Nic Brigando

Looking awesome! Glad you get the experience the magic. Which suntour fork did you get? Hoping for many happy miles for you man! Yup, raw with clear coat. Looks incredible up close, the photos don't do it justice😁

A decent litmus test would be to go try the longer routes at northern farms. If there is a lot of stuff you can't ride there, it's going to be the same stuff in the race, and you have your answer. I doubt they'll put all of their hardest stuff in; previous years skipped the hectic bits, so the 50km loop would be your best bet to try. As far as I remember, all the proper 'technical' stuff is on the 65km loop.

Steel is real 🤘

Think the Java bikes aim a little lower than Elves. Can get a full 'decent' spec Java for cheaper than an Elves frame.

I am the biggest advocate of steel. My experience with both the Rapide and Marino frames have been stellar, and I have another Marino hardtail (160mm, 62.5 HA) on order. Hopefully I'll get the chance to ride more frames from other brands soon enough! And honestly, having ridden many enduro bikes, the 15k landed price tag on a steel dualie marino frame is unbeatable. (Not to hijack the thread! The Tigre still holds a dear place in my heart!)

Haha yes, she was a looker. I tend to swap/buy/sell bikes a lot, and I ended up cannibalizing those parts for an XC build, which ended up getting sold as I didn't like that bike at all. Regrets... Trail casing for me was fine. The biggest thing is to run a proper insert on the rear. The bike inspires proper confidence, and on the trails it absolutely rips. Steel gives you a feeling of invincibility when it comes to hitting the rough stuff. You do have to remember that you're on a hardtail; but I used to frequent all the gauteng enduro trails on that 130mm setup and had absolutely no problems. I used the double foamo inserts from CSIXX and after installation it was smooth sailing. I got a lot of flats and rim dings before that. The nature of a trail hardtail is that the rear does take more abuse, I initially rode with inserts in the front, but eventually realized I didn't need them. I felt the Ardent 2.4s were perfect for me, while a pair of WTB Trail Boss 2.6s deadened some of the lively feel that I enjoyed from the frame. I previously ran Barzo 2.35s and they felt fast but obviously lacked the grip of the Ardents. I did start getting frequent flats on those ardents, but that was after close to 5000kms of hardcore riding, and they were definitely past the point of replacement. I replaced the bike with a marino steel frame that closely mimics the tigre but 'improves' the areas where I felt the frame could be changed to fit a more enduro type bike, but I want the rapide back for the more chilled rides as the marino just eats everything in its path. Some more pics to whet the appetite (steel is real🤟)

I see there's no larges available on the site, which is a pity. Think the medium is too small to run as a proper big trail bike. Would be perfect for XC though.

Anyone got a tigre frame/bike lying around that they want to get rid of? I'm getting that hardtail itch again... Med/Large in any of the colours...

Very much considering a pair of those SpeedOne brakes for my XC bike. I run Shimano Zee's on my enduro bike, so have a decent back-to-back reference, and will update if I end up going for them.

Late night wolwespruit rides. Nothing like sending a flow trail in the dark with nothing but your spot of light ahead of you😎

Blyderivier, a few weekends ago. 160km MTB bikepacking trip from Graskop to Blyderivier and back😁

In the never-ending chase for newer tech, N+1 and marginal gains, it's important to remember; The best bike is the bike you already have.

Factor in the 'value' difference between brands, and you put secondhand sellers of the top-end brands in a rough spot. Sure, you can list your mid-range Spez Epic for 50% of the cost you bought it new, but for that same price, you can pick up a top-range Titan Cypher with better components. The 2nd hand market is flooded with both Spez Epics and Titan Cyphers, and countless other brands in between; how on earth is your Epic going to stand out, unless you drop the price significantly below the others? I recently went through the process of buying a 2nd hand bike with a friend that wanted an older bike with high-end components. She settled on a 2014 spez epic, and methodically went through 20+ almost identical ads before she went for one of the LTD Edition burry stander ones. It had a key point over and above the rest of them - it was the LTD Edition. And the rest of the ads, while all viable options, are left to sit on the classifieds, all identical, until they either get lucky or get frustrated and drop the price. Not to mention that you can build a bike with similar specs with a bit of patience and a bit of bike knowledge. A sub 12kg FS bike costs less than 20k if you get the right components and frame.

Pitching up at events being on a heavier, less-adept bike and yet still keeping up with guys on 200k+ world cup bikes is an awesome feeling, for sure. I won't be winning anything, but I wouldn't be winning on a 200k+ bike anyway

The primary feeling for me is fatigue. Even when set up, a Suntour XCM fork is not going to perform as well a Fox/Ohlins - but perform here does not mean time/speed/traction, it means that my arms and shoulders 'feel better' at the end of the ride. And from what I can tell, that's almost entirely up to the small-bump feel as opposed to any other factor.

