Zebra

I have a Ravemen 1200, has setting for both ‘Road’ (shaped light) and ‘MTB’ (unshaped light). MANY settings, incl digi read-out of battery time remaining, having USB in AND out, means you can charge a cellphone on the fly… It is not light-weight; that would (maybe) be a unicorn light! But a VERY capable/solid light. www.ravemen.com Chris

Frame wrapping; any CT leads on who does it? (i can have a go myself, but it might be cool to get it done, etc.). Tx, Chris

…not what you asked, but do be aware that KTM has officially stopped selling all KTM electric bikes, and the company itself is experiencing short-term difficulties, so support may/may not be an issue. Cheers Chris

Yes, of course, makes sense, and…fun, too!

...and in the late 80's, he had a shop at the bottom of Loop Street (?), a ground floor shop in a skyscraper, with good passing traffic, etc. Myself & a Mate each bought a Peugeot Mirage, with another friend buying the uprated Peugeot Classique, all on the same day - fun times!

…for those interested, my last new bike, yup, W-A-S 35+ years ago, BEFORE the invention of front shocks, IIRC, so i flew to UK, bought a hard tail/hard FRONT MTB, and set about touring UK/Ireland/Wales, and then on to Pak/China: great memories, with spare spokes stuffed down the seat tube! ..oh, and 3x was a ‘thing’…🤣

@BuffsVintageBikes thanks for detailed insights, I am 90kg ‘in my socks’, without luggage, so we shall see how MY back wheel holds up…thanks for fore-warning me…🫡 A year back, for my 29”er, I did buy cheap Chinese tail bag and handlebar-roll, (Newboler) but feel they are not up to the rigours of SA touring… (attached is a close-up pic of rim profile on my own Revolt bike; since it is a ‘22/‘23 model year, I feel i MAY have the same (older-style) rims as you?) An affordable Natal-based company makes many fabric items, one of which is made-to-measure frame bags; will report my progress here, they use Ripstop + industrial zip, we shall see! Around R1200 for the frame-fit bag, IIRC. Made to measure. I love a bargain, as long as it works! Am thinking of having them design a quick-release frame bag (meaning faster than Velcro straps), for my rather particular needs, will see what they say! I see the ALU versions of Revolt all have the extra bottle cage mount u/neath the down tube, whereas this is MISSING on ALL the Carbon revolts. This extra mount is useful, since i have used it many times on my Alu 26”er, and, apart from mud/grit around the mouthpiece, have never lost a water-bottle in that location, low COG, etc -lekker optional spot, when needed! Your bike looks well-sorted; it was ONLY when i read of your desire to do RASA, that i reconsidered my retirement Munga ambitions, and instead, thought: RASA could be fun….🤔 Doing it with or around @BuffsVintageBikes could be fun….🤔 …‘Kicking his butt’ would be amazing… 🤣🤣🤣 (…in my dreams!).

Did a quick ride, HB - Fish Hoek circle - HB, bike performed very well indeed, needs a bit of gear adjustment, but ride was ‘buttery smooth’, and i actually think that the minor cleat-reposition that Irma suggested made a difference. Ignore the ‘aero’ bottle set-up; that is temporary, whilst i design a frame-fit bag for the triangle, I have already made a template, bike will be used for some touring, thus the frame-fit bag requirement. Had to remove both bottle cages for the template, so ‘out back’ they went! (from my tri-bike in my late 20’s…!) Very affordable, and a brilliant feel - am happy with it! Chris

