BergForce

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.

No complaining or getting upset here, just debating on a moral level. Its just sad that things are like this while in Europe it seems cyclists have more freedom to ride where they want and even passing through private land is generally not a problem.

Yes the farmer has the right to deny access to his land, but it is not the same as walking through someone`s yard to get to the neighbour. You still have access to the neighbour`s property.

On Saturday a certain Swiss pro mtbiker and current Epic title holder were told at the gates of a certain farm in the Western Cape that he could not enter. This really upset the Swiss rider and he jumped the fence and sped off through the farm. He was pursued and escorted off the farm. He was upset that he was not allowed to pass through and said that in Switzerland he can ride through any farm. Now what he did was 100% wrong, but is it not also wrong that farms block access to the mountains when the public has the right to be there and pass through the public land?

Lebanon in Grabouw has probably got the best single track of all. Then Oak Valley and Grabouw MTO Forrestry is also must rides. We are doing the 40km Grabouw MTO ride at 8AM on Friday the 16th, we ride medium paced speed, meet us at the Groubouw Country Club gates at 8AM if anyone wants to join us.

Adjust your saddle angle (lift the saddle nose) to address the pounding your arms are taking. There could be a big difference in setup between a 29er and 26er, use your 26er setup as a baseline and them start adjusting to get your 29er setup right.

Beware of Giants top-end 29ers, they are known to ride over 26" riders out on the trail.

I`ll rather ride a 30k Giant cause it will be the same or even better than a more expensive "premium brand" bike. The Giant Anthem 29er X0 is a great bike for R29k.

Selle or Fazik, no way...SDG Formula FX I-Beam!

I thunk Ritchey has got some good woman saddles.

Get a 29er dually with Fox Float RP23. Then you have a hardtail for the smooth and ups, and a dually for the rough and downs.

My 29er goes about 10% quicker, safer and smoother than a 26er over 99% of the terrain I ride. The 26er goes 5% quicker over 1% of the terrain, with less grip and more bumpy over 100% of the terrain. I hereby declare this as scientific fact.

I got the same bike and looking to upgrade the wheels also...Stans ZTR Crest wheelset from buycycle.co.za @ R4480. You will also need to buy a thru-axle adapter for the ZTR front hub, but should be only R150.