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On the topic of pro-riders using Pick n Pay specials:
David Kinjah and Davidson Kamau came second in the Joberg 2 C on bikes that made Pick n Pay Specials look good. Makes you think what they could have done on sub 10 kg 'dales or Spaz's... (ask anyone who was there...)
Here are 2 pro's that simply ride because they can...
Check out the latest bicycle mag, the editor rates the silverback carbon's as one of the best bikes he has ever ridden. And morewoodmad, those neotel chaps have won their fair share of races on their SB's, if your as good as these guys you get to pick your team, not the other way around. And if your a pro, you will go with kit that can make you excel not the otherway around, you have a career to build. Do you have any refrences off pro's on pick n pay specials I would love to see it
Fact of the matter is that if you take a similarly spec'ed SB vs Giant, vs Trek, vs Scot vs Meridia the differences are cosmetic, performance build quality wise they are pretty much on par.
And i personally would want to thank the chaps at SB, if it wasnt for them I never would have entered the sport, they were the only manufacturer to give me a great bike at one hell of a price compared other "well known" manufacturers. Keep it up, the brand snobs will come too when once they realize "that guy just passed me on a bike half the price of what i paid for mine"
1. Nolan Hoffman is an admitted doper. So if there was any justice in the system those victories would have been allocated to the true winners. Silverback brand was badly damaged which is why they are now trying to penetrate the MTB market. Nolan was never concerned about his carreer - he was only concerned about winning a few races so he decided to take short-cuts.
2. In the national setup riders have little / no say about the equipment that they get to use. In the perfect world the national administrators would have asked for proposals from 4 or 5 companies and thereafter got the role players and riders to give their input (I'll give 5 to 1 that this did not happen).
3. Spec is one thing. Geometry and suspension systems are another. If you put ferrari door handles on a tata, its still a tata.
4. Refer to my earlier comment about the psychology behind buying a bike. You satisfied a basic need by buying a budget-bike. Silverback is lucky to have a few peeps that want to recognise with the brand. A few Tata drivers also love their cars. Lets hope that if you ever have a warrantee issue, Silverback will take that into account. I am the first one to admit that my Morewood won't make me twice as fast as my old merida, even though it was twice as expensive, but it sure feels awesome riding her. B)
I'm getting the impression that quality is being confused with a rather crushing dose of brand consciousness, and then of course let's not forget that predictable knee-jerk mentality when it comes to anything that's developed, designed or engineered in South Africa. Silverback has some internationally capable high-end bikes, just ask any of the Team Neotel riders, and some of the guys who rode the Epic on a Silverback Mercury. Add to the mix some really high profile SA Triathletes who are also on Silverback, and I've read some extremely complementary feedback on their blogs and Facebook pages. Perhaps we should warn them of the error of their ways. Not only are they committing stylistic suicide by riding a Silverback, they are most likely doing irrevocable damage to their cycling careers!
Funny that; Silverback has a potent visual image, a great online presence and a smart marketing campaign - in some cases way better than the overseas crews. I'm also somewhat perplexed why a World Cup MTB Team would choose Silverback when their bikes "are crap", to quote dear old TimmyHenman . Perhaps I'm missing something. Perhaps, I'm boxing weigh above my amateur weight status. Hey, aren't you pros supposed to be in France, riding the Prologue?
Perhaps it's time for me to pedal off into the dipping winter sun on my R1000.00 Oakland...
Sounds like a half baked attempt by a Silverback employee/rep to push the brand. We all know that the pro riders will ride pick-n-pay specials if they have to. A crappy sponsorship is better than no sponsorship at all. And besides: how much say did the riders have in this issue? Betcha some palms got greased at Administration level to procure this sponsorship.
...unless the frame is hand-welded in Pietermaritzburg. 
Some people are content to drive a Kia, some people like to own the latest Mercedes. The latter costs twice as much as the former but you don't end up getting twice the amount of car. If you apply Maslow's theory here you will find that the Kia drivers look to satisfy their basic needs with the purchase and the Merc drivers look to satisfy higher needs as well.
Buying a bike is the same. If you want a bike to ride - buy the cheap branded bikes, but if you want more from the bike go for one you REALLY like.
