RiderX

Id recommend tubeless over traditional tubes and wheels anytime especially since you already seems to have most of the stuff needed. The main advantages are avoidance of pinch flats aswell as normal punctures. It is possible to use a tube inside a tubeless tyre, it will then function just like a normal mtb tyre. You should carry atleast one tube with puncture repair kit with you at all times since it can happen that you hit something nasty like a nail or barbed wire and then get a huge hole in your tyre that will not seal. Another possibility is damaging the tyre bead by riding with underinflated tyres, going over ectremely rough terrain or landing a jump badly (if you jump your bike). This is difficult to fix in the field and mostly will require you to temporarily put in a tube until the end of your ride. Remember to thoroughly check the tyre for thorns and debris before inserting the tube. Sealant needs to be replaced now and then, about twice a year depending on how much you've used. Take the wheel of and shake it around a bit to hear how much sealant is still sloshing around inside. I use Stans sealant which is cheaper than many of the others and easy to find. From personal experience I've found that it is possible to keep the old sealant and just top up with more as needed. Some bike shops disagrees with this, best to research, experiment and find out for yourself. Remember to always inflate the tyre with the valve stem near the top.

Are these shraeder tubes? Presta tubes with removable valves would be cool.

I think its a excellent place to ride and learn since it caters for all riders. Basically 3 trails to choose from, one rather easy, one medium and one a little bit harder. Would recommend you give all of them a go, all the obstacles have chicken runs so you can tackle them when you feel ready. Also the shuttle is great, it is very quick to get to the top due to the public tar road and you will be able to do a lot of runs. Ill probably join the fun on Sunday as well

I think its good advice but dont go too crazy and use a tyre with absolute no grip at the back either. The reason is that when you need to negotiate an off-camber section you might find your back wheel washes out too much, comparable to a truck jacknife situation. This is also not ideal so what I would suggest is get a really grippy tyre at the front like a Nevegal 2.35 at the front and a fat low rolling tyre at the back that is also in the 2.1 to 2.35 range. You can use a Nevegal 2.1 at the front too but in my experience the 2.35 is just so much better with little drawbacks.

Looks ok but you probably will want to upgrade the fork at some stage, also the Shimano octalink BB isnt to great and will have to be replaced later. BTW I am selling a second hand Merida TFS 500 here https://www.bikehub.co.za/classifieds/17260-merida-matts-tfs-500-v feel free to have a look

Which brand was this? Try a different LBS first and see what they quote. Another option that might work is to say you are not happy to pay for the new components, then the LBS can physically not assemble the bike.

I think using the correct compound is important here, a soft compound is going to wear quick on tar but will provide better traction offroad. So for riding on tar its probably going to be better to go for a harder compound like 60a and above.

A good time to explain the term HTFU an how it applies to cycling

Im sorry to say but considering the type of riding you want to do I dont think its going to be worth upgrading the bike, its going to cost too much with little benefit. Even if you upgrade the fork at some point the bike is going to hold you back from progressing further. Rather sell this bike use the funds to look for a second hand AM bike that hasn't seen too much abuse. If you still want to pedal up comfortably then look for something in the 140-160mm travel range. Bikes in this category include bikes like the Mongoose Teocali/Khyber and the GT Force/Sanction. These I would call examples of all mountain bikes since you can still pedal the bike up comfortably while having a huge blast going downhill. You can get the lower spec versions (but still decent) of these for under R10 000 second hand. Hope this helps

Id like to know which shop it was that said you should not inflate over 2 bar. Personally I never run less than 2 bar, usually 2.3 bar. Only when conditions are exceptionally sandy would I run 2 bar. Running a too low tyre pressure risks damaging the tyre bead especially when going over rocky terrain and/or doing drops etc. Rather get a fatter tyre and run a higher pressure.

Dont buy upgrades, ride up grades

If you're riding with other people its worth asking someone to try and locate the sting and pull it out. Trying to ignore it and just riding on doesn't really work here since the sting will continually release poison.

When I bought my TFS 500 about 5 years ago it came with a Suntour XCM fork, works ok for a year or so then the lockout stops working. So if yours also has a suntour maybe its a common problem with those forks. There are worse entry level forks than the XCM but its still not a very good fork. The Merida frame is really excellent though, its quite strong while not heavy at all. If you want to replace the fork then try and replace it with a decent RockShox Tora or better its going to make a world of difference to your ride. Btw its Merida not Marida.

