchey got a small sidewall puncture but the Stans sealed it. I really like the Ikon for its got a smooth transition leaning the bike over making it very nice for high speed cornering and wears very slowly, and it only weighs 575g.

Giant X1 2012 has got Fox suspension which is difficult to beat. Scott Elite has DT rear shock and is just not as good as Fox RP2. When buying a 29er you must check the gear ratios because it seems when you buy a 29er you are assumed to be super strong and can ride a very heavy granny gear up any hill. I would say unless you are a pro or dont ride in the mountains you must at least have a 22x36 granny, but these days its all 2x10 with 26x36 at best. Shimano SLX 2x10 is the only 2x10 setup where you get a 22x36 out the box, SRAM can also go 22 now but it requires a spider converter which costs almost as much as a SLX crankset and is difficult to find.

No you got it wrong, 29ers always miss the dung while 26ers always ploughs straight throung it. Another advantage of 29er.

I know someone that uses these tubeless and it works very well, no sidewall cuts in a year`s riding. I use the Maxxis Ikon Exo and it is rock solid tubeless, even though not UST or Tubeless Ready - it holds air better than tubes. The only tyre I have seen that got cut badly on the trail was in fact a full UST Kenda tyre.

That is incorrect the Giant has got top end suspension with a Fox fork and Fox RP2 rear shock. The Scott has got a Rockshock Recon and DT Swiss M210 and is much lower end shocks. The Giant Maestro suspension is great and IMO better than the Scott, especially combined with the Fox shocks. These two bikes is not in the same price category the Giant is much more expensive and better equipped. It should be compared to the Scott Elite, but the Giant X1 2012 still wins, it`s a great bike. Have you maybe mixed up the bike models? The Anthem X2 should be compared to the Scott Team and X1 with the Scott Elite.

The context - he jumped the fence at Lourensford after being turned away at the gate, he wanted to go over between Helderberg and Stellenboschberg. The farmer on the other side also would have caught him probably. I think he is lucky to just have been escorted out of Lourensford.

As I said what he did was 100% wrong and very childish. I`m thinking I am actually incorrect regarding this indecent since I don`t think there is any public land between the farms he tried to go through. I think many pro cyclists are or become inconsiderate like this for some reason, it`s like all they care about is their sport and stuff all the rest.

Besides food shortages and mass scale job losses, Nationalization of farms will cause the best farms to be taken by elite government connected cadres, and I will not be welcome to ride there anymore. Most farms will just deteriorate to the point of being unridable and it will not be safe anyway. I must say that in the Western Cape it seems more and more farmers are opening mtb trails. Here in Somerset West I am spoilt with choices to ride, probably one of the best places to live in the world to ride mtb - maybe just not the best place to do long distance epic type training.