Bman001

Unfortunately I don't have a picture as both the wheels are at Cycle Lab at the moment. The back wheel is slightly buckled but can be "fixed" by adjusting the spoke tension. It's the front wheel that is too buckled and needs to be replaced. Are the wheels on the Silverback cheap/weak or was I just very unlucky? The only reason I can think of is that the wheel must have been buckled when I bought it, as riding around the car park could not have caused any damage...

Hi Everyone I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that I bought the Silverback Sola 4 this last weekend. The bad news is that the front wheel buckled as I rode the bike around in the Tokai forest carpark!? I'm not a big guy, I weigh 72kg and I didn't do anything out of the ordinary when riding the bike I took the wheel back to Cycle Lab and they want to charge me for a new wheel as it is too buckled to repair. Should I accept this or should I insist that they replace the rim? I'm very disappointed with Cycle Lab...

Thanks everyone for the advice. It's great to hear how others are finding the bike. Luckily I'm not nearly as big as 6ft2, so it should then be tough enough for me too! Would the big jump between the two cogs possibly result in an increased tendency for the chain to slip off when going uphill if I don't change the gears correctly?

Just out of interest....for the Silverback Sola 4, what is the component or part that is the weakest? In other words, what about the bike will annoy me and cause me to upgrade?

It looks like the Silverback is the clear winner out of the four then! You make a very good point Pulse - the prices could drop when the newer models come in. However, that means that I will have to do Die Burger on a friend's "Makro special" bike, which might be interesting. I'm going to keep an eye on the classifieds as well as Gum tree for some good deals (if they still exist). I saw a Momsen AL329 advertised for R7500, which was the best deal so far - unfortunately it got sold really quickly.

Thanks for the help! I agree with you that the prices are really expensive, especially for new 29er mountain bikes. I'm not sure if I'm not looking correctly but I am finding it exceptionally tough to get better deals on bikes. Even the prices of 2nd hand bikes don't seem to be much cheaper than buying them new as most advertised prices are only R500 to R1000 cheaper. Would the Silverback be a reliable bike? I plan to ride maybe every second week. I have also entered Die Burger MTB challenge...

Hi all I'm new to the forum and am new to mountain biking! I am looking to buy an entry level mountain bike within the R5000 to R8000 range - so any advice would be appreciated. I am currently considering four possible options: Silverback Sola 4 (R7000) Titan Sport (R6700) Momsen AL029 (R6000) Momsen AL129 (R7400) If you could recommend a bike and in a short sentence (or few sentences) explain why you would choose one bike over the others, that would be much appreciated. Here are some links for the bike specs: http://www.silverbacklab.com/upload/2011_website_SILVERBACK/sola4_14.htm http://www.titanracingbikes.com/29rsport.html http://www.momsenbikes.com/bikes/29-er/al029 http://www.momsenbikes.com/bikes/29-er/al129