bradjackson

Can someone post a pic of this hill - partly because I would like to try and figure out how I would tackle it, but also cos I would like to see what this Majik Forest looks like. From the various discussions on the Hub, it sounds like a great place to ride. I have been getting involved in building some new trails here in PE and its nice to have a benchmark to compare with (steal ideas).

Nice topic. Although I have never been to Majik Forest so I don't know the specific hill you are talking about, I can offer some general advice for climbing short, steep hills. Your biggest challenge on a steep hill is usually keeping your traction, and apart from the advice already given about keeping your weight distributed properly, etc, the next best thing you can do is try to keep your momentum up. Many riders see a steep hill and immediately drop into granny gear to try and crawl their way up - this usually results in complete loss of traction or losing your line and straying off the path into the bushes while you try and keep your balance. Rather try and attack the hill in a bigger gear with as much speed as you can. You will need to use more leg strength so you can push the heavier gear. A bonus of this approach is that even if you don't get all the way up, the extra momentum will probably have carried you further up the hill with less effort (so you won't have to walk as far).

We need something like this to catch these losers: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10199196-1.html

Try shooting from a lower angle, close to the ground. It will make your jump look as good as it feels. The same applies for when you are mounting the camera on the bike. The closer it is to the ground the faster and more spectacular everything looks.

Awesome, that oke is good!!

OK so I did this crazy test the other day after Plasti Dipping my battery. It may or may not be a good idea to share this with you all, but if nothing else it should certainly generate some interesting discussion. I just want to make it clear that I am in no way suggesting that the MJ808 is waterproof. The particular light used in this video was my own one which I have been using for many months now and I was prepared to sacrifice it if that turned out to be the end result of my experiment. This is a waterproof submersion test of the Magicshine MJ808 bike light. The battery has been specially treated with Plasti Dip and is fully watertight. The light head is standard with no modifications. The purpose of the excercise was to test the Plasti Dip treatment of the battery and to test whether the light head is in fact waterproof. While the battery didn't show any signs of leakage, the light head did in fact allow a small amount of water to enter. This was evident when opening the light to inspect it afterwards. The good news is that after drying it out, the light is still functioning perfectly with no noticeable side effects (its been about 2 weeks now and I have used it for several rides since then). Under normal riding conditions, the light would not be subjected to being fully immersed in water. I will leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions about this affordable little bike light. Disclaimer: Do not try this yourself. It is potentially dangerous and you will void your warranty by attempting this. The MJ808 bike light was not designed to be waterproof and I make no claims whatsoever that the light would be able to survive being submerged in water.

That doesn't sound right Jules. The ones I sell consistently get between 3 and 3,5 hours runtime on high. Anyone who has bought one of my lights and has this problem let me know and you will have a replacement battery in your hands the next day (provided its still within the warranty period obviously). You could always try your luck with a warranty claim against Deal Extreme. Is yours the 5-mode version? I only sell the 3-mode version, although I am pretty sure the high setting is the same on both.

I don't have a pic on hand, but here's one from the MTBR forums - where I got the Plasti Dip idea from originally. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4220637290_080deb21ca_o.jpg Here's a link to the thread discussing it: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=581531&highlight=plasti+dip

No they don't, and I don't know of any retail shops which stock it. But you can get it from these guys: http://www.pinnacleinstruments.co.za/

I bet its the clipping out thats an even bigger challenge.

Cassie, here's a handy tip for future reference: Just do a Google search for the term "how much is 12 1/8 inches in mm" This works for converting all sorts of formats - weight, exchange rate, etc

I read the topic of this thread and decided to reply with my recommendation, only to see that X-Gear already beat me to it. I can highly recommend Fedex (Supaswift). I have had excellent service from them.

When is the Rhodes Challenge MTB race? I would pick that weekend.

Hehe, its a small world. These Hub nicknames confuse the hell out of me. I probably ride with many more hubbers and don't even know it. Hey, we should have some Hub stickers printed with our nicknames to stick on our bikes.

LOL you sound just like me - a has-been from the 90's making a comeback. I do enjoy reminiscing about the good ol' days. I remember the Panaracer tyres, they were the first to come out with a white (or more like cream) tyre. I think the Fire XC was their lightweight 1,95 inch racing tyre. In those days your rear tyres had wide side-to-side knobs down the centre and the front tyres had large knobs pointing forward.

I have had good success with repairing sidewall cuts on a non-UST tyre running tubeless. Just stitch it up with dental floss and a needle. A nice criss-cross pattern over the cut. Then make sure the area is clean and dry and give a generous coating of superglue on the inside and outside of the tyre. Use the plain old fashioned superglue, not the 2-part stuff that you mix. Let it dry properly and then you should be good to go.