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Why isn't there an emoticon for "sitting back and eating popcorn"?

Hey Hairy, a 150mm RVL will be perfect, yes, it will slacken the head angle slightly over your current 140mm setup, and raise the BB height by a smidgeon, but it won't adversely effect the overall ride of the bike. My vote: go for it!

Its in production! Tube molds have been opened... hydroforming mould is heating up... CNC jiggs are being made... I can hear the whizzing I think the spark of welding machines will commence by the end of July. These puppies should be hitting the shelves at the end of August/ beginning of September. Unfortunately too late in the season to spend a month in the Alps, but perfect timing to disappear in Karkloof for a few weeks. Please don't expect quick email responses from me at this time, I will invariably be sic and away from the office

^^ THIS ^^ Is what I want to see more South African's saying! With the weight and reliability of components these days an 11kg 150mm bike is completely achievable, and 150mm at 11kg you have a bike that TRULY is a mountain bike. Bring on the Sukuma baby!

Hey Trek Fan, what size you looking for? e13 an option too

Lets try clear up a few things: UST: Universal System Tubeless This is what is commonly referred to as tubeless. UST tires and rims do not need any additional strips or sealant in order to create an air-tight seal between tire and time or to "seal" any porosity in the tire itself. This is the most hassle free way to eliminate the need for tubes, but does have some down-sides in the form of additional weight [the tires are significantly heavier due to the fact that they contain additional rubber in their casing in order to ensure their non porous qualities] and lack of selection [there are only a handful of "UST" rim's available on the market, and, although a reasonably wide tire-range still not a complete selection- this is due to the licensing costs of "UST] Tubeless Ready: To my knowledge there aren't any rims which bare this phrase. "Tubeless Ready" refer's to tires, and specifically their bead [the area of the tire which makes contact with the rim], a "Tubeless Ready" tire is a tire which has a bead which is designed to create an airtight seal on UST rims [in my experience they don't work well with Stans rims]. Why? Well, as mentioned in my previous point one of the main down-sides to a true UST tire is the additional weight, a "Tubeless Ready" tire has a more prominent bead making for a more secure interface with the rim [this adds security to you as a rider too] without the additional material in the casing which a UST tire has in order to make it non-porous. A "Tubeless Ready" tire has the following advantages: lower weight than UST more secure [tight] interface with the rim easier sealing [than non UST] due to the refined bead. NOTE the downsides: "Tubeless Ready" tires are not UST!!! They will still require a sealant of sorts in order to seal the casing. Thinner [lightweight] casing's don't have the same puncture resistance as UST tires. They [in my personal experience] will not work with Stans rims Tubeless: This simply means a tire/ rim without a tube. This could be due to any one of the following: perma-tubes, UST, Stans converted, ghetto converted Got it?

Sorry... haven't been 'hubbing for a while... Morewood do have some developments on paper at the moment, but there are other "projects" such as the Split Pivot designs that are taking preference for the moment. There is certainly demand, and it needs to be done, but there is opportunity for the formation of an entire platform around the Split Pivot designs, and this is most likely going to be where any future 29er full sus designs will be based.

Check out the latest innovation from Morewood and Spank IndustriesSSD [solid State Damper]

Premium for morewood products here? How so?

Amen!

I was actually eying the new Aston Martin 77....

believe it or not there is very little difference in the strength of 36H vs 32H. It sounds strange but this comes down to the lacing patterns used, there is very little point in running a 36H wheel. The cons far outweight the pro's: You'll struggle to find 36H hubs You'll struggle to find 36H rims Rather build a set of 32H wheels and use a solid spoke with a brass nipple. There are a handful of good wheel builders around so chose wisely and spend your money on the build

Lets start a thread: how much money have you spent on CRC in the last 12 months. I'll start: as an "industry" insider I have spent in excess of R50000.00 since July 2009! All purchases have been for personal use and for items which were not available through the local avenues.

A few simple answers here: 1.) "Dobby" there are plenty of commonly used designs and features that many people deem completely daft. Why do mfg's still use these? How much manufacturing and design time do you think goes into these products/ brands which have pitfalls in their design? You'll answe your own question. 2.) Johan: At Morewood we don't drill the BB shell despite the benefits of doing so. I know this sounds contradictory but try explaining to a customer who desn't understand the reason for it why you put a little hole in his "perfect" BB shell. We do however, ream, race and tap our frame prior to paint 3.) As far as continious cable routing... some people love it some people hate it. When designing any product you need to appeal and ceter towards your largest market and stick to your beliefs. All of the Morewood frames feature continious cable routing as we believe it reduced maintenence intervals and the routing we have chosen contributes to the neatness and aesthetic of the bike design. I have had customers complain about this though... you can't please them all...

