Brighter-Lights

I have to agree... I compare prices online, at local bike shops, and then some of these 'chain store' bike shops like cycle lab... I sometimes can't believe my ears when my girlfriend tells me what some of the stuff she wants are priced in 'those' shops in Centurion... Daylight robbery! Sometimes twice as much as I can get it for 'elsewhere' They're screwing a lot of uneducated people (who's got enough money to just buy and believe) ... and they're screwing themselves because educated people like some of us, import our own parts with a '****you, I'll never pay that much' attitude... Why? Because even with the weak Rand, I can still import a lot of tyres for R200 to R300.... just to mention tyres.... When the Rand suddenly weakened end of 2008, a lot of shops, if not the whole community, used that as an excuse, but in actual fact pushed up prices much more than to compensate for the weak Rand... they think we're stupid and I think most people who keep supporting them are stupid...

1996 AMP-Research B4 (as manufactured for Mercedes-Benz) - WAAAYYY ahead of its time and still one of the best full susp designs ever... Take a look at Extralite X-Link....;-) 2kg frame... (Upgraded Risse-Racing air shock) Finished 17th in Karoo to Coast 2005 on this bike as pictured... Should've never sold the frame...

Can't compare XT or XTR with Hope Pro II's.... they Hopes are in a different league... Hope Pro II's are the only hubs that's held up with my friend in Belgiums mud...

Welding the tubing at that point will just be one big f*kup. It's at the thinnest of the butted section... and the crack probably started at the bottle cage bolt's anchor nut... Yes... it should last forever... simply because Azonic babies his bikes... and simply because I have bike frames from the '90's that's been thrashed and still ok... This trend bike advertisers brainwash us with - "have to buy a new bike every year or when ever a new design becomes available" is bullsh*t - any decent bike will last years and years.... Deore DX still shifts gears a decade later... To me there's no diff if one or 5 people has owned the frame... when it breaks it breaks... Their 'lifetime' should mean at least 10 years and they should use a serial number database to track the manufacturing date of a certain frame... To think I almost bought a new Scalpal frame end of 2008...

Add to my above post... If it's cracked at the chainstay and not a clean break... then just glue the chainstay back to the dropout with epoxy and then wrap it with carbon fiber... will never ever break again... and will look neat if done correctly... See this link... http://www.bmeres.com/bambooframe.htm - If you can join/wrap bamboo as neatly as this... you can sleeve/join anything...

Is it cracked right at the dropout? You would be surprized how strong Carbon Fiber is... will be stronger than before... Just rough up 30mm on each side of the break and carbon wrap it... A good friend of mine has build his own carbon frame and the thing is still lasting 4 years later... Carbon + the right epoxy sticks to other carbon or aluminium like you wouldn't believe.... just sand the areas around the break with 80 or 120 grit to rough it up....

Johan, As jy nie regkom nie kan daai breuk baie mooi reggemaak word met carbon fiber van die buitekant af... amper soos die carbon sleeves wat daai ou gebruik het om sy bamboes bike se tubes mee te las... Sterkte...

Remember a few years ago.... 2005... EVERY new bike and EVERY shop had Larsen TT's on.... now it's Crossmarks... People ride what Probike import and push... Maxxis makes many tires which will be great for racing here but they only import the so so ones... Like ie... Larsen TT 1.9 Exception series... Oriflamme semi slick... Worm Drive UST... all great tires and some much lighter than Cross Marks/TT's I raced Crossmarks for one season and went through 4... I loved them at that stage because they were fast at 2.8 bar on hard gravel... But at low pressure they're so-so and not fast tyres at all... My fav setup at the moment is 1.9 Smallblock 8 DTC (420g) rear (full susp) and Spez Fast Trak 2.0 front (460g) the Spez is a fantastic tyre! Crossmarks were good value for money when they were R185 for foldable and R285 for UST... (not long ago... remember the Bicycling mag add where they went up R150 from one edition to the next... and that was before the Rand weakened...) Before I pay R500 for a Crossmark I'd rather import Schwalbes or Spez or Hutch myself...

