Mr X

I was also looking for a road bike as a way of training for mtb. My mtb is a dually. So I ended up buying a road bike which is a 29er carbon mtb hardtail which I thought I could use on the road. After a 1 year 6 months I have still not done any road riding with it, only mtb riding. So here is my advice to a mtb rider who wants a road bike: - get a 29er hardtail mtb - ride it off-road

Spez Epic is a wannabee hardtail, and yes its damn fast, but the Vipa is the one I would go for, also a great race bike, but is more special than the Specialized.

I hereby greet all of you for if I ever one day not greet you. Be greeted then. Yo

MTB accidents will lead you to see specialists, for this you need to have gap cover or you will pay out of your own pocket.

I miss the xc races. I did a few in the 90s and it was great fun. We did races between 1-5 laps of a coarse. There was no xcm and singletrack was taken for granted.

The route looks like basically the Delvera mtb trail plus the trails used for parts of the BurgerMTB and the new Dirtopia trails on the western side of Simonsberg. Potentially much more singletrack than the old route.

Very nice new route! MUCH better than the old route

Wow I like the geometry - super short chainstays and dynamic head angle!

Me, I want to guess. What do I win if I guess right?

The 27.5 Anthems are nice bikes. It depends on what type of riding you want to do. I would chose the 29er for long distance and the 27.5 for singletrack fun or xc/everyday fun.

Thanks for the warning on the Fox CTD problems, I think I will make the Reba and Monarch XX my next shocks. Fox I would say is very good for marathons and stage races because of the plushness and progressiveness. Sure I will get use to the RS if I dont ride Fox anymore. I also do not like the 3 settings with CTD, 3 x rear and 3 x front, too many selections while riding, must have remote for this.

Compare the wheels on the 2 bikes, and take into consideration whether or not you plan to upgrade wheels.

I prefer the Fox and Shimano on the X1, but with the Advanced you get better wheels so I`ll go with the Advanced.

I always used 172.5mm with a road bike and 175mm with a mtb. I am going to start only using 170mm on my mtb. I believe most small/medium sized people are using 175mm cranks which are too long for them. The drawback of a too long crank is knee problems and a less efficient pedal stroke. I think that 175mm was just chosen as a standard crank length for mtb back in the day. I believe crank length should be used according to leg inseam length and is the same for road and mtb. It seems that manufacturers are waking up to this and small Giants are now fitted with 170mm cranks. They will do well to fit 170mm to the mediums also, like Bergamont did for 2014.

I am 1.72m and I ride the Anthem 29er medium. The bike is slightly too big for me in that the top tube is too long. The standover height is also not great. The small will fit me much better in 29er. The Anthem 27.5 small seems just too small for me I think the medium in 27.5 will fit me better. For Giant bikes 1.72m rider length is exactly in between small and medium. Also take into consideration that the chainstays are very long for the Giant 29er (and saddle fore and aft position), but in 27.5 the chainstays are nice and short allowing the saddle to be move forwards without negatively impacting the handling. I would say for 29er Giant definitely go for small. 27.5 also try to fit on the small. Another plus would be the 170mm crank length on the small Giants. I am going to stop using 175 cranks and switch over to 170. Measure your leg length and check what is the optimum crank length for you here http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/cranks/cyclist_crank_length_calculator.html , you would be suprised to find that 175mm cranks is meant for tall people.

In my opinion these bikes are in the same bracket as in 29er 100mm dually. The Giant seems more versatile because the suspension works so well. It is my opinion that the Giant is probably just a better bike.

For those who are married maybe a dancing pole should be installed in your man caves cause you got a woman who could use it for fitness training.

You have been brainwashed by your wifes - a bicycle and tools does not maketh a man cave boobs and beer maketh a man cave. That one man cave pic even had a female bike wasting valuable man space where a keg of beer should have been standing, very disappointing. Yeah great so you got lots of bikes but the downside is that now your man cave is filled with bikes and not the necessary man cave items.

Giant wheels, stems and seatposts are not that great, but for the price you get a great frame and suspension. I like this because I would rather pay R800 for crap wheels on a new bike and then upgrade, than paying R2000 for some other crap wheels on a more expensive bike and then also need to upgrade.

Are these man caves or mass bicycle storage rooms? A man cave needs a keg, big TV, and boobs.

29er

Great saddles, got me a MTR from CRC.

Don`t encourage them, this will feed them!

Only you and me will be left

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