North Shore

Headline should read "0 time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong misspells confession"

This is such a fantastic race, one of the most technical and hair-raising routes in gauteng. See you guys at the finish line.

Racing Ralph's: you won't sacrifice anything off road and they're still good on road; just don't expect great longevity.

Spokeworks are the best wheel builders up here, call Ruan on (082) 4121689. He's amazingly knowledgeable and will help you choose the right set for your weight, riding style and bike, and he has 650b rims in if you're so inclined. He's also the only guy in SA I can find with the insanely beautiful white industries hubs, check them out.

I have to wholeheartedly agree. I'm light (67kg) and I still find I need to run at least 2bar rear and 1,9 front to avoid burping and a strange tendency of the tire to crumple in very tight corners at low pressure. Still even withthis and the wear issues there's no way I'd go back, their performance is well worth it.

I have them on a set of custom ZTR crest wheels and Americam Classics. Both popped on absolutely no problem with just a gloop of Stan's. I have found previously that it's much of a mix and match with rims and tires and you do need to experiment a bit to find the right fit, both being UST doesn't mean they'll work with a specific UST rim.

The only foreward I must say if you do decide to upgrade to the snakeskin is don't expect them to have very good wear (at all). I replace back tire every 2 months (2500km) and front every 3, although I do ride often and hard.

I love these tires and I ride twice a day at Groenkloof, every day, and had one puncture in 2 years since I moved from specialized tires (and 2 Stan's burps). You absolutely cannot beat them for rolling distance and they're incredibly grippy for such a fast tire, but yes you're crazy to run anything but the snakeskin version (I'm pretty sure you have it though, as it only comes in 2,25) and running anything but tubeless in this country is insane, but the snakeskin is tubeless ready not UST. I do find that they don't tolerate very low pressures easily although the rocket Ron and nobby nic seem to handle that a bit better (both slightly better options as a front tire than the RR's especially around Groenkloof).

Vori-berg and redstone are pretty much the only races in gauteng, outside of the Nissan series, with any fun technical stuff. If you really want technical you need to head out to Sabie. Do the Mankele (best bike park in SA) avalanche. It will leave you begging for boring single track like babbas, well temporarily.

I have to agree. DS are definitely way more fun, but the cheaper duallies tend to be very heavy and cumbersome. If you're looking at more entry level DS then I'd recommend you rather go for a better spec'd hardtail.

The touch is great, but you might as well just get an iPhone. Endomondo will load to the iPod touch but as there is no gps chip it won't be able to track your ride. I use a nano for cycling, because unlike the touch and iPhone it has a radio receiver and a screen so unlike the shuffle you can still see what you're listening to, also it's a lot smaller and the clip easily attaches to a camelbak whereas the touch is the size of a phone. The touch is great for home use because you can shar your computers library wirelessly.mim a huge apple fan but you should also look at the motorolla motoactiv, same size as a nano, with a gps chip for tracking your ride.

Loving it.

To quote my dad on this article, he's a double specialist in infectious disease and clinical pharmacology: "This article is crap. Endurance athletes get changes to their hearts. The data show this is a good thing, but more long term studies are needed. Because it's still a bit of a grey area you will find crappy papers claiming to show harm. It is hard to distinguish these normal adaptations to intense exercise from certain forms of heart disease & professional sports groups try to screen for this. Sudden death in athletes is the result of underlying heart disease that is unrelated to exercise in most if not all cases. Keep on cycling"

Definitely fork first only because those suntour forks are notoriously terrible and handle like a tractor. Generally wheels are what you'd upgrade first but in your case do the shock first, look at the rockshox Revelation or if you can afford it I much prefer fox forks.

You won't go back.

Value for money you have to go for ZTR rims. The new crest ex are lighter and stronger and wider than the already amazing crests. I don't like the hope hubs, they're obnoxiously noisy and everyone has them. Rather spend a bit more on a decent set of hubs, will make all the difference. Chris king, white industries or DT Swiss 240S.

Definitely not the best, that hands down goes to ENVE carbon rims mated to Chris king hubs.

Budget? Intended use?

Yeah always thought it was weird that it's a seatpost that holds a saddle not a seat.

Just saw someone leaving groenkloof with one of these beauties and a niner rigid fork. Considering changing my next build from the cotic Solaris to this.

Honestly this just sounds irresponsible to me, as someone with a black belt (2nd Dan kickboxing) we are always taught to avoid conflict first. Is your life, or the lives of your sons really worth a measly bicycle? My advice is get bike insurance, avoid these clearly dangerous routes and if you get attacked for your bike hand it over gracefully and look forward to insurance getting you a new one.

They're pretty small hey. Made in Italy so generally one size smaller. I'm a medium in all the local brands and a medium in most of the other Italian sizes but a large in the specialized. Im 1.77m 67kg 29inch waist.

ENVE with Chris king hubs.

The Scott has huge problems with the rear suspension DT Swiss can (http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-scott-spark-29-rc-12-46191). You'll have a far better time on the stumpie.

Unfortunately that's a pay off you have to unwillingly accept, I have to replace a cassette and chain every 2 months. Guess its just something you accept, like the pay off with schwalbe tires, depressing but ultimately it's worth it for the performance upgrade.