I can reccommend WTB... On the web, there's a couple of threads warning against using the normal ones tubeless, but I've ridden normal ones without problems and know of a few others who has... Wolverine 2.2 has a great pattern, and rolls fast with big volume. Looks like an aggressive tyre but it's a surprisingly fast tyre. Nanoraptor 2.1 is another fast tyre with good grip. Vulpine is my fav and is a semi slick of around 480 to 510g, nice volume and fast rolling. The Prowler MX 2.1 is also a great all round tire! All of them have very nice rubber compounds and were between 480g and 600g They are much cheaper than most other tyres too... going for around R300 when I last looked... I like them, the rubber is not as hard as maxxis tyres (although the new monorail is softer) but they are great race tires!

I have Crossmarks LUST and they are bullet proof... (mine are 700g ea) Have also used normal crossmarks tubeless and they last well... 510g to 580g (530g to 550g ag) Regarding Small Block 8's UST - I love the 1.95's and they are 630g - never had a puncture with them... Brighter-Lights2009-03-02 01:45:26

I think the chances of crashing at high speed is less... just relax your body and glide with the bike and let the arms and legs absorb the bad terrain... keep your body light to prevent snakebites and read the terrain well... But... high speed in singletrack or technical terrain it's another story... For me... on jeeptrack with loose ie rocks... the faster you go, the more stable everything is... up to a point.. of let's say 60km/h (loose jeeptrack) ... I've hit bad sections in races before, when there's no time to slow down, where I just clench my teeth and aim the bike... you'll be surprised at what you and your bike will go over at speed... On gravel I would go 100km/h if I could only get there.... Crashing at even 40km/h could be as bad as - did you hit the tree, or not?... Good bailing skills help a lot... I've jumped off a few times and ended without a scratch... But I also once fell over at low speed and broke my little finger of all things...

80.5km/h - Day 3 of Oudtshoorn 3 day MTB Marathon 80km/h - Elandsriver road down to Bulk River Dam 78km/ - Longmore Forest Jeeptrack 75km/h - Down to Diep Rivier in Karoo to Coast 55km/h - Down Bergplaas at night ... Trans Baviaans 2008 ) 55 to 60 on almost every ride... Have fun and be safe! PS... it took me very very long to reach the 80 mark... hit 78 a few times but could only ever get to 80 twice...

I should've asked earlier, but sure I'll get a quick answer here... Going to Port Alfred this weekend.... where to ride... for me... and easy routes for chick... Couldn't find any info on trails in google... only some very expensive game reserves to ride in... ek kan nie R3500 'n dag per persoon betaal nie... Thanx!

Me and a friend went out just before 19:00 last night for a 2 hour night ride. Both had Revelation-3 headlights on handlebar, + I had an orange flashing revelation one facing backwards + a flashing white revelation 1 on my helmet... Light goes green and I jump for it.... car comes racing over red light so fast I didn't even see him coming and he almost hit Evan behind me... crazy... and that's only for the 5km tar we have to face till we get to the gravel... Would think that we were visable with all the lights...

If you shop around you'll still be able to get some good deals... Always Cannondale Scalpal frames on eBay for $500 and up... Some nice Kona's and other duals for $400 to $800... Someone here on the hub just bought a 2008 XT disk groupset for around R6000 duties etc. incl from Comobike... For R5000 you can buy a 1350g disk wheelset on eBay... Shop around and keep shopping... bargains keep coming up every day... Thinking of my FS bike... Frame cost me R6000 from a hubber Got a great deal for full X9 drivetrain, Xpedo pedals, Crossmark Tires, Juicy 7's, American Classic wheels (local bike shop) Brand new Sid Race 1269g R3800 (eBay) 740g Crank R1000 (sold new stylo in kit for R1000) KCNC controls R2000 Selle Slr 135 saddle R750 (new at bike shop) Eish... ok... almost R24 000 but 10.6kg for a dual... where can you buy a new dual of that weight for that price? Buying parts individually always cost more in the past, but with the new prices it's different... If I were to upgrade any bike now, I would buy Penford Cycles X9 kit, then all you need later is a HT or FS frame and a decent fork and you'll have a top notch light bike... The Penford X9 kit comes with everything but a frame and fork... (American classic disk wheels, Juicy 7 brakes, Xpedo pedals, Crossmark Lust tyres, Stylo Crank, X9 ders/triggers/980cassette/951chain, jagwire cable kit, truvativ XRstem/riser bar/seatpost, velo saddle, velo grips. R11 700 these days... Just shop around... still many bargains to be found... some new condition second hand bikes around... good luck...

http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/FK308F09-Enduro+Seal+Wiper+Kit+For+Rockshox+Fork.aspx See they're out of stock on 28mm... Else direct from www.enduroforkseals.com... $25-00 shipping so need to buy other parts too to make it worthwhile... in the old days they charged $5 shipping which is more realistic... get a US based friend to buy them...

