kennyg

I am still split... I have a 29er Ht, 9.6 Kg, and my 26inch dual at 9.7 Kg. They are very close in speed, on the techincal stuff, the dual is significantly easier to ride in the rough and tight "van gaalens" style riding, the 26 inch is more reactive and easier to control. Its also more comfortable. I have noticed one thing, you can ride the 29er kamikaze style, carry a lot more corner speed as there is a lot more grip.If you can "hold on" in this style riding, there is no way the 26 er is faster. Even through the tight stuff. The 29 er is faster and up to 4 or 5 km/h on sandy, or rocky jeep track, if the decents are not to technical the bike is a lot more stable and again a significant amount quicker, but wait there is more, the thing climbs like a beast, grip is significantly more than the 26er and its more responsive. For me, the ultimate bike is a 29er dual, it will be quicker in 90 %, even if its half a kg more than the 26 inch brother, of the South African marathon style riding. Marathon bikes will all become 29ers, jump bikes and down hills probably stay 26, for the time being. The XC short course racing will be the home of the 26 inch in my opinion(until the weight issue of 29er is sorted), some success will be had on certain courses with 29er, due to the grip, or fantastic riders.

I have also struggled with Maxxis tyres in the past.Especially, Lust tyres, The side walls are pretty stiff. What i have done if inflating does not work, is drop the pressure to about 1.2 bar, chuck the wheels back on the bike and go for a gentle ride. Be careful when braking and turning as a burp off the rim is a potential hazard. This should help cycle the bead on the rim and work the tight bits. Then repressure the tyre to its max PSI. If this doesn't work,ask the LBS, for replacements.

I am with Eldron on this... this bike is the latina girl in the corner with puffy lips. I more of a blonde skinny type of guy... but hey each to his own.. I prefer the straight edges, this bike although gorgeous, probably has best in class vertical compliance, but will never be the stiffest or lightest bike out there...

I am right handed mostly - depending on the task , broke my wrist 5 years ago and swapped my bike around, can't remember which was what. I know have 3 bikes - 2 left rear and one right rear...dunno, I ride by feel I suppose... Its never really bothered me.

Carbon should theoretically last forever, as a correctly laid up piece that is not being stressed to a plastic zone (point of lasting deformation) should last forever. Hence, the use in the aircraft industry... The areas designed to flex are a grey area as too how long they last. But the CF lay ups are generally relatively immune to fatigue, but there is always possible manufacturing floors to deal with there too. The problem with carbon components lies in the stress mechanisms, the plastic zone is so small the the item shatters before any real noticable deformation is present.Things like deep scratches will affect the performance of the frame in some areas. Many manufactures are pushing the carbon bikes to the limits, safety factors of 1 to 1.2, look at Scott for the qty broken frames, according to some of the FEA junkies doing proper composite design.This is probably the reason for an expect life of 5 years. That means, get it wrong on an MTB or miss that pothole and your 5 kg bike is goop...

Start him on a gym bike... It the easiest, he will still need to deal with saddle pain and discomfort. Trying to manage that on the road or moving will be really tough...

Van Gaalens - take the MTB. Roads, are a little scary, but heading towards Hekpoort in the am, will be ok.

mines done...

NF is a great place, I have never had trouble there in 3 years. I normally ride alone, and sometimes its a little quiet, but lately the RSS guys are there, I see they leave around 11:30, they already walking back to the top. The guys on the quads are there. By lunch time most of the people are gone and the farm is too quiet to ride in, at least for me. As for radios and community style policing, we need to keep an eye on each other and keep an eye out for strangers on the farm. AS for the place, what if a rider came from the other side, they would have been in plain sight, or thigh deep in water,for non-swimmers, they were probably hunting Hippo. The meat value there will out weigh the value of a bike. The last time I saw township value a bike (AN SWORKS, or GT AVALANCHE had a street value of R500, a road bike Cervelo or Ally Merida... R200). So not worth stealing compared to hunting, a side of beef would get R1500, a complete cow R6-R10k. This is the guy or 2 who will attack a single rider, they use fear as they are "k@K" scared themselves, are unlikely to be found where a number passers by will be passing at uncalculated intervals. Due to the lack of organisation, and what to do once they have the thing in their possesion, it needs to be explained. Randomn acts.. So the game meat would be worth more than the bike, if it was the bike they were after, we looking at a far more organised( hence group 3 to 7), and higher level syndicate. So arguments of hunger will not surfice there, then there needs to be transports, taking the goods away, selling them. They are also not generally murderers, more there for intimidation/humiliation, stripping people naked etc, this lot will not be interested in 1 lone rider, they will attack a group 2 to 4, at least make the effort worth while, or a single rider if the bike is on the order form....planned I will happily chat with concerned people, we can go through club rides, and analyse the areas of risk and manage them.

