beanz

bike-components.de have good prices and a good range on tyres and pretty much everything else. It works out pretty well if you put in a big order as shipping is a flat rate of 20 EUR. I ordered some magic mary super gravitys for 31 euros each. Should have ordered a few more bits and pieces from them while I was about it.

Thanks for the advice and sharing, that all sounds great. I'll take a trail helmet, and order the knee and elbow guards from diald. I'll try to pick up a full face over there. I'm sure there's more choice, and I'll find something that fits my bespoke head. TLD is probably out of my price range. Shock is 200x57, pretty standard, so cool that there's a spare coming with. Sounds like you got yourself a proper no-nonsense setup.

Not only do they make ShitHot bikes, they also make ShitBumper knee and elbow guards. http://www.yt-industries.com/shop/media/images/products/en/guards/shit_knee/detail_shit_knee_oben.jpg

Are you taking a full face helmet?

With just over 2 1/2 months to go it's time to start looking at earnest at bike setup. I'm taking a pyga pascoe 140, and the focus for me is more the AM trails, though I hear that even those are super steep, nothing like you get here. So I'm open to advice from OM and other repeat offenders. Apologies if it's been covered before in the previous 76 pages. Minimum mods required: 1. Jack fork up to 160mm, it's currently set to 140 2. Put on 200mm rotors (or 200f, 180r) 3. Put on some heavy duty DH or freeride tyres. Questions for the pundits: 1. Brakes are XT, which seem pretty damn good and strong to me, even with normal rotors. Is it good enough to just put on bigger rotors or do you need really 4 pot brakes? 2. Tyres - any suggestions here? Tubeless / tubes, what do people run? I'm thinking Magic Mary super gravity vertstar. 650b options are still quite limited. 3. Shock - is the normal monarch going to hold up? Seems like a pretty good shock, but piggy back shocks like the monarch plus seem to be more the thing to have for alpine type riding. I'm sure I can take my bike as it is right now and have fun there, but I'd like avoid any obvious deficiencies in the setup, hopefully without spending too much more. Still need to budget for protective gear like pads and a most probably a FF lid. Oh yeah, should I just get one of those there? Anyway if I feel like I'm missing out because I'm underbiked, can always hire a DH bike for a few days, though I think that's probably unlikely.

Trance 27.5, especially if you're going to keep the ht, though you may find the ht starts to gather dust.

If you want one bike to do everything from stage races to general trail riding to enduros, this would be a good choice. Whatever bike you get, or even if you keep the epic, put on a dropper post. That increases the range of what a bike can handle comfortably more than just about anything else. If you put on a shorter stem and wider bars that will also make it more trail friendly.

You can't go wrong with KZN midlands (Karkloof etc). Alternatively northern berg MTB trails about 3 1/2 hours from JHB although the road past sterkfontein dam is a bit dire. http://www.alloutadventures.co.za/mountain-biking/

There is a dimension to racing that is a lot of fun. It also keeps you sharp. As most have said the races close to the main urban centers are often way oversubscribed and congested with all sorts of route chaos and bottlenecks. My ideal race is: < 40% dirt roads / jeep track (most of which is towards the beginning to allow the field to spread) > 60% singletrack (preferably with lots of fun sections) < 100/150 participants on the route Ideally in a beautiful unspoilt natural environment in the mountains somewhere. Unfortunately none of the trailseekers tick these boxes. Races that do in my book are: Royal drakensberg MTB challenge Marico MTB challenge I'm sure quite a few of the races in Mpumalanga do too. Maybe Mankele or Induna or one of those, though I haven't done them. You generally have to travel out of town and make a weekend of it, which is a nice thing to do anyway. Though you can just go to those places and ride any other weekend and have the trail to yourself as I did in Karkloof this last weekend, rather than jostle with 1000 other riders next weekend at the classic. The more popular stage races are just about out for me, too many people, too congested, too pricey (though this thread is excluding the cost). Also I'm not really so big on the whole partner thing. I have entered for the Mankele 3 towers though. There may be some others worth doing, but if they are good, they quickly become popular, so you have to take your chances and do them before they get known. As for enduro, thats a fun event that adds a competitive edge to ripping a trail. The premise behind it is appealing - just bring your bike, ride it up the hill at leisure as you chat to your mates and we'll time you as you rip it on the way down. I've only done one. I did notice a lot of people take it awfully seriously, and in the process stop having as much fun as they should. It's supposedly the new cool, and it's only a matter of time before people figure that out in numbers. The format cannot handle large numbers though, max 100 before waits at the special stages will start to get too long. Also there's a far greater risk of damaging yourself if you push the limits, as we tend to do when competitive egos are at stake. The sweet spot for me going ahead is to do the odd race and pick judiciously. Maybe the odd stage race as well , and the odd enduro. Try not to take any of it too seriously, and the rest of the time ride just for fun or commuting or both.

