rob_mtb

...and with this, our trails become more watered down and groomed for the dirt roadies. These should be banned purely for safety reasons.

Hi Tankman, this is why I think bar ends are not for riser bars: 1 - Unlike flat bars, riser bars have more angular rise and backward sweep. This varies from make to make. If you sit on the bike, you can see that they bend upwards and towards the rider. Now putting bar ends on this will make the bar ends angle outwards, thus making two nice hooks for roots, vines, fynbos etc. Since risers are more geared towards trail riding, AM and DH, and being wider for stability, it will not be long before you hook a plant at speed and have a proper crash. 2 - The nature of trail riding and a more upright position facilitated by riser bars does not lend itself to such a need to stand and 'mash' up hills. This way of riding is hardly possible on technical uphills, where being seated is better for control. 3 - at some point, you will end up with a bar end in the ribs/nuts/chest. It's only a matter of time. Keep it simple. Wide bars take up a lot of room on the trail. Of course you can do whatever you like. From a style point of view everyone has different tastes. If from a purely functional standpoint they work for you, by all means use them, but as mentioned above, you'll be taking them off as soon as you start to run wider bars. This will happen when you get off the fire roads and ride things with drops, jumps, berms etc where a wider stance is the key to stability and staying on the bike.

wahahaha! Great post dude. Couldn't agree more.

BTW: I've never had this on any of my bikes but then I make sure to run a proper drivetrain AKA SRAM. Sorry for your loss mate.

Sorry to see this. That cassette is really damaged now and needs to be disposed of. I'll PM you my details and I can do that for you.

6. I've never had a problem bleeding Avids. RTM and follow the steps. Hardly a nightmare. 7. Neither should leak fluid ever. You might need to rebuild yours if this is the case. In general, I'd never ever let a bike shop touch my brakes. I like to know exactly how they have been set up, with what fluid etc. Last thing you need are brakes fading on you halfway down a hill. It's really not rocket science either. I once saw one of the supposed good LBS in Cape town 'try' to bleed some Avids without the bleed kit. The jimmied hose shot off and sprayed fluid in the 'techs' face. hahaha. He even had the wrong fluid, and it was stored in an old coke bottle. Needless to say after seeing that I swore I'd never ever put my trust in a shop again. This is the same shop who tried to sell me a road bike BB for my AM rig. Guy said "naaaa, it's fine bru". LOL

ya I thinks so too. Had a bunch of issues with the juicy 7's. In fact my old Deore were better all round than the Avids. I'm using Formula and they are just awesome awesome awesome. Really great modulation, they have only given me joy. Sometimes I come off a downhill and the rotors are flaming hot, smells like a train just stopped, they keep stopping! (I know, I brake too much

Also, guys, "alot" is NOT a word

Hi Vexer. There are many reasons why you shouldn't upgrade your fork just yet: 1) You can buy a spring rated for your weight, which will sort out the bottoming out issue right away. 2) You'll be putting a new, better fork onto a starter bike, which will be of little benefit to your riding. 3) You'll need to cut down the steerer tube of this fork, which will mean it'll likely not fit your next frame should you upgrade (which you will) 4) A spring fork is far less effort to maintain, so you can get on with riding. 5) Your next bike you'll likely want a longer travel fork, rendering the new one useless. Call your LBS and see how little a heavier specc'd spring will cost you. Bike shops will ALWAYS try to sell you something that will make them money. As an aside, a spring will always be better than air. On the cheap forks they are not easy to tune, and some of them cant be properly dialled in, but on a good fork I love it to have a spring. Very responsive and linear right through the stroke.

Sigh. Really? Do I need to explain your implication? Why has this thread been merged with the 26/29 poll? Makes no sense. What is happening today? I know it's Monday but shees guys.

I don't buy the 'big roots and rocks' bit at all. DH bikes are made for roots and rock gardens. You don't get more gnarly tracks than downhill. That's what the suspension is there for. If you have it dialled in properly you should be able to ride straight over curbs, roots, rocks etc with very little resistance. I get the whole concept of why a larger tyre would clear an obstacle but I reckon many riders don't set up their forks correctly. If riders spent half as much time setting up their suspension as they do Mr.Minning their frames to this wouldn't be half an issue. Suspension is not for absorbing jumps, it's for ironing out the trail surface. Your body absorbs the shocks of jumps. Need proof, watch dirt jumpers or BMXers some time. This is rubbish. How is having a bigger wheel a better technology? Just because it's a new development doesn't make it better design. You are being conned by the marketing hype. Still, to this day, there is not one actual scientific A/B comparison showing 29ers to be better. The pro's are cancelled out by the cons. Also to take you literally, if you must know, vinyl sounds far superior to anything other than the original tape master in music. CD is inferior, MP3 is an absolute joke. A digital 24bit 96k file is about as close to good as there is. Vinyl is better by a long way. It is a full bandwidth duplication and if played back properly on a good system, with proper stylus and preamp, is something to behold.

