Daxiet

Check his other post re: upgrading or buying a new bike. He is looking at a Full XT M760 Groupset on his entry level bike.

I used to lock out on certain technical climbs, but when you're used to the gentle loving comfort of 60% travel on the Scott you find Lock Out very hard on your soft spots. The idea behind the lockout on climbs was that your pedal stroke is not to some degree absorbed by your suspension. I wish they would do some studies calculating what % of your energy is absorbed by a rear shock when standing and when simply sitting and pushing hard. Anyway it is safe to say that some percentage of your pedal power when not locked out is always being lost to the rear shock.

The only difference between and an 8 speed and 9 speed besides number of sprockets is the spacing between the sprockets. The 8 speed chain is wider hence greater spacing of sprockets, the 9 speed in narrower hence the sprockets are closer together. We are talking MTB here, so your options are 8 or 9. 10 speed only applies to road bikes. So 9 speed will fit on you current hub. Search the Tech Q&A this has been answered before.

Just keep in mind if you plan to upgrade the fork in the near future, you are committing to V-brake and V-brake forks are rare. So if you were to upgrade, it would be groupset, wheels (disc hubs), brakes (disc) and then at a later stage the fork. Fork is important, a descent fork saves you plenty energy, plus in many cases drops the weight of you entry level bike. In short an upgrade path is a difficult path. In your case you have a couple options, go for the V-brake groupset. Then when ready convert to disc wheels, disc brakes and normal shifters. Alternatively do goupset,brakes,wheels and weight on the fork. On the buy new option, you can get a new 2010 Merida Matts 80 for R9K - 9.6K. This bike is excellent value for money. SLX crank, SLX FD, XT RD, Deore Disc brakes, Deore shifters, Rockshox Dart 2. Or you could hunt down a good used MTB, but you may need to replace worn parts that will add up to the cost. Unless you find one where the seller has already replaced the worn parts. Daxiet2009-08-09 12:41:58

If you want an General Purpose tyre (AT) it will never be able to cater fully for extreme dry/sandy to extreme wet/muddy. That said you will probably have issues in either of these areas or in both on the extreme side of each condition. Thus if you want 1 tyre I would recommend get a tyre that best suites the terrain you will mainly find yourself in. My training terrain and for most part the races in GP/FS/NW are suitable to Crossmarks, Larsen TT's, Conti Race King. These are all tyre that handle dry conditions well. I am a fan of Conti Race King out of this list. If you are going to be in KZN, Conti Mountain King is a great tyre. The common recommendation is Mnt King front, Race King rear, I have tried it, but feel it is odd to say the least. Race king will give you as much traction in mud as the Crossmark, plus will not clear mud well at all, but your front tyre will be looking great. Then in the dry, the Mountain King will be prone to slip out. So rather if in muddy conditions put on 2 Mnt. Kings in Dry 2 Race Kings. This all said I think purely by chance I have stumbled onto a great set of AT tyres - Schwable Rocket Ron's. They aren't the best in dry, so far have help up in the muddy conditions I have had them in, but all in all very reliable across the board. Plus they are fast and light. Just very over priced, so I may revert to Race Kings and suffer in mud should I encounter it.

Something I forgot to mention: The only reason I chose to switch to HT from DS was to reduce weight and to be more competative. DS = pleasurable ride but you still can't skimp on cost, you need to spend atleast 25K if buying a new DS. If you can't afford it, then the simple answer is go second hand or HT. On the note of better climbing because the rear suspension better keeps you tyre in contact with the ground...can't say I have noticed that. Actually found that because the rear had movement at times you feel out of touch as to what is happening traction wise back there. I can safely say my HT climbs way better than my DS, positive feedback, better control.

