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Salty Biker

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  1. Thanks for the help guys, bike sold pretty quickly. Hope the new owner has fond memories on it
  2. Good point, attention to detail makes a difference Slamming it made the comfort better though. Fitment was done manually by a guy named Alex Ferret at Cycle Junction in Richards Bay (previously Zululand Cycles). I feel like he did a good job Yes, planning on getting a 29er hardtail. For what it's worth, I'm 185cm tall and I feel like I'm on a BMX around other cyclists on 29ers Yes unfortunately there aren't a lot of people looking for 26ers, so I'm aware that I'm going to wait. With regards to scammers, ya I've had my fair share of bizarre requests/offers from selling various items on gumtree. Most people are reasonable though
  3. Thanks for the replies so far With regards to the seat being quite high: I recently had a fit done by the bike shop and that's where my seat ended up being adjusted to. Feels perfectly fine for my body's dimensions
  4. Hi all Any opinions on what my bike is worth? Thinking about selling it. It's a BMC Fourstroke 02, large size aluminium frame, 2011 model (I think), 26 inch wheels, full Shimano XT drivetrain, including pedals and cranks, DT Swiss XM 180 rear shock, Rockshox SID air fork with 100mm of travel, Shimano hydraulic disk brakes (not sure of model), SLX shifters and is a 3x9 setup. Currently has slicks on but have some knobblies for it as well. I have no idea how many kms I've done on the bike, but if I were to guess, maybe 3000 to 4000km at most. Was thinking I could put it up for sale for about R5000 to R7000. Is that fair? Should I go higher or lower?
  5. I've heard the term a few times on blogs and forums years ago. Personally I feel a bike is a bike is a bike, wherever it comes from. Some bikes are just better than others of course. Calling this Raleigh a BSO was just tongue in cheek
  6. Nice!! Read your blog post as well. Congrats on finishing the Argus like that. It sounded fun. Whatever happened to that bike?
  7. KM 29: Had to replace the brake pads already. They wore out veeeery fast! There's a short but steep hill that I have to go down to get back to where I live. I can hit over 70 km/h on it without even really trying when using my proper bikes. I don't feel like going that fast on this BSO, so I'm on the brakes for the entire stretch of the downhill, hence their quick death Brake pads replaced with better pads at R70 a set, so R140 in total Total cost of ownership thus far: R1740 Quite enjoy riding the bike. It reminds me of simpler times and is fairly comfortable, even though it's a bit small for me. I enjoy riding to the shops or just casually with it. Time will tell how much I'll enjoy it though On a side note, I saw a 26er bike made by Raleigh but branded as a "McDonald's" bike in Game today for R900. I found it quite ironic but actually pretty cool in its own way. It was painted yellow and black, 21 speeds and no suspension, pretty much the same spec as my BSO. If I had seen it when I bought my BSO I might have gone with the McDonald's bike rather, just for laughs
  8. The sizes came in "kids size" and "adult size", but I thought about getting the 29er version, which would've been bigger and more suited to my dimensions, but it was also more expensive. I was happy getting the 26er
  9. KM 12: This morning I went for a 10km ride with the BSO. Nothing happened besides a brake lever that got a bit loose. Tightened it up when it happened. I realised the frame is a bit small for me, but so be it. The seat is at its max safe height setting and I don't want to go higher than that. My legs are just a bit too long
  10. KM 1: I was right. The first thing to break was a pedal. The threads of the pedal somehow jumped themselves in the crank and ended up stripping the threads on the pedal. Only after cycling 1km. It happened when I was stomping on the pedals to get up a hill. I suppose I shouldn't really do that to a bike in this class. I'm 1.85m tall and weigh in the region of 97kg, so maybe a bit too much pressure on the pedal. The threads in the crank looked OK though, only slightly damaged. Had to walk home. At least it was only 1km away I went to Game later in the day and got replacement pedals of somewhat better quality. They cost R100. Let's see how long they last Total cost of ownership so far: R1600 I've attached a pic of the stripped pedal threads
  11. This may be useful to some, while others would think it's pointless. I decided to do a bit of an experiment. I decided to buy a bicycle shaped object (BSO), which to those of you who don't know, is what serious cyclists call a bicycle that originates from a big box store/department store, such as Game, Makro, etc. These BSO's are generally regarded as low quality, badly assembled, disposable, and some even go as far as calling them death traps, which isn't completely wrong. They are the cheapest of the cheap and are indeed made of lower quality parts and are definitely often poorly assembled by shop staff. Common things are loose nuts and screws, poorly adjusted gears and sometimes even forks put on backwards. Why would I buy this then? I'm certainly not trying to get everyone to rush to Game and buy a bike. You are most definitely better off going to a proper bike shop and getting a decent entry level bike there if you are looking for something lower cost, or look for something secondhand. I must mention that I have a 2011 model BMC full sus mountain bike that has carried me for thousands of kms on dirt, as well as a somewhat respectable road bike, so I'm not pretending that these cheapy bikes are better than something from a bike shop. My point of this experiment was to see how much fun could I have on this bike and how far it'll go with regular maintenance before a major repair is needed. I understand the limitations of this bike. I won't be launching it off cliffs or shredding trails with it. I'll be riding around the suburb with it, going to the shops, beachfront, etc. I will use it in a casual manner Off I went to Game and bought a Raleigh Eclipse with 26 inch tyres for R1500. It came semi-assembled in a big box with basic instructions on how to assemble, which I only read after assembling the bike (standard procedure). It has no suspension, has a steel frame, plastic cranks with steel threads for the plastic pedals, V-brakes, 21 speeds controlled by derailleurs and shifters of some unfamiliar brand and weighs 13.7kg. Pretty damn cheaply made. The welds on the frame look fine though After assembling it, adjusting the gears and brakes, tightening all screws and nuts, I stood back and couldn't help but think that it was a pretty good looking bike, I'll give it that. I looked at what would probably break first and thought the flimsy plastic pedals would be the first to go. The next day would be the first ride, which had to be between 6 and 9am (thanks lockdown level 4) I'll document my mileage as time goes on, repairs and costs thereof
  12. Unfortunately there will always be people who will overestimate a route and will be overconfident in their ability. I was one of these people a few years ago and I didn't prove anything other than that I was horribly unprepared When you are unprepared for a race/ride, you don't enjoy it as much as you should, so then what is the point of doing it? Getting heat stroke, vomiting, cramping so bad you can't stand up, losing feeling in sensitive areas and having terrible saddle sores isn't enjoyable If you know you won't be ready for a certain race, don't enter it or do the shorter route if available
  13. Sad to hear someone passed away. My condolences to the family I did the 35km fun ride with my girlfriend and a friend of mine. Was the first participation in the shova for me and the first cycling event my girlfriend has ever done. We all enjoyed it, although we felt very sorry for those that were doing the longer rides and had to deal with the heat Can't complain about how it was organized. Didn't expect more than an open, clean road and something to drink at the water points, which was what I got. Not sure what more I could've asked for. Sorry to those who ran out of water and I agree that the water points should've planned for more water if they ran out
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