Wernervdmerwe

Can't really see the red hubs, but this is what the rims will look like...

White rims looks great IMHO... Red hubs on white was the way I went as well and am very happy. If those are your rim options, always choose Flow. They are the stronger and lighter of the AM rims available, just check availability as there was an international shortage a month or two ago.

Excellent! Very good price - glad to see another one of these, bought my wife one and upgraded the entire build kit by now, but such a capable bike hey!

JB - I thought you said all brakes are adequate unless setup wrong, so he could not possibly be shoving crap towards his wife's bike? :lol:

You can't go wrong with Formula. The R1 is great, then One's the best and the RX also very good (and VERY affordable).

0860 111 502 Sometimes the wait is 5 - 10 min, but normally not as bad

First pic is Crow's old Mbuzi? The rule is inside.

So yeah, after a crash where the frame drops directly on a rock, it might cause more damage, but most of the time we fall and the bike does not come down upon the frame directly, the bars and wheels and crank takes much higher impact than the frame. Look at the GT Fury, made out of carbon and during testing they started hitting it with a ball-peen hammer until the hammer broke before the frame. Given, that is a downhill frame, but it does say a lot for the material used.

The clearcoat goes opague. No damage purelry cosmetic. Mmmm.. - this is done on a carbon frame Also some guy's Ibis fell of the back of his car while on the freeway doing 80km/h and the bike was scratched, wheel buckled and bar bent, but nothing wrong with the carbon frame. Some input from Ibis on carbon (doubt strongly if it is only them) Carbon Fiber and Durability Carbon fiber has both phenomenal strength and superior fatigue resistance when compared to other commonly used frame materials. And as it is with other materials, a crash can wreak havoc on your nice carbon frame. How much do you have to worry about the durability of carbon fiber after a crash? As you might imagine, depends on the crash. First of all, carbon fiber mountain bikes are not new phenomena. Trek and Giant have had carbon fiber mountain bikes in the field for more than 5 years without a significant history of problems. BCD has been making their bomber downhill carbon frames since 1996. If you crash any bike hard enough, you’re going to need to repair it or replace it. Before we talk about repairing carbon bikes though, we’ll tell you a little bit about what we do to the frames so that maybe you won’t need to get it repaired. On our bikes, the areas that are most prone to damage are reinforced accordingly. The last couple of layers are engineered to be very resistant to impact. Most of the layup of our carbon frames finds the carbon prepreg in 0º, 22.5º and 45º orientations. The 90º weave you often see as the top layer provides the best resistance to impact. In all but the most heinous of hucks, it's the resin matrix that fails, not the carbon weave. So the less resin in your layup, the less likely you will see crack propagation. The newer lower resin composites used today are less likely to chip, crack or fail catastrophically. Reduce the resin required to 'wet-out' the matrix and you reduce the risk of failure. See our carbon tech piece for more info. But let’s say you run out of talent in a big way, and crush some fiber along with your own bones. The good news is carbon can be repaired. You might not believe this, but often it is easier and less expensive to repair than Aluminum, Ti or Steel. An impact that severely dents an aluminum tube might need a tube replaced. Aluminum bikes are heat treated, so in addition removing and replacing the old tube (if it can be removed), you need to also heat treat, realign and repaint or reanodize the frame. None of this is necessary with a carbon frame.

Maybe we are arguing two different points. You statement above is what I am saying as well. Not all brakes are of adequate "strength". I ran XT and XTR, new and out of the box for a long period of time - including services etc. They all managed to stop me in time, only now with the more powerful brake am I able to start braking later to achieve the same result. Not that the XT and XTR's were not adequate, the stronger brake just allows me to be be faster given exactly the same circumstance (weight, body position, force applied to lever, overturing momentum, traction, center of gravity etc etc) as they slow me down faster. Not sure if possibly I am misunderstanding your argument?

I am the same body, on the same surface, with the same fat arse hanging the same distance over the saddle, yet the more powerful brake stops me faster (shorter distance) and with more confidence. Maybe science works different in the northern part of South Africa than anywhere else in the world, else I fail to see why professional downhill riders would ever need anything more powerful than Avid Juicy-3's given your argument. Maybe it is all just marketing hype implanted on them poor little ignorant professionals. Maybe we can make some bucks out of this! The whole concept of bigger rotor = more stopping power is then also just a well-constructed lie as your overturning momentum will be the same regardless... Let's just agree to disagree

I agree you are limited by traction, but if the same rider rides two sets of brakes back to back, the rider will weigh the same and the traction will be the same and overturning force will be the same. The harder you brake, the further back you place yourself to compensate and therefor not lock the front, I have not once, even by grabbing buckets full of brakes (then you place yourself way back), manage to lock the front out - therefore a more powerful brake will stop you faster. I have ridden Shimano and Formula, currently on Formula The One, which by your 'silly and outright dangerous' standards should be banned. The Shimano's did not have adequate modulation or power to confidently stop me and I had to start braking well in advance if I needed to slow down. Yet now I find myself having more confidence and more control while riding and go much faster as I need less distance to slow down. Braking later means an higher average speed. There is a high center of gravity which you counter by placing your but behind the saddle when you brake hard. I think one needs to differentiate between disciplines here I guess. In XC you need less deceleration force than in AM or DH riding. The purpose of more powerful brakes is just that - more powerful. More powerful is not necessarily lighter. I do agree with Johan that power in itself is not the answer and people just buying the most powerful brake they can get might do themselves a disservice as they might just lock the brakes up and slide or flip over. But as your skill improve, so the benefit will of having more powerful brakes, specially for us guys hovering near the 90kg throwing ourselves down steeper gradients!

I rode XTR and XT, and true to the results, the XT's has noticeably more power - that said, I am a 87kg rider... Test was done simulating a 100kg rider.

Nice data from Bikeradar comparing brakes. Some of the brakes improved in force when wet and cold - hence the blanks in some of the blocks, that amount of force just caused the brakes to lock up.

Correction, used to ride DMR's, now Silverstar, but same grip as both comes with removable pins

I use 5-10 shoes and DMR V12 pedals. I tilt my toes slightly downward in a climb and the shoes stick enough to actually have an upstroke as well. To quote pappabear on the 5-10's 'They stick like gum to a church shoe'

I might have to pull those off my XTR and sell them with normal hoses if you looking for used ones? Will have to be on a Shimano brake to not mix oil residue though... It is the carbon ones.

To keep the mud out of your eyes. http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/accessories/mudguards/mountain/product/neoguard-29556

Those who carry money with them for sidewall cuts - pardon my ignorance, but do you just put the note in and kinna fold it around the inside of the wheel or do you have to stick it down?

Just keep the import duty in mind when ordering tools from CRC.... Else you might get an unsuspected surprise come delivery!

Yup - the listing by forum will be great. After I manged to find the 'View New Content' link at the top my only other issue was solved.

That is awesome! Congrats man - many happy drops and frequent flyer miles

http://www.rushsports.co.za/Shop/ByCategory/Disc-Brakes-and-Rotors.aspx

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/forumla-the-one-brake-review-2009.html http://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-gear/formula-the-one-mtb-brake-follow-up-review/

Nothing beats The Ones... Will find some URL's to post here....