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Thanks for the replies Nigel, most insightful. I'm starting to understand the benefits of CSA when it comes to racing.

Looks brutal! Good luck boys and girls.

Around Lakeside a chap asked me to work together with him. He was after a 3h30 after doing a 4h10 last year while I was happy to do a sub 4 bearing in mind conditions and lack of training. We did quite well but I dropped him at Smits and saw later he did just over 4 while I did a 3h51. I think people underestimate what it takes to knock time off. I recall the mid 90's when I was trying really hard for a sub 3 and had several sub 3h20's before everything worked and I did a 2h58. Its a combo of factors from weather, training/health, start group and race experience.

I don't ride there but sometimes take kiddo for a stroll and he rides or scooters. To me its a non-issue. Yes there are a couple of nit wits who ride a bit fast and weave around but I hardly noticed them ( this was the busiest time of day last time) Most of the day its not very crowded at all and its very wide. I responded to the poll with a definite no to closing it to bikes. There are other solutions eg demarcation of a lane on the promenade and enforce that.

I think the majority of SA riders view any gravity event as a crazies only sport. That said, the nature of enduro means that the more riders you have, the longer the day out for everyone. I'm sure there is a happy medium however and I think anything over 100 riders is pretty good. I don't think it will die, despite Jewbacca's gloomy predictions.

Good to hear, that sounds very much like the WCDH racing series. Lets hope we can get the same vibe going here. My sense was that numbers were growing in the WC too. We just need some races in 2022.

I think that DH is run like that, but I'm not saying its the only way. I think that if profit is your main objective then you will be disappointed in the gravity racing business as numbers are always low compared to marathon events, so enduro probably needs to be organized and run like DH. It would be interesting to know how KZN Gravity is organized.

The last EWC event I did was at Contermans. It was expensive but then so are the CTCT and DH events so I don't think it was overpriced. Maybe the issue is money and the desire to profit from the cycle industry and if the money don't come enthusiasm wanes. If I'm not mistaken, WCDH is run by volunteers who don't make money from the events . The vibe at DH events is also very different with lots of kids and enthusiasm from parents and supporters and its growing. So there are definitely customers for gravity racing down here and it works in Kzn, so what is the issue?

Even during lockdown, we were bombarded with media from the Enduro Western Cape team about upcoming events. Come 2022 and WC Downhill are in full swing as are other provinces which have been holding enduros and downhill events for some time. Strangely, there has been nothing about the EWC series or indeed any response to a query I posted to them via Instagram. Cape Town has great trails and lots of keen riders but seemingly no events lined up for 2022? Anyone know what's happening, or better still, could the movers and shakers at EWC give the public some feedback.

Great day out - never been so wet on a road bike before. My alu bike frame ingested so much water it leaked out all over my car and kitchen floor. No real issues other than one or two people doing silly things but nothing out of the ordinary for le Tour. The rain and spray led to an eyeful of debris that i only managed to get out of my left eye by late evening.

I've got some lekker trail running/exercise tops from H&M - Perfect for MTB. On my less than epic rides - i.e less than 30km and not Tokai, I take a pump and nothing else on the assumption that the most likely problem is puncture I'll only need to inflate a tyre after the sealant does its thing. I barely notice my Lezyne pump in my baggies pocket. Many rides in and I haven't even needed it, so you can get away without the pockets on a regular bike top most of the time.

I'm in the midst of carb cleaning and servicing on the twin Mikuni's on the DR750. I have learned an awful lot about how carburetors work (and also why fuel injection was invented...) That said, its a fun learning curve. I'm waiting for some eBay carb service parts to arrive and in the meantime I'm busy cleaning the carbs for a second time. I had hoped to find a local (CT) place to have them cleaned ultrasonically, but so far no luck. Anyone have any leads for this? The bike had its original blue and white hand sprayed over with mat black. Not a good look at all so I'm also busy stripping paint off the plastic using brake fluid -a tip I found on the interweb. The original paint seems to be tougher and doesn't get affected very much by the brake fluid. I must admit I am having my patience tested. I so want to get the bike working and hit the street...

Yeah, I have used mine on the car too. Wife has a mysterious flat tyre every now and then and the bike pump works a treat.

I suspect you fo not debate honestly and raise straw man arguments as you've done in the past on this thread. The torque and power allows an ebike to ride up slopes a normal bike would not be able to and possible spin the wheels damaging the trails. Next you'll be saying an mx bike pushed along the ground does the same damage as one ridden at full throttle.

Last time I looked eBikes put out anything up to 80nm of torque. People like to ride up stuff on them they would not be able to ride on a normal bike (just watch those twits on EMBN) - same as enduro moto people do. With torque and fat nobbly tyres comes trail damage I imagine. They are also quite heavy so I reckon if I was on a 25kg eBike vs my 16kg enduro bike, I'd do a little more damage on the way down too. So its not very hard to see that's why people say and think this. The real question is whether its worth worrying about or not. I tend to think not.

I don't think your expectation is unreasonable at all. My pet hate at the moment is the time wasters who take up your time and leave it up to you to follow up with them when they lose interest in your low value item after concluding a sale but not paying. 😞

KMC are fine - some bike brands supply them as OE.

I think the damage caused by eBikes is probably quite hard to separate from that caused by normal bikes on most trail systems. Tokai is one of the busiest in the country for all types of bikes which makes it even harder. The Gansbaai tracks see a very low usage and its probably easier to pinpoint how and why damage occurred. By the way, an eBike rider was pushing his bike up a mildly technical section of trail on my last ride. Messed up a fun run for me. Not even trying to ride it up. Isn't it illegal to push an eBike with all that power on tap? 🙂

Hayden, give Spesh Head Office in Stellies a call. They helped out a rider via Bikehub with a new chainstay the other day. They may have some older bike parts lying around.(glad to hear the bearings are not rusted btw)

You need to do a lot more than change a missing bolt...that bearing looks rusted to sh#t and chances are the rest are too.

That's almost unbelievable

You guys have just been trolled...

Close - the 750 - 1989 model. Currently not running due to fueling issues. Otherwise it looks okay bar the terrible paint job minor rust and some dirt. I've already had the seat recovered as shown in the pics. First task is to get it running and then see what else needs repair eg brakes and such like.

What have we here... a project bike or perhaps a nightmare. No prizes for guessing what it is... 20220220_163943.heic 20220220_164016.heic