MudLark

Function of tyre to rim relative width?

It's a compromise. A proper gravel drop bar is an altogether a better arrangement.

I have a buddy who has always done these things exclusively on an old GT hardtail. It is really up to you. A dual suspension bike is less tiring and will cross some types of terrain a little bit more quickly perhaps. But a capable rider on a hard tail will manage pretty well as well.

You probably won't know the difference unless you have ridden both a slow bike and a fast bike. The geometry and design makes a very big difference to how hard you have to work to make it move along quickly. Tyres and components also make a significant difference.

There is a reason this thing has only 60 mm travel in the back and 100 mm in the front. And it's fast, very fast. But it is certainly not a trail bike. https://www.trekbikes.com/za/en_ZA/supercaliber/

You would be surprised. A trail bike is more versatile in terms of the terrain it can cover. But on long, fast flowing tracks, it doesn't keep up with the cross-country bike. Let me try and explain it this way: My cycling partner and I do both road and mountain bike. On road, he has a somewhat older road bike than I do but usually beats me to the finish line. When it comes to mountain biking, he struggles to keep up. The reason for that is he has a bike that is more trail orientated and I have a cross-country bike. My cross-country bike is a pretty fast one as these things go. On something like Race to the Sun, he really struggles to keep up – even when he is drafting behind me. That difference is attributable solely to the difference between the two bikes, mainly geometry and what it is designed to do. I'm not a better cyclist, I just have a better piece of kit. And we do not find that he has any advantage either with his trail bike around a place like Northern Farm. I am faster than him there as well. In fact, I have two cross-country bikes. The one has a slightly slacker head angle and a slightly higher stance; it is a bit more trail orientated. The other one is more "pure cross-country race bike". The speed difference between the two is quite remarkable. Purely a function of geometry and design. But I am far more comfortable jumping the trail orientated one and crossing obstacles with it than I am with the pure cross-country bike. So I pick a bike according to what I am going to do that day. Et cetera.

Cath, don't bother. Use your chain checker and replace your chain as soon as it gets to 0.5 wear and your drivetrain will likely last a long time. I've done this on a 1x12 Eagle GX. Three years and 10k km + and the cassette and chainring are still fine. I've upgraded them now anyway but for other reasons. Changing chains yourself is easy BTW. Loads of YouTube vids. You only really need a pair of chain pliers (to remove the quicklink /master link) and a chain splitter to make a new a chain the required length. But if you don't need to do it often anyway, then maybe its more convenient to let your bike shop handle it when they service the bike etc.

Thank you.

Where to find latex tubes though?

Dunno. Bought and sold a few things through the Hub. Never had a problem yet.

As far as I know, non-boost bikes haven't been made for a number of years now. I think they pretty much went out around 2015. I suspect that there are probably a few decent people here on this forum who don't live too far from you and who would be willing to drop by and help Reinet out with the setup if necessary, if that is an option at all.

So, I am a bit younger than your father but not by all that much either. If your father is doing his 32nd CTCT, he's a way more experienced cyclist than I am. But speaking for myself I find that a glass of USN Muscle Fuel helps a lot after a long ride. Then I have no stiffness at all the next day and can happily hit it again.

Is the issue that your Scott is a thru-axle design and her bike is a quick release design?

I understand that cell phone companies can block the IMEI of stolen phones but choose not to. (?)

Very neat! I have an aluminium one (still in the original black and blue) and am very fond of it. They are great bikes.

Have you given any proper thought to what size frame you need? It's all very well buying a bike because it is the right price but if the frame size is wrong for you, it's not going to work – regardless of what a good deal is. Also, changing components in order to get the bike set up right for you can be quite expensive. So you need to find a bike which you already comfortably fit on and with the right frame size. It will pay you to hunt around to find the right bike at the right price. Don't be in too much of a hurry to buy.

I wouldn't buy that bike. You can do better for the money.

Even now there are a few better option in the classifieds. https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/c/mountain-bikes?maximum_price=3000 Maybe take a look at that Trek for example.

Is that the actual bike or just a similar one?

Okay. Your call. I bought a cheap Trek MTB originally quite a few years back (also ally frame, hard tail) with exactly the same thing in mind. Then later when I started to get a bit more serious about things and bought a 'quality' Trek. I simply couldn't believe the difference between the bikes. For me, the 'upgrade the bits as you go along' principle simply never got anywhere even remotely close to what the better Trek bike gave me. But perhaps it will work for you. And yes, cycling is wildly over-commercialised.

Depends upon your perspective. I used to think the same. But I have learnt through experience that the Eagle stuff actually does really last.

Not the kind of bike its going to make sense to upgrade components on. At sub-R4k the entire bike costs less than a SRAM GX Eagle cassette (GX Eagle is mid range or lower end of premium range). Use it until it no longer meets your needs or is totally 'moeg' and then upgrade the whole bike. We all started on what we could afford. But its listed as sold out anyway?

Indeed, why not. And fit a Fox 32 or something else to the front? Uncertain if the flex is the same across the range. AFAIK Procaliber has about 11mm of vertical 'give' in the chain and seat stay setup as well. Don't know if this is true of the Checkpoint too. Might be. Check it out? PS: In my case I got a brand new unused new old stock Procaliber for R18k. So it made cost sense. It was my cheapest option to experiment. And it weighs about the same as a gravel bike. Suspect it's slower than a gravel bike but also way better when things turn quite gnarly. You can comfortably handle a bit of single track etc on it. It's also easy and cheap to reconvert it to stock. So in a sense it's more versatile. But as I say, I suspect slower. I put Panaracer SK 43s on it. I suspect this was a mistake and I should rather have gone with Race King 2.2s. They seem to actually have a lower rolling resistance and I suspect will give an advantage on really bad surfaces etc. I may well give it a try.

It is surprisingly forgiving. It's light years different to a hard tail. I was really surprised when I first rode a Procaliber at a Trek open/demo day. I rode it across sections that I know well from my dual sus in Delta Park (my dual sus has the Fox Re:Aktiv two way shock, which is not as forgiving as 3 way). That what was triggered the idea of building an all purpose bike on this frame. Plus I have long wheelbase XL and with the slack head angle its a hugely stable bike but with good clearance too. The Isopseed requires no maintenance.

Just buy a nitrided chain. The nitride finish reduces friction (besides being hard wearing) and then wax it with a proper penetrating wax chain lube like the one made by Wurth. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts it far exceeds any other combination in reducing friction losses.