No it's not, they just got confused trees that grow at funny angles. But seriously it looks just friggin awesome.

All three?

Done!

Clear rules are fair rules. In golf nobody complains that if you're an inch out-of-bounds you're 3 off the tee. And after all mountain biking is the new golf, though whoever coined that phrase, I don't think they had Cairns DH in mind.

Oh dang, it's happening too early. I'll just have to wait until their next visit to Boksburg.

Great service from them and exchange was no problem either. Buy with confidence.

I've got that issue too. Fortunately I'm in Cape Town often enough, particularly in summer, for it to not be too much of a problem. Otherwise I'll be nice to my brother who lives there half the time and ask him to go for me. Once it's out of warranty, I'll do it myself, at least the lowers service and seals change. It doesn't look too hard. You can get the seals kit online pretty easily it seems. The full damper service I'll send in for. Otherwise take it to Velolife who sell the Bergamont bikes including the threesome that comes with an Xfusion velvet. They will probably send it to the xfusion agent on your behalf but won't charge the earth for it. So it shouldn't be a total deal breaker. But it's not ideal agreed.

Updates from the trail: I took a good look at this this morning - you guys have got to be kidding! I'm sure the seasoned jumpers can do it but you got to pedal like a bat out of hell. This one has already been demolished and the logs removed. The lip is still there and good fun now that you know it's there. I hope it remains.

Thanks Brian. If that's the case, I might as well tighten it fully to spec. If anyone tries the needle bearing conversion kit please report back.

After a great weekend of riding on the new 140 Pascoe down in KZN, I found that the top shock bolt had shaken completely loose from the vibration of the trip back home. I see that the pyga website recommmends that it be tightened to 35Nm. I doubt it was in the first place, otherwise I'm sure it wouldn't have shaken loose after four rides and 1 road trip. When you say "partially tightened", what do you reckon is an appropriate torque, so as to avoid stiction, but not rattle out? I tightened it again, but nowhere near the 35Nm suggested. Loctite might help too. I'd also be pretty keen to try out the needle bearing shock mount kit.

The odd jump has appeared on the way down through the trees from the school field. The whole section has been totally fixed up and berms have been added too. Also a kicker has been put in the exit to the bombhole next to the main jump. If you don't know it's there and don't see it in time and you're carrying a lot of speed you can get bucked. Hope they are ok and get better soon.

Great - look forward to it! As for me I finally got over looking at the thing and decided to take the 140 pascoe for a ride to work this morning. I thought it would be nice to start off on a trail I know well. The first place I went to is the rose gardens - there are these terraces where you can pick your drop to flat - anything from 6 inches to 6 feet. I went for a 3 foot one, hardly felt the landing, and used up most of the travel without bottoming out completely. Nice - the suspension works as intended. From there sent it down the spruit to sandton drive, including the sweet section after Jan Smuts from the concrete bridge. Enough to get a taste of what it can do without pushing it anywhere near it's limits. Initial impressions - bike is stout, sturdy, solid and stiff, very confidence inspiring. Handling is fantastic and seems intuitive - right from the word go - didn't take much getting used to. One section where I normally have to dab the brakes before a tight turn I could just rail through first time. I'm not big air guy, but the jumps I did do it seemed to handle with ease. I think it's going to improve my jumping confidence. Obviously haven't had a chance to dial in anything - suspension, tyre pressure etc, took a while to realise I was on fasted rebound setting. Fork is nice and stiff, but does need seem to need some time to break in. It takes a bit to get it to move, but that should change in a few rides. I've got the pressure set to the minimum 50psi, but should be able to raise that when it settles in. Pedaling is very efficient and very neutral. I just left it open and there's hardly any movement. When you stand there's a bit more, but flick the pro-pedal switch (or whatever it's called) and the movement goes away completely. I stomped up sandton drive and the o-ring had hardly moved. But I generally wouldn't bother. XT 1x10 NW drivetrain perfect - shifting super smooth - with clutch derailleur super quiet and my days of chainslap and dropped chains are hopefully behind me. Special mention must go to the LEV dropper post which is buttery smooth out the box and just a marvelous piece of engineering. And the cable routing is perfect, better than internal stealth routing as mentioned by Doezel earlier in this thread. So so far I'm pretty chuffed.

Meanwhile I'm trying to wean myself off wagon wheels!

Thanks Eldron

I'd also be hold back on dropping 110 gs until you've tried the 650b.The spez enduro 29er seems to be getting all the accolades, but is it really because it is such a good bike, or is it because it's such a good bike AND it's got wagon wheels?

Wow that looks sweet!