We were excited to see that the local industry is slowly recognising the demand for longer travel bicycles at the Africa Cycle Fair this year. Along with the increase in trail bikes on display, fair visitors voted for the Pyga Oneforty650 as their Best Bike in Africa, despite an impressive selection of cross-country bikes. We’ve put together a collection of our favourite trail travel bikes from the fair.
BMC TrailFox TF02 29 XO1
BMC have gone with 29er wheels on their TrailFox. The suspension is taken care of by a RockShox Pike in front and the Cane Creek BDAir at the back. The drivetrain is full XO1 while the brakes are SRAM Guide R. A Reverb Stealth dropper attends to the saddle height.
2015 Giant Trance 27.5 2
The Trance needs no introduction. The 2015 model is more of a gradual evolution than a redesign. The bike features Fox CTD Evolution front and rear. The drive train is mostly SLX with Deore shifters. The paint work on this year’s model is also pleasantly attractive.
Pyga Pascoe Oneforty650
I’m not going to be impartial here, this Pascoe build makes me weak at the knees. I’m still gutted that I didn’t win it. Enjoy it, amasendeinja.
Mercer Bikes Hungry Monkey
The Hungry Monkey is the odd one of the bunch, being a hand built steel hardtail. The bike features short stays and big travel up front. Being a custom build, the specifications of each bike will suit the owner but do yourself a favour and go with a Pike. The bike pictured below is David’s personal bicycle and prototype. The production frame will feature routing for a dropper post and mounts for a second bottle cage.
Cube Sting
The Cube Sting is a 120mm travel 29er featuring Manitou suspension front and back.
2015 Giant Reign
Giant’s Reign, with 160mm travel, is aimed at the more adventurous rider. The bike features a RockShox Pike at the front and a Monarch DebonAir down below. The wheels are wrapped in thick 2.35″ Schwalbe rubber and the seatpost slides up and down thanks to Giant’s own dropper post.
Yeti SB5c
The SB5c is a complex yet elegant bicycle. Yeti’s Switch Infinity suspension aims to promote pedal efficiency and soak up those smaller bumps while helping with overall stability. The bike comes in a number of builds and a frameset is also available for custom specs.
Pyga Onetwenty650
The Onetwenty650, coupled with a 140mm fork, is arguably the perfect all-round South African trail explorer. It features 120mm rear travel, 650b wheels and makes provision for stealth dropper posts.
That MBC looks the business .I am getting tired of listening to creaking carbon frames