downhilldemon

have a mate who just did a trip through lesthoto on a budget. pm me if you want his details.

i have to say XT. better design in my opinion and i've had so much less trouble from them

i'd def say the spinning bike. sure it's more expensive tham the idt & stationery bike, but it acts as a fixed gear, so there is no free-wheeling, thus you can spend less time on the spinning bike to get the same workout

the laptop in the right corner looks out of place

close - i'm an accounting student - does that count?

ok, not very cycling related, but maybe there are a few technically minded people out on the hub that can help me. i'm wanting to weld up a slow combustion fireplace (student so cant afford a few thousand rand to buy one) if anyone has one, or knows how they work, maybe you could draw a sketch for me. i'm needing to know how the air-vents work and any other important part that makes it function. thanks

sounded like this was going to be an R-rated post

also, 2.2 makes for a more comfy ride offroad

i've never had a problem going between a 1.95 and 2.2. cant imagine it'll be a prob unless you using a super-narrow, light rim like one of those sun-ringle lime thingy's. should still be fine. what rims do you have?

mmm, not too sure here. i still think it's CycleArt's fault if there are finger-prints in the paintwork. that couldn't happen to a dry frame. why not post pictures and we can then decide who's in the wrong

how much did you pay for the skewers?

looks like my bike after hill2hill last year, except you can see the tires in this picture

http://www.banvuvuzela.com what do you think?

hi. just wondering if you have to use the same model/make brake levers and calipers on hydraulic brakes. can you use a different lever to caliper?

the last half is a killer. not worth the hike a bike. but you can ride the 1st half and then turn around. good ride

tire liners work pretty well. i haven't seen a thorn go through one, but i haven't ridden large distances with them. you can still put sealant in presta valves (thin ones). when i did it i just made a small cut in the tire, put the sealant in (the container had a small/ sharp ending to get inside the tire) and then put a patch on. thats on my dads bike now and its still fine 2 years later. i've also seen a guy fill his pump with sealant and pump it into the tire, but it looked like more of a schlep than the way i did it.

olive oil in dry conditions and a 50:50 blend olive/ sunflower oil when it wet.

i cant agree with you dirtbreath about not being able to look up on the uphill. i go up and down those singletracks at least four days a week now and i can definitly tell when someone is coming down, but have been surprised a few times when coming down of people in the track. its just the noise gets blocked out by wind and rattling when going downhill, and i've never been surprised with a person coming downhill when i'm going up, because i can hear all their rattling/ tire noise.

pic please. i presume you mean behind the chainrings, but i can't quite picture it

i'm not a downhill rider (my username was just a joke considering my ability on singletrack last year, when i probably would have been told to get off it, no matter wich way i was going) the one point i do want to make is that even at my gentle pace of going down the singletracks, i generally cant hear the people coming up them, and on tracks like "vasbyt" most likely wont see people coming up because of all the vegetation. it only makes sense for the people coming up to yield as they will have a far earlier indication on someone coming than the guy on the downhill. on other tracks up in the pine trees, riders can generally see each other a fair distance off and there is often a wider part where you can both go past each other, or the circumstance will generally dictate for who it will be easier to stop. i cant say i've had any problems with people so far.

i used to give way to people coming uphill but i dont think it makes sense anymore, and most people coming up the hill tend to give way anyway. when i'm riding up the singles its more technical than coming down, so its no big deal to have to learn a new technique of being able to take off on an uphill. most of this debate seems to be taking place around the tokai singles and they all have jeep track leading to the top of them so its not compulsory to ride up the singles, in fact, the ratio of people coming down to going up them is probably 10-1 or 20-1 (not speaking of the flatter one like fairy glen) so its more unusual for some1 coming down to meet some1, than the other way around, so people coming up should be more prepared to just pull off - its not going to effect the climbers speed that much and will enable him to gain extra skill (taking off on an uphill)

personally i would have gone with a dual suspension. i cant agree with the people who said a hardtail will improve your skill more. (not in the begining at least) when i changed from a hardtail to a soft tail my skill improved dramatically. (ok now that i'm up to a certain level - i take a hardtail out every now and then to find the best lines, but i would never have got to my current skill level/ confidence level on a hardtail) just the way it worked for me - but then some people say i am strange

try using some stans, joe's or sludge

I only lockout on the downhills. that's how real mountain bikers do it.

i'm in if there's a workshop in cape town. just send me a pm