You're comparing to the wrong region. The Euro is SERIOUSLY under valued at the moment and as a result items in Europe are taking a serious hiding as most of the items are based on US$ procing. If you compare prices locally to those in the US you will see a VERY different picture! Not saying all of our items are over-priced but yes, a large amount are. We work on a weekly basis to ensure the prices of our products come down accordingly and keeping up with the sinking Euro has been a hard task... I think our Formula brake prices need to come down again!!!

Catch: Take our frames for example, we powder-coat the Morewood frames. Prior to powder-coat the frames are treated with a passivating agent making it difficult if not impossible for most industrial paint strippers to remove the paint. This means sanding or sand/ bead blasting is required. Don't need to explain the issues there. Once the frame has then been stripped of paint how is it re-painted? If powder-coated again the coating process requires baking of the powder which affects the ageing of the aluminium frame, artificially ageing the frame rendering it more brittle. PLUS: you need to remember there are some very "intelligent" individuals out there who like to use large amounts of common sense when doing these things. These clauses are usually built into warranties to allow MFG's a scape-goat to void them for these "special" individuals.

Got a better one: "Warranty excludes use of bicycle for competition". You bought a bike for over R5k lately and NOT entered an event? Do they know how many people ride Argus, Sani2C etc?

This is something I have been paying a lot of thought to. especially with the current business model of the industry: Old model: Brand owner/ designer: Company comes up with a concept, designs a product, MANUFACTURER's a product and markets the brand and product Value Add: o Design and conceptualization of product [intellectual property] o Manufacture of product o International marketing costs of product/ brand Wholesaler: Warehouses, stocks, supports and markets "Brand owner/ Designer/ MANUFACTURER's" products Value Add: o Shipping logistics and management o Warehousing, stocking and financing of stock holding o Domestic marketing costs of product/ brand o Technical and product support of product/ brand Retailer: Stocks and sells products warehoused by Wholesaler. Value Add: o Stocking and financing of stock holding o Merchandizing and point of sale costs o Educating the consumer and selling the product New model: Brand owner/ designer: Company comes up with a concept, designs a product, OUTSOURCES the MANUFACTURE and markets the brand and product Value Add: o Design and conceptualization of product [intellectual property] o International marketing costs of product/ brand Manufacturer: Manufacture’s product based on above mentioned design: Value Add: o Manufacture of product ^^ THE MIDDLE MAN!! ^^ Wholesaler: Warehouses, stocks, supports and markets "Brand owner/ Designer/ MANUFACTURER's" products Value Add: o Shipping logistics and management o Warehousing, stocking and financing of stock holding o Domestic marketing costs of product/ brand o Technical and product support of product/ brand Retailer: Stocks and sells products warehoused by Wholesaler. Value Add: o Stocking and financing of stock holding o Merchandizing and point of sale costs o Educating the consumer and selling the product Now what I believe is happening is a natural trend for most bicycle companies to farm out the manufacturing to the East to achieve lower manufacture costs. This outsourcing of manufacture does indeed decrease manufacture costs but comes with the following knock-on penalties: 1.) Additional logistics [lets not even get into the environmental impact of this] 2.) Increase in handling of saleable goods 3.) Decrease in stability of the brand due sever reduction in assets, main asset becomes IP as apposed to plant and equipment With the above in mind I believe many businesses have been slow to react to this new model and as such the consumer is taking the brunt of additional "unforeseen" input costs as well as reduced market stability due to brands decreased investment in infrastructure. To further this, many companies simply "CREATE" brands and "BADGE ENGINEER" products. Taken a look at some lightweight stems, bars, hubs on the market lately? How about accessories? How do these "BADGE ENGINEERS" justify their value add?

This entire thread reminds me of Robert Green! Are you guys related?

