beanz

If you can get an anthem x1 29er for R25k, which I think you can, you're going to find that you'll need to spend a lot more money than that to get a better bike. There's just about nothing you'll need to upgrade on it. A the price point the spec is spot on with the mainly SLX components. It's just a great bike. I have a giant anthem x29er which I've had for about 2 years. I put some new wheels on it (which is not really necessary - the stock ones are a bit weighty that's all) and got a dropper post (which is an indispensible upgrade if you ask me). It's been hammered through just about everything and abused in a way that an XC bike is probably not supposed to be, so it's definitely earned it's stripes on the trail. Maestro suspension is both plush and efficient. It you're weight conscious, the frame alone is about a 1/2 kg lighter than anything else in it's class and comparable to some of the carbon frames. If marathon or stage racing is your thing you can't go wrong. A small criticism is the slightly longer than average chainstay length, but I'm not sure if it makes a noticeable difference. Take the numbers out of it, it's a smooth comfortable ride and handles great in all situations - no problems with tight twisty stuff or hopping etc. My biggest single criticism is the Overdrive2 headset which makes it difficult to upgrade the fork or change stem. Scour the internet and you'll find there's massive all round user satisfaction for this bike - and not just image fanboys - it's not like Giant is a cool brand and easy to love. With the rand tanking Giant has kept the pricing compellingly aggressive and the lifetime warranty is the best around.

Beaver Creek and Clearwater are pretty much next door and it's the same trails.

An mtb race in the mweni area of the drakensberg. Possibly in the form of an enduro. It's tribal land, with plenty of cattle tracks that form singletrack with plenty of naturally sculpted berms. I did a hike there and it occurred to me that this would be an astonishingly cool place to ride.

Do Argus and tick it off. Learn how to service and repair bikes (at least the less complex stuff - drivetrain etc). Enhance technical riding skills and learn some new ones. Do an enduro or two. Do 2 weeks of riding in the Alps. Help build and enhance some local trails. Keep it tidy and stay in one piece.

And they will do whatever it takes to preserve their careers and their livelihood. They all know that for a professional athlete, surgery is the beginning of the end. They also have to get back on the field quickly - they don't have time to arse around with stuff that doesn't work.

The dude is team doctor for FC Bayern Munich and the german national football team - I'm not sure if you'd get an appointment.

I can't see how ozone sauna is going to help your knee but if you want a referral to an excellent doctor who does prolotherapy and prolozone PM me.

Well the first one I looked at in your link sounded pretty damn encouraging to me. Here we're talking about patients with failed back surgery. INTRODUCTION: In the last two decades, ozone has emerged as a treatment for low back pain, applied by means of minimally invasive techniques. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to assess the effect and safety of ozone therapy applied in the epidural space for chronic pain related to failed back surgery syndrome. METHODS: The investigators studied 13 sequential patients of both sexes, between 18 and 70 years old, with persistent chronic pain (more than six months) in the lumbar region and in the lower limbs related to failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS). Pain was classified as neuropathic and non-neuropathic regarding the topography (lumbar and lower limb), based on the DN4 (Douleur Neuropathique 4) questionnaire. The patients received theozone gas in the lumbar epidural space via spinal-sacral endoscopy. Clinical evaluation was performed before, immediately after (24 hours), and 1, 3, and 6 months after intervention with visual analog scale and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). RESULTS: Overall, the patients had 43.7% reduction of lumbar pain, 60.9% reduction in leg pain in six months followed by 44.0% of improvement in ODI. The reduction of pain and in the disability index was markedly greater in patients with non-neuropathic predominant pain, 95.2%, 80.6%, and 75.3% improvement in lumbar, leg pain, and ODI respectively, while neuropathic predominant pain patients experienced only 12.5%, 42.4%, and 20.9% improvement, also respectively. No neurological or infectious complications were observed acutely or during the follow-up. The present data suggests that epidural ozone might be a therapeutic option for persistent low back pain, especially in non-neuropathic predominant pain patients, but double-blind controlled studies are still required to prove its efficacy.

