LazyTrailRider

Holding thumbs you get it back BerryV1! Rest assured, there is definitely hope. I had a Specialized Demo 8 stolen from my garage in 2012, and due to an eagle-eyed observer, the cops recovered it 6 months later and it found its way back home eventually. So, stay positive. You'll get your baby back

In 25 years of MTBing, I've not seen even one local XCO (or even DH actually, without trying to stir) event promoted as well as the average weekend's PPA marathon/funride. It's without fail a case of "oh wait, there's a race on next weekend?!" Figures.

Haha, *spot on*!

Hmmm, I don't agree, not even close.

Exactly. I get mocked by my brothers (both technical aces) for riding a hardtail at the moment, but I ride it because I like the best of both worlds. I love grinding up a long climb Mont Ventoux style, but then I love ripping berms on the way down and getting incredulous looks clearing tables on my 29er. That, to me, is what mountain biking is all about. It's riding both up and down the mountains.

Very true. My thinking is obviously biased, having learnt to MTB in the late 80s on what were then proper XC courses (now tame, although still much harder than the average marathon course). We called it mountain biking back then, because we rode up and down scarcely groomed hiking trails in the mountains. Dirt road riding is not mountain biking, it's dirt road riding. We confuse the two too often in the name of political correctness and "being nice".

Wait. What? I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. Somehow I seem to recall a comment about S-Works bikes being amazing, technically capable bikes. I must have had my glasses fogged up at the time...

You mean transfer the *entire* contents of your account to another account? That's the only option I assume you're referring to, and unfortunately just slightly impractical for most people...

If the majority of hubbers had an issue with his profile picture, someone would have reported it by now, before you did. They didn't. I suspect that's the simple observation Tumbleweed was referring to...

Concurred. Anything Fox without Kashima just plain sucks. I hate the Float 29 Evolution that's currently on my bike, have been trying to find a Reba or SID replacement for a while...

I found something similar here. It's Martin Hattingh, but everyone just called me MH, so I ended up making it easy to start off with...

Very nice!

I have a love and hate relationship with my Havens. They're awesome because they are: Super stiff Bomb-proof structurally. I smash through gnarly rock-gardens on a hardtail, without a hint of weakness Easily sealed (because they're UST certified) Amazing to look at Really light (1650g/set) They suck because: The freehub is about to give up after only about 750km. It slips several times on every ride these days. The rear hub bearings themselves don't stay snug. This is a well-known issue, all Havens suffer from this. The preload adjusted needs a tweak after pretty much every ride to keep play from ruining things. Apparently, threading plumber's tape in there sorts it out, but this is ridiculous on a wheelset costing that much. If it were possible to lace Hope hubs to Haven rims, I'd have such a set built in a second, but unfortunately Havens are 24-spoke... I'd go with the Hope/ZTR option.

Being aware first-hand of the added "grip" the chain has on the ring when removing wheels for transport and tinkering with it, I can safely say that NW does make things stick better. The difference is definitely noticeable in my experience. Whether this difference translates into better chain retention on the trail is a different matter though, I concede that much. I think the gnar-bounce factor does influence things, I think you'll find that there's a lot more smashing around happening on my stiff HT setup than on a plusher rig. Then again, with a swingarm comes drivetrain expansion/collapsing, so it could even things out... Would be interesting to see some actual scientific data.

Hmmmm. Now *there's* an overhyped piece of tech.

Or that.

Forgot to mention, the Scale is a very good choice for someone getting started. Why? Because it has the slackest (69.5deg) head angle of all the proper hardtails, so it's quite a bit more stable than the rest of the bunch. It'll inspire confidence on the technical stuff. (I ride one).

Nope, go for 2x10, it'll simplify things. Then, later on, you can jump to a 1x10 or 1x11 setup if it works for you.

You'll need to approach it gradually. Stage 1: Ride only on the road. Get used to the action needed to clip in. Purposefully think about unclipping every time you stop (this doesn't come naturally at first). The key here is not having to stop suddenly, thus no singletrack. Stage 2: Go off-road, but jeeptrack only, where you'll need to stop more often but can still have a moment or two's chance to think about unclipping. Stage 3: The full monty. By this time, you'll be able to unclip without consciously making the decision to. It'll take a while, but you'll get there. If you want to try it out, I'm giving away a pair of old shoes: https://www.bikehub.co.za/index.php?app=hubmarket&do=view_item&item_id=75445

Spot on. Don't listen to those who claim that it's "better for your butt", that's BS.

Cool :-) I did a fixie ride from Claremont to Cape Point (the lighthouse) and back about 2 years ago. Smitswinkel was a &@$#!

Damn Maxxis, that's totally pornographic. I feel guilty looking at it...

To be honest, because it's so old it's more of a "mess-around" bike, so it's not that strange at all. DH and trail bikes tend to become that as they reach retirement age, they appeal to punk rocker type kids who want something that looks cool, even though they may not strictly be cyclists according to the general Hub paradigm.

EDIT: Double-post.

Well spotted, I forgot about that part... It probably takes the HA up to a "modern" standard