It's a good point... I got used to a v-brake 9kg hardtail and was obsessed with everything weight wise... In races I would cut on hydration to save weight, wouldn't race with tools etc etc... I once removed all the paint which saved me 80g... then I removed some 20g more by sanding the aluminium... drilled holes in stuff... those were tha days... But looking back... I've achieved some of my best results on a 10.7kg dual suspension... But.. a light bike def climbs better... but 200 or 300g is not really going to make a diff if it's not in the wheels...

I'm surprised the bike is so heavy with those parts - almost everything is lightest in class already... how much does that frame weigh? ... Should be 9.5 - 9.6 easily with those parts. You won't save 100g over XTR and XT crank... weighed a couple... XTR 970 is not as light as they advertise... as heavy as 812g... Aerozine crank - mine is 739g and it does not come loose or flex... it's fine! I'm still puzzled... the heavy parts there could be the frame... and that fox... 1.55 to 1.7kg? my CF hardtail is 9.7kg with 700g UST tyres, Juicy 7 brakes 889g, X9 der 220g +165g, Stylo crank 860g... AMC wheels 1515g... SID SL 1350g Frame is 1224g... EC 70 bar, Thompson Elite seatpost, 130g stem... not super light stuff. Sub 9kg with light tires (400g ea) , Aerozine crank, twist shifters...

Boots just make sense... just thinking CV Joint boots - they last for years and wont let anything in or out... The mounting ring system on old forks/boots were not very friendly + older boots had little holes for breathing with the compression stroke. Some boots (still see it on entry level forks) use rubber that reacts with the oil and soon keeps coming off the ratainer ring (rubber kinda swells and get bigger) There's a zillion materials and methods to make a fork completely water proof and dust proof today... but why would they... ? pffftt On Sid's... the upper bush is much thinner/narrower than the lower bush.... has anyone ever fitted a lower bush at the top? My duke had such a wide bushing on top too... I think it would make the uppers last longer...

A boot only hides dirt if dirt can get in.... a good boot design ie. Cannondale doesn't let any crap in... as for the boots on your car's CV joints, Ball joints, Steering rack etc... My guess is that forks come without boots simply because it accelerates wear... Lizzard skins does a good job if you fit them properly...

Have you actually bought one and weighed it? I heard those are a heavy batch and they just wanna get rid of them... Apparently, the new MRDs range from 1220g to over 1.4kg for the same fork... I've considered getting one, but I have 2 Sid's of which one is a brand new 2007 Race (1269g) which I've only started using in December...(24hrs of Omni-Motion was it's first ride) Back to topic... Old type Sid's can last a very long time if taken care of... new ones will last even longer...if taken care of.. My 2002 Sid SL : Bought used from Europe in 2005. Replaced uppers in 2006 (was the original 2002 uppers) since replaced 3 sets of wipers. Machined new vesconite air piston (better design, piston springpin can't wear out shaft - old air piston started moving on shaft) I do +- 800 to 1200km offroad per month and slip the lowers off once a month for a cleaning/relube of the foam rings and cleaning of the wipers... Every second ride I lube the stanchoins to get some oil past the wipers... Enduro wipers are much better than stock... will keep dirt out far better and longer than stock ones...

To get the rubber 'thingy' out... screw off the retainer ring, flip the pump locking lever open and close and the rubber and plastic parts will come out... flip them around.... another method is: screw off the retainer ring, extend the pump to it's max length, bucket you one hand over the head of the pump while holding the head, quickly depress the pump as if pumping with your other hand... the air pressure will blow out the black rubber part + the plastic piece behind it... just be careful not to shoot the black rubber part into the bush etc. hence bucketing your hand over that hole/area to catch it... Good Punt... sorry... didn't see that you already had success when I typed this... Brighter-Lights2009-02-16 02:57:55

Penford Cycles has a 90mm in stock... Steve will give you a great price... Say Johannes send you... 041 961 0697 - they'll send overnight by courier.

Happened to me once in 2007 Baviaans 2 day race.... chain dropped on 50km/h downhill and had to stop and use new link... never a problem since and 1000's km's later...

You may safely hang them. The forces on bearings are far greater when riding the bike...