johanpre44

Hollow-tech/2-piece cranks are already very light (about 500g lighter than the 3-piece kind on most of the budget bikes). SLX/XT casette will probably save a couple of hundred grams and not break the bank. Forks is expensive but worth a look. I don't think that Carbon Bars/Stem/Seatpost is really worth it (pay thousands for maybe saving a couple of hundred grams)

I have entered for the Half Marathon (on Sunday), and booked accommodation for the long weekend (from Thursday for 3 nights). I'm pretty sure that there will be lots of MTBers that probably booked for the long weekend with not too much to do on the Friday, so if anyone is keen for a 20 to 30 km fun/slow-ish ride please reply so that we can organize something. I do not know any MTB trails in the area, but I'm sure something can be figured out.

If you put the chain around the two largest chain-ring (front) and largest sprocket (rear) you should have about two extra links (maybe more if you have a DS), the Shimano Tech Docs explains this.

Its a nice bike, also check out Silverback (Sola 3 - R8500 and Sola 2 - R12000), they may be spec'ed better (Air fork which is lighter and more tune-able than coil forks, and bomb proof Shimano brakes). With your budget mentioned earlier, Cycle lab should be able to help you out with something very nice. A friend recently bought a bike from them and they added a bunch of extras (rather than discounting the bike). You can also go around to other shops and see if they have some new 2012/2013 bikes in your size (Linden Cycles, Westdene Cycles, Eagle Canyon Cycles), there are some good deals on the older bikes. Something else to consider is the wheels size. Your Macro bike is probably a 26" wheel. Everyone will probably tell you to go for a 29" wheel (I do agree), but there is very good deals on the older 26" wheeled bikes (I still ride one). Happy bike hunting!

A friend is riding an Epicon and is very impressed. For the price (around R3000 for the model with the Remote Lockout and without the low speed compression adjuster) he said he will hardly look at another option (he used to have a Rockshox in the past, but not sure what model). The Epicon have adjustable travel for 80/100/120 via the internal spacers. I'm kind of in the same boat. Starting a 29er HT project and decided to get the Epicon rather than Reba purely because of the massive cost savings (even though the Reba is about 200g lighter). I think the Axon is in a different class compared to the Epicon. Lots of top European teams are running these forks (Cape Epic and XCO World Cup), so I would suspect that they are brilliant and probably on the expensive side (having Carbon lowers and all). Keep us posted on what you get for your Pyga.

Only hear of one guy that had a problem with his Momsen frame. LBS where he bought had some "issues" with replacing the frame so he went to another LBS which was happy to help him out. LBS with "issues" of swapping out the frame does not have this issue with Momsen only, so I think as a brand you are very safe regarding after sales service. I'm sure CWC will give you excellent service on Momsens if you are willing to travel to CT, but it would not surprise me if your local LBS stocking Momsen will give you similar service.

Check out Rush sports in PMB, they have some of their wheels. I'm looking at an MTB wheelset which is well priced. Rush sports confirmed that they have shipped some of those wheels with no complaints and even offered me a 30 day money back guarantee if I'm not happy with the wheels. I'm sure the frames are good, but will expect a good price on it.

I like Kenda kwikseal tubes, but had hassles with punctures on the rim side of tube where the sealant couldnt stop the leaks. Other than that they worked well. I have converted to tubeless a couple of months ago when I bought new tyres, dont think I will go back to tubes again.

Sies, you are making all of us very "nuuskierig"... I would like to swap my Momsen STR29 sliders with a 12mm through axle from them, but it will be way to pricey for something that will probably be very unnecessary for me (but it will be very cool!)

We have had no recent floods in Jhb... I can only assume that that there is some road works or works next to the road that "used" the space where the path was?

Got one of these too, but in silver. Slowly starting to get all the parts together...

Just bought my wife a Sola 4 (paid under R7000), very nice bike. Reason for buying the Silverback was: 1. Air fork (can be tuned to work with my wifes weight, and its lighter than the coils) 2. Shimano Hydraulic brakes (prefer them over other brands) 3. And my wife loves the color scheme! 10 speed drivetrain would have been amazing (and also added couple of thousand to the price), but the Shimano 8 speed is very dependable (been running the same drivetrian on my bike for almost 2 years). Only issue with the 8 speed is the step between the 2 largest gears at the back is quite big, on 10 speed there is lots more inbetween. Things that may be better on the GT: 1. Hubs (may have sealed bearings, cant see on their site, know the hubs on the Zaskars are sealed bearings) 2. 9 speed drive train (lots of non-shimano parts though) My 2 cents is to always get the best fork for the price, and an air fork in this price range is hard to pass by.