I 100% agree - it is always better. I think all of my custom builds over the past few years have had the primary cost sit in suspension, as that's the difference I can feel. My enduro bike has 12s Deore, a 'laughable' groupset for someone that is serious (I've had shops tell me this to my face.) But the wheels turn every time, and shifting under power is crisp. Coupled with a factory fox fork and a cane creek coil on the rear, I do get some weird looks - but I couldn't be bothered to upgrade something that I can't feel. Whether or not it's a need can be discussed too, but I definitely want it

If you want to get into hardcore racing, perhaps you need the latest and the greatest. When you're at the level that 100g off your bike makes a 1s difference up the climbs, and that is tangible enough that it means the difference between a 1st and a 2nd, or a podium vs not, then sure, upgrade your bike, spend the money, you've then got justified reason to complain about the costs of cycling and the depreciation of the equipment. Other than that, any upgrade over a basic bike that fulfils the needs, is a want, and should ideally be treated as such. You can get most of the way there with a mid-range or possibly even entry-level bike, from 5-7 years prior, and honestly you can get even closer to 100% of the way there if you look at older stuff. A 2013 full sus that has a slack seat tube, has a twitchy HA, has 3x gearing, and costs less than 1/10th of the newer models and will probably weigh the same, and for most people, will fulfil the same function. It might even climb better on the non-technical stuff! I know my bike isn't as low spec as it could be. It's got Fox suspension cause I want Fox suspension, and the 1s I might gain on an enduro trail as a result of running Fox as opposed to a RockShox 35 is the difference between mid pack, and mid pack. If my goals were to shift, from enjoying the ride to winning world champs, then I would need a better bike. When my form is superb, my fitness impeccable, my FTP herculean, then perhaps it would be the bike that needs an upgrade to go from 2nd to 1st. Until then, it's a want. And to round up this abnormally long passage, in the South African market, want seems to rule. Just look at the entrants to any major local event - there are guys doing 5hour+ on 94.7 with 7kg bikes with carbon wheelsets that would make my setup look like I found it at The Crazy Store. Everyone around you has premium gear and premium bikes, and it seems like anything but the absolute top of the range just is not good enough, for anyone, and makes the perspective shift from want to need. And when you fall into that trap, that is why you feel you have been short-changed on your store-bought, new bike, just 2 years later. Because it isn't a luxury item anymore, it's something that everyone else already has, and you're now falling behind because you don't have the latest model. TLDR; Your bike is fine, and will be fine. If the wheels turn and you're having fun, don't worry about how much it's worth.

+1 for the Fluir Elite. Been using my first one for 2 years - bright enough to run for a full night on the "low" mode on jeep track, and swap to med/high for more advanced trail riding. I bought another for a Munga Grit and it worked excellently, and I've been using them for night-time trail rides on some (black/blue) trails with no issues. Honestly thinking of getting a third as they double as excellent camping torches - bright, wide, good battery, and lightweight.

Love too see it, been waiting for this to be released for a while. I'll start saving

1 hr penalty for Dricus, apparently he will sit it out at RV5

V3 up on the DRI site now - looking forward to it

I unfortunately sold my Tigre earlier this year - mistake on my part, but I wasn't really using her as much as I would have liked. I actually ended up buying that Scout that was up recently - would prefer a Tigre however haha, so if you want to trade, let me know The Tigre wasn't a particularly light bike. My trail setup (Fox factory 34 at 2kg, rapide wheelset at 1800g, 400g csixx double foamo insert, 2,4 ardent tyres, dropper, deore groupset etc) ended up around 14.5kg. Not the lightest, but didn't notice it on any sort of MTB races - even did a few of the smaller Munga events on her and she was great. I definitely noticed it on the road, but I think that's more the tyres than the bike.

On this, does anyone know where to get replacement Scott Spark rear triangles? Is it an easy process?

Custom Marino dualie! Perfect for the trails Very similar geometry to the Rapide Tigre that came before her, just with a bit of a seat angle update, and of course the coil rear shock. Super flowy on the trails, and just fits my riding style perfectly.

Fun > Reliability > Weight. That being said, at the start of the year I built an 11.5kg carbon hardtail to swap over from my 17.8kg steel enduro bike, and there is an incredible difference. Faster on everything pointing up, and my average pace on mtb rides went from around 17kmh to around 21kmh. This is obviously anecdotal evidence - that may be the weight, or the lack of rear (coil) suspension, or the lighter wheels, or the thinner tyres, or even reluctance to take sketchier trails (don't want to crack your carbon frame) - but more likely a big combination of all of them. I promptly sold that hardtail, and with nothing to compare it to, my 17.8kg heavy steel enduro bike does everything I need it to do, and makes me fitter in the process she does feel like a pig of a bike to ride at slower speeds, but once the wheels start turning, I completely forget the weight and just enjoy the ride.