patham

Dangle, nice B&W theme, I'll throw my meagre collection into the hat. What fish-eye are you using btw ?

Trial upload from my film days..

I have the S Type SPV (38mm travel). Make sure that for R1000 you are getting the SPV, and not the cheaper SRL which does not have the SPV action ( pro-pedal equivalent.) This works really well on my 4 link XC bike, nice action, no bob. Getting the sweet spot between sag, spring rates & bottoming out takes some time, but that would be the same for all shocks with dual air set-ups. I did have an explosive decompression incident in January, when the negative air chamber valve assembly (red in your pic) took off for no apparent reason.... New valve & cores can be bought off CRC, so no worries about fixing her up. I checked the usual on-line forums, no-one else had ever had that happen so I assume it was a once off event.

I had the Tektro's on my hardtail, J3's on the soft. I would rate the J3's as being better brakes, but the Avid rotors are ludicrously overpriced. I am trialling out Clarks Skeletals, which seem to be on a par, or slightly better than the J3's, but seem to be a far cheaper & lighter system.

The one factor might be your shock pump fitting engaging the air release pin in the valve. I know on my Manitou I lose 20 psi each time I connect & disconnect the shock pump to the valve. So If I want to pump it to 180psi, I pump to 200, and then accept the loss of pressure on the disconnect. Funny enough this is also only on my negative valve, the positive is fine.

CRC will charge the cost of the item & its delivery. SA customs will charge 40% duty, then add just over 14% VAT to sum of (cost + duty). SAPO will then add their R25 handling cost.

Reckon the 455's would be more than strong enough for rough XC, I had the lighter 430's without any issues. Apart from one. With the Stans no tubes kit, Maxxis tyres would go on and off only with 4 pairs of hands & the biggest, strongest tyre levers around. Bontrager & Michelins were much easier though...

The Giant Maestro suspension looks like a version of VPP technology, except they seem to call it something else. I love my Opus VPP, gives a plush ride, minimal pedal bob with even a crummy shock on the back, and no bob with a smart one. VPP wins on ability. However, when it comes to maintenance, after changing what seems to be a million bearings I did think about going over to a simpler single pivot....

Hannes, your camera settings I think are on the money. When I was building my own lights, and taking beamshots so I could compare to what others were getting, I was using your exact settings. I personally think that with point & shoots, at f2.8, an exposure of 1.5 seconds would be exactly what my night-vision adjusted eye would see, but my camera never had that ability (had a choice of 1 sec or 2 sec).

+1. I do not own anything with Nike swooshes on for that reason. But 3 billion other suckers can't be wrong.

+1. The more expensive chains also have nickel plating on the plates for corrosion protection, but really, up on the reef, your chain is never going to rust through... I buy the 3 pack of cheapie SRAM 951's (IIRC) from CRC, geat value.

No Problem. Your statement about uncaring LBS's possibly taking shortcuts here was very valid. After I've done it, I know how much finicky work is involved, and no way am I letting someone else attempt it. Good luck.

The cartridge bearing should have a code on the rubber seal that is barely visible, something like 6900 2RS, use a torch to intruduce some bright light & contrasts. I checked the code against online bearing shop listings (www.vxb.com) which gives true sizes (so you can double check dimensions) before you order. You can also buy from them if you are a fan of online shopping. The (i'm guessing here for your bike) 2RS part of the code is the seal type, i.e. 2 x Rubber seals. You can replace with an identical 2RS code: I ventured into unknown territory by going with an LLU seal bearing, a combo of steel and rubber seal. This is claimed to be excellent against dust & water, and has seemed to live up to that. Just do not go for a ZZ seal - a metal seal only which has no dust or waterprofing.

I assume you mean the bearing feels notchy ? A slightly less impactful way than hammering a dowel at the bearings should be a bearing press. Which are stupidly expensive. I managed my Opus Stakh bearing change with a G-Clamp pushing onto suitable sized socket heads to push them out. You do need three hands though and it takes a long time, slow & steady. Bearings: I looked at the codes on the seals and phoned up Bearingman, no problems, just do some research on what seal type you need/prefer. I stripped my frame a month back, and the new bearings (NTN - Japanese) have handled more km's & crud than the originals did and are still in great nic.

Its only a real start to the F1 season when you get up before sparrows, make some strooooong coffee and settle in to the live broadcast from Melbourne. Starting in Bahrain was for sissies with no alarm clocks

In absence of anyone trying out for real, see if the parts code for the two bikes are the same on replacement hangars. Try CRC for the WMD brand, or www.northshorebillet.com , and see if the same part fits both. I had to do this for a relatively obscure bike with no local agents to assist, the North Shore Billet was the best way forward, then confirmed with the CRC site.

If everything is directly proportional to ground pressure (huge simplification), if he ups my pressures by the proportional weight difference i.e. 7 kg / (my weight + bike weight or 75 + 15) = 8 % he should get the same ride quality. Also assumes his bike in Epic trim weighs as much as mine in normal trim at 15kg. I think the Monorails need 1.8bar to reliably stay fixed to the rim ??

Can't comment on Epic conditions, but for my 75kg in XC type sand, gravel, hardpack with odd grass & rocks, I would run my UST monorails at 2 to 2.1 bar, and never considered that I needed more air than that.

279 posts in 10 months, I.e. almost 1 post per day. You may not love it, but there is an attraction. Maybe "friends with benefits" ?

Shouldn't be much of an issue, biggest I've gone to is a 2.35 (Maxxis). Maybe a DH type person can tell us what big volume tyres they go for and if they need any prep work ?

my 2c worth is that this bike looks as though it needs a lot of items added if you are going to get into the sport properly. And then, after a while when you want to upgrade to a dual-suss, you are back to square one. Ride it as is for a while, see if you are going to stick to MTB this time, and see if you can trial a mates dual suspension bike. If you are tempted to go for a duallie, then go for that straight away as that wil be your cheapest long term plan. If a hard tail is right for you, then just buy a second hander with specs that you like. In terms of a sale price, I doubt you will get much for it, its probably worth more as a back-up bike for when your new one drops you

Don't the 819's have the proprietary nipple fastening arrangement. I gather that this is their weak point so to speak, and was advised by a mate who has a set to rather go for a rim with standard type of nipple fixing, even if you then need the rim tape/strips. There is a Stans ZTR to suit V-brakes, my ZTR355's are superb as a UST with the rim tape.. I agree with Splat, if you plan to get JB to make them up, get his opinion first.

Point 1. Don't think so. From comments on the hub, people get enough trouble on warranties at the best of times ;-). Point 2. No comment. Point 3. You save a huge fortune (esp at R1600/pop). Unless you get into the upgrade path like me, in which case it gets expensive again. But in 3 years, my service costs have been 1 brake bleed, but I now have the service kit for even that. If you disassemble with care, and research each topic before you tackle it how bad can things get ? Don't quote me on that though. Seriously though, if you buy and borrow the right tools, even mechanical dunces can get most stuff done. Eg. my biggest task to date was a full stripdown, BB and pivot bearing & bush change of my full-sus. Took some evening time, but its more rewarding than watching junk on the box. Point 4. Google is your friend. TheHUBSA, MTBR.Com for text, bicycletutor for the vids. JB offers good courses too.

Have done the last 2 24 hours there. Most of that course is not suited to having a dead weight on the back of your bike, so you will probably just have a short loop as stated above. I think Groenkloof would be a better bet for some relaxed jeep trail type stuff.

I live & learn. But I do like the idea of making them do the hard work for me if possible. I also like the fact that someone else apart from me supports the entire Irish economy with so many orders !