TYGA

Belfast sure does take the L out of LBS.

"One big defference.....I enjoy riding with my mates. No intention of everrrrrr getting my wife into it! You are a better man than me!" Ya that's like when I used to paddle K1's, the golden rule was always to never EVER get your wife / GF into paddling as you'd then be without a second on riverdays. Dude don't get me wrong I love NOTHING better than riding with my mates but hey, I do that all the time while the missus does the backup and support so I'm happy to give a bit back. Who knows, she might still kick your ass! Would be cool to meet you all, we must make a plan closer to the time.

Chubba you'll be more than fine on the training you are doing, this is cited as a tour or ride not race and it's one hell of a lekker vibe, riders taking it easy and having a chat for a change rather than racing for 300th position. The climbing was about 1000 meters a day over the distance and there were no real killers, to give you an idea of the hills last year I did it singlespeed and could ride absolutely everything except the Hamilton Russel hill in Hemel and Aarde late into day 2. And I'm no racing snake by a long shot. I convinced my wife to do the ride with me this year in a moment of weakness and as much as I look forward to spending some lekker time riding with her and taking her out of her comfort zone she's done very little riding since we had a sprog 15 months ago and I am dreading her losing her cool, chucking her bike into the bushes and stomping off shouting that it was the stupidest idea EVER...

As long as there is no play or drag on the headset bearings and you have tightened the stem bolts you can ride it like that until you have managed to locate a suitable spacer.

Hey featuring yours truly doing the 2 things he loves most. Guzzling beer and riding bikes...famous for all the right reasons at last!

Jy is daai tipe amoreus wat met 'n "J" gespel word as jy daai wiele op 'n Shova sit. What tyres are planning on going with?

I don't know how you even manage to fit three bikes on there without them destroying themselves let alone on gravel, I personally hate hanging racks but I'm fairly pedantic about my bikes so my 2 bike rack is pretty much only a one bike rack. The Express for me is the convenient option but when I put my circus bike on it the back wheel sticks out past the side of my bakkie and the wind alone when getting up to cruising speed is enough to move the rack on my towbar. Mate of mine has the same of yours and cruises at pace no problems with 3 bikes on so I guess though much better than the Express probably not an ideal tool. Seriously though keep your eyes open for a stand on rack, I picked up a holdfast one off the hub for about R1000 including a light board a while back and used it with two bikes on for a 3000 km trip in December, some of it through some of the roughest roads in the Transkei you can imagine and other than completely destroying the light and number plate board I had no hassles.

More Trails I saw on another post you mentioned riding a 2.3 WTB Prowler SS, I just received one "in the mail" and am yet to put it on my Heckler but was wondering how you enjoyed the tire? Looks pretty burly and probably heavier than anyting I've used and I was thinking of getting some Exiwolves instead as my bike still manages to go up OK and the SS may be overkill for my riding style.

Headshot I have a Thule Express which also simply snaps onto the towbar and if I remember correctly the manual warns against using on anything except smooth tar so you are **** out of luck. For longer trips I use a proper stand on rack and the Express only for local rides as it is super convenient.

Johan if those plugs you mention above will fit on an RST fork can I take three sets off your hands please? I've got one of the older RST M29s on my SS which came equipped for V-brakes and it's left horrible holes where I removed the tabs. Same on the back of the wifey's older Santa Cruz.

That's odd, they usually screw in. That bike looks so much happier without the slicsk on!

That's really turned out great, I would remove the V Brake bosses on the fork though.

Thanks Chris that's great of you!

"This seal will fit perfectly inside its cup and protect the bearing from water shooting up from the wheel. Lesser ones have a pure steel race with a tiny gap to allow for frictionless rotation. These are evil and rubbish. Cane Creek leads the pack here." I noticed some lekker brown rusty water in the head tube this when swapping the forks on the wifes bike recently (fairly new headset too but one of those with the gap in the steel race)...which is the correct position for the gap in the steel race and how do you avoid the water getting in the headset / headtube...just pack it full up with grease?

Let me know if you want to sell the XTs!

Anyone placing an order this week still or alternatively want to join me in an order to be placed by Thursday COB? Need a few bob to get free shipping. No clothing etc that complicates duties.

Thanks for setting that straight, one of the other posters above mentioned photobay.

These okes at photobay sure take their time...pics still aren't up.

They are brilliant. I really can't give any more input over and above the hundreds of reviews on the web but I am in Somerset West if you happen to be in the area and want to take a look or try it out before buying one. You are going to get the naysayers attacking you now for wanting to put a kid on a bike but the bottom line is to use your good common sense and judge when and where you should be using it, I use mine mainly on fire roads and jeep tracks in Eden and Jonkershoek and try and stay off the roads as much as possible, ride within 30 to 50% of my comfortably safety zone and have no issues using it. https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/83795-the-official-riding-with-kids-thread/page__st__20__p__1157975__hl__kids__fromsearch__1#entry1157975 Imported mine via the taketwo website, it was the cheapest I could find and set me back about R1200.00.

Rod have you finished this bike yet? Pics !!

Most riders (well, me anyway!) will run out of balls long before their bikes do. A Reign, Heckler, Shova or Remedy should go a long way. I recently built up a Heckler and there is no way I will ever see the limits of what that bike can do. Saw guys doing the big road gap in Jonkershoek on Hardtails durinng the DH races last weekend...the guys must have come from DJ background...granted the bikes had proper forks and wheels on but they did it with a lot more style than most of the DHers! Until then I didn't realise that anyone even attempted DH on anything but long travel bikes. I'd still like to try an On One Summer Season with 150mm fork...should be huge fun.

I made up 5 places at the first beerstop but gave them all and a few more away the second we hit the first post beer climb. More Wood in the red Isuzu shirt was confirmed fastest guzzler of the day but it wasn't enough to keep him in the race! Maybe if it was a 12 lap race he would have been in with a chance but then only because no one else would have been able to stand let alone ride.

Thanks to the guys that organized the SS race and refreshments...fun fun FUN! Anyone know where the photo's will be posted? How about a series of local SS races in a similar format, maybe do something once a month during winter or whenever suits on a Sat or Sunday? Tokai, Eden, Magic, Jonkies and wherever else we can think of? The racing snakes can get points League style and the rest can come for the beer.

You start off with a short section of level jeep track, then cut a left into a managable singletrack climb which is a bit loose, it becomes quite technical steep and rocky which had me off the bike for about a 50 meter push / pant / sweat and swearathon. You then have a short section of level jeep track, cross over to a lekker flowing singletrack climb which then becomes another steep rocky climb...another pushathon of probably 50 meters or so, then a rocky / techical descent, cross the jeep track and a long awesome flowing singletrack back to the start. Apparently it's 4.2 kilo's. It's a really easy flat and flowing course and if I were you guys I would have gearing of no less than 42 x 14 else you'll be spinning out the whole way. No climbs, promise!!! BTW I was on a 29er with 32 x 18 gearing and not a racing snake so fitter riders should be quite a bit quicker going up...not much faster coming down though!!!

Rode the course yesterday. Gonna take more than 2 beers to get me through that lot!