tinmug

I'm sure everything has already been said here, but allow me to add the bits that came to mind immediately (without reading through the whole discussion ... sheesh people, I know it's only Wednesday but there is work to do!). Hardtail: quite frankly I find the stress of looking after pivots and yet another suspension part far more stressful than it sound to me before I bought a bike. Then again my local mechanic is seemingly as skilled as a Mongolian nun when it comes to servicing bikes, and the next nearest mechanic is only marginally better. Also I am poor. And old. So image is not a priority for me. What was the question again (see! I told you I'm old)? Second wheel set does make sense. Or a cheap road bike. it will make you enjoy your MTB even more. * Disclaimer: it's been a few years since I've ridding a hard tail, so I may be writing from a sense of false impression re the comfort and the effects on my wrinkly old arse. But I like mechanical simplicity. And I suppose what I was really trying to say above (but didn't; refer to my point re age) is that buy a hard tail might leave a little change that can go towards a nice little carbon gravel bike. You know you want to. Why else would you seek encouragement? 😆

The R27 – from a road safety perspective – is a lot better with the speed cameras in place (it used to be mayhem with people driving north of 160 km/h, meaning more driving inside the yellow line). Lots of truck traffic (although nowhere near as bad as an N road or the route to Namibia), and I'd avoid cycling it on Fridays and Sundays. Cannot comment on road surface – ride a MTB and don't ride the R27. Another vote for ducking into the West Coast National Park: (gets you off the R27 sooner and) great meandering route along the southern lagoon and spits you out into Langebaan, with a pretty safe passage on north towards the Saldanha airport where you can turn right towards Vredenburg and then on to St Helena (all pretty safe I think, with a narrow stretch as you come up to Slipper Bay again). Another option is to Malmesbury, then west to Darling, continue towards Yzerfontein, short stretch on R27 to West Coast National Park gate. Pretty scenic riding and avoids the get-there-as-fast-as-possible types and fewer trucks from Malmesbury onwards. Enjoy the ride.

Fair argument. I still won't give DSTV a cent. 😆

This service materialised pretty late. I suspect the UCI reacted to growing discontent by viewers (or the sponsors put pressure on them to extend the broadcast reach). That said I would not be surprised to see a smart TV app appear in the coming weeks/months. Easy enough on Mac environment: open on browser and send it to Apple TV and watch in the lounge with popcorn on coffee table. Nothing unique about that; every other device has the same wireless and effortless capabilities. Support the feed (i.e. pay for it) and it will remain available to us in bottom of Africa.

Yes.

Evie and some Kiwi roadie.

Reboot and back in business. 👌

Bought a Staylive sub, but the site kicks me out the minute I sign in. Unable to watch. Nice one ICU. 🤨

Maybe a Frenchman can explain to me how his is good for the sport?

Bingo! 🤘😎🤦‍♂️ Thank you for that. I was just about to order that Wahoo. And thanks for all the ideas and videos everyone, hugely appreciated (and staves off the straitjacket for another day).

That far I got, but cannot fathom out how to SAVE the new Bike/Activity Profile (after naming it).

I manage to come to the same conclusion all by myself. 🤯

Wrong unit, the Edge 530 doesn't have a Done button (but it 💩 should!).

I know I've done it before. But for the life of me I cannot figure out how to add a second bike profile to my Edge 530. I got as far as typing a new name for it aaaand ... well, that's it. The buttons either add more characters to the name, change the character menu or quit (or switch off the unit). How can this be so difficult? How can I be this dumb?

@_David_ Better hand-position variety. Much lighter. Simpler. Wide range of tyre options; i.e. right wheel width for the job. All of these combined equals more speed (and in some cases more comfort). The downside is that people might confuse you with a hipster.

Fantastic. Even the colour is nice, and the packaging is brilliant. Thank you for the detailed photos and write-up. I may have missed it but what did the financials look like for this little exercise?

Definitely seems to be more of them around at races (Western Cape). I live out in the sticks, and when my wife fell in love with cycling she started with a mountain bike. Very quickly upgraded to a better mountain bike but then yearned for more efficiency. I found a beaut of a road bike for her, which she liked but not loved. Gravel bike penny dropped and that poor thing clocks up several thousand kilometres a year now, much of it on dirt. She still has and rides the full-sun, but the (much lighter ... carbon fibre) skinny-tyre bike is the bike of choice. Every time. Good enough for dirt (and even the odd single track) and just fine for road miles; with the added benefit of a multitude of hand positions. Best of both worlds. * Then again waaay back in the day we used to ride our road bikes like that anyway. 🙃

Is that what they call tandems these days?

Just marry the * stem. Might be cheaper.

Ive had phenomenal service in-store at two of the Thule dealers (Cape Town area). Probably helps to actually be inside the store speaking one-on-one with someone (so they can se the desperation in your eyes 😁).

I can write a lengthy analysis on ... Ley's cut the chase: Thule. Your children will be happy when they inherit it one day (and will probably be able to get parts for it then too).

1,9 mil zars for a bicycle? With no suspension? https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/mar/14/australian-track-cycling-team-paris-olympics-hanzo-bike-cost

I'm pretty sure everyone here knows who JW is, and what (many of) his achievements are. But it's still good fun to rag him a little now and then. Obvs enormous respect. 👏🦾 Great Epic. Entirely worthy winners all-round. Enjoyed the routes and scenery (and even the broadcast ... can ya believe it) this year (like we all do every year, but route just consistently nicer this year than in recent years > from a telly perspective) and ready for the 2025 broadcast (if WW3 doesn't interfere, that would be a tad annoying).

... but the (student) night life in Stellies will keep him going. 🤘

That's like you saying you can outride that fine athlete that Matthew Beers is (and that is a compliment of the highest order, in case I sound vague). 😎