I was on Dual Susp, and now am on HT (Merida FLX) while they say the rear stays have flex by definition this maketh it not a softtail. I don't notice the flex, rear feels stiff as can be. DS spoils you, you definetly ride any line you feel like and get away with murder. To get a light DS you need serious cash. For instance my HT shop genuine weight 10.6kgs, an Anthem X1 - Giant claimed weight of 11.5kgs (from what I have felt ~12kgs+). The X1 sells for ~R3K more. Anyway not by any means running the Anthem down, it is an excellent value for money DS. If I hadn't decided to go HT I would have probably bought an X1. So in theory I would say I am glad I started on a DS, it was more fun to ride and more forgiving. Now that I am acustomed to long rides on an evil thing called a saddle the HT is awesome. I can't say I find the riding uncomfortable, you just use your legs more and chose the optimal line. Rough descents are a bit more tiring, but for the rest I feel like I am on a pocket rocket. To explain my take on optimal line: Even though on a DS you can chose any line, this isn't ideal. Any shock absorbed by the DS is force lost. So if you hit a bump and force needs to be absorb, you effectively have wasted energy (momentum). Hence an HT forces you to be efficient or feel the bumps. So this theory poses a catch 22. DS are forgiving to start with and possibly will help getting you hocked on the sport. However HT's teach you to ride better, by punishing you when you step out of line. Not that this punishment is in the form of a crash.

No, not to my knowledge. Just prefer them to shorts.

Sounds really odd to me making such a recommendation over the phone. 5000kms is not that much. Find a new LBS, current one sounds keen for some cash.

Cape Storms I think are a good length, but if you're looking for shorter dodgey looking pants/bibs go for First Ascent - catch however is they are junk. The padding is focused on your package, bargain if you prone to fly over the handle bars striking the top of the steerer on your way past! But if you're looking for padding that specialises on your sit bones, don't go First Ascent. The other thing First Ascents padding at the back sticks out making it look like you have made a deposit in your pants. Cape Storms are brilliant value for money, same price as First Ascent but they work. So in "short" be careful that you don't make your body pay for the cosmetic affect you are looking for. I have seen short Cape Storms by the way, just not sure if they are only for ladies. Daxiet2009-08-07 00:21:41

Brett, this definetly ticks me off! Fully understand what you are getting at. The long route rider who pulls out of the long route and finishes (crosses the finish line) after the official winner will have an assumed time for the full route even though he has done a boat load less kms. If he crosses the line before the official winner it is an easy DQ. Seen this in a number of races that share portions of a route. Yes they knows they've cheated, but when you are going out there for personal achievement and these chaps get placed ahead of you illegally it is frustrating, and you never know how many do it. So in short the only way to elimintate it is to at the furtherest point on the route have timing mats or hand held machines (checkpoint). I understand you logistical issue in the Illovo race, but it is the only real way to give riders the peace of mind that the results are accurate. The alternative is to not share routes, or like Hill 2 Hill race from point A to point B. For those not in the know. The Illovo race did have seeded batches and race times will go towards ROAG seeding system. So cheaters would boost their seeding indexes and at the next race possibly Hill 2 Hill these chaps will possibly be blocking your route because they are seeded above their ability. Riders know very well not to cross the finish if they have not completed the full course, those who do chose to none the less cross the line lack honour. Hard line, but true. Daxiet2009-08-04 05:26:13

I'm sure this suggestion will be shocking to some. With my Juicy's I had the same issue, well the one piston was more bad behaved than the other. I opted to pump the brakes so that the calipers came out as far as possible while still allowing me room to get a tool in to press the pistons back in again. When the pistons where fully extended I tried spraying them all over with brake cleaner. In all honesty I didn't find this too effective so I resorted to the "evil" substance known as Q20. After fully extending spraying with Q20 and compressing the pistons a number of times the calipers behaved well. The catch however is that lubrication close to a braking surface is risky and if it gets in contact with your pads will contaminate them (that can be worked around), I cleaned the excess Q20 with brake cleaner trying not to let it attack the Q20 that had got in around the pistons. Disclaimer: Use at own risk

Can try removing the pads and sanding them a little with maybe 100 grit sand paper. Could be glazzing, also could be the rotor is not in the best condition. You could try rotating front rotor to rear and visa versa. Daxiet2009-08-04 00:49:20

Front shock pressure sounds good, again you need to work on how it feels, so yes test rides are paramount. Can't offer any advice on the rear shock, but 180psi sounds quite high.

