PhilipV

In that case I'd suggest the Titan. The Spark is more towards the trail bike side of the spectrum, with the Spark RC more towards the marathon side of the spectrum. Why I say this: The slacker head angle and longer reach of the Spark is more stable bike, but unless you plan to do rowdy descents, then the Titan's more traditional geometry is perfectly fine. And maybe buy a bike that will be serviced by a shop NEAR you that has a great reputation. No use buying a Scott if the nearest shop that will have to help you is a lame duck. I like Scott, and my local shop (The Hanger Bike Co in Somerset West) is fantastic, but if I had a Specialized I would have to drive through to their store in Stellenbosch for any Specialized query. There is nothing funny, special or hidden on the Titan, that is a plus in my book. Lastly, if you get the Scott, please get the GX upgrade. Sram SX and NX is terrible. Or well, the NX derailleurs I've had to faff with was terrible.

The questions I should have asked before I waded in with what bike would suit me best is : What kind of riding do you do most? And where do you ride? What type of rides do you plan to do? What type of terrain do you see yourself riding most with the new bike? Ps: some trail running soft flasks fit in the frame storages. If I was riding a bike with a built-in kosblik I'd do that. Not ideal if you're racing flat out though.

If it is the new spark with the hidden shock, that is what I'd choose. It has better geometry (IMHO ) and geometry trumps specs (not a humble opinion.) But it is more of a light trail bike compared to the Titan, and the Pike is an amazing fork, at a bit of a weight penalty compared to the sid. But beware, the Titan will be easier to work on yourself. Scott's obsession with clean looks and integration makes it harder to work on. But if you drop your bike off to change your cables, then it's not your problems.

Doesn't sound like these are your friends, so I reckon the price you paid is relatively cheap to learn what their characters are. I won't ride with them again, or if you do, start the post ride meal with "this time everyone pays their own, I'm not sponsoring someone else's booze this time."

Looks like the Overberg? Greyton?

EdZackery. Or worse, a container full of imported goods. Fortunately, most of my clients are in the platteland. We don't mind trucks here.

I'll take decent public transport over our taxis and single occupant cars any day. And while I'm in Lalaland, I'll take a few honest politicians, low fuel prices and my kids to sleep better.

It might be fine in affluent countries, but it's going to drive up transport costs, leading to inflation. And I agree that it makes sense in city centres with narrow roads that have a DC in close proximity to use smaller trucks, but dispatching one chiller truck to service three or four stores is a more efficient than sending two or three 5ton trucks, or having them drive twice. I'm saying this as a transport operator, I don't send my 8t tricks into Cape Town, in favor of sending a bakkie or a 4t, but it always reflects in the price. Ps: I'm curious wether there is solid stats about deaths involving trucks compared to taxis, motors and even drunk driving. I don't think that banning trucks will make a discernable difference.

Ideally that should have been a 4ton truck delivering in the city. But it might as well have been a long distance delivery that won't have been on a small truck. Taxing them out of existence is a non-starter. Our Just-in-time supply chain driven economy means that big trucks are here to stay.

A great wheel builder trumps spoke quality.

Actually, having friends with utes and driving to the trails with them might be cheaper in the long run. Don't wait for baby to get the van, you will be riding even less then.

Suspect no1 is still on the run and the press is already calling all his sponsors to ask wether he has been thrown under the bus yet,

The question is really: Do you have cycling friends there? Do they not have trucks/utes/vans for you to ride with? Edit: how do you plan to get your moto to a track if you only have your wife's pocket rocket? Or do you ride from home on the braaaaaaaappster as well?

Aaai, I want this on my bike, need this on my bike, but alas, I ride a Scott. Seriously reevaluating life choices right now.

We are all just slowly rushing towards death anyway.

Grab a bunch of mates to fill all the seats in a car, go to Tokai and make a morning out of it. Pack a picnic and avoid bootleggers on the way out to save moolah. It'll be worth it just for the sake of variation that you crave, but if you do the Broken Road it will definitely challenge you. And riding UNFAMILIAR flow trails will also challenge you, and it's a lot of fun.

Pinkbike posted an opinion piece with this question last week. After reading it I opted to take my singlespeed on that night's ride. It was so much fun. Going back to basics is totally underrated, Status is still very much closed. I've heard that they want to resurrect it after the harvesting is done. We can but hope. They built the darkfest line, but Duran (and the rest of their crew) are constantly building other lines on the farm. They also built Plasir IIRC.

The whole "go faster for it to be more technical " thing is a fallacy. It confuses technicality with risk. The "boring trails with smooth corners" will definitely become more fun. But those smooth corners will definitely develop braking bumps. This is not just A Tygerberg MTB story. If you don't want braking bumps, don't build berms. But then 80% of the riders won't enjoy it as much, and they need to cater for that 80% for them to pay to maintain and build new trails. Flow trails bring in more numbers, but flow trails cost more to maintain. Robbie, you need to go ride in the platteland. You won't be disappointed.

Can't be that hard, I've pulled the three way valve out a couple of times when it decides to be a two-way, so I'll do the steam tap soon and see if it can be refurbished. Thanks!

I might need to replace the steam tap on my Oscar soon. For some reason it needs to be opened and closed to or three times before steam comes out. Is it relatively easy to pull out and replace? Or should I bite the bullet and send it to the local guys for the repair?

Well that is relative to what you ride, and I can't comment on that. But Jonkers has everything from black lines for the GnarBros, fast red and blue flow trails for the guys who want to feel like riding gods no matter how slow they go, a DH line, and old school lines that force you to work for everything. Oh, and you can climb on dedicated climbing trails too. If you visit down here, Jonkers is definitely worth a decent ride.

I totally agree. Tokai, Jonkers and a lot of the Tygerberg trails have much of the same flavor. With some differences here and there (Donkey Trail, Plumber and Contermanskloof Rhino) basically the black trails being the differentiators. I'm not breaking Tokai down, I won't travel from Somerset West to to Tokai if it wasn't worth it. But if you go from Tygerberg hoping to ride something new, and you only ride the snakes at Tokai, then you are missing the boat. The post I quoted bemoaned that all was the same and progression was needed, I suggested traveling away from the same-same to where these trails can be found.

Nothing, but if he's bored of Tygerberg, Tokai will be much of the same..other than the Broken Road/Donkey trail and the DH line that is. And the gnarlier stuff is outside of Tokai.

Christopher Philogene flying the SA flag in 25th. Also first privateer.

You should ride less Tygerberg trails. Go ride tablemountain (not Tokai), Helderberg, Jonkers, Eselfontein, Cederberg to name a few.