MintSauce

On 16 Feb this year I was riding down Kloof Rd in Cape Town when a car turned in front of me. I tried as best I could to not hit him, but clipped him with my right foot, crashing hard. I ended up with roughly R3000 damages. Initially the driver was hugely apologetic, until he realised it was going to cost more than a few hundred rand to settle. He then started making excuses and saying things like both of us need to accept some sort of responsibility. When I protested he basically said I can accept half the money or he will not pay anything in which case I would have to sue him, which would obviously be a complete waste of time and money for me. It's now been 4 weeks since I agreed to accept half my claim as settlement. He still hasn't paid. What I was wondering is, do I stand a chance in small claims court? At present I have no witnesses that saw the accident. Only two that heard it and then looked and can probably verify that his car was on my side of the road. It would almost be my word against his. The only email I have from him is one where he says he is waiting for his lawyer's opinion, so I don't have an admission as such. He does live in JHB so just making the case might force him to pay seeing as not pitching for small claims court will automatically give me the win and flying down for the case will cost him more than paying me the R1500. Opinions please? Thank you!

Good to hear the positive comments. Does anyone have experience with these vs the Minion DHFs, specifically ito rolling resistance? How do they compare? I'm currently running Minion DHFs and am considering putting these on for Sani2C and then going back to the DHF after and then sticking these on my SS. Or I may just suck it up and stick with the DHFs.

I spent all of March riding the Silverback Storm carbon. It's seriously one of the best bikes I've ridden. I've had the odd ride on other 29ers, but this is the first time I've had the opportunity to really spend quality time on one. On the first ride after bombing down Canary in Jonkershoek my mate actually looked at me and said he thought I might actually be faster on it than on my normal bike. It did take about an hour to learn to ride it and adjust my style, because it does require a bit more body english to turn. Still, it is one seriously good bike and for the money it's a steal. 25k with full XT, a Sid fork and full Stans Crest wheels. I've always said that I really like 29ers, but they're just not my thing. I still think my ideal bike is a 5inch travel trail bike, but now I actually want a carbon HT as well. I'd actually like to throw a leg over some of the other carbon bikes out there to be able to compare because this thing seriously blew me away.

Anyone driving down from Durbs to Underberg on the 16th and back on the 20th? Looking for a lift for me and my partner?

Have you been taught that when you descend rocky/bumpy/technical/high speed trails that you should shift onto your big ring in the front? Either way, what that does is it takes up the slack in the chain. By doing that the chain can't move around as much as a result of the slack and it's own weight causing it to clatter up and down. It is this movement that will cause your chain to drop. If I don't do it, I drop the chain almost every time, like 9/10 times. Developing a system that counters that is a significant improvement and a hell of a long way off of 'useless'. Significant enough that I will actually buy a new derailleur to get it. If you ride technical, bumpy trails at high speed, this is, in my opinion, a godsend. Just because it's of no use to you personally doesn't make it useless. And if you refuse to see the logic then you are being ignorant. Also, Shadow technology has been available on SLX since launch some 3 years ago. It refers to the position of the rear derailleur tucked under the frame. The clutch system is denoted by the Shadow Plus name, which is new to SLX for the 2013 models.

And I have to reitterate what CAAD4 said. Has she decided what type of riding she wants to do? Especially if she decides to go the FS route. I've always believed that the perfect bike for our conditions and for the general populous is a 5inch travel trailbike. The geometry is generally more laidback, thus providing more comfort, stability and control than a 4inch travel bike which will generally have racier geometry. Why buy a twitchy racer if you're not going to race it? Having said that, after spending some quality time on a carbon 29er hardtail recently, I can also totally understand why people buy race bikes.

I just don't think 29ers suite someone as small as she is. While they may be advantageous to many people, they require experience, power and an aggressive riding style to really maximise their advantages. The smaller the person the less advantageous, and for some people it might actually be detrimental to their riding As for suspension, I believe it's better for newcomers to start on hardtails. I recently bought one after riding only FS bikes for 15 years and this reaffirmed this belief for me. It's not about earning your stripes. It's simply the fact that starting out on a HT will make you a better rider. You learn to pay more attention to reading the trail and to making the bike go where you want it to as opposed to just riding point-and-shoot style. I would definitely also consider the Silverbacks. They really are coming into their own and moving from a purely value offering to bikes that actually kick ass as well.

Thanks Covie. And now, here's the non-ignorant answer to the same question: Actually, the clutch does serve a specific purpose. When you descend very bumpy, rocky terrain, it causes the weight of the chain to tug on the rear deraillleur, causing the chain to slap around more. This creates not only a lot of noise, but also greatly increases the chance of the chain dropping off the front chainring. The clutch basically stabilizes the derailleur cage which results in less chain slapping and increased performance. This improvement is aimed at riders that ride very rough terrain and/or ride very aggressively. It's for this reason that you can choose to buy a derailleur with or without the clutch(at least that's the case with Shimano, I'm guessing Sram will do the same).

