Tieffels

Time for a comeback?

Same with 29ers, and its sorted.. I just feel very sorry for the roadies for being left out of the trend parade..

Please bear with me: If you look at all the pro's (momentum, which is suddenly a good thing?.. rolls easy over stuff.. apparently.. But not so much if I judge the descending skills of the okes at Barberton..) and cons (slower acceleration due to added weight) of a 29er MTB setup, my question is this: Should the next big thing not be 26er road bikes? And I'm actually being serious. All the roadies are so hard up on weight and flex and what not, why not make the wheels smaller? What is there to lose?

Sorry, but I dont speak marketing. What exactly is "availability"? As in, yes, for sure I'd consider changing over to another product as long as it is not available?

ANd how about the mountain, hows that looking? A bit flatter by any chance... no? Guess not.

I started on Saturday, second ride this morning.. Feeling positive.

Did not read everything, so hope I'm not reposting, but think I sussed out that it is a road bike? Which makes it easier in some aspects, esp. part compatibility which can be a nightmare with MTBs. That will be you biggest problem I rate, making sure everything is speced correctly, eg seat post size, BB standards etc etc. That can be very daunting when ordering over say CRC where the options and variants are endless.. If in doubt, or very unsure, wait for Johan Bornman to roll by the so called "colonies" and do his maintenance course, during which you'll end up building the whole bike. He's also handy with more specialist tools that you'll only use on a new build, head set press tools etc. That way you only need the basics, cable cutter, BB tool. Either way, and no matter what the costs of tools, it will be a worthwhile experience, that I can promise. Enjoy.

Try find Knersis (Hein) on thehub, he's close to Cape Gate, used to get mine of him. His nr otherwise is zero eight 3, double 4 nine- three 9 zero 3. I've done plenty of taining and races (Epic, Freedom Challenge, Attakwas, Transbaviaans etc) on the AJ mix, works as well as anything else at a fraction of the cost.

Hi Swiss and Ikonic, thanks for the ride, was a lekker hard and fast day out.

My take: Ride it while you still can. Once KV has the full live television coverage sorted out he'll be making a fortune selling the TV rights, shortly followed by turning it into a pro only event. That is where the real power/future lies, taking it to the level of the other HC (or HG??) ICC tours in terms of TV coverage. He's got the international riders, he just needs the cameras. Last year was round one, would love to see what they do this year. Once in place I can see no point in him trying to bend over backwards keeping every SA mountainbiker happy.

Since I can just just bunnyhop a brick lying on it's flattest side, the big mountain stuff is off-limits for me.. Curse my instinctive self preservation..

With all the new-year resolutions I thought I'll up it a notch. What are you cycling dreams, those once in a lifetime ambitions? Mine used to be the Epic (2010) and then the Freedom Challenge (2011). The funny thing is that about a year and a half before each I'd tell the gf that once I'm big and grown up and settled and financially secure and have the right bike and blah blah blah, then I'd do it. But then things just ended up working out and what not. So what's next? For me: 1. Great Divide - hopefully 2013 2. Touring Eastern Europe/Middle East on MTB, self supported (Please don’t list races that 1000's of people do every year, like C2C, S2C) Much as the term bucket list annoys me, feel free to add yours.

Out of interest, what about an Ibis? From my (very limited) understanding they seem to be the so called "do-it-all" kind of bike..

I are..

@Wil6: And what is it? @D Vader: My point exactly. I did both solo (my partner dropped out at the 22km mark on the TD...) and I was OK. In fact I unofficially won the TD but that is another story.. @EcoBound: Ja, I personally don't buy it. FC is as remote and extreme as it gets, and nobody has died. Yet. And perhaps more NB to you guys, there has been no lawsuits.. Sure, there are always going to be risks, that is why we sign indemnity forms. But there are many people who are prepared to accept the risks of riding solo and understand what they are in for. Don't change the format of the race, but just add the option of a solo ride. You guys are very keen to advertise an "extreme" event but then get all cold feet and cite "safety" as an excuse for making it less so..

According to Johan Bornman (resident expert on all things wheel related and annoyingly practical) he'd also recommend the Hope/Stans option, all things considered.. Just place your custom wheelbuild order on CRC and wham bang thankyou 'mam

Recently there has been a number of top top end Spech Epics (2010 models nogals)on thehub at what I thought to be pretty fair prices, that kept on dropping at time went by..

Again well done at the initiative.. Looking at the list of received donations you should have a couple more bike coming together in the near future?

Thanks, appreciate it. But you see you are not the only one with the engineers curse, i.e. being pedantic about everything and what not. That eventually manifests into compulsive non-conformism, as in my case... "Trends" erk be big time.. Show me a real problem, and solve it with a real solution, then I'm as happy as.. But about this whole granny blade being obsolete thing: If you're MTBing and not using granny-blade, you're going it wrong. Plain and simple..

I really don't understand what the discussion is all about. I knew this 2x10 setup was a waste of time when ALL the 29ers came out with them. Dead giveaway..

The advise I got when I got my first MTB: Write down, on a piec of paper, the absolute max you are prepared to spend on a bike + all the extras. Then once you've accepted the fact that you'll be spending double that, then you're ready to buy a bike..

I've been wanting to post someting along these lines recently.. Bet you couldn't find 5 hubbers now that will admit to wearing them..

I asked that before the first one too, never got a reply. Personally I'd love te see more team races offering solo entries..

SWEET

Can I have your entry if you dont make it? PM me if so..