So the time has come where I have levelled up from a broke student to a poor 26 year old. And my first order of business is a massive upgrade. I have been riding for 3 years on a hardtail. But this was no ordinary hardtail. I treated it like it was a lean mean DH machine! It rode the Mankele black line countless times, championed the scout hall jump line, and saw pretty much most rad trails this country had to offer. We also have had our bad's, many pine trees found, a lot of pain staking cases on some optimistic jumps as well as a shattered elbow (thank's to scout hall). But the time has come to retire this legend in favour of a more capable beast.... My Pony: Specs: Frame: GT Avalanche 1.0 (Resprayed) Fork: Rock Shox Derailer: 9spd Shimano XT med cage (reverse spring) Crank: Raceface Chainring: Race Face Wide/Narrow 36T Brakes: Normal Simano Wheels: XT hubs on some DT swiss rims Stem: 50mm truvative Bars Wide 760mm Deity 2014 Shifters: Basic Shimano That is pretty much all worth mentioning, cost me 5k back in the day with about 3k of upgrades. But do not judge her on her specs, she was fully capable of anything, and really was the best rig to learn on. Unforgiving so you really had to learn the hard way. But it proved that it is often not the bike, but the rider that is the most important thing. People are not lying to you when they say "Learn on a hardtail". She will be sorely missed, but I will never forget my bumpy introduction to mountain biking.... The birth of the Beast.... A custom built YETI SB66! After months of trawling forums and going into every LBS existent I realised 26" frames are endangered in this country sadly. So I put out a call on the hub and within a day this beauty came looking for me. Currently she has a cracked rear swing arm but that is being claimed under warranty and should be sorted in the next few weeks. Why the frame? It has one of the slackest head angles around! (67 degrees). Perfect for when the steep gets STEEEEEP! And the lengthy TT (which some of you may not like) but these are designed for pure speed, which suits me just perfectly... Photo's to come on arrival. So once the frame was sorted I needed some components. And so the shopping began. Once again South Africa really struggles when it comes to long travel 26" forks. So I turned to the hub. And within a day I had been pointed in guy named Bibi's direction from Zion bikes and boy did he have a plan for me. I introduce to you my fork, Xfusion Vengeance HLR air Let's just say the reviews spoke for themselves on this form, 170mm travel of pure power! Favoured by many a pro and a new kid on the block, but with something to say, really looking forward to trying this (it has a cane creek adapter to fit the tapered Yeti - best of both worlds) This bad boy has a 20mm thru axle so I kinda needed a new hub, and with that came a new wheel. And who better to ask then Bibi again. And boy did he deliver.... A sexy DT Swiss Magura Hub, Dartmoor rim (Tnanks to Andrew @ Dial'd for helping out), Brass nipples, and Wheelsmith DB14g spokes. This wheel feels bombroof! And I am sure it will deliver. Build will be on the go over the next few weeks so will keep updated, all I can say is if it wasn't for the hub this build would not be possible so that is why I am doing a build thread...
