TYGA

Here's a pic of the iBert Safety seat which is now a permanent fixture on my old bike. Awesome product, I looked around everywhere but in the end had to import it off the Take2 website. Check the little one literally and figuratively chewing into my wallet.

Gumtree, some dodgy oke in Tableview... Best option other than that is probably CRC. As I said to Slowbee as well you are welcome to give it a go before committing to buying one.

Slowbee the little oke is now 9 months but he's off the charts massive for his age. You will find a myriad of opposing comments on the www on when you can and can't put them in a trailer, as long as you're not hitting the jumps and drops yours should be ready soon. You are welcome to swing by and give the trailer a go, I've also bought an iBert "Safety Seat" which goes on the front of the bike and is an awesome product but I had to import it and it was expensive compared to rear mounted seats. I was fairly torn between which to get and ended up with both, gumtree will do that to you. The sprog loves the iBert as he can see what's going on and can interact with you and you can ride singletrack (within reason!) but they are fairly exposed to sun and wind and the oke caught a cold the last time I took him for a spin, much to his mothers' delight. If you take a tumble things can get nasty as well, you don't have to be that careful with the trailer. They can doss better in the trailer as well and have toys / bottles / snacks in there. Again, you are welcome to borrow or try them out and decide for yourself.

I've had a Brooks B17 for about a year on my SS and I love it more and more every time I see (and ride) it. The honey colour has gone darker with time and use and, to me anyway, it looks better every day. They're heavy, they don't like being drenched and they need to be looked after like any other leather goods but it suits my ass and my bike to a tee, it's super comfortable and I wouldn't have it any other way. I think the majority of the people that buy them become a bit obsessed by them, whether the obsession is warranted or not is purely subjective. I'd buy another but I'll never need to, this one's for keeps.

Guy that is impressive you must have very selective hearing to keep your sanity on that rig!

This thread is dedicated to all of you who have babies / kids and are doing what they can to still get out and ride. Post pics of your trailers, bike seats, tagalongs, Y-bikes and whatever other paraphernalia you've collected to force your nasty riding habit on your offspring and let us know what works and what doesn't. OK so the ride pictured below wasn't exactly the X Games but given the circumstances it beats the crap out of pushing a pram and it was still awesome in a different kind of way. If you were wondering the passenger weighs 12 kilo's, the trailer probably quite a bit more than that and yes, low range is required! Attached some photo's of my little dudes first visit to my friends farm in Ceres.

You can ghetto non-UST Small Block 8's easy peasy. Give it a go it's a simple procedure and well worth doing.

Ahoy Rod, long time no speak...how you enjoying the Brooks? Regarding gearing I ride 32 x 18 on a 29er and I've found getting up a hill is simply 1. learning how to pace yourself and 2. mind over matter. I rode the Wines to Whales on mine and had to get off twice up super steep bits where you couldn't keep momentum due to bikes ahead on the singletrack, I managed to ride absolutely everything else and I promise you I am no racing snake or power house. I can get up most if not all hills when riding socially with geared mates but you find your heart rate going through the roof so it really is a mind game and about pacing yourself. I personally wouldn't attempt something like Hell and Back or even Lourensford classic with it though, too much steep climbing, keeping it simple is one thing but geez, you still gotta enjoy yourself! Jonkershoek etc is perfect. On my ss I leave a saddle bag with basic tools and 1 x water bottle so going for a quick after work ride is simply shoes helmet gloves and ride off. No mess no fuss, all the more so when it gets muddy in winter. Just do it and remember to post some pics!

Mail your pics to Jerrard at the singlespeed website, they are looking for some content for the site. www.singlespeed.co.za Nice one Hairy looks like you're loving the Inbred, attached a pic of your bikes big brother.

Age, qualifications, skills, field of expertise / experience? (other than cycling obviously...)

might have been trying to pick you up.