To set up your fork and rear shock Fox work on a 20% sag. I kept my Fox F100RLC @ around 70psi if I recall correctly. Your rear shock should have a little black rubber band. push it all the way to the main cylinder then sit on the bike, get off gently and check how much the rubber band moved down the shaft as a % of the total shaft length. This should be 20%. You could even make it less than 20%, but anymore than 20% would be soft. The same rule is used on the front fork, set it up according to the 20% sag rule then ride it and adjust according to what feels best for you. Daxiet2009-08-03 04:47:10

Second Splat on Crossmarks abilities in wet/muddy conditions. They are good tyres for dry dust conditions. Considering you are in the Cape you may need something suited for moist to wet conditions. Alas I spend most of my time in dry conditions so not able to recommend a tyre for you. The Conti Mountain King however was excellent down on the Kzn coast in some damp areas. Also changing from I assume a HT to a DS may give the feel of being loose or twitchy. Definetly check the rear shock setup as well as the front fork. I use to run my Corssmarks between 30 and 35 psi, favoured 30psi. I think they say on the side of the tyre the min pressure is 35psi, that said I have never had issues at 30psi. Daxiet2009-08-03 02:16:40

To my recollection I would say the pistons could be pushed back close to if not totally flush. I would push them back, then pump the brakes a couple times to ensure they come out quite far then sprayed with brake cleaner and then pushed them back in again. Repeated these steps until the pistons behaved in a more consistent fashion. Perhaps the proper way to clean them would be to get the full service kit, strip them down and re-assemble them.

I have always had that problem with my Juicy 3.5s. I had to come to accept some amount of rubbing if you fiddle with them you can get them to behave for a couple braking shots, but they will revert back to their bad behaved selves. It could simply be a build up of fin dirt between the pistons and the walls of the caliper which does not allow the piston to push back slightly after braking. I tried cleaning mine with some success. As mentioned by others, push the pistons back when installing new pads. On my new bike I have XT brakes and they are awesome, but they are new so they become bad behaved, but for now they are a pleasure.

Should be listed as follows in the English Dictionary: Suntour - heavily weighted object located on the front of entry level moutain bikes. Occasionally compresses under extreme load (sometimes incorrectly classed as a suspension fork). Seriously though I think they still have a little sticker on them saying they should be used for any extreme activity.

On the fork, I would say if you want more adjustments eg. Compression get the F100 RLC, the weight is worth it. I have been riding an F100RLC for the past 6 months and recently changed bikes and now have the lighter SID Race, it has less settings than the RLC and can't compare. SID's compression is set by use of the Postive and Negative Air chambers. The RLC you on the fly can set the compression and rebound on the top of the fork. Rebound on Rockshox are all at the bottom of the leg.

Funny this post has surfaced now. This morning I commenced my insurance hunting, phoned MiWay R147 and Outsurance R205. Catch was MiWay need me to have my household insurance with them. Their household cover was expenive hence Outsurance landed up being ~R100 cheaper. But MiWay had a R500 fixed excess, Outsurance fixed R250.00 Called OS back managed to get the rate at R174.73 with fixed excess @ R250.00. That is on a R23100.00 bike. Basically easier to go with the company you know, all my insurance is with Outsurance. Anyway the cover from Outsurance looks very comprehensive, hope I won't have to ever claim, but if that day comes we will see if they were worth it.

Excellent, considering I now will be riding the Rockshox SID.

I was against the Mountain King front and Race King rear movement. In my last race however, the Mountain King showed its worth. Was on a technical single track descent over exposed roots, some rocks and slightly damp dirt (not wet, just every so slightly moist because of the forest surroundings). Any way the Race King was locking and slipping but no matter what the Mountain King gripped. I found myself using more front brake than I would normally like to and the Mountain King just did the rest. So I vote Mountain King on the Front for sure.