SundayCycler

Just a small anecdote of my experience. I managed to find parking without any of the 'car guards' noticing and directing me to a spot. As I was getting ready to leave, a lady parked next to me with a 'car guard' following. The 'guard' immediately told the lady that she needed to pay R100 up front, handing here a printed piece of paper. I told her that there's no need to pay, parking is free and told off the 'guard'. He then tried to convince the lady I was lying and that you have to pay. At one point trying to convince me to help him out in scamming the lady. I kept challenging him and at so he got frustrated, threatening that my car wouldn't be safe. I made sure to make a big commotion about it and as soon as other's took notice he backed down quickly. Thankfully my car was parked in a space that was quite visible so didn't really stress too much about them doing anything to it. The thing though was that even the security in the area were trying to convince the lady that she needed to pay, and as soon as we challenged them, they quietly slipped away. 100% the security are a part of it and are getting a cut. Also noticed a lot of unsavory types lurking around the parked cars after the race and a surprising lack of security. Definitely agree that something needs to be done. Last year was the same circus. No one wants to deal with that type of BS on a day that is meant to be fun and challenging.

https://www.easybike.co.za/oakley-kato-polished-black-prizm-black.html How about these?

I believe it was the product linked below: https://www.shop.liqui-moly.co.za/product/bike-tyre-fix/

Never even considered tubeless but today was a great argument for tubeless. Will definitely be looking at going tubeless.

This was my first 947 and it could not have been any more miserable. It all started with a puncture in the first 10km. Changed tubes but not even 5km down the road I got a another puncture. After using my spare tube I had no more tubes left. Thankfully another rider also stopped to fix a slow puncture and he offered his slow punctured tube (Top man). So I just used the tube with a slow puncture to just keep going. By the time I hit Grayston, that tube also gave out. I made my way to the waterpoint close by and after some kind advice from another rider (what a champ), I got a bottle of foam from Liqui Molly that managed to plug the puncture. That is until after the waterpoint in Fourways. I stopped on the side of the road ready to give up but then a kind family sitting on the side waiting for the friends to come by, offered to ask their friends for a spare tube and without prompt, they sorted me out and sent me on my way (A big thank you to Rikus and Daan and their family and friends, legends!). After getting to Bryanston and those never ending hills my legs started to cramp up, but after all the help from the best of people I was not going to be stopped. I soldiered on and made my way to the line, not before stopping and helping as many as I could along the way, to pay it forward. It may have been a miserable race but in terms of the cycling community this was an amazing race. If it weren't for the kindness of strangers I would have given up long before even getting close to finishing. Will gladly do it again. But I'll be packing at least 4 spare tubes, next time.

Random pics when out riding https://www.instagram.com/sh3zaad/

Hi, I currently use 50mbs up and down and I haven't had any issues. I have multiple people who use the Wi-Fi at the same time and it performs well. You will find a slight lag sometimes but that is mostly due to being in SA rather than internet speeds.

I ride Big Red Barn and Northern Farms often. Big Red Barn is safe. If you're riding on the weekend, there tends to be quite a few people on the trails so you're never really all by yourself. Never had any issues riding there. Trails are great, with continuous maintenance. It does get muddy after some rain and the mud can stay for a bit after but there is usually diverted paths that you can use to mostly skip the mud. NF is also very safe especially on weekends when there are many others on the trails. The longer routes tend to not have as much people on the trails but of all the times I've ridden there I never felt unsafe (well other than coming across a harmless snake or slightly aggressive-looking monitor lizard :P). The longer trails are in good condition but as manicured as Big Red Barn. When it rains it can get muddy but you're on a farm so expect to get dirty. There is an optional section next to the river that gets completely flooded during rain, so the trail in that section tends to get washed out and 4 weeks ago I had to hike a bike over a fallen tree in that section. All in all good trails that can get muddy but most of it is rideable when muddy.

Saw that as well. I'm sure those two AG2R riders who couldn't get the bottles are waiting to have some words with that soigneur. Bad day out for Movistar though.

Just saw this on GMBN. Gratz! https://youtu.be/lqhNGCDbIys?t=1273 Edit: Link

That was one of my biggest worries. I rode through it with buff on and luckily fitted a front mudguard the week before. Hopefully you're feeling better now. If not then a trip to the GP might be in order just to be sure.