The fork should have steeper geometry to cater for the 29" bigger wheel, simply putting on a smaller wheel on a 29" specific fork may make the handling somewhat twitchy. Maybe try borrow a 26" fork and wheel from someone, fit the wheel first, see how it handles with both forks and make a call on it. If I'm not mistaken the Trek 69 had a Fox fork on it? You should be able to sell that quite easily if you decide to go that route.

Trance if you like playing. Anthem if you like racing. For the price of a new X3 there are some very nice used higher specs dual suspensions avble at the moment.

Where do you usually live / ride? Apart from riding the off-limits areas which usually constitute boring vineyards / orchards / fire roads there are more than enough dedicated MTB trails to keep the most avid explorer / trail rider happy. As for exercise, socialising and especially a healthy dose of competition...if you don't get that riding with your buddies you need new friends.

I battle to understand the fascination people have (especially in the Western Cape, I can't comment about trails elsewhere in SA) with "doing races" when you have renowned MTBing areas like Jonkershoek, Grabouw, Tokai etc to name only the better known ones which you can ride at any time of the week or weekend, UNCONGESTED, for as long as you want, looping as much singletrack as you desire, re-doing the sections that make you go Whoopee and shooting the breeze with your buddies. Total no brainer in my book.

Looks very fun to ride...why are you running a 2.4 at tire at the back and 2.2 at the front...usually it's the other way around?

Awesome bike Brussel! Enjoy it.

My LBS ordered SS specific chainrings for me no problems. I think Kiwi had some as well though you may have to wait for the stock. There was some oke on the hub some time back that was going to laser cut Titanium chainrings but don't know whether his plans fell flat.

I've got a lekker route from Somerset West via Raithby, through the vineyards and up to the back of Technopark in Stellenbosch...all in about an hours ride of which about 15K's is off road and the first 3K's or so on tar...nothing nicer than cruising to work through the vineyards with my buddy More Wood for an hour before work. Having to watch him shower when we get there not so fun... Agree with the other okes, drive in one day, cycle home, cycle back the next day, drive home...makes it nice 'n easy going. This summer going to definitely do it more often! Best tip I could give someone who wants to "start commuting". Don't let the logistics get put you off before you began, just get on your bike and do it once...hell, we used to "commute" to school every day of our lives to no ill effect, why should it be any harder now? Just get on yer bike and ride, best thing you'll ever do.

Ya Flowta I am def going to build one as a spare / geared wheel for my Inbred 29! Maybe we can pick up some old stock 8 speeds on the cheap then....

For a more affordable option check out the Shimano "Alfine" gear hub. Quite a lot of guys in the UK are using them as they are about 20% of the price of the Rohloff conversion (they'd probably last 20% as long too....). On CRC you can buy everything you need for around 3K but would then still need to build it into a rim. It only has 8 gears and I guess comparing it to the Rohloff would be like comparing a Beetle to a Bentley but as an "experiment" it's a hell of a lot cheaper than dropping 15K on a Rohloff.

Been mined before, one of my worst rides ever, smelt almost as bad as when a Kiewiet bombed me from above and hit me square in a face. Dunno what Kiewiets eat but it's siff and makes the average landmine smell like CK1.

To date I have been happy with my RST M29 and will keep using it till it falls apart and then get the Fox 29er. If you want stiffness, reliability and light weight how about this puppy? (The fork not the bike!) If anyone's interested in the fork let me know...sorry bout the hijack Stephan...! XTC12010-05-21 08:53:16

wac1 haven't tried your advice but if it works it's you've def qualified for the tip-of-the-month mini-pump and socks gift set. Will be trying that this evening on a dodgy set of hydraulics with some very disturbing tendencies...the bike gets transported in all sorts of positions in the back of my bakkie and the front brake often softens up for no particular reason.

I got my sisters hand me down scooter...decided to keep riding my bicycle instead...and still riding 20 years later! PS anyone want to buy a 30 year old Yamaha Chappy 80cc scooter with like 3000 Kays on the clock? That's a hundred Kays a year...