Bought a Giant Revolt, my 1st new bike in over 35 years, IIRC! (though have had a good few 2nd hand bikes in that time!) Got good advice from @ChrisF on why the Revolt over the Avalanche, as well as the very capable Titan…. And yes, I wanted 2x… @Buff confirmed he, too, was very happy with his Revolt, which was reassuring. I got good service from GECO cycles, and his ADVERTISED price was so good, that it beat most all other shops nationally - admittedly this is the 2022/2023 model year spec, but this new bike was advertised on BikeHub at R25k all in, as compared to R29,995 nationally, for same 2023 model. (to be clear, i was not bargaining on price, his price was simply 18-odd percent better than nationally advertised ‘discounted’ price). He double-wrapped the bars for me, since i have large hands AND the bar felt somewhat ‘skinny’ on the test ride. (he - @Geco Cycles Fred Koleske, owner - also kindly bought the bike to my work premises 2 days ago, for a quick test ride/look over, pre-purchase, this was HIS suggestion, and a nice touch!) Being a S.Suburbs resident, had never even HEARD of Geco; a cool store, with some beautiful, vintage Battaglin’s displayed around the store! Nice. Then directly with new bike to Irma, of Irmfit, for my 1st ever bike fit, she was VERY thorough, very professional, and i felt i got something out of her discussion even before i climbed on the bike - as ChrisF said, i would spend over 30 mins just giving history, and getting advice, BEFORE climbing on the bike! many on here recommended her; was money well spent). (in between all of this, ChrisF and i had a mini-breakfast catch up, nice!). Onwards, and upwards Chris

Interestingly enough, i heard the ‘trails remain closed’ update on 567 Cape Talk yesterday (whilst en-route to buy a new bike); and i think it was the 3rd or 4th time i had heard the ‘update’…on radio, but have seen advisories elsewhere, and i am light on social media… From my perspective after SUCH a major fire, there are 2 types of riders: …those that will rightly ASSUME the trails may well be closed, after so much devastation, etc, until they hear the contrary… …and those that suspect it may be closed, but it may be open, but rather than ENQUIRE, simply ride…. FFS, a c-u-r-s-o-r-y check will provide the answer…. ON THIS VERY FORUM…! The Tokai mountain bike trails in Cape Town are currently closed due to fire damage, according to Bike Hub. The trails were closed by SANParks during and after the fires, and the TokaiMTB team is working to assess the damage and determine when and to what extent they can reopen, as stated in the same Bike Hub article.

Fair comment. In Aussie Dollars, it was actually rather affordable (the base, 800W model). And i felt that by the time i had some miles on it, it would then be on sale in SA; but i think it makes sense to wait; thanks, Buff.

Morning, Willie, it almost seems like you have an ‘agenda’, both with the 1st post, and then with the 2nd…? Or maybe i just READ it that way! 😁 Price per kilometre? Now THAT is a whacky metric! 🤯 With all due respect to Chat GPT, Freedom Challenge is more - for me - of a Life Challenge/life ‘event’ than an out and out ‘race’, whereas the Cape Epic is 8 days of pretty-much surviving it, if you race it hard… …and then few people get 28 days off work to do one event, so i DO think ACE is still PRETTY MUCH one of the toughest MTB races worldwide, with Freedom Challenge and the brilliant Munga being in a different category, as it were… For me, its almost comparable to say an 8-day gruelling foot race, versus say someone doing a foot race -over 28 days say, they are BOTH tough, one likely with more INTENSITY, the other foussed on ENDURANCE and getting the body to last… I think for the regular guy & gal, the ACE is one of the most gruelling, with a few other SPECIAL challenges being arguably harder, but then not really a mass event? Chris: ACE 3-peat. (the easier ones, to be fair: ’06, 07 & 08; they are tougher-still these days…)

No, got busy with family in Sydney, then time ran out…sad to say. Watched over 20+ videos; most all (paid AND unpaid) reviewers raved about the motor, and said the bike (frame/componets OTHER than the motor) were good, not great, but good. Since then 3 OTHER companies have launched bikes using DJI motor, but these 3 companies not represented in S.A. Brother in Law visited Cape Town 2 weeks back, from Sydney, but could not FLY with the battery, so bike could fly WITHOUT battery, then battery by ship OR specialist hazardous materials carrier = prohibitively expensive So, i passed, fornow. So, am watching and waiting, but when ‘Outer Mongolia’ and South Isalnd New Zealand have the bike, am sad that it is not available locally = OPPORTUNITY for someone! many, many reviewers are amazed that a drone-building company could get SO MUCH right in their FIRST ATTEMPT! Cheers Chris

