100Tours

To quote a mate of mine who's done the event more times than me - 'there's not so many people doing the epic any more who forgot to train..' Every day of that race is unbelievably tough on you and your bike. There's 100 reasons that you might drop out.

Nope - Adventure only

I'm looking to swop my Sani2c Race entry for a spot on the Adventure - any takers? This is because I have 3 pairs of baggies, but only 2 lycra bibs. And all my mates seem to have chosen the Adventure this year. You have to have a paid up entry into the Adventure - I'm not looking to sell. I'm not looking to make anything on the swap, but you will have to pay rider change fees to the organisers for 2 riders. I'm expecting this will go quickly..

It's not the groupset. Check the usual culprit - bent rear deraileur hanger. Get someone to put a deraileur guage on the bike and see that it is straight. I'm riding Campy Chorus 11-sp and it is faultless.

Have used OKO for a while on both road and mtb tubeless kits.... OK slag me off. I know you're going to roast me for putting it in the road bike. EDIT: I like the plastic rim liners. very robust, and you don't need to take them out to put a tube in. They're abt. R300 a piece, but you'll keep them forever. GotThatInCarbon2010-06-13 10:19:20

I believe the perfect match is to pair a guy who is too old to cry (or sprint for that matter) with a girl who is young enough to have to wait for him...

This poll should be: Too many South Africans think mountainbiking means riding a hardtail with semi slick tyres and a flatbar? Yes / No...

order from chris willemse cycles - normally deliver in 48h.

I'm with Mojo - give them to someone who will ride them thinner, that way there is less to dispose of.

..they are very good wheels. That and the fact that Mavic wheels don't age particularly gracefully.

The same, but I've got the 2.4 Mountain King on the front. Whooo-hooo it's nice Seriously though check your tyre pressures. Harder is not better on a mountainbike. Aim for anywhere from 25-35 psi and experiment a little.

..and if you're looking to buy I'm selling a Shimano 105 crank, BB and deraileurs for R1000

I can think of 4 or 5 recent formats, I'm sure if you ask Johan Bornman he will be able to name 20.. I'm not going to bother with non-cassette BBs (i.e. BB axle with loose bearings), these are all sealed bearing, cassette type BBs. Primarily there is an older set of BB formats which had the BB and the crankset separate (BB bolts into frame; Crankset bolts onto BB axle using 2 axial crank bolts), and then a newer set with external BB bearings (2 BB bearing cups bolt onto frame, crankset is manufactured in one piece including the axle piece, which you then tap through the BB bearings) Separate BB and crankset - 1. Early BB's had a square tapered axle 2. Octalink was an 8-splined BB format developed by Shimano 3. ISIS drive (10 splines?) was used by Raceface and Truvativ for a while, still used by some I think For these 3 formats the BB (bearings + axle) threads into the BB shell on the frame - there are 2 thread patterns available, being Italian or English threads, but only one BB shell diameter. All 3 are/were available in differnt widths to suit the frame and crank chosen - best to get some specific advice here if you're going to change widths. (the BB shell width may vary from bike to bike, and depending on the crankset you may need a wider BB to avoid it bottoming out on the frame - I remember using a 108mm BB for a double crankset and then a 118mm for a triple on a 68mm(i think?) BB shell). External bearing BB 4. EBB Shimano/Race Face, which is BB cup and crankset combination that fits the same thread sizes on the BB shell that Octalink and ISIS drive used (I'm sure it has a formal trade name, can't think of it now). These BB cups are mostly interchangeable between Race Face/Shimano, an Shimano has redesigned their cups in 2009/2010 to provide a much tighter fit and hopefully much longer life. Width issues for EBB cranksets are dealt with by using plastic spacers to fill out the frame to a standard shell size. 5. BB30 - a larger diameter (30mm) external BB that fits directly into an integrated bearing race on very new frames (or into oversize bearing cups on some italian frames). The Crankset axle is the same size as the previous format, but the bearings are bigger.

I use SRAM PC991 cross-step. Bit more expensive (R241) but I've been very impressed with them on some way out ther MTB riding. Not broken a chain since I swopped over about 5 years ago. Maybe I got better at maintenance too.

Fizik make great saddles, slightly wider and slightly squarer than most, and very comfortable. I'm 1.81 with a 88.5cm inseam.

yes - the magiclight from brighterlights. well made and very bright.Don't look into the beam.