Next someone is going to say that the Devil made em do it... Come-on Fritz, don't insult our intelligence. If the minutes were inaccurate did you propose any amendments after they were circulated? None of you did that, so you must have been happy with the content.
Bloody agents!
Rode Shimano for 3 years - Changed to SRAM this year (X0 trigger / X9 RD combo) and haven't missed a gear since. Nothing like a picture to illustrate a point:
New bike will have SRAM X0 Gripshift / XO RD combo. B)
youtube.com/watch?v=AZQf1bduGYs
Rode Shimano for 3 years - Changed to SRAM this year (X0 trigger / X9 RD combo) and haven't missed a gear since. Nothing like a picture to illustrate a point:
New bike will have SRAM X0 Gripshift / XO RD combo. B)
wtf are u smoking? when was the dollar 13:1
Around Sep/Oct 2002 it hit R 12:50 to the $ if memomry serves me.
The point is that a 20 to 30% improvement in the exchange rate has been passed on to the consumer. Wish the same happened in the motor vehicle industry, instead we pay 20% MORE for our cars (locally and internationally manufactured) than a year ago.
To all the conspiricy theorists out there: Lets see what the commision finds.
See you all tonight. Seems like the "fast" group riders are all staying at home tonight... reminds me of the story of the tortoise and the hare...
Me and some friends did a ride from Ceres to the Matroosberge on Wednesday - No need to go to Tibet to ride in the snow 
My commute to work varies from 1 hr to 2 hrs, depending on the detours that I wish to take. I only do it in summer though. I also ride home on Mondays and Thursdays with the bike and ride in on the Tuesdays and Fridays. I don't like taking a back pack (especially when I want to go ride single track after work on my way home) so I take a set of clothes and lunch on Mondays and Thursdays for the next day. Once forgot trousers and had to go to Truworths in my cycling kit to buy a pair. Good lights and reflective clothing is very important and the bigger the group is in the safer the ride is normally.
It takes a bit of planning to pack for 2 days in advance on Mondays and Thursdays, but its worth it. B)
It seems that we have 2 other races competing for the same time slot as well: The Marrick MTB race and the Rhodes Extreme... I must admit that the Rhodes extreme race is really tempting.
Seems the only reason those going up ST have for claiming ROW (other than some international standard) is that it's harder to get going again than those going down. Seems quite lame to me .... If you're going up the single track for a physical workout and to work on technical skills' date=' then surely your technical skills will be tested more having to restart on an uphill ?[/quote']
The reason why we give ROW to riders coming up ST is because it is the internationally accepted convention. Its a rule of thumb of what to do when you are unsure.Since we are so far off the topic already, why don't we question other conventions in SA like yeilding to traffic coming from the right and driving on the left hand side of the road.When it makes sense to yeald for riders coming up ST, do so. Most of us haven't fallen so many times that we have no more brains left, but if you are unsure, stick to the convention.
Most of the international convention is to drive on the right hand side of the road and to yield to traffic from the left .....Interesting point here:That's only because the chinese decided to follow the americans and use the right hand side of the road to drive on
Good luck, maar ek dink dit is soos om wind-op te pee.ek sal daaroor met jou stry offline
die thread is nou my personal crusade for DH ROW
yip did that last night' date=' and your gonna have to change your nick to madaboutmorewood, in any event ill fight you to the death downhill ROW muahahaha[/quote'] And I'll take you to the next TBMTB trail build session to show you what goes into building and maintaining the trails. We can then chat about the "fast vs smooth" issue again.
Grant is dit jy jou natholI have to agree madaboutmeridia was born with the natural talent unbeknown to everyone else' date=' he never locked up or had to learn stuff nor work on technique its was genetically coded into his design by superior beings we are not familiar with. Sorry dude you are full of yourself, beginners need to learn, and learn on the same spaces occupied by more experianced riders so deal with it or buy your own farm and build your own singletrack. Maybe we can all get together and see how brilliant you actually are, do you have a T-shirt with your face so we can all admire you?[/quote']Did it take you all night to come up with that chirp?I did take you and your girlfriend around Oak Valley dude - And waited patiently for both of you and showed you SOME of what I know. On that day you were actually open to be tought.Dis MENEER nathol vir jou boet. BTW. het jy daai ergons al opgesit?
