Dappere

Wrap it, I have wrapped most of my Mtbs through Armour Ride. For the my mtbs I go with the full custom wrap and road bike I generally go with the essentials wrap. It does make a difference. Comparing my wrapped Mtb with my mates unwrapped mtb, bought a week apart. The difference is night and day. Mates bike was full of general trail usage scratches, where my paint job still looked fresh. Can't speak of 3M, but I know Armour Rides wrap also offers UV protection. Helps with resell.

Best advice I can give you is to go a try a few at a bike shop. Road bike sizing, like most things in the bike industry isn’t standard. Some manufactures 54 might be like other brands 56. Once you get a good idea of the geometry fits you, it’s relatively easy to compare those numbers to the various manufactures geometry charts and see which size fits best. There is also an element of riding style. How aggressive you’d like the bike to be or not, and most importantly - comfort. I am a few centimetres taller than you are. All the mtbs I have owned are large. One of my road bikes are 54 and the other is 56, both very similar in geometry numbers. If you’d like to start a search on the hub, maybe search for 54, 55 and 56. Go an ride this bikes and see what is more comfortable.

Not at all, but would depend what terrain you ride and plan on riding in the future. HT make you a better rider in my opinion. Should budget not be an option, you could look at the Supercaliber, has elements of a HT, but still has a little bit of suspension in the back for harder hits. Otherwise I second what some have said in the thread, Steel HT.

There are quite a few reasons. Which I am sure some hubbers could dispute and mention that it could also be done on home and content, but I don’t entirely agree with that. I choose stand-alone: your bike is covered for theft at home and away from home. you are covered for accidental and malicious damage, away from home and at home. you are covered for outlier scenarios, like driving into your garage and forgetting your bike is on the roof of your car. This happens more than most tend to admit. at claims stage, you generally get more options and not just a cash settlement. As the product is specifically designed for bicycles and their usage criteria. you generally get discount on adding multiple bikes on a policy. Ultimately the decision remains yours, but giving the investment made on bicycles I choose the peace of mind which is given to me by a stand alone bicycle insurance product. At the end of the day, that is essentially insurance - peace of mind. happy to answer any more questions?

I prefer to get standalone bicycle insurance, as oppose to insuring my bikes under home and contents. You could also checkout MiWay or JaSure, both offer comprehensive bicycle insurance.

Hardtail is perfect. The blue route is a bit more technical, but also more than doable on a hardtail.

The red route should be doable with a gravel bike.

I generally buy a selected few items from selected brands. Having tried a bunch of brands in the past, I found those that I really like, and most importantly provides a great level of comfort. I feel I spent more money trying new brands than just sticking to what works. Most of my cycling apparel is Assos, for someone who does a lot of riding they last the longest in my opinion and remain comfortable. Recently received a Vye Thermal jacket as a present and for the listed price it's an amazing jacket. My first pick would probably be to remain with Assos, and a bit reluctant to sway for the above mentioned reason, but then again I was pleasantly surprised by the Vye jacket. Would likely support a local brand if the quality and comfort is there.

I second ArmourRide. Had my bike wrapped by them a while back. Opted for the custom option that covers most of your bike. Dean came and fetched the bike wrapped it and dropped it off. Highly recommend using them.

I mostly ride ride Bottelary, Stellenbosch and Tygerberg, distances anything from 40 to >100km. As for events, I try and do most of the local one's. The next one on my calendar is the Origin of Trails in Stellenbosch. I am doing the attakwas next year, also the epic and the Supercaliber is the bike I am using on those events. To date I have done long rides on the bike that was a mix of flowy single track to some rather technical sections and climbs. Bike was comfortable throughout - noting to complain about. I did however add a dropper to the bike and changed the integrated handlebar/stem to a normal bar and stem until I am hundred percent happy with my fit. Only then will I evaluate if the integrated handlebar's fit is right for me. To your question: Would the bike be right for you, well it depends on the type of rider you are? The bike requires you to do some work in certain sections and then in other sections less work. As mentioned the 60mm out back does feel more than 60mm, but this isn't a bike that will feel as subtle as say the 115mm travel of my previous Top Fuel. I can't stress this enough, you need to set up the bike correctly and this can only be done by putting in some time in the saddle and tweaking. From my perspective, I think for the listed races the bike would be perfect, as it's the bike I would ride those races on, but that might be different for you. I like the bike so much, that I would probably buy another one. Without going in circles, what are you looking to get from your next bike? Maybe I can shed some light on those areas.