I think cleats are rather advanced equipment and should only be used if you want to improve your pedaling efficiency a bit. For everything else flat pedals are better. Its much easier to do technical sections on flats due to you being able to get your feet of the pedals quickly and bail when necessary. Often I see people in Tokai crashing as a direct result of riding with cleats. Usually the bike gets out of control, the guy tries to get into a proper position to either get off the bike or absorb the crash but cannot do so due to still being attached to the bike. Result is a much more painful crash than was necessary. Grip issues with flats are not so much an issue when using a proper shoe & pedal combination. Both the shoes and pedals are equally important! Tekkies wont cut it since the soles are hard and do not provide sufficient grip. Get 510s as posted above or go for some soft sneaker shoes. The pedals should have long pins that grips into the sole. When descending tilt your heels down so that your feet presses down into the pins, further increasing your grip. When comparing hard cleat shoes and cleats with tekkies and toe clips the cleat shoes will win for sure, but remember there are actually proper equipment for riding with flat pedals as well and these are by far the best for most riders imho. This coming from someone that rode with cleats for 2 years then switched to flat pedals and will never switch back

If you change to an air fork you'll cut a fair amount of weight. Might not be too expensive second hand. You can run single ply tyres if you're not already doing so.

Hi if you're still new to mountain biking then just ride what you currently have and try to learn as much as possible from your current bike. Only when you start to feel that you are comfortable on your bike and have good reasons for why you want to upgrade certain components on the bike, then get the upgrades. Best to ride with experienced fast riders and learn from them to get a feel for this.

Man this sucks. I can understand that you wanted to take a transfer as payment though since few people want to carry that kind of amount in cash.Also cash can probably be forged as well (bit harder to do but happened with R200 notes not so long ago) So the only way to prevent this from happening to someone else is to ask the guy to pay in the money first, then call the guy a day or more later to let him know that he can now collect the bike? Hopefully the buyer trust the seller enough to pay first without receiving the goods. Makes it kind of hard to sell something.

Wednesday is a great day to go besides for the track Tokai has such wonderful views. But ja if you wants to ride some day next week id be keen to tag along, can finish at 4 and also ride a Force

Ok so I was a bit stressed out this morning, but I just hate it when people give a certain class/rider the blame for trail erosion etc (be it a downhill bike, trail bike, 29'er or 26'er). It takes a conscious effort from everyone to ride the track in a responsible way that creates as few as possible problems for the guy that needs to maintain it in the end. But yeah my wording was probably a bit harsh so my apologies for that. Anyway to get back on topic, with switchbacks Id recommend that you decide what speed you want to go before the actual turn, then try and keep that speed when in the turn. Basically the braking needs to be done before the turn.You can now focus on your line. Give yourself enough room by initially going wide enough then cutting into the apex of the turn so that the actual turn curve is as "flat" as possible (hope this sentence makes sense). As soon as you start to exit the turn you can start pedalling again, out of the turn. Another thing if the turn is steep then you def want to keep your heels down and your body low to prevent yourself from being pushed forward over the bars. Extend your arms a bit and move backwards, but not so much that your arms are completely locked out. If the turn is flat or off-camber you want to lean the bike separate from your body so that you are pushing down into the sideknobs, otherwise if there is a berm of some sort you can lean with the bike and push into the berm.

Try the little drop after the "kloof" section at the end its quite fun. Also theres a nice new track when you go all the way to the right when starting from the top, some turns and a couple of jumps etc

Whatever... its always the big bikes that cause the trail problems right? Never the XC riders that feel they need to drag their brakes around every corner and everything that looks remotely steep. Dont try to shift the blame to one class of rider go find specific people to blame if you want to blame someone. It just comes across as pathetic when someone does that.

Hi if I understand correctly you cant get to the topmost sprocket? In that case you need to make sure that the limiters are setup correctly. Look for the limit screw marked L and turn this screw anticlockwise 1/8th turn then see if you can get to the topmost sprocket. Then possibly your cable tension is too high this is why it over shifts from 1 to 2, turn the adjustment knob at the shifter 1 to 2 clicks clockwise and try again.

I've done this section this afternoon its quite rough and you need to steer rather precise to avoid the ruts. It has been in worse condition in the past though at least the corners seems to hold up nicely.

Both bikes look really nice but I think its probably worth spending the the extra R5000 for the 1.0, besides the silver, black and yellow color scheme looks really nice. Note it seems like Obike made a mistake with the 2.0 component listing since a Boxxer is listed while the pic shows a Bomber. People are going to be comparing this bike with the BootR and it will be interesting to know why people go for the one or the other. Personally for me I really like the GT frame design (opinion might be biased though).

Yeah well most downhillers ive seen in tokai push up the downhill track so I dont think thats going to change soon, especially if you want to session the 3 jumps on the left like everyone does now and then. I totally agree with the no riding up rule though its just a silly thing to do.