Agreed, I think I will purchase a house there if only there was a good option available. The only drawback is that it has become like a city, lots of traffic and dirty air. CoCT is not great.
Currently my options are:
1. Somerset West
- excellent mtbing
- house purchase options limited
2. Outeniquasbosch
- smallish isolated area to ride in, 35km far from other trails
- the best option to buy a house of all the options
3. George
- better/more mtbing than Outeniquasbosch, but not as great as Somerset West
- good house purchase options, but seems slightly far away from the trails
4. Swellendam
- excellent mtbing
- very small town with no great new options for houses, no woolies food
I will go to George and Outeniquasbosch soon to have a look/rip some trails.
Yes I need to be sure that a small town is really for me. I would like to live close to a good woolies food shop. This makes Swellendam a bit less attractive. I need good nutrition or else Nino and Matt will leave me behind.
This sized bike will do nicely with 32" wheels. I find it surprising that no brands have yet created a bigger wheel for the larger frames. Beers would be even faster.
Thank you, I will investigate your recommendation. I did look at Sandbaai last year, but the area seemed slightly unsafe while I looked at houses. The army was deployed to calm taxi related violence. A not very good area is very close-by. But I will check out Flamingo bay.
I am 49 with no kids, only work and mtb. I just need fibre and good trails, but I would also like to buy a good house as an investment, preferably a new/ish house. I lived in Somerset West, it has great mtb riding, but it has become too crowded and city like for me. There is also no new housing developments there that interest me. I might still return to Somerset West, it has great trails, but I just want to explore smaller towns before I make my decision.
I don`t have a life, I only have mtb. So it is the most important thing for me to consider. I just need fibre for work and good riding trails and a good house to buy for 3-4 bar. Thanks for the advice, I think I will go on a road trip.
I am looking to move to a town in the Western Cape, and to buy a house. I ride mtb almost every day, and I like to ride from home. Besides Stellenbosch and Somerset West, what is the best towns for mtb? Also take buying a house into consideration. Stellenbosch has great riding from home but not any good new houses to buy at resealable prices. Somerset West is a bit better in terms of buying a house, but I want to find out more about Wellington (north) and Paarl, George and Outeniquasbosch Wildlife Village in Hartenbos. Outeniquasbosch has great option to buy a house but the mtb area is slightly small. Has anybody done some mtb in Outeniquasbosch? Any other suggestions?
Which town would you recommend to buy a house to enjoy mtb from home? Any advice will be very much appreciated.
My Adidas is old so I want to try photochromic since I don`t think I will find another Adidas Evil Eye for sale. I have not yet seen photochromic lenses that change to at least 22% light transmission and to a contrast enhancing brown tint? The other issue that photochromic can have is that the lenses have a shorter life-span.
You mean the Oakley Prizm Trail. For me the 36% light transmission will kill my eyes in full African sun. 30% Light transmission was already too much for me. It could work in Tokai, but I ride areas that are open and with some shade. Sweetspot for me is the brown lenses with 22% light transmission and a slight mirror. For Africa, Adidas got it perfect with the active silver lenses.
I agree, R250k is a reasonable budget., but don`t go for the s-werks, go for an Ibis Ripley or Exie top of the range. With mtb, cheap is expensive, and you only live once, so splurge it out.
My eyes are blue and don`t like sunlight at all. Sometimes I feel like a vampire because my eyes do not like any brightness at all. Previously I had the old version Oakley Golf lenses with 30% light transmission and a rose tint. I found these great for sunset MTB rides but 30% light transmission hurt my eyes in full sun. So I assume it will be even worse with the new Prizm trail lenses at 35-36% light transmission. My Active Silver lenses are 22% light transmission and somehow still work great in low light situations. I think the contrast enhancing brown colour does the trick to get this balance correct.
So my opinion is that for SA conditions the best colour lens for MTB is a contrast enhancing, natural brown, with medium to lower light transmission 22-30%.
I also looked at these but I felt these have too much light transmission at 35%-36% for full sun. It is strange that you say you don`t like these in lower light situations because with so much light transmission I felt that my eyes will hurt in full sun with these. My Adidas Active Silver lenses have much less light transmission than these but works great in lower light situations. I also prefer the more natural brown tint of the Active Silver lenses to the purple/red tint of the Prizm Trail lenses.
I have never tried photochromatic lenses, I think they will not work very well for sun to forest transitions (too slow to change), and will probably not go dark enough. So I bought these (Adidas Evil Eye with Active Silver lenses) because of the contrast enhancing and middle-ground light transmission lenses. These are performing very well for mtb. Great contrast on trails and just somehow seems dark enough for in the sun and also enough light for in the shade. Also no transition to wait for. These lenses are great for mtb, but I think Adidas have stopped making it. I wonder if there are any other brand`s lenses that can compare:
A bit boring Epic again. If only there was an individual category, we would have seen an Nino/Beers showdown. The 2 man team thing is hurting the Epic, it is too much risk to be timed on a riding partner, hence most pros just skip the Epic and many do it only once and never return. Dumb rules.
Lourensford is a unique place where a rider can climb more than descend and still start and finish in the same spot. Must be a wormhole somewhere there.
For me, the Racing Ray will never be replaced by any other tyre on the front. I have the blue stripe version 2.25 at the moment for over a year and there is very little wear, and no punctures. I don`t know how they were able to make a tyre with so much grip and so much rolling speed. And it looks like it is even wearing very slowly. Best mtb tyre ever made.
Brunox for the shox and Hersch for the bikewash is my combo and my bikes go for very long stretches without seal replacements.
https://www.cogentindustries.co.za/product/brunox-deo/