Just want to know if any hubbers know if SLX (M670) shifters can be converted from Bar Mount to ispec. I know this can be done with the XT shifters by changing the cover, but have no idea about the SLX shifters. Someone from an LBS confirmed that this can be done, but I'm not so sure since Google did not yield any results.

I think you found a keeper! Important reminder that you should not underestimate someone else's abilities (even if its a girl on an old bike with v-brakes).

If this is whats left of the pads, what des the rotors look like?

Only saw the reply now, thanks! Think I will be doing the 43 again (don't have the guts and skill for the 70), will be entering my son for his second 10 solo. Accommodation already booked, will be a lekker family weekend (with some cycling in the mix)

XT pair was R170 at cycle lab, Chain and cassette made up the rest of the R550. I do like the KCNC ones, bling!

I got just under 4000km on my previous casette (replaced the chain once around 2000km). Replaced both these bits on Thursday before the ASG race. Discovered with a shock the the deraileur pulleys was stuffed (looked like the first pick), but the nice set of XT pulleys wasn't too expensive. All in think I spent about R550 (helps to still run on cheap 8-speed).

Bit of a leg killer you say? Awesome time (I was 4h12). When we hit the long stretches of mud in the beginning some-one was flying past shouting "Keep the cadence up!", that was the best advice for the day!

Very tough 70km with all the mud. Thanks for the great event ASG, think I will do it again next year (I will keep an eye on the weather before I choose a distance)

When will the route maps/profiles be posted. I'm very tempted to enter the 70, but not sure if its wise, how will it compare to the 40 at Sabie?

How good is the new Deore M615 parts? The brakes can also run ice-tek pads? And Shadow+ on the RD. Almost as big a price difference on the Brakes to SLX as SLX is to XT. I'm sure there is a weight difference between the big parts (Cassette/Cranks), but is it really worth it? Personally I would have this Combo of Parts (mainly because of Budget): M615 Brakes (About R800 cheaper than SLX, and for my riding it will probably work as well) M610/M615 Crankset (About R500 Cheaper than SLX) XT Shifters (with extra ispec covers, just because you cannot do bar-mount and ispec on other cheaper shifters) SLX Shadow+ RD M615/M675 FD (Deore/SLX FD prices very close) SLX Casette (weight) Not sure what chain lasts best, but I will take that one (probably not the lightest to start with but that should also save some bucks, not too concerned with the brand, but like KMC) Biggest problem with groupsets (I think) is that they hardly ever include the cool stuff like ispec and shadow+.

How do you get to commute on single track all the way? Only single track I see is the foot paths next to the road (and very little at that), but its still more fun than sharing the road with cars.

I have a 2012 Silverback Stride 10 with the same drive-train (still going strong after 20 months and just about 4000km with only the chain replaced at about 2000km). I would not worry too much about the drive-train, it simply works (and rather well at that). After all this time cycling I realized what a better bike is and that it costs on the expensive side of R10k (Like the Sola 1 a lot). Most of the bikes in the R5k price range are quite bullet proof and also last well (if you maintain them properly). Couple of nice things on the Silverback: 1. Gear Cable hoses are fully enclosed, so little mud/dirt can get in (smoother shifting for longer) 2. Fork has an hydraulic lockout (which means you can lock it out while cycling, no need to stop and remove all weight from the fork to lock it out) My Stride 10 doesn't have any of these and I wished it did! I bought my bike in the middle of winter and also started cycling because of my son (bought him a bike for his birthday and couldn't resist!). Thing about winter in Jhb is simply to cycle in the early afternoons when its not too chilly.

I expect that your BB is the regular British Threaded Kind and that you are installing an external Bearing Bottom Bracket? If its cartridge type the bottom bracket width matters (and there is no spacers). Chain-line (frame center line to middle ring) on Road Bike is 43.5mm, on MTB that's usually 50mm. I'm guessing that you may not need to install the spacers (not sure if this will cause a problem with the hollowtech crank spindle to be too long though). Then again as long as the SS chain is straight its all good, and you have all the space on the free hub body to ensure the gear at the back is on the correct place to ensure a straight chain.