Also did the 25km (nowhere near fit enough to tackle the 55km at a decent pace) and I must say it was enjoyable. It was just technical enough to ensure you weren't just cruising but also not too difficult so you could enjoy the ride. Really had fun with this year's run. Fair enough there were a few bottlenecks but of the 4 947's I've done, I've always come across bottlenecks.. The worst part was the black water. A few of us went across it and simply repeated what the announcer said; that it was not sewage and the smell was from the sewage close by. None of us were convinced. That last climb did put me in the red as well but I was happy with my time. (1h30 dead as well, if I put anymore effort I was sure to pass out at the line).

Thanks all for the tips and advice. I think I won't rush and get a full set and will start building up my tool collection when the need arises. I guess I found another money sink ????

Hi all, I am looking to get into maintaining and upgrading my own bicycles. As much as I enjoy giving support to the local shop, I feel I need to learn how to work on a bicycle. Seeing as I have little to no experience with maintaining and upgrading a bicycle I was wondering what would be the best to go far. Should I get a pre-packaged set or by the tools individually? If going for a set should I go big or would a stock standard set work just as well? Also, after looking around I haven't found much in terms of sets for sale locally on the internet; mostly generic no name sets which I am wary of. I am looking for something that has all the tools to replace a drivetrain, bottom bracket and also be able to remove the fork and install a new one. One requirement I have is that I need a BB remover tool for both square taper as well as hollowtech. The set that I though of getting was the Icetoolz 82A8 Ultimate Tool Kit. Would this set be good enough? I know I'll need to get a BB remover tool for the square taper on top of this. Some advice or direction would go a long way. Thanks.

Had some time to do some extreme googling and I believe the bike is a Dreidoppel 666 Extreme. It is German made, and there were two generations made. The one in the pic may be the first generation. Not sure as there is next to nothing on the bike. Hopefully this gives you something to work with.

I use their composite pedals and after multiple pedal strikes, a torn shoe and mangled cranks, the pedals are still good. Great company. Been eyeing the EDC system for a while.

I was leaning towards the idea of building up a bike, I guess I just needed the extra encouragement. Although I will say the Momsen looked tempting. Maybe I'll look at the Momsen frames as well.

Added links to the bikes I've looked at.

Hi Hubbers I need advice on my next mtb. I'm currently riding a basic 2017 Rockhopper and I think it's about time I upgraded and got a new bike. I've been looking around at bikes with a budget of R20k. I want to stick to a 29er hardtail (because I'm stubborn like that). I mostly ride XC or fairly intermediate trails (no big jumps or crazy rock gardens). Just looking for the next bike in the journey, I want to know from you guys which bike do you think I should be looking at. Been keeping an eye on the classifieds but haven't found anything yet that made me want to throw my money at. A few bikes I've looked at: Momsen Al529 Norco Charger 1 Specialized Rockhopper Expert I'm also considering the idea of getting a frame and slowly building up a bike as my current ride still gets things done. So what do you guys think?

I can vouch for that Seattle, had a cup there a few times and not only was the coffee excellent so too was the service.

It was a pleasure, I'm glad I was able to help, PistolJay.

Welcome to the Hub, PistolJay I'm no expert in fact I'm quite the newbie when it comes to bikes but after some searching I found that the bike itself was made by Xtension bikes, and the model is the Xtreme. Xtension was a company based out of Germany (as evident from the only link I could find to their now dead website) but it seems that they're no longer running. I did notice that some of the later bikes had the brand Azonic who seem to no longer make any frames but do sell their own mtb parts. Perhaps they were bought over or changed branding. Anyways that's just me messing around on the internet and I hope that it helps in some way. Edit: The bike's model under Azonic was the Recoil.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I assume the right direction is starting out at Kloofzicht?

Good day hubbers, just a little thread hijack as I need some quick advice. I'm planning on riding the cradle MTB route for the first time tomorrow. I was wondering what would be a good time to go as I'd prefer it to be busy (i.e. safe) but not too busy as I'm just a beginner and don't want to get in the way of others?

Took a friend to Northerns this morning for his first ride. http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/Zoos0087/IMG_20180114_100134932_HDR.jpg http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/Zoos0087/IMG_20180114_100115856_HDR.jpg http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/Zoos0087/IMG_20180114_093608135.jpg