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3 hours ago, Danger Dassie said:'Investment property' developments being sold by developers. A 1 bedroom, which is basically a loft with enough space for a double bed, just. Apartment. Literally half the size of Mandela's prison cell.
At least a bike at any price provides a platform of escape.How long is a piece of string, it can be pulled in many ways.
Dude, my R3k 2005 9 speed Raleigh provides almost the same "platform of escape"
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Those wheels make this look cheap...
https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/road-bikes/642688/new-cervelo-s5-custom-medium-54cm
CRC has been around for years and was i think better run before the Wiggle buy out. What other options are there in the UK for we bargain hunting Saffers?
I have used bike-discount.de before with good results.
some more
7 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:Enduro is losing riders as well and XCO teams are also shrinking. U23 in particular is in trouble because many of the riders are on small teams that can't travel to all the venues. So unless the teams get a slice of the revenue its going to be dead in a few years
i think its a case of greed by the UCI and its organizer/broadcast partners.
38 minutes ago, Dry Biltong said:brilliant season
new DH format was actually better
exciting youngsters stepping up immediately to shake things up
the goat didnt feature as prominantly but had a decent season
XCC and XCO wide open
love watching nino still showing the young guns how to do it a true champion
hatherly hung in there and was a constant in the top 10
would say the tv coverage was better
the sport is growing
exciting times
Disagree - It was a great season but only because of the riding which would have happened anyway. The commentary was terrible in DH - I listen to music with sound turned off if its too dismal. Camera work was especially poor in some races. They should drop the stupid semi final and have qualifying and the finals, both televised.
Not sure where you get the idea the sport is growing. Viewer numbers are kept secret but that of course is viewers, not riders. In DH entry fees per team have increased exponentially and the number of riders who can qualify has been cut. There is talk of further reducing numbers and effectively getting rid of privateers which is the opposite of growing the sport. Go google Bernard Kerr's views on the subject.
Absolutely agree that this is a great event and still good value. Its just a sign of the times. Back when it was R900pp it felt like an absolute bargain. The increase over 6 years by over 100% is steep though when you think about it.
The discrepancy in value is also huge. A moto will last for decades if looked after and cover thousands more km in that time. and could even cost less to service and maintain if you own a Spesh Epic wif brainbox etal. A push bike is outdated almost immediately and the frame will break eventually. As for tyre durability... KTM just re-released their Duke and Adventure 790 bikes, now made in China and far cheaper than the 890R. That's an old model - re-released! Imagine if Spesh decided to do that with my iconic X frame 2018 Enduro. Ain't gonna happen.
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18 hours ago, thebob said:Same can be said for anyone buying a high end car
That's a very broad statement. What is high end? A Ferrari vs an X3 or an X3 as opposed to say a Hyundai SUV or an X3 vs a Suzuki Espresso? At some point you're just paying for the name but there are also significant performance and quality differences between entry or lower level cars and more expensive ones.
Those performance differences exist in bicycles but a cheaper model with no gold on the suspension stanchions or a different brand eg a Giant vs a Yeti makes a minimal performance difference if any, in certain cases.
1 hour ago, Dirt Tracker said:Funnily enough I was going to ask about the aggressor. I’ve been narrowing down the options and that was getting higher up the list. Seems a decent option for sure and there seem to be a fair few around online. Might pick up a couple. Shame so many decent models have stopped coming in. e*13 seem to have some great front and rear options and I’m pretty sure none are coming in to sa.
It's a great hard-wearing tyre as the centre knobs are much harder compound than say a DHR 2. I've used up my last one and am about to test my bike with a used 2.5 Assegai out back... not looking forward to the added weight and drag inducing tread pattern.
Order in a 2.3 Aggressor. Great fast rolling rear tyre. Sadly Rush has stopped importing them.
18 hours ago, DieselnDust said:Rolling resistance.
this accounts for mass, hysteresis which is informed by tyre casing design and air pressure. The insert is held in place by the tyre therefore it will always influence the tyres rolling resistance. The only way to get way from that is to have it completely free of the tyre and there are no inserts design that functions without contact unless the tyre pressure is so high as to negate the function of the insert. In a road application with the Vittoria inserts the rolling resistance is less impacted because the insert is compressed under the tyre pressure. Mtb inserts don’t function this way. They are always mostly in contact with the tyre casing .
inneglected to mention that the widely held belief that high volume delivers less rolling resistance is being contradicted by assertions that the insert does not impart RR. This is impossible since it occupies volume in the tyre.
