Soggy

After a second dismal attempt to sell my road bike (Merida Road 880), and after countless questions about the groupset, I decided to rather keep my bike for a second crack at next year's Argus and take the hint to upgrade the current groupset on the bike. I have read up quite a extensive search on the net, I got the idea that Sora groupsets are sh*t and I should rather upgrade them to 105 or Ultegra parts. Will upgrading them make such a huge difference to my bike? My current Sora set on the bike is rock solid and never gave me a problem, but is the Ultegra or 105 that much better? I agree going on a diet and knocking off 10kg of belly fat is much better than knocking off 500g off a bike, but is the enhancement in resistance level in the components or is it purely just less weight on the bike?

Glad you guys are ok, bikes can be replaced.

That is the police's job, that is why they were there, not for a civilian to tamper with the scene.

that is why so many police officers are killing themselves, they are totally detached and have no more emotions anymore. Guys like those are dead inside already.......zombies R.I.P Pedestrian :-(

HA HA HA HA!!!! Awesome thread

Holy crap man!! That bike is looking awesome!!!!

Awesome!! Good job SAPS!!

That is insane man!! I ran the Two Oceans half marathon two years ago and that was only 21.2km. It took my legs a few days to recover from that run. That is insane endurance! Respect!

Another reason why I am glad my bike is all aluminum. Dont need to worry about those snappages

Cant go wrong with Merida

LOL!! Mine was into a headwind. Too scared to try faster. Wanna put my leathers on first.

Ha ha ha!!! can say that again. Mine was about 80km/h down Ou Kaapse weg.

Damn man!! Hope you come right. Hope there is someone close who can follow up for you

Kewl

Was thinking of doing this as well. Where do you keep your bike? I am moving offices soon and that means that my commute will only be 11km to work, but it means riding through one of the heaviest congested roads in Cape Town. I normally commute by motorbike everyday but cycling does sound fun, especially saving on fuel costs. I'm not a fan of parking my beloved Merida on the street chained to a pole. It would be stolen in 5 minutes.

Cool, thanks all for the pointers!! :thumbup:

Thanks very much for this!

Very good advise there! I am quite new to heavy mountain biking. I have a cheapie hardtail Giant that I am currently learning on, but it its a bit tricky learning dynamics of only having a front shock coming off a hard road bike. I think I should continue saving and get as much practice as I can on the cheapie hard tail. I have to use my body much much more on the MTB than the roadie. Being smooth is very important for me as well. I instill the same advise to my buddies who ride motorbikes with me. Riding is not about being fast but about being smooth as well.

Awesome stuff!! My buddy has a one-twenty and that is one amazing piece of machinery!! Pity it just collects dust at his place and he says he will never sell it.

Thanks very much for the info. That does change the type of bike I am gonna ride. I dont think I will be doing hectic jumps, but I do want a bike with some good travel, and sturdy. as I am a bit on the heavy side (96Kg fit). Cool, so it looks like a dual suspension mountie is more for my need than a DH bike.

Ok cool, thanks I didnt know that. Pity Merida doesnt make them. Ok, cant be brand loyal, must just go with the best rig I can afford. Question: When entering PPA mountain biking events, are DH bikes allowed? Im not really sure on the rules or the type of the terrain the guys race on. Reason being, by next year this time I want to be entering in mountain biking events.

I saw some nice ones around here on Gumtree that is out of my price range, but once I get my motorbike and road bike sold it can open up a lot more options for me. Yeah the Mongoose's and Scott's were priced well, but I favor Merida's especially after the build quality of my roadie and my buddy as a dual suspension Merida as well. I know the dual suspension is not exactly a downhill (less travel in shock), but its one of the options.

Cool man, thanks for the advise. Looks like a complete bike for me then. Just need to get my road bike and second motorbike sold then :-)

Kewl! Thanks for the tips. Are many of the components interchangeable? Like do many frames work with many cranks, front shocks, bearing sizes, etc... Or do I have to stick to the same brand name?

Anyone?