Brian Fantana

Just give it time. Local trails are starting to catch up in terms of technical difficulty. Trail bikes make these technical trails much more enjoyable. As soon as more riders get a taste of how enjoyable technical trail riding is the numbers will increase. Riders just need to get exposure to decent trails, and the usual "how far did you ride?" will be replaced by the "how was it?" XCM is not the most popular because it is more enjoyable, it is popular because it is the only form of mountain biking that has been accessible in SA for the last 10+ years. (XCO has been very accessible, but the very nature of it makes it only suitable for conditioned riders). In Canada, USA and NZ there are just as many if not more Enduros than other disciplines. Exciting times lie ahead for SA mountain biking.

Brodie is such a poser:

Jared Graves came 2nd in the Australian national XCO champs. He finished just less than a minute behind Dan Mconnell who is a regular top 10 finisher at the XCO World Cups. The Whistler round of EWS had 3000m climbing on the one day and many riders missed their start times resulting in time penalties.

This is my type of single speed, steel and 140mm of travel: http://news.fortheriders.com.au/uploads/Bens-Niner-ROS-9-Singlespeed_1.jpg

I bet he is 100% aware of that. He just meant that he was surprised that even though the Enduro has 160mm travel, it climbed just as efficient as his 110mm travel bike.

Very cool idea. Here in PE we have Hayterdale trails. They have a dowhill and XCO course which were used for Nationals, and the Herald 80km XCM traverse most of the property as well. In addition to that we had a 4 stage Enduro there this year. A weekend like this will have to work on a points system. Imagine camping at an awesome trail for a weekend, with live music, beer on tap and riding awesome mtb trails. There are existing festivals like this, they just need to apply a points system to riders who ride all the events.

I really hope that this fiasco will not influence FedGroup's sponsorship of the Berg & Bush in years to come.

I have not found corrosion to be a problem. There are very small spots of surface corrosion when I disassemble, but it is easily removed. The anodised 3-piece mounting hardware from Rockshox is also an excellent option. The two piece mounting hardware seems to have problems, which must be why Fox moved to polymer bushes and mounting hardware about two years ago.

This is the tool I use for removal and installation of DU bushes:

Not polished. It is a common industry term for EN3A (if I remeber correctly - could be EN3b). Also called 070M20. It is mild steel with a slightly higher carbon content. Regular mild steel (the stuff you buy at hardware shops) has a maximum carbon content of 0.18% while EN3A/B has a maximum carbon content of 0.25%. It is slightly harder wearing while still maintaining excellent machinability. I suspect the term "bright" comes from the bright appearance of the round and square bar in which EN3A is supplied sometimes.

I usually only replace the the DU bush. The main reason is because I have machined mounting hardware out of bright mild steel which seems to last forever. I have a bag of 20 DU bushes, and it really only takes about 10 minutes to press new DU bushes into the shock eyelets and re-install mounting hardware. The correct tools are required to do it though.

A trail bike is typically a do-it-all bike. They usually have 120-150mm of travel and they are usually full suspension. It can be best described as a bike that is light enough and have suitbale geometry to pedal up any climb, but the longer travel and slack(ish) geometry inspires confidence to tackle tougher obstacles and descend fast as well. I am a trail bike apostle, I ride marathons such as Attakwas on my 150mm travel machine, but I also ride downhill and XCO courses for fun on it. Extremely versatile and helps you to push the limits of your skill. However, the type of riding you want to do will best dictate what type of bike will be best suited to your needs.

Cool, I mistakenly thought the 700 equates to 700mm diameter. In my defence, I don't frequent wheel size threads that often, so not really clued up on diameters. Only knew 26" is 559 because I still ride one, haha.

Ok, I am not a geek, but I was sitting in a very boring seminar, and put pen to paper. My arrows are the wrong way round but the values won't change. Same energy required to stop the two systems, but different brake forces are required to achieve that. This is for ideal friction free environments, and it does not take the larger contact area of the larger diameter tyre into account.

Men's XCE final winner POV with a GoPro:

This is how my morning starts: Unless there is a loaded and cocked Desert Eagle firmly pressed against my head, I shall not bastardise this heavenly drink with milk, butter, cream or whatever the hell people use to mask their poor espresso making skills.

I have been in Australia for the last 9 days and I cannot believe how much I have missed my dogs. My wife sent me this pic last night only to make me miss them more:

This ride does not have that much climbing in total, but the climbs are long, and if you are going to "spin" in granny gear up all the climbs, that sub4 will slip away quickly. My best time was 04:00:15, which was on a single speed rigid 29er. I started very conservatively and gradually went harder on the hills passing lots of riders up every climb and got a strong finish going on the last 40km. On all the downhills I tucked in, and freewheeled down using the brakes as little as possible (free speed). With about 2km to go, a guy swerved in front of me causing me to fall on the tar. I did not keep track of my time, so I straightened my bars, got back on and pedaled to the finish. When I got there I was quite bleak when I realised that I only missed sub4 by 15 seconds.

It will most probably be a number with a +86 dialling code, which will be answered in Mandarin. It is only home grown in the sense of being designed locally.

http://www.great-time.co.za/Results/mobile/

My wife and I took the first 110km extremely easy. She rode up Baviaans Back, the fangs and Bergplaas without stopping. Changed to fresh kit on Bergplaas. My wife struggled a bit on the flats between Bergplaas and CP5, but after CP5 she started to find her legs up Never ender and got a strong finish going. Got to the finish just after 01:15 am. I am super proud of her considering the fact that this was her first ultra endurance type event. If my father in law (my previous TB partner) was still with us he would have been extremely proud as well. We are going to relax with the two dogs on the beach tomorrow morning.

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Tug of war with a blanket = Big mess The other guilty parting was busy eating when I took the photo.

I use a stainless steel Bialetti 10 cup when we go camping. A neat little trick I do, is to put a slightly wet Aeropress filter on the bottom of the perforated plate (the plate with the gasket around it). This prevents fines from entering the top chamber while brewing, and makes the moka pot perform better with inconsistent grind size. I use a Hario Skerton to grind when we camp.