Robbie Stewart

doing shuttle runs for 5 x MTB's will be challenging using a half-loaf. Also, driving up to the cattle and sheep on our family farm will be challenging. Not impossible I dare say, just pretty damn frustrating. Also, carting a bleeding kudu in the back of said half-loaf will also be frowned on by the missus after the hunt. I dunno hey, I find many reasons why my DC 4x4 is THE perfect vehicle to fit my lifestyle. I am not going to apologise for driving what I do. And if that offends anyone, then they can go find some meaningful way to get over it.

why are you so preoccupied with the size of other mens genitalia? Do you have some unhealty fetish that you are surreptitiously living out on this thread? stay in you lane boet!

Any chances for Dark Mode? everything these days is making use of dark mode, which has made one use to that format, and the sudden switch to a bright screen is quite garish, especially at night. Its more a nice to have than a must have, but it would be awesome.

I agree, I don't need a double cab 4x4 to drive alone to Brackenfell from Sunningdale every morning, but it sure as hell is fun, and because of that I'm not swapping it for a half-loaf little car. Your point is moot. I'm unwilling to give up my bakkie for the greater good. Thus we have a stalemate. I just finished a ride, wearing mostly black and at the last minute shoved a flashing red light on the seat post because of this thread. I encountered one vehicle pull into the road ahead of me while he was looking over his shoulder to his left to see if there was any oncoming traffic. Nothing I was wearing or not wearing would have made a difference. Nor if I had the brightest flashing light on my bars. The driver simply wasn't looking my way. I shrugged my shoulders, dabbed the brakes and let him past without a fuss. Life continued, my ride was good.

I've been passed by riders using radar and flashing lights. I've seen those lights go hyper when a car approaches. No chance of the driver not noticing. As to whether the driver reacts to the light is another matter altogether.

I have had more than a few instances of so very nearly riding a jogger, runner, person ambulating per foot in his, her, they's mo3r on the Melkbos cycle path when in the pre-dawn darkness I ride my bike on that section, only to find at the absolute last moment (yes, moment, not second) that they are there. I am befuddled by the fact that they seem to think that being out in the inky blackness, with zero, boggerall, niks lights makes perfect sense. My experience to date is that until I literally smell their pre-brushed breath (well, maybe that's me) I was utterly unaware of their existence. Never once did it occur to me that they should've worn bright clothing. A light yes. A neon bib? No!

can we please ban the moegoes who cycle in the dark with flashing lights on their bars? That is possibly the most asshole-thing a cyclist can do in my opinion.

I murdered an expensive and fairly new set of headphones recently in a moment of internet frustration at constant connection failure. Hindsight is a bastard for not being foresight sometimes. That 3 iron off the tee must've been agony.

Never mind the bakkie, that brake hat on your front wheel is a new thing I'm learning today. Noice.

I read this in the "MamilTV" voice, imaging you pedaling someplace meaningful while regaling your audience with the wisdom enshrined in the mechanics of the beautiful machine you are seated on. More, please sir!

Recently, well maybe not very recently given the weather, anyway, I was crossing the R27 by the Table Bay mall on my mtb. I had the green lights. Cars were stopped either side of me. Just as I cross the outbound portion that heads North, I see a gaggle of roadies approaching from my left. Naturally, since I have right of way and just about crossed 80% of the intersection, I continue. Head-roadie decides he's not stopping. He rides straight into my path. I lock rubber, and swerve furiously. I yell out "WTaF" at the moron. He explodes into an expletive laden rant at me, essentially insisting I mind my own business. That fella doesn't know how close he came to being properly bliksemed on the side of the road. I got dangerously close to teaching him a life lesson that day. Given the turn this thread has taken, I am not so sure any motor vehicle operator would have minded an awful lot seeing one cyclist handing out jungle justice to another cyclist. I suspect that group of lycra tigers fall firmly into the "prick" category. Else definitely in the "chop" category. Maybe both.

I ride a Spez S5 (XL) frame on both my bikes ('17 Camber and '23 Stumpy EVO). I am 1.86m and definitely feel planted on both. I am a potato masher as D'nD says, and where my weight goes makes a massive difference to the feel of the bike, but a chap of our size would never feel comfortable on a Medium frame. Some of my riding mates ride M frames, and whenever I sit on them I am cramped for space. It feels awful. Congrats on the new bike. May you have many happy miles.

I read in one of the comments on Bikeradar that apparently the CEO bought himself a couple of Porsche models recently? That's pretty rotten if true considering he obviously knew what was about to happen. I was a fan of YT, and still like the bikes they make, but I won't touch one now.