A very big thanks to ChrisF, (and Greta), for travelling out to Hout Bay, and enabling me to test-ride his newish M/L Giant Revolt; they settled in for coffee at Dunes restaurant, whilst I rode up Chappies and back (10km, but i got a real feel for the bike…). I managed to find odd gravel patches on the way down, and the ride was PLUSH! Super-slick shifting, beautiful off-Gold paint job, VERY comfortable ride, ticks all the boxes, I MAY opt for a Large over the M/L, personal preference, both sizes overlap, and i am ‘in’ the overlap, we shall see! Followed by breakfasT at Dunes restaurant, on the MOST beautiful/tranquil day; the Republic’ REALLY had her best face on today, nary a breath of wind, and i even got a cold-water sea swim in beforehand (10.8 degrees!). Thanks, Chris & Greta, loved meeting up, loved the bike, and the good chat afterwards! Onwards, & Upwards Chris

@Buff_CT

No less than SEVEN police vans/response vehicles parked in Emergency Lane N1 inbound, near Paarden Eiland/Marine Drive Interchange, seemingly busy with a biggish operation - i have no further info, since was in the opposite lane outbound, but it was directly opposite the squatters/bridge 'of trouble' - keen to hear if anyone knows anything further Cheers Chris

I rode it this evening (small motorbike), safe to CLIMB it on a bicycle, but be VERY careful going downhill at speed, the road IS pretty good in most places, BUT there is one roughish patch with a ‘lip’ to it, if going down, be extra vigilant. Paradoxically enough, and NOT being a Civil Engineer, the Chinese/Japanese/Taiwanese WOULD have fixed it in an afternoon, with a shortish Tea-Break included…. Living at the foot of Chapmans Peak on and off for 30 years, i have seen how quickly Entilini (and others) fix MAJOR issues. I found it embarrassing that in a year, it has not been fixed. Chris

Fair comment, @Vaultboy Chris

If its KIDS/Juveniles, then likely to see the Helicopters collecting water from dams, and dumping it on the fire-line… If ADULTS, then possibly disgruntled non-land owners, burning walking trails and MTB trails, much used by the well-heeled, land that could conceivably be used for housing…? and EVERY city/town has its own Pyromaniacs, could be that? …there are articles written about likely scenarios.

I rather think that the SQLabs inner bar ends are not what CSA, etc, think of as inner bar ends, but rather CONVENTIONAL MTB (longer) bar ends RELOCATED to the middle of the handlebars; I may be wrong, but this is my understanding… (meaning these ‘thumb grips’ cannot be used as a lay-on mini-aero bar, whereas regular MTB bar ends in middle of handlebars can be used more as an aero ‘rest’…)

…following your thread…

…since the Forum-part of the BikeHub is not a SALES channel, i do think it is fair to ask for advice/opinions, then promptly move actual selling of them over to the Buy & Sell part of the forum, to sell them; the Mods can be quite strict on this, but i think go ahead, and ask!

BAD for his 1st attempt? With an off? No, some cyclist take 5 yrs + to podium, even more, it was a SUPREME effort, with a slight error, in his FIRST P.B. I thank MvdP had his number, EVEN if he had NOT gone over-the-bars. its cool to disagree; i think it was a superb effort - even 2nd place, by TP… Chris

I thought it was a very well-balanced article, which gave me a much-clearer idea of just how much this event has changed in its nature, from ‘endurance’-focus, to much more of a skills-focus. Back in 05/06/07, it really was more of a gravel-type stage race, with say a bit of Groenlandberg, and small bits of single-track thrown in, whereas today it really is a different ‘animal’. I am wiser for reading his well-reasoned argument. Chris

Look, this really was very funny! Thanks for posting…!