I never claimed to have any special qualifications but I have at least tried some of these therapies, unlike some of those in this thread who are crying quackery but have probably never actually put it to the test. They have actually had a positive benefit, and in a particular case helped massively. And they certainly didn't do me any harm - nothing crazy about me - I'm still here live alive and well! So where's the nonsense? H2O2 drip is a drip not an injection. It's a slow drip of H2O2 mixed in saline in the appropriate concentration. Of course pure H2O2 would be highly corrosive and probably kill you in seconds. So which ones have you tried? And what are your special qualifications?

Do you believe everything you read in Wikipedia? Just have a look at some of the older versions of the article e.g.: http://en.wikipedia....oldid=453924453 Paints a different picture altogether. Definitely not toxic in the true sense of the word - just a highly potent substance that needs to be administered in the right way.

Many different ways of doing ozone. Ozone sauna - some work better than others - I've tried it but can't say for sure whether it works or not. Certainly didn't do any harm. Ozone autohaemotherapy - I'm sure this is effective, but is expensive and not readily available. Prolozone - very effective for joint healing - helped me a lot. Ozone is closely related to hydrogen peroxide. Intravenous H202 drips can also be very effective. I don't know why it has such a bad name. It's a very well accepted and established modality in Germany. It has amazing healing properties. You just mustn't breath it. Fortunately it has a very distinctive smell, and it can be smelled in the air at concentrations way below what is toxic.

Hey go ride your new bike and tell us what it's like!

Clearwater trails rock. Anyone want to head there won't have to twist my arm too hard. There's a great road loop to get there for anyone who wants to put some big miles (probably not me), where you get to do a 400m climb. Not that there's much flat around there.

Well that settles the matter. Motion denied. It still seems like an unsolved engineering problem to me.

I somehow thought this wasn't going to go down well with the purists!

Why not? People will start going faster and case and faceplant and some might do themselves in, and then some may decide that it's not such a bad idea. I was wondering if there is any middle ground between a full FF helmet and a standard XC lid? I don't see any big difference between some of the so-called enduro lids and a standard XC except for they're maybe a bit stronger, but there's no face protection. What about something like the casco MX? http://www.sportmall.com/fotocache/mid/ART04154.jpg Pretty expensive, don't look great, but much lighter and better ventilated than a FF and definitely provide some protection from a faceplant that you're not going to get with an open face helmet. Any thoughts?

I think we can also agree that hekpoort to the shebeen via breedts nek doesn't count as crossing a mountain range.

Now that's the plan for next year. http://www.thehubsa....n-the-world-20/

I'm not sure if they are doing them. When the OneTen 29er first came out they did have some complete out-the-box builds on offer, but I don't think they are doing this any more. Maybe they figured that the sort of person who buys a Pyga usually has very specific ideas about what they want to put on it.

Nice trade

Haha, you know what's indispenable it seems. Sure prices have gone up big time, but I'm not sure how you could have come out at R32k even in March when the rand was 8.8 to the dollar.

Frame is 18k. You're looking at 40-50k all in, depending how you go about it. At least that's what I'm budgeting.

I see. What bcd crank did you get, and what rings can you fit on it? Seems like 104bcd is pretty much the standard.

I bought a XT crankset for R2k, just sold the chainrings for R500, and acquired a 34t raceface narrow wide chainring. Worked out a bit cheaper in total. I don't think I need any spacers, but it's probably ideal to put some in to line things up optimally.

Looks cool, but you have to chuck the 17t sprocket to make it count, so you have quite a jump from 15 - 19t. Also I don't think it would work with your Zee derailleur. Wouldn't you need medium cage? Maybe one of these days someone's going to just bring out a 11-42 cassette. 11-13-15-17-20-23-27-31-36-42 or something like that. I don't think it will be SRAM though.