My 2008 med Sworks Epic ZTR Olympic wheel, spesh 2bliss LK fastrak, Truvativ cranks, Fox RLC 32 100, Xt front mech, x0 everything, Avid ultimates etc. 10.5 Kg. Wifes, small 2008 M5 Epic, same build 11.0 Kg. My 2010 Sworks Epic, XTR cranks, XO, same as my 08... 10.3 Kg. I can take it down to 9.3 Kg, Racing ralph/ Rocket Ron, flat bars, reduce the sealant in the tyres, esi grips, XX Fork -only demo. But the bike is a little more uncomfortable, and the tyres are not great for SA marathon conditions, perfect for XC and 40 km racing.

keen...definitely

My advice- what I am doing, my training bike is becoming my wet race bike, just like below. Get a hard tail, less bearings and moving parts, put all your old 50% worn gear on it... Get mud tyres, get fullcable covers, get fork boots... My sub 10 Kg hard tail is no 11 Kg but will run hard and well in the wet. Every component has cartridge bearing so they a cheap easy swop/service. At the event, keep it clean, ride the watery lines not the muck on the side, stay away from drainage or beware of the ditches with flowing water or where water once flowed. In the very wet, you not riding as fast so the Hard tail doesn't panel you like in a normal race. Tyres, a conti-mountain king is a good choice, but any open deept section tread that cleans well will work. If you are racing, its likely that you will fall, rather ride a section at 100% safe or walk the extremes. Clay is not your friend...no rubber stick to the hard wet types, same with wet roots. I used to laugh at an instruction on my dirt bike, it said" Never stop in area where is is difficult to stand", sometimes that is the case on a wet MTB day Sabie X 08, my partner took a bum slide down a section rather than ride, a great laugh but he waited 4 mins for me to come down by foot and wheel. I have done a few wet races, and spent a ton of my riding time in Northern Europe and the UK... there you can only ride if you going to mud ride...

Some times my POLAR power meter lies,

Single speed TDF...That would be fun.. Hmmm, I imagine some days certain people would opt for running shoes and flats...

think of nothing... Don't clock watch, and get a power meter, holding 300 watts, should keep you busy for a while. After that you bored of that, you should be finished any way...

1.8 m. MTB 175 Road 172.5

I have ordered my 29er. I will keep the dual 26er and let you know and compare its performance on my standard routes. I am on a great dual at the moment. I agree with ELDRON, the HT 29er may be perfectly suited to the highveld terrain. But I will keep you informed as to the debate and then add my simple opinion to it all.

NO. The cams on the shifter are different

Dude.... I got the same problem... Encourage her but unless she is going to go big, I advise, go to races together, do the odd training ride together. But racing for you will become hugely frustrating. If you carry on to race with her. I ride loops when she comes with me, We ride together, MTB, do a 30 km MTB, especially if we go somewhere decent. I chuck my road bike in the car, and ride it home for the extra kms, usually another 40 kms or so.

I heard from my neighbour.... Broken Neck, no feeling below the shoulders... Not sure what the current is...

I rode my first Sani having done minor cycling. I rode 80 kms once in like september the year before and I rode a couple of 40 km rides, but I rode 40km 6 times a week. It was an on/offroad commute, for 3 days a week and a ride on the weekends. The bottomline for me came down to selfmanagement, If you can manage your body you will be fine, Try race, its the easiest way to train, there a couple 2 and 3 day races on the run up to 2011 Sani, so try do them and enjoy riding...

They are are suffering quality wise... I used to wear oakley eye wear tons. My old stuff is now 10 years plus and looks the same as my stuff thats 2 years old... Crazy, I moaned at them, and sent them photo's and they replaced, the new stuff free of charge.

Its happened to me on my old mongoose. There a set of lines on a ride near the Vaal dam, it was particularly wet and my wife and I were on the ride. She got zapped on her thumb, and me on the inner thigh... its quite suprising and if you were going quickly it could be disasterous. hee hee

I now use a bell Volt, I started using it after I fell and tore the back mounting out of the foam. The volt is about 60 g heavier than the sweep, I thought nothing of it, but it took a couple of ride to get used the extra weight. AS for protection, make sure your helmet complies to a safety standard, I keep a helmet of mine that is crushed at the front from kissing Sani pass on the way down, broke an arm in 2 places and my sunglasses but only had a roasty on my nose, it was also a bell sweep. The sweep is a midrange helmet.

Well, I gave up on the local market. I learnt how to do my own basic services, and only don't service forks because to buy the full amount of the different oils would last like 3 years. Amazingly enough, the MSRP, virtually translates to 66 % to 70 % of the SA prices, and thats through a LBS.CRC and co are cheaper still. The issue is not that of one body ripping anybody off, its the simple trend of too many steps in the process, too many 20 % plus vat story. Hence why us simple men in the street cannot do anything here. Your LBS is trying to make a living... some do it better than others, some may not do it with the best moral fibre but thats up to us, to make sure the right guys survive. I have a theory, if the guy %$#@s your bike for you at a service, he should at least do it with a smile...and then they should accept responsibility and not fall back on their disclaimer.... Just my 2c...