North Shore

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.

QED.

I've run the old elixir CR And R's happily but I can honestly say the new elixir 9's (2012) with the new taperbore and warble free rotors are legions better. Looking for an excuse to throw some formula's in there sometime this year though.

I was up that side couple weeks ago for the mankele challenge and will be at Clarens this weekend, hopefully to much less mud than last year. It's obviously all individual preference man. I run full xt on my training bike (except for the brakes which I've got 2012 elixir 9's on) and my race bike is a smattering of XO and X9 components. In general I am just much more comfortable with SRAM shifting, but there's nothing wrong with XT and there are some things they're better at (front mech, cranks, longevity etc). Recent thread about xt brakes vs the new elixir's, both absolutely fantastic sets and yet completely polar opposite feels, ultimately it's what setup makes YOU comfortable. What SRAM systems have you been on for extended periods may I ask?

Thanks for backing me up, have no idea what kind of magic mud his shimono's 2:1 actuation is dealing better with but I've never encountered it, hands down SRAM beats shimano in the mud keeping the full range even when absolutely clogged in mud. Also find SRAM goes much longer without needing gear resets. The shifting feel is quite different and some will prefer shimano but I like that you can drop and gain more gears at a time with SRAM and there is something to that very precise shift that some will love and others hate. I hate the clunky XT shift however solid they may feel.

Looks like only the through axle rear is out of stock they have the iso in blue. http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=33674

Preach!

Professional review: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/components/rims/product/review-stans-ztr-crest-rim-26-11-44372

I was worried about that at first and I was going to go for the heavier Arch rims for training, but in my expience they really have held up on a lot of big jumps including the downhill track and avalanche at mankele and fort klapperkop. I do tend to run quite a high tire pressure (2.2 and 2.1 I'm 67kg) to prevent rim damage so I'm not so sure how well they hold up at lower pressures but they do seat nice fatty tires like the hans dampf to have that extra volume security and grip. Weight wise in that price range they can't really be beat, and I was expecting to have a strength pay off but there's been none of that.

Can you use the hope or dt Swiss hubs up front with the lefty? Can't you only use the cannonade hubs? Got hand built wheels around those crests and taken some pretty massive drops way out of their warrantee range and they're still perfectly true. Boring hub choices though toxic, the hopes are the loudest most obnoxious and unfortunately ubiquitous hubs and the dt Swiss hardly have very good actuation. If you're building up your own set try something unique. I've got the super beautiful and rare hand made white industries titanium hubs and on my race set the slightly more boring but bench mark setting chris king hubs. Buy them from CRC and you'll have a bargain.

Trek and Gary fisher have pretty terrible after sales in this country, while Scott are pretty great down here. They're very similar bikes and I've ridden both, personally I'd choose the Scott but Before you leave the bike shop swap out that super shiteous dt Swiss rear shock, pop in a fox rp23 and you'll never look back.

You can't on the x9 but apparently that will trickle down for next years shifters. Wise man this Capricorn?

Couldn't agree more with Capricorn, there is a reason that most of the downhill guys ride with the unbeatable x9 derailleur. Inclined to agree when it comes to price increase to full xo you won't notice a big difference, that said the shifters on x0 are significantly smoother especially on the longer rides and the new x0 rear dérailleur is a tad smoother than the x9 but replacement cost is high so if you tend to rip off deraillieurs regularly then go x9.

SRAM is far better at dealing with mud and the bashing that MTB is likely to produce. The shifting is far smoother than anything from shimano and instantly noticeable. However SRAM is more expensive and especially the xx group set wears out very quickly compared to xtr. I'd go x9 except for the rear dérailleur go xo. Try the elixir 9 2012 brakes, yes the previous generations were pretty bad but the new ones are way better than the xt, most of the x9 group sets downgrade the brakes to elixir 7. Still can't best the formula brakes if you can afford them though.

After having a few iterations of both the xt and avid brakes and having just installed the new 2012 elixir 9. None of the old problems (they were extensive) bleed was a snap and they are MUCH more powerful and have a far better modulation and lever feel than the xt brakes I have on two of my other bikes. With the new rotors there is no more classic avid turkey gobble. If you're looking st the new generation of brakes and not judging avid on their past discretions then definitely choose the avids. Mine have already done 4000km of very rough trail and haven't need even a touch.

CRC has them for £99. Been very happy with my Chris king bb and hubs.

CRC. Gonna put through another order soon if you're keen to add on so we can get the free shipping. Awesome tire but like all the schwalbe's not very well wearing.

The crest is 24mm wide and ive had no problems running the 2.4inch Hans damf tires. Wheel build comes in at 1430g, pretty light.

Was worried at first that the crests would be weak because they're light but they've seen plenty of big jumps and a few sets of tires and they're still perfectly true.

Had a set of ZTR crest rims built to the crazy beautiful white industries hubs by spokeworks and been very happy, stayed perfectly true after more than a year of a lot of smashing on trails. I'd definitely recommend the hand built option over buying a stock wheelset as you can get a completely unique build to suite exactly your riding style and weight.

I can't suggest where to get them in the cape but I can hight recommend them. Ended up getting an ITB injury from prolonged riding on shimano and sidi shoes and haven't had a single problem in the two years I've been riding the specialized shoes. Evidence of how good they are is in their massive dominance in the mountain biking top echelons, even guys that would never step on a spec bike swear by the shoes.

Seems a good deal, but I'd usually say for under 10k go for a hardtail te cheaper dual sussers tend to be very heavy and clunky. Also get yourself sized properly it's very unlikely you're "a medium or large", poor bike fit will cause problems later.