Wernervdmerwe

Shova has 5" of rear travel, so the best fork will be around 140mm. Mate ran with a 170mm, but that placed his weight slightly too far back causing him to bottom out on aggressive berms at speed. Our other riding buddy has a Lyrik spaced to 150mm (upgraded from 150mm Revelation) and loves it. Best fork possibly for XC or Trail would be a Revelation, 120mm-150mm U-Turn

Of their entire range, how many of them have you tried? Or are you saying that their bottom of the range crank failed? I have been running their cranks for a few years, but I buy in the mid to top-end range and have never had any issues.

Where's the like button

Mmmm... would have been more fair to compare a 160 Talas to a 160 Float. Saying a 150 Talas is more plush than a 120 Float is a hard compare - was it on the same bike and same trail? If so, did the frame support both fork lengths?

Sorry - The Crow https://www.bikehub.co.za/forum/user/1575-the-crow/ I had similar experience between travel-adjust and non travel-adjust forks. I have opened all of them and there *should* not be a difference, but when you ride them it is definitely there.

PM Crow as well maybe. He has actually spent time on both and also felt the Float is a smoother ride.

+1 for Formula

There is a second hand one at Williams for sale....

The trail vs AM discussion is a fine line.. I ride the Fox Flux for trail and a THE full-face for All-mountain. My personal line between the two disciplines is the amount of time I spend in the air. I would venture anything less than a second is trail, rest is AM. Mate of mine spent about half a second in the air and landed skew - concussion, seriously hurt his wrist etc. I came off at Eden at about 40km/h on a straight gravel part and was off my leg for a week, so I would ALWAYS vote protection above comfort or ego, specially as you grow older, you don't bounce back as easy.

hehe - you remind me of a friend that is in the market for "a" bike, even though he already knows deep down what he wants. I get the distinct feeling you already decided deep inside that you want the Mbuzi, and are looking for reasons to convince the small voice of doubt that still exists Should that be true - then ride the Mbuzi once and go for it if you still want to. It is a great machine and your love and appreciation for the machine you are on bridges a lot of gaps!

+1 for aka_flipper - think the Shova is closer to what you looking for

Oh yeah - also rather not dress the bike for pure XC, if that is what you going to ride, rather buy a Zula or Shova for trails. If you want to spend a little time in the air and do bigger drops, get a Mbuzi. I would strongly suggest buying the frame that'll suit your preferred riding style. The Mbuzi will be able to do most things, but it will never be a XC bike - so be honest with yourself and do your budget a favour - but the geo that fits where you wanna be.

I have a Mbuzi that I use for AM and it is excellent. One of the guys from ROAM, think Darren Berrecloth, said that is his all-day bike. I have ridden it at Tokai as well, which has a lot of XC, with a nice climb to start, and it was more than adequate. So yeah, dress it light or dress it medium and you'll love it. It will not win a XC race nor provide you with a podium position, so if speed and efficiency is not your prime concerns, it will be a great bike - the slack HA will provide you with confidence, so you can hit the bigger stuff with more confidence. Depending on your fork (will not recommend you put a 130mm etc on as it will drop the BB), you might notice a bit of front wheel wander on the steep climbs. Feel free to drop me a PM or give me a call if you have specific questions. You looking at about 15kg built.

Yeah - think they had the 15mm spacer in - so a 100mm you can change to 115mm by removing it.

I pasted that to show the i950 post....

If we HAVE to show our AM steeds....

The same guys who bring in Hope does them now - so any LBS should be able to supply you.

AM is definitely not a myth. I started on a 5.5" Mojo (12.5kg) and recently went for the 6" Mojo HD (13.5-ish). The 5.5" Ibis Mojo for example can built up around 10kg and guys do the Epic on them. Add a stronger wheel set, and you can do all sorts, the DW-link suspension does help a lot (Brian Lopes won a DH race in France on a 6" HD against 8" bikes) There are a few designs that will be fine - Giant's Maestro is one of them as well.

I take no credit for the response, it is the first line of the link I posted from the Ibis site. But thanks for my moment in the sun!

“Chainsuck” is when your chain does not detach correctly from the bottom of your chainring, and instead wraps around the ring until something jams. Chainsuck happens when the force provided by the rear derailleur spring is less than the force causing the chain to stick to your chainring.

What helped for me is to remove 2 or 3 links from the chain... Common mistake apparently to run the chain too long, even bought new out of a bike shop.

http://www.ibiscycles.com/support/technical_articles/the_dark_art_of_shifting/

What do you base that on? I'll agree they are cheaper, but the other two I am interested to hear what you based that claim on. I have heard that carbon lasts longer, which is why some aircraft incorporate that rather than the cheaper Alu to save long-term cost and fatigue as carbon does not fatigue the same way Alu does. Also carbon is definitely lighter than Alu frames - unless you compare a superlight Alu XC to say a DH carbon bike?

Yeah, before I went TA front and back I ran 180mm no problem on a few forks. Cheapest way to upgrade your brakes

/* Shameless plug on The Mojo has been voted best AM rig years years running, and as it happens my previous one is in the for sale section (with or without brand new parts) Shameless plug off */ But you welcome to join our little fellowship of 3 and a half, we ares till learning and doing the milder stuff (well, me anyway, the other guys are a bit more confident than me). Paarl is great because you have chicken runs everywhere. We either shuttle or workshop down, doing the stuff over and over trying different lines and speeds.