Thats what happens when you get your Q-Factor caught in your Chainline

[quote name='Johan Bornman] Like Dangle himself said' date=' if you can't explain it, rather stay out of it. Anyone else? I don't understand why 2 x 10-speed has changed the chainline of mountain bikes - if indeed it has. For the chainline to change, you either change the cassette position on the hub or, the crank axle length. With 2 x 10, the way I understand it, the 10 sprockets are just squeezed into the same place occupied by the old 9. The two chainrings simply take up a space between where the 1st and 3rd chainring on a triple crank would have been. The perfect chainline on such a bike would thus be the line from the centre of the two chainrings to the line that runs through the middle of the 10 sprockets at the back i.e., between 5 and 6. [/quote'] Johan: having ridden an XX group for nearly 12 months with many setup configurations I think I can offer a little insight as to the reasoning behind a few changes. Current setup: Crank: SRAM XX, 156mm Q-Factor, 175mm 28, 39T [only running 39T i.e. single ring setup] Cassette: 11- 34 Frame: Morewood Zula First off, there is only 2mm of clearance on either chainstay with the 156mm Q-Factor crankset. I have not found another dual sus frame which can run the 156mm crankset! The narrower Q-Factor has two main benefits: Anatomical: [although I don't personally buy into this] it is claimed by many top professional that the narrow Q-Factor increases power output by improving the line in which the power is applied by the rider. Decreasing the distance between the riders feet improves hip alignment and hence increases performance and comfort. Chainline: having the narrower Q-Factor reduces the chainline by 9mm bringing both chainrings in towards the bottom bracket by the same amount. What this achieves is the ability to run the entire range of gears on the cassette on both chairings. Losing the ability to do this renders the 10 x 2 groupset useless! Having said the above and having ridden both the 156 and 165 Q-Factor cranskets I can't honestly say that I find either point to stand much ground. The 165mm Q-Factor cransket has a 4.5mm wider stance on either side and I actually find this MORE comfortable than the 156mm. as far as chainline is concerned, the 156mm is certainly better than the 165mm, this is exacerbated by the fact that I am only running a single ring upfront [39t]. That said, with the true dual-ring setup of the XX on the 165mm Q-Factor crankset you are still able to easily run the entire range of 20 gear combinations with minimal chain-rub or miss-alignment. On my current "project" for example I will be running the regular 165mm Q-Factor crankset with a 37T E13 chainring simply run inboard of the crank spider as apposed to bolted on the outside. This solves both the chainline issues as well as the wider stance which I prefer.

Manic: I have some kits coming in from Enduro in my next shipment which will allow this conversion Should solve your problem as well as many others. As a matter of interest, what is wrong with the Specialized cranks? I've always thought them so be super sexy!!

I want to be able to get in my car and drive to a supplier and get it there - TODAY!!! But I can smell that is not going to happen so I will order one today and then it takes forever to ship from PMB to PTA. And it will get lost in the post/delayed for 6 weeks...Jy weet mos. Got the order yesterday at 4pm... unfortunately missed the cut-off to get them to you overnight' date=' but they will be with you tomorrow We're holding great stock of Enduro at the moment amd most items ship overnight without any issued. Regarding shops... unfortunately this is a difficult one. I can suggest you chat to Ruan from Spokeworks regarding fitment though, he's hased in Paulshof [out of the Fritz building'] and is all tooled up for the installation Let me know if you have any further questions

it refers to the "Q-factor"/ width of the crank. 156mm is preferred by top racing snakes, 166 is pretty much standard on most cranks. because the cran uses a double chainring the design allows for a narrower Q-factor. the issue here is that many frames do not... if you are e-ordering a crank I would suggest sticking with the 166. i have seen very few bikes that can run the 156 without clearance issued on the chainstay.

Several things to look out for: 1.) When you gently lift on the seat is there play in the rear suspension? 2.) When you compress the suspension is the shock hardware [small aluminium inserts which press into the shock] remaining fixed in the shock ie. rotating on the frame, or remaining fixed on the frame and rotating in the shock? 3.) Are the linkage bearings rotating freely? 4.) Are the pivot bolts and shock bolts fastened securely? I would recommend running through the above first. A few things to note: You shouldn't have to "lube" the shock hardware as it runs on a bushing inside the shock. Provided this is clean and rotating freely [i won't be possible to move by hand] within the shock you are ok. To check it is rotating correctly, remove the shock, clamp the hardware in a vice as it would be clamped in your frame and then check to see the shock rotates. It will be stiff, but it should still rotate. If the bushing that your shock hardware runs on is worn or damaged a tell tale sign will be either play in the suspension [point #1] or seizure in the hardware [point # 2] If the linkage bearings are worn, which is common on Anthems older than 8 - 12 months [when riding regularly] these will need to be replaced by a shop with the necessary tools. Bearings kits can be purchased through the store in the form of an OE kit from Dragons Sports [Giant Disti] or as an aftermarket kit from Enduro Bearings. A little biased sales pitch: The Enduro bearings should last longer than the OE Giant kit and will not void any warranty on the frame. The design employed by Enduro is what is known as a MAX type bearings, meaning the cage which houses the balls within the cartridge/ sealed unit is removed allowing more space for additional balls. The addition of balls increases the load bearing capacity of the bearing and hence its life-span. In addition to this, all of the MAX bearings form Enduro use a marine grease rather than a low friction, soap based grease used in regular "high speed" cartridge bearings. Due to the fact that these bearings oscillate rather than rotate friction is not an issue. This marine grease combined with labyrinth rubber seals further increases the life of the bearing. Rant over...