The struggles are real at CWC / Cyclelab. I have sent both channels (cwc and cyclelab website) a message regarding a product a while back, not relating to this campaign they are running about product. They hardly get back to you, at least in my experience. They might have good prices on products on the occasion, but their customer service is terrible.

The Supercaliber has some characteristic that you would enjoy coming from a hardtail, but can state with certainty its defiantly not a hardtail, or a softtail as some people allude too. The 60mm of travel out back does feel like a bit more than 60mm, but its not as plush as that of my previous Top Fuel with a 115mm out back. Getting the setup correct can take some playing around with. The suggested suspension settings is a great start, but found I am about 10 psi lower than the suggested and playing around with tokens also helped the shocks feel. Depending on your type of riding and goals, the bike might be an option for you. Till date I can only speak good of my experience with the bike. Got some PRs on climbs (to be expected) and descends. The bike is very responsive and wants to be pushed. Best to go to a Trek dealership and try one to see if the bike would suit your needs.

@GRG coming from having a few Trek Top fuel’s, I settled on the Trek Supercaliber.

Reached out to fluid lines a while back to enquire about a Orbea Oiz. CWC is bringing them into SA from now on and not Fluid lines. Best to go there if you are looking for one. Due to the amount of stock available, I settled on a different bike, but again best to reach out to CWC.

@DieselInDust thank you. First time I hear of go-cycle. The bib shared in on par of what I am looking for. have you ridden any of their bibs?

I wouldn’t ride with valuables in those pockets. Only nutrition. Much easier to access on the mtb

I do agree, but looking to use the pockets for nutrition only; like gels and bars.

Thank you @etienne_jordaan @JulienR none of the vendors seem to have my size, but I have sent an email.

I have been looking around for cargo/adventure bibs. Although very popular in Europe, they don't seem to be that popular in RSA. When referring to cargo bibs, it's those with the mesh pockets on the legs. They are great for longer MTB rides. From browsing I have found 3 options: Ciovita: https://ciovita.co.za/collections/mens-cycling-bibs-shorts/products/mens-cargo-commuter-bib-shorts I haven't had the best experience with Ciovita bibs, wouldn't be me first choice. Enjoy: https://enjoy.cc/product/mens-bib-short-proxision-cargo-black/ Seems like a good option, but the product shots doesn't show where these pockets are. Santini: https://www.cyclelab.com/product/santini-men-s-black-gravel-bib-shorts No stock. I have messaged and emailed cyclelab regarding this bib, but like most occasions, they hardly get back to you. - Does anybody have a cargo bib they can recommend, or have one of the above that they can provide a bit more feedback on?

CBR in Durbanville, probably the best in the business -> http://www.carbonbicyclerepairs.co.za

Any pictures?

@Lehane Thanks for the insight. Currently also considering moving to the Supercaliber, coming from the Top Fuel. I had both the 2019 and 2020 versions of the Top Fuel. The 2020 Top Fuel is a different kind of monster compared to the 2019 Top Fuel. It descends like crazy. It's a completely different bike. What types of trails to you ride mostly? Do you take part in any stage races? I have ridden the Supercaliber twice, and it's inline with my needs, but hard to tell from just two rides. Hoping you could give some insight on long term usage?

@Darkhorse Wheels Beat me to the punch, @Sepia I was going to recommend having a look at the Darkhorse Bikes. Don't own one myself, but have only heard good things.

Yeah they are. There is a small Canyon shop in Stellenbosch, if you'd like to test ride one as well. Buying one seems to be a task on its own, they are always out of stock, when you have bought one, you will wait for quite a while to get your bike, more than the estimated arrival time suggested by Canyon. (pre-covid experience).

It is possible, you’ll need an headset reducer in order to make this work. The below product is sold out, but good starting point for the parts needed - https://bikemob.co.za/products/cannondaleheadsetconversiontotapered