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This trail center looks amazing. The speed of the top riders is mind blowing...

Agreed. I recall doing the very much a fun ride Eselfontein 3 day and having some testosterone fueled apple farmers holding everybody up the moment there was anything technical on the trail - i.e all the time. At one point there was a train of riders being held up by these situationally unaware ego wallies. There was also a palpable lack of respect to women riders, especially those who were quicker than their male counterparts...

When you try and do a cable on a new Scott you need to take the headset off anyway because of the innovative and oh so necessary headset cable routing...(said nobody ever)

Having watched the day 6 highlights and seeing what CL and AW did when they got the puncture makes me think they sealed their own fate (punny?) by trying to repair a terminally ill tyre and rim. Had they simply pedalled on to the tech zone with the insert still in the rear rim they would not have wasted all that time trying to fix it and would have been able to ride much faster... hindsight is horrible.

Good points made by our pundits except for the hair drier comment - I don't own one... yet. I fully agree that cable systems also f out - I mean recall those awful old bikes with multi piece cable outers - one wet ride and your shifting was shot - now with one piece outers they hardly notice rain or a bike wash. Of course its pretty easy to fit a fresh cable if it breaks and its usually pretty obvious what the issue is, opposed to a mystery shifting failure on an AXS system.

I know of another rider - Masters women whose entire AXS stopped working - had to do most of the day as a SS and without the AXS dropper. Reinforces my view that electronics on a bicycle is a dumb idea...

That too, but Nino had an electrical issue on Groenlandberg stage - Gerald mentioned it, and so did Nino in the post stage interview

So what issues did Nino Sram have with his brand new AXS the other day...May have cost them the race?

Good points, but things like disk brakes arrived when the bike industry wasn't trying so hard to rip consumers a new one so a frame upgrade was probably not a mortgage altering affair. I don't have an issue with improved performance - which this design (excluding the silly electronic shift assist) seems to provide. It also looks good. I do have an issue with overpriced bling that is basically unaffordable to most people being shoved done my throat on every YT channel as if its the equivalent of intelligent life being found on Uranus. 🙂

Lets keep this thread going with all things EWC. A few team changes and some great looking trails for the opener.

Well I guess when your bike costs R100k for entry level people start thinking you have deep pockets...

You are in the minority I suspect

Make a bit of profit?1? lol ... I'd say the entry fee is extortionate and exclusionary no matter how spectacular the trails are, as is R250 for a day permit. Jonkershoek still has the best views and trails in the greater CT area and it costs but R60 for a day permit. The JH enduro will cost you R450 for an event that will provide a tough work out and views for days. MTB has strayed way too far from its roots thanks to the corporatization of the sport. I recall riding Lourensford races many years ago for the then standard entry fee of R50 or maybe less...

When you have to replace your whole bike to get the latest shift tech to fit ...

She is tough but in fact I am tougher and I run 11-42 10s on my HT and 10-42 11s on my heavy bike. 🙂

I was having this problem on my old 9 speed 105 groupset. I could not work it out until I checked the jockey wheels. They were the old non bearing variety and were poked causing the chain to bind on the cage at the lower pulley if i back pedalled even a bit while free wheeling. I swopped the pulleys for some used 10 speed XT bearing pulleys and the problem went away.

YT is full of clowns jumping on their bike frames to prove the derailleur doesn't break. How do you reckon force of a riding crash impact on the indestructible derailleur will affect frames - surely more force is going to be transmitted to the chain and seat stays?

Yes it does have that advantage for the rest of us but in fact all you have to do is shop around for Shimano Deore, brand new. My wife just went next level on her 10 speed 1x with an 11 -46 cassette and 10/11 speed derailleur for the massive sum of R1400.00.

Dunno why I thought you were a chem engineer 🙂

But he's a mechanical engineer and you are a ____________ engineer? I think time will tell whether any of his concerns have merit or not. Like when you try and get your gears working and there's no scope to adjust the hanger. Oh, but they say its indestructible?Hold my beer SRAM! Right now, the price makes it an absolute nonsense IMO. I love the fact that Shimano are making sure that "normal" cyclists have decent long lasting and reliable shifting be it 10 speed or 12 speed at a price that is affordable. To me this new eagle is just elite nonsense that will remain unaffordable for most cyclists. The youtube shills are at it in force on this one...

I actually read your post this time and watched the video a few more times... Hard to judge speed but it looks like the SUv was going plenty fast and probably reacted late leading to a loss of control. Fortuners aren't known for high speed stability and cornering prowess when pushed from what I hear. On the biker front, it looks like they were entering a freeway at rather low speed - which is my pet hate about drivers - you need to get on at the freeway speed. The group can always regroup if they get split up at this time - I don't agree with trying to manipulate the traffic or occupy a lane the way they did.

Feeling a bit jealous of all the riding pics... my slow motion DR Big moto restoration is proceeding, well very slowly. I have however picked up the cudgels after an extended festive season lay off and got going again. I'm working back to front and a problem I had was the worn out chain slider. Amazingly Suzuki can still supply one at nearly R1k after a few weeks. I decided to make myself one and eventually managed to source a 13mm thick HDPE cutting board which I have cut and carved and glued and heated until I had something that looks rather good IMHO. It was cheap and a lot of fun to make. (The chain is clearly a bit rusty but the sprockets are not worn out and I'm leaving this as is for now.) Next is to resolve some airbox issues and possibly order a new air filter, then some final carb setting up.

Yes, also find it strange people are trying to apportion blame in a situation where a speeding driver, possibly on her phone, suddenly meets a truck in the r/h lane and loses control. Size of the group is irrelevant as you point out. Driver probably not even aware there were any riders on the road. What an idiot.

Looks ready to fit on a fat finger...

Ya but you can probably buy two Novatecs for the price of one of those.