This is the thing. Many MTBers don't actually ride anything technical and might as well be on road bikes. 130mm travel is not AM. This is a trail bike. AM bikes generally have oversized components and run at 5.5 inches upwards. The geometry is also different. Riders who consider themselves 'All Mountain' capable should be able to run the AM route at Tokai (off the Boulders trail). This is a good representation of AM riding, and I'd love to see a 29er hardtail go down that route. My money is on the trail winning that one Just like most things in life, there is the right tool for the job. I see the 29er as a marathon bike, the 26er FS as a trail machine. All the way to DH bikes. You wouldn't take a knife to gunfight would you? Or use a spanner to hit in a nail? So why try to lump the whole of MTB into one category? 99% of these 29er fanboys are XC riders and many are just trying to justify their purchases.

+1. what he said

You'll be opening a can of worms asking the council since the spruit is to be used by all. This includes people walking dogs, children etc. By getting bike shops to sponsor and groom these tracks you'll increase the volumes and speeds of riders. Accident waiting to happen. I used to ride that spruit a lot and the grassy bits are not worth crying over. Just see it as a bit of extra training or whatever. Getting shops involved and claiming stretches of this track is taking something that belongs to everyone ( a 'common') and making it your own. You wont get far. I agree on the liability thing as well. That guy who had those see-saws pulled because he couldn't ride them, couldn't fall properly and then made it everyones problem should be sad for the fun he's ruined. As far as those dirt jumps are concerned, don't advertise them to people on forums. Keep them for yourselves and your mates. As soon as the LCD pulls in they will ruin it. We have lots of amazing hand built trails here in the Cape that nobody but a few know about. By keeping quiet we protect what we've built and can push our limits right on our doorsteps. You'd be surprised at the amount of hidden spades and trailbuilding tools stashed around!

Agreed, I usually run Conti, but the prices are just not realistic anymore. Switched to Maxxis and am all round impressed I must say. I needed to what 65psi into them to seat them first time, but they are running great. Couldn't be happier, and the price is right.

hehe, nice one Patches. Those look awesome! Keen to see you guys boost those soon. Really good to see guys pushing things that side.

Your lust for perfectly groomed trails is what dilutes the sport to the LCD. MTBs are made for rugged, wild terrains and even DH tyres are half the width of the track you mentioned above. Why do people always feel the need to form little groups, with management teams and shops to sponsor everything? Good luck trying to sue a dirt jumper for falling on his 'mound' of sand. If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen maybe?

Nevegals are the worst tyres I've ever had. Slow and some of the trails I like to ride ended up with pinch flats most of the time (I wasn't running them tubeless I'll admit). Here's an old bit of test data (no Maxxis High rollers there) http://www.mckramppi.com/en/bike04rengas/Bike2004rengasanalyysi.htm I've been running Ardent's front and back for a bit. 2.35, I'm loving them. Running them tubeless and soft at around 1.25 bar. Oh and the Maxxis roll a lot faster and the grip feels great.

actually, you're more of a box

I just yawned so hard my jaw clicked.

oh yawn

We run Stans strips with their tape and ghetto 20 inch tubes with insulation tape as well. No problems at all. If you have trouble seating the bead properly there is an easy way to seat ANY tyre. Once you have the tyre on, and the Stans in, you need to wet the bead all around with quite soapy water (sunlight soap). The trick then is to use a compressor and hit the tyre hard with around 60 to 65 psi. I nearly crap my pants every time I do it, but the bead makes way to the pressure and pops into place. It's the only way, and I've not had a tyre that doesnt work with this yet. If you don't have a compressor at home then seat the tyres, get it all ready, head down to the garage with a bucket and soap and do it there.

Insulting me is uncalled for. No, your sarcasm doesn't come across at all. Learn to ride before you call yourself a mountainbiker. There are too many roadies out on the trails. You work at CWC right?

Nice attitude. It's not the biggest secret in the World. I'll be sure to keep my mouth tight shut should you ever progress from being a roadie to wanting to ride some proper trails. You'll need to lose the bar ends and get some proper shorts first though Enjoy the ride! See, that wasn't so hard.