Spafsack

Did you see the gent in the yellow evil knievel helmet lol

I have first hand experience to how different a trail bike compares to a xc bike. I also think we need to know the OP's age, height, predicted distance per week, might help. My wife [45] then, rode a Silverback Stratos al3. This was her first move / change, coming from a Giant hardtail 27.5. Yes, the slacker silverback was more comfy, but the riding we do did not justify the slackness and weight. We do the types of roads the OP is talking about. Most MTB Races are just fine for xc. I sold her bike as she was really complaining on long uphills, and we all no that there are tons of climbing on our local mtb races. She takes it easy downhills, we dont want to wipe out now at this age. The bike weight bothered her, even though she is 1.6m, 53kg and fit. So getting back, sold her bike, bought a second hand Scott contessa rc 900 wc. It is in a completely different league, its a medium but the size looks smaller, it weighs around 10.5kg. She is so much happier on this, does not have paid, does not need more slakness, is fine in any condition, road type. The suspension is way better even though its a 2 year old bike. Uphills she rides away from me now, compared to her close to 14kg silverback. Looking at the Geo, the scott is not that much more 'straight up' versus the stratos, but i guess you cant compare a bike which when new was almost 100k with a new stratos for 35k. She does not have a dropper as she takes it really easy on downhills, tech stuff. For us its the climbing, thats the work out. Different strokes for different okes i guess. These are my thoughts and for what we do, what type of riding she does, it works 100%.

As OP initially said: 'We are looking to ride on weekends around our local trails, which in the Free State means flat and dusty, but we would also like to be able to take our bikes with us on holidays and ride trails there, whether it be in the Western Cape or KZN. Also looking at doing some stage races just for the experience, and obviously to test ourselves, like Sani2C, Wines2Whales and the like.' Bloem is my old home town, born and raised there, its flat, its XC. The worst feeling when starting out is spending a bunch of money on a bike which weighs 14kg and you struggle on long uphills due to the weight, slack angles, cant really put your power down. Stage races as he mentions are also XC. Knowone is saying get a XC Weapon, but i think you will do just fine with them, new or secondhand. RE, Dropper posts, you will see how handy this comes in, how much safer you feel, more in control, just on long decents, technical stuff, not hectic, makes a huge difference.

This is interesting, the way it looked to me watching live was that it seemed he did not carry enough speed at all. I saw on Cadence last week that Candice was training over and over, every day, on a similar massive drop, so it must be this one. As i said, this is really hectic for the ladies, hope none of them wipe out. Still makes no sense as you said that mvdp did not know this drop was coming. But as i said, he looked wat to slow at the top, like completely unexpected....

Tough Corse for the ladies field I recon...big drops and heavy technical

Does vdp have a dropper, for this course it's needed...

Hectic drop that

So has anyone bought a new one, review?

I agree with the comments. Buy new, as light as possible, hard tail. With current stock shortages people are taking chances with second hand, over pricing. Try keep bucks left for decent pedals and saddle.

45 seems like uk10.5, i am uk11, gooi some pics my way if you want. info@gazeboworld.co.za

Never knew Scott had flat shoes, even with boa I see, wonder how they perform...

Vdp still fighting, maybe pacing....let's see...

Seems she handed herself over, bout time... https://www.eurosport.com/cycling/tour-de-france/2021/tour-de-france-2021-fan-at-centre-of-stage-1-horror-crash-charged-set-to-appear-in-court-in-october_sto8401214/story.shtml

Hi Mahen, you should find deals seeing as the new models are coming out. Not sure how many XL's there will be around but if thats your size then cool beans. Enjoy shopping ????

Saw on other news the banner chick fled her country as well - eish.

I think Cecil Nurse would have done better if they actual Nurses every 40km so as to assist fallen victims. ????

Mag, just saw your other pics, your bike looks so clean, awesome! What was the original colour, would be cool to see the difference.

Very true????

Looking at all the crashes, and how badly you can get hurt, i am sure mvdp is saying to himself, i will rather stick to xco, cyclecross, heck, even downhill. Maybe these riders need full enduro kit on for the next few days ???? But jokes aside, riding on these narrow rodes, it really is hectic and 99% of the time when you fall its not even your fault.

Hi everyone, I was thinking last night, Covid is really hurting us badly, you can facebook boost, google adwords, as much as you want, but the markets are flat. Yes, this depends on what trade you are in, but for allot of us business owners, we are taking big shots. I think there are allot of normal members on this awesome platform who provide services, own there own business. It would be amazing if we could list what we do, whether it is bike related or not. Allot of us have services or products which a member might be needing. I guess the negatives would be that whatever lead or transaction takes place must be at own risk. If the Mod's think this will simply not work then i accept that. I can also think it will be difficult to detail or break up into divisions, it might end up being a never ending waterfall of info like a facebook news feed. I still think the pro's outweigh the con's and can really give any kind of business owner more traction [excuse the pun] just to get there name out there even if it is just a test run for 2 weeks. Perhaps it can be some sort of basic business listing, i have no idea, but all i know is that we cant sit back and just hope things get better. Thanx everyone.

Looks awesome, more pics please ????????️

That Scott Genius looks dam nice, see below, hardly used, not sure what size frame you looking for? https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/dual-suspension-bikes/476824/2020-scott-genius-930-large-frame

Lol, exactly that DJR, seems they starting with facebook, who would have thought........

I still find it strange that in this day and age they still cant trace that 'fan' girl who caused the crash.

I use alpicin, there I said it???? please grow back, jokes aside, what a ride!