Pipsqueak

Can we revisit suspension setup? I'm interested to know what percentage sag folk are using for their 110s, 120s and 140s. At this point I'm somewhere around 35% on my 120. Have yet to bottom out.

So is that the "XL" version? Or the normal version?

Hmm. Maybe I'll put a Gopro back there.

Here's a question... has anyone else experienced this? I have a Hutchinson Toro and and a Conti Race King on my Pyga as an experiment (business up front, party at the back), and when I load the conti - in a fast corner or a dip, it makes a growling sound. I've never heard this from any other tyre. It sounded like the tread was rubbing against part of the frame, but that wasn't the case. Tyre was pretty hard, probably 2 bar ish. Anyone else got "vocal" contis?

Where you get that stuff?

Must be a bit slimy up there at the mo? Thinking of going up for the Trailblazer - if its not raining.

I don't own one but I have ridden one. That bike's got a lot more balls that you'd expect. You should think 120mm fork, and expect speed with lots of fun.

Seriously, the "detour" aside, I would HIGHLY recommend this trip. For the price of JHB2C you have the ride of your life. And Emirates flies the bike for free!

Ya, its an interesting discussion. The most valuable asset within the GPS is existing tracks, and waypoints. I think the baseman is just a reference, but I would certainly punch in all the trails, and key waypoints - Basecamp, Kanshar, Manang etc etc. That would have given us a much clearer picture of what we were up against. Remember that we're not talking vast distances here. We probably only covered about 16 kms over the 2 days of hiking out to Manang, so the detail that you need is high. I'm not sure if base maps of the Himalayas can offer this? There's no doubt that a chopper can take a bike, but in the context of the army rescue choppers, they wouldn't. Before we left we knew this, because the emergency evacuation procedure told us so. There were many people waiting to be lifted, so getting 3 bikes strapped to the skids was not an option.

We had 2 maps. But in Nepal nothing is cast in stone. The information on these printed, topographical maps varied greatly. Kanshar, the village we were aiming for after the bridge was supposed to be right next to the river, but it wasn't. The altitudes and trail routes differed too. We should have stayed in the tea-house. That would have been the sensible thing to do. But we would have had to leave the bikes behind. The chopper doesn't take bikes. If there's one thing I'm going to be buying in the next few months its a good map enabled GPS with long battery life.

Lots of people ask why we didn't ditch the bikes... Truth be told we just took for granted that we'd need them to ride out again. We also (incorrectly) believed that we'd walk out of the snow during the first day. Those bikes now have a certain sentimental value that can't be measured.

I had a sinking feeling that if we tried to sleep under this tree; we’d never get up in the morning. Certainly a grave thought, but one that signaled the flip from a bike expedition in Nepal to an unexpected fight for survival in the Himalaya’s most lethal autumn snowstorm in living memory. Click here to view the article

http://www.pinkbike.com/u/gdpipsqueak/blog/surviving-nepal-on-a-bike.html

P(high)ga - again... At 4500m above sea level. After the Himalayan blizzard hit.

Flip, who would put Crests on that bike?

At least an Apple doesn't crack when you screw it.

It is a very nice, simple bike.

Anyone tried Rubena Kratos? Seems to have flown under the radar, but the few reviews look pretty good.

I ordered the bulk of a bike build from them. They are amazing.

P(high)ga - SA's highest point - Black Mountain in Lesotho. 3400m.

So if I cut the sidewall of a Maxxis High Roller does that make it a bad tyre? No. These knock the socks off Racing Ralphs for sure, just choose the right spec. If you ride a 120tpi tyre down a rockfall you're asking for trouble. I've used these for years. 120 on the front, 60 on the back.

For the love of God..! http://www.pinkbike.com/video/376910/

Sounds like you need a 110.

That is a hot looking bike.

The one I have here is M675, and I'll take either a med or long cage, whatever I can get.