< makes pop corn while waiting for pseudoscientific assertions that inserts are exempt from physics>
The insert is held in place by the tyre therefore it will always influence the tyres rolling resistance.
Based on that, you could argue it reduces the rolling resistance? Do you man to say "negatively affects rolling resistance"?. I wonder if the lower pressure I run with the insert allows improved grip which offsets the rolling resistance increase?
Trailside hassles with an insert depends on the kind of insert. With the Nukeproof version, its not much more than without an insert. The bigger issue is that if you have to remove the insert, you need somewhere to put the hula-hoop.
Do you mean rolling resistance or rolling mass. Lower pressure in tyres have been shown to roll better on rough terrain and this is exactly what happens with inserts when using the lower pressures they permit. I speak from firsthand experience.
2 hours ago, DieselnDust said:Ah ok so it’s my problem to investigate your claims……
Filing this one in file 13
Sounds like built in bias towards inserts rather than a desire to learn.
18 hours ago, Andrew Buckley said:The tyre/sealant combo on MTBs these days is so good it just doesn't seem necessary to run inserts. In 7 years I have never had a puncture which didn't seal on the trail. Schwalbe Racing Ralph/Rays, Maxxis Recon/Recon Race, Maxxis Ardent/Ardent Race, it doesn't matter, they are all great.
Running between 1.2 and 1.4 bar.
Andrew
Inserts are not primarily designed to allow you to ride home on a flat. While they will help prevent rim contact induced snake bite punctures, the primary purpose is to allow lower pressures for added traction in situations where you'd usually want lower pressures but can't risk it because of the risk of rim and tyre damage, per my example on the Missing Link trail earlier in the thread. If you only ride smooth gravel and hard pack, then inserts are probably a waste of time.
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21 hours ago, Scalpel said:Theoretically you can also run slightly lower pressures on a gravel bike!
You can run much lower pressures and actually have to to avoid super bouncy tyres. The insert acts like a volume reducer in your shock and makes your tyres more progressive i.e they wont bottom out even at lower pressures.
On 10/6/2023 at 12:10 PM, nick_the_wheelbuilder said:I'd selfishly love to see a similar survey done on wheels.
- Do you ride alloy or carbon wheels?
- Have you upgraded or replaced the wheels that came on your bike?
- If so, what brands of rims and hubs did you choose?
- What did you pay?
The results would be fascinating, I'm sure.
Spank Spike rims bought on sale at CRC - Rapide rear hub and spokes supplied by local wheelbuilder. Under R4k for rear wheel including build. Tough as nails.
I run Nukeproof insets on my enduro bike. Out back I've had an exo casing Maxxis and not had any flats or rim damage despite running very low pressure and riding some seriously rocky trails around CT in the preceding 12 months.
The Nukeproof version are reasonably priced on order from CRC and pretty light. They don't absorb sealant and can be shortened if they rattle inside the tyre. Inserts don't last forever however and mine already have several chunks out of them where they've taken some hits against the rim. If you get a set of two you can use one out back and keep the second one as a spare.
They certainly make very rocky trails like CT's Missing Link way more fun as you can use super low pressure and make it up all the really loose rocky climbs while people running 2 bar bounce off into the bush.
I recall a rather lovely if very windy ride on one of the featured trails a December or two ago, Take your climbing legs.
23 hours ago, DieselnDust said:It shouldn’t but if it is hollow tech is is possible to fail. There has been cases of xt and XTR cranks failing
I think mine is safe - its been abused for ten years
About to pull the pin on a R1500 diesel purchase! Can't wait.
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Its good to see they're promoting Baviaans as a riding destination. Its nothing new though. Take a support vehicle for all your clobber and ride it. The EC tourism agency that runs the gates is however not very user friendly - they only take cash so if you're really unlucky you could drive 150km on rough dirt from the Willowmore side and find you can't get into the wilderness reserve because you only have a card. We did a trip years ago, before the reserve had gates and it was very straightforward. The road in the reserve area is far worse than it used to be but is more fun to ride than the awful corrugated district roads that precede it. If I was doing it again, I'd drive to the start of the reserve and only ride from there.
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Is motorcycling allowed?
in Chit chat
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What say you okes about the new D 698 engine and the motard it comes in?https://www.ducati.com/us/en/bikes/hypermotard/hypermotard-698-mono