I used to ride with a plastic bottle cage fixed to the seatpost with 2 zipties, and cushioned with a length of double sided tape. Worked great. Cost R40.

imho there is a lot to this murder that is going to help to reinforce whatever racial tensions exist in SA today. 2 kids murdered him and then called the cops. That smacks of being premeditated and - I'm guessing here - the mind of someone older than 21. Very sad and very divisive at a sensitive time. Kill the boer indeed. Feel very sad for South Africa today.

Yes - there's a very cozy relationship between the SA suppliers and the bike shops. I've had some great experiences with warrantee/missing parts claims from CRC and other online suppliers over the past 5 years too. (3 claims in 5 years, worth perhaps R3 or 4k, all resolved for free).

Which IS the stiffest crankset.. or Which ARE the stiffest cranks.

Umm, if you boil your brake fluid GUARANTEED you will know. Boiling fluid creates an air bubble which you can compress - so when you grab for the brake you will find there is suddenly no resistance and no slowing down.. All you have to do is wait a bit until the fluid cools again, the trouble is it's not nice to wait when you're already going down the hill at 75kph.

Thanks for the help chaps Especially ChrisH Cute, but this brings up a google page leading with ChainReactionCycles and no south african distributor GotThatInCarbon2010-03-22 09:32:24

I had my electricity dicsonnected on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend last winter for an unpaid bill (it was my fault - first time in 8 years, so maybe a phone call would have been nice..) I was reconnected by a guy in a 7-series BMW working for a subcontractor to the municipality. His job was to push the on/off button on the supply pole outside my house with a long stick.

I gather the wheelset is UST? You can put a set of non-UST tyres on the rims - they work fine AFTER you've got them seated (although this bit truly sucks), but in my experience you're unlikely to get your old tyres to settle on the new rims. If you have used them a bit already, the old tires will have a lot of little holes that makes the seating job nearly impossible and you may be better off just buying new. My approach with putting non-UST tyres on tubeless rims is to run a little extra sealant around the bead so that this sticks the tyre to the rim once inflated. I use OKO in the tyre and a cheap local sealant around the rim (don't know the name - it comes in a 70's looking yellow bottle). The reason for the local sealant is that it is much more liquid than most other sealants so it moulds in agains the rim really nicely. I learnt the trick from one Mr Ritchey's mechanic on the way from Knysna to Cape Town one year so it comes well recommended. note - don't try this with hutchinson tyres. the bead tends to stretch and then fall off the rim. Works great with Mavics GotThatInCarbon2010-03-21 05:33:28

I'm sure someone else will tear apart my answer, but I like that kind of thing , so here goes: XC - typically for the pros (i.e. technically competent, able to hold an aggressive cycling position for extended periods). XC bike will usually have flat, narrow handlebars, forward position on the bike (for better power transfer), long(er) stem, 80-100mm travel front and back, or most hardtails. A good XC bike weighs less than 10kgs. Buy one if you're riding fast single day events or if you're training to be up front in the peleton. Marathon bikes are designed for long and repetitive days of racing (e.g. the Epic). They are more comfortable (and more forgiving) than XC, but they will weigh a little more (10-12kg usually). will have around about 120mm travel front and back, and a more comfortable riding position. This is a good choice if you're going to be riding a lot of races/club rides. Trail bikes have 140-160mm travel, swoopy handlebars, weigh a little more again, have bombproof wheelsets, and often include beefier fittings (like through axle hubs rather than quick release). These are a good choice if you would like something that makes the technical bits easier, if you're riding a lot of singletrack, or just if you are a heavier rider (weight limits on some of the XC/marathon stuff used to be 90-100kg, although most manufacturers now allow for a bit more cargo). I rode a 140mm travel trail bike in Sani2c (D batch) this year and it was bliss on the ups and downs, but perhaps a little slow on the flatter sections (where aerodynamics comes into play). After that you get Freeride and Downhill. you get the idea what happens there, and these are somewhat undeveloped disciplines in South Africa. In terms of shock attachment points on the frames, this is an area of some experimentation for designers based on what they feel works well plus whether they feel the need to let you put waterbottle cages on your bike or not. The biggest distinction is whether to go single pivot or multi-link suspension. Single pivot is burlier and may save some weight whereas multilink is meant to offer a more linear suspension path. The best advice I can give here is to do some background reading on the bike you are looking at buying and check for a history of whether or not people have had problems with them. If there was consensus on what the best solution was than everyone would be using it.