I wouldn't mind paying less for tyres for my bakkie than my MTB. I need a new set on the rear of my Isuzu and the going rate is around R7k...

Or you could be riding a brand new bike, fresh off the showroom floor and some person riding an e-bike will pass you and make the comment about your non e-bike and try to convince you why you're wrong and they're right.

By not naming him you're playing directly into his hand. He's relying on your hesitation to escalate this fraud and in that way he's not only being dishonest but is also abusing the trust of the forum as a whole while still making money off of it. Time to remove the gloves.

I've always thought Tokai needs its own "Irish climb" ala Jonkers. No better time than now to advocate for that.

Hey @Mapsito Congrats on the decision to get cycling. I wish you all the best in this adventure. I was at 130kg+ around December 2023, and by March 2024 I was down to under 114. Lots of riding and a three week partial fast did it for me. My 2 cents on this chat, and to agree with everyone who mentioned it before, being a bigger rider means wheels are the most likely point of failure. Whatever bike you end up getting, if you can fit a pair of enduro MTB wheels with 30 spokes and 30" inner rim width means you would spend much less on upkeep of those wheels. Stay away from anything remotely marketed as XC-ready and you should be golden. I have a pair of Rapide TR36 enduro wheels with 30 spokes and have now reached the point where I need a new freehub body after almost 9000km but I've never so much as popped a spoke and they are still as true as the day I bought them 5 years ago. And I've ridden them on enduro trails, downhill lines, through rock gardens, cased a bunch of jumps and general abuse. They will work for you if you just ride them normally. https://www.rapide.co.za/product/rapide-tr29-36-sl-rear-wheel-28h/

I like your style, @Mamil Congrats on mamil.tv and I'm keen to see what the next episode holds.

I agree about Lyne. I have a 125mm dropper on my Camber that has over 455 hours on it. Minimal lateral movement after all that time and it has never been serviced. On my Stumpjumper I've got the stock X-Fusion dropper, with 132 hours since new, and it's been serviced after 56 hours. The Lyne has not given me any issues, and the X-Fusion is currently getting stuck at the bottom every now and then needing me to pull it up again.

But, but, but, surely you need the latest S-Works Epic Evo with AXS everything to do the epic? 😉

Nice pic. I'm surprised you didn't pass out from the absolutely horrific stench around that part. I drove past a week or two back and it smells like a loo that was abused and not flushed for a few days.

Hoogekraal is a trail destination known for being a "dangerous" trail centre with many crashes happening there. Even the paramedics know the place. Today I had the task of trying to get paramedics to the bottom of the Cobra after a mate crashed badly. Firstly, attempting to use the Tygerberg whatsapp bot was a fail because the remote location prevented me from dropping a location pin. I ended up phoning Netcare 911 who called me numerous times requesting directions, then calling me to say their ambulance got stuck so they're waiting for us in the parking lot. In the end we hiked out from the bottom to just before the skills park where the medics finally caught up with us, 2 hours after the first call. What I find troubling is that my mate was groggy and nearly passed out a few times, but now he had to walk out up that hill to get to help. This was super risky, but we had no other choice. I just want to know, seeing as this is a regular occurrence at Hoogekraal, is it not possible to make a jeep track from the point were the Spykers trail begins that goes around that hill to the bottom of the Cobra to allow a 4x4 or bakkie /SUV at least to get there to extract injured riders? @tygerbergmtb what do you think of this idea? I had real difficulty getting helped today, and similar happened a few months back when I assisted the rider down at the bottom of Snake, Rattle Roll. This was the guy who's Ford Ranger caused all the confusion at Contermanskloof, causing a search for him across the network. Surely a better way exists to get injured riders helped? Thanks for the Bot, but today it wasn't of much help due to the limited signal Lastly, I'm not fighting, I'm just raising real concerns I've observed helping fallen riders at Hoogekraal recently. It's not easy out there.

This is awesome. I encountered two at Contermanskloof a couple of years ago. They're such amazing little animals.

I killed the Spez Roval wheels on my Stumpy EVO after a handful of rides. Final straw was three consecutive hike-a-bike walks of shame back to the car park from the top of Rhino 1 after that rock garden before the trail head ate my rear wheel. Spent the money to buy a set of Lyne Amp HD Hi-per Mullet Wheelset. I have not had any issues with those wheels. Al the manufacturers tend to spec their bikes with cheap rubbish wheels to keep prices down if you're not buying the top of the range dentist's bikes. I also upgraded from the NX derailleur to the GX at the same time and now that bike is on-point every ride.