Seems the only reason those going up ST have for claiming ROW (other than some international standard) is that it's harder to get going again than those going down. Seems quite lame to me .... If you're going up the single track for a physical workout and to work on technical skills' date=' then surely your technical skills will be tested more having to restart on an uphill ?The reason why we give ROW to riders coming up ST is because it is the internationally accepted convention. Its a rule of thumb of what to do when you are unsure.Since we are so far off the topic already, why don't we question other conventions in SA like yeilding to traffic coming from the right and driving on the left hand side of the road.When it makes sense to yeald for riders coming up ST, do so. Most of us haven't fallen so many times that we have no more brains left, but if you are unsure, stick to the convention.
I have to agree madaboutmeridia was born with the natural talent unbeknown to everyone else' date=' he never locked up or had to learn stuff nor work on technique its was genetically coded into his design by superior beings we are not familiar with. Sorry dude you are full of yourself, beginners need to learn, and learn on the same spaces occupied by more experianced riders so deal with it or buy your own farm and build your own singletrack. Maybe we can all get together and see how brilliant you actually are, do you have a T-shirt with your face so we can all admire you?[/quote']Did it take you all night to come up with that chirp?I did take you and your girlfriend around Oak Valley dude - And waited patiently for both of you and showed you SOME of what I know. On that day you were actually open to be tought.
madaboutmerida2010-06-11 00:28:43
I'm also taking advantage of the time off - sports massage, then a light ride and hopefully back home in time for kick-off - now can someone explain the off side rule in football to me.
What really irks me is watching beginners trying to go down single track at blind speed and locking up on every switchbacks' date=' dragging their wheels through all of them. And then they want your comment afterwards on their technique. Wish that these riders could realise that single track is all about being as smooth as possible, rather than wanting to be as fast as possible.I miss the good ol days when you could safely and securely ride up the canaries, cruise across to neverendingstory and float down to just do it all over again.[/quote'] of course you are the perfect beginner. You did everything perfect and fast just like the pro's on your first ride.Why dont you take your irks, and help someone ? Help a beginner and spend some time to show that merida riders are actually nice people. Yes they want your comment because unlike other people beginners are wanting to learn - but then in the good ol days you never had beginners did you?You can only teach someone that WANTS to learn. Surely you know that? My point is that these riders actually thinks its COOL to lock up and drag their sorry back wheels all over the place.Besides - I think that people should write some sort of "trail test" before they are allowed to ride at certain places.PS - I dedicate a lot of my riding time helping new riders in the sport. My brother, his girl friend, my wife and quite a few riders on the warthogs mailing list can confirm that, but I have a firm rule about imposing myself on people. You simply will not get the desired response.
Tread Magazine reveals Silverback's New Moves..
in The Bike Room
Posted
If we had a local cheap car in SA I would have compared it to that. I used Tata because SA is where India was 15 years ago ito world economy. None the less. I don't simply buy local because its local. I will not buy a Kurt Darren CD simply because he is local. The fact that Morewood is a local brand is incidental and I bought the bike because I loved it from the minute I saw it (even before all the reviews and the hype that now surrounds the Zula). I would have paid R80k for the bike - I wanted it THAT much.
You are missing the point. You buy stuff to satisfy different needs. A "sensibile, cheaper" purchase satisfies basic needs, where a more expensive purchase for a similar product satisfies more complex needs as well as basic needs.
Its like expecting to get twice as drunk on a bottle of Kanonkop Pinotage (2002 if anyone wants to buy me a case) opposed to a bottle of Beyerskloof Pinotage. Getting drunk was never the intention when you
bought the more expensive option (and I am NOT saying that there is anything wrong with the Beyerskloof either, in case you miss the point again)
Oh and racing snail - don't make calls on people's personallities when you really don't know them. If I was saying that Silverback is crap, rather buy Morewood, I bought one and this makes me Mr-Cool-dude-I-know-everything, your emmigration comment would have been warranted.
Different strokes for different folks is what I'm saying. Not one is better than the other...