Also, I wonder how much effort you've put into developing those trails and the sport in the area compared to the likes of Euodia and guys like Paul du Toit have? Just wondering you know.

Last time I checked, building & maintaining trails did actually cost money. With your attitude, the trails in your area should be shutdown in a few years time, just like it happened at Thandi Trails when the landowner got sick and tired of people riding his trails without paying. Thanks Douchbag.

I heard a rumour recently that the velodrome was being closed and redeveloped by the municipality? Is this true?

What bike are you considering buying? Can't help you much now. I did ride one over the weekend, but it was very brief. Was fitted with heavy tyres so will be able to give a better idea once I've ridden it with something easier rolling and for longer.

All I'm going to say, is that a friend of mine, who happens to be one of the fittest and strongest riders I know, is seemingly obvlivious to riding-induced pain, has been riding SS for years and for many of those years it was the only bike he owned, has ridiculous technical riding skills AND a beer-sprint that embarrasses most, rode Spioenkop last year and he says he had to get off and push. He was riding a GEARED bike at the time. Choose your gears wisely, but more important than that, choose them with humility.

Why not just phone a bikeshop?

AFAIK all the RP23 adds is that you can set the level of the Propedal when it's on, to 3 different settings, whereas the RP2 only has PP on/off. I don't know what differences there might be to the internals, if any. Definitely not worth the cash, which will probably end up being a few grand. I have the older RP3, which predates the RP23. It doesn't have the PP on/off switch, but rather a single 3 position lever for no PP/medium PP/full PP. I use it lots, every ride, mainly because I ride my rear shock very soft so need the platform when climbing. I don't ever use the mid setting. It's either full or none. Point being that the different PP settings on the RP23 would be a complete waste for me and a RP2 would be just fine. But that's just me.

I hate Pastel. I own a small company and I run the single user version called Pastel Express. In the 7 years I've used it I've needed support twice. Both times it would have taken maybe 2minutes of their time. Each time they refused and said I had to pay the annual support fee which is roughly R2500. For a priogram they sold to me initially for R1000. So, that means my small business would've coughed up R17500 for two phonecalls to sort out two minor issues in 7 years. I've tried reasoning with the customer manager after she phoned to ask why I gave them a negative rating. Why can they not have a cheaper version for small businesses? Like R250-500 a year and limit the amount of calls or something? Well, why should they when they've got you by the balls? Imagine buying a car for R100000 and then when you need a lightbulb replaced being told you have to pay an annual fee of R250000 for them to tell you over the phone how to do it? F*** Pastel. Sooner rather than later my business will need a bigger system and you can bet your ass I won't be using Pastel.

I'm told 6:45 at the Baxter and 7:15 at the CTICC. If you guys want facebook pages and contactable organisers you're missing the whole point of the Critical Mass movement (as is the case with the JHB ride)

Ok, time to update. This is how things currently stand in my garage/lounge. Trying hard to convince myself (as is my GF) that I don't need another bike. The SS: Gios Compact Plus. I really feel this deserves a C-record build, but I'm broke at the moment so that'll have to wait. Really love this bike. Super responsive and snappy to ride and gorgeous to look at as well. The roadie: Colnago Master Olympic with Campy 10spd Chorus, with one or two Centaur bits. Couldn't believe how responsive this thing was vs my previous steel bike when I first got out the saddle up a climb. Beautiful. The fixie: Pogliaghi Pista. Genuinely love this bike. It is without question the most beautiful bike I've ever owned. Actually, I think it's the most beautiful bike I've ever seen, but I'm probably biased. Sadly in for repairs now due to a crack in the top headtube lug. Not sure what I'm going to do with the finish as I've been advised not to have it rechromed.

That Hansom's paintjob is f_ing AWESOME!

Opel Corsa mirrors come of VERY, VERY easily

*facepalm*

Wow. This is probably one of the most totally-missing-the-point, missdirected replies I've ever read on the hub. I think you should stop kissing FPC's 'donkey'

This is the bike you dream of... http://knollybikes.com/bikes/chilcotin#item_0

That is such a stupid point of view. Tell them to take a hike. The wheel size does not affect how the bike fits you. Make sure that the actual measurements of the frame are as close as possible to what you currently ride, assuming you're riding the correct size bike. Just as a matter of interest, why do you want a 29er?

Love this pic taken by a friend of mine somewhere in the UK....Bedgebury Forest he says My kinda curve that!