Scott roy

How does that ride? I have eyed a couple with interest

No there’s no lifts, but they shuttle on weekends and there is buses to the town at the top every half hour or so. I think I’m going to go stumpy evo

I think the time has come to embrace my new surroundings 😂 plus I’ve always loved trail riding, however in sa that’s mostly doable on an xc bike

The tiny country of Georgia

I don’t want something outdated no, but the enduro geo is pretty respectable even by todays standards (my opinion) I’ll be buying second hand on the hub so unfortunately the budget won’t be stretching for the new stumpy. maybe a daft question, but in what situation would i choose a enduro over the stumpy given your listed points? If the going is steeper? Lots of rocks?

You may have a point, I’d say the most common bike brand I’ve seen on the trails there is Santa Cruz

I realise I was maybe thinking on the conservative side. As @MORNE says, the dh bike’s are not pedalling friendly (as far as I know) and as I mentioned there is some uphill in the trails. I have tested a stumpy evo last year in Paarl and i absolutely loved it. Is it enough bike or is it just right though? That was my only experience with a long travel non e bike. I do like the spez enduro a lot but I was concerned its perhaps a bit too much bike for my needs as I don’t think I’ll be hitting massive jumps or so on, just going down absurdly steep mountain side. A couple of reviews I read mentioned that it isn’t as playful as the stumpy and is a bit long for tight corners and so on. Any thoughts on the matter?

I started cycling a few years ago and as is the case with most South African cyclists, I got into xc. Since then I’ve moved overseas to a country with no xc culture. So far I’ve met just one other guy and he spends most of his time in Greece anyway. Due to this I’m not riding my xc bike, I’m mostly just riding my road bike for fitness. There is a fair amount of trail riding around however after a single attempt I realised it’s not going to work on my bike, my brakes couldn’t handle the massive descents, the geo just doesn’t work and I had to walk a fair amount. It took an hour and a half to get down 11km I am currently in SA and I’m considering getting a more trail oriented bike. However I don’t know what would be too much or o little. For some idea ,the main trail network I would be riding is on a single mountain, trails range from 7-14km and descend between 1 200 and 1 400m with between 0 and 250m elevation gain. The going is extremely steep with some sections of trails averaging -25% or more and lots of steep drop offs. There are also a couple of jump lines with some road gaps and other technical stuff. What bike would probably be the king of the roost here? I’m not really worried about riding up the mountain as I would just catch the bus or the weekend shuttles. the two main bikes I’m looking at are 1, a spez stumpjumper evo and 2, a spez enduro. Also on my radar is a Commencal Meta AM. is the enduro too much? A friend of mine is pushing me in that direction but I don’t know if it’s overkill and perhaps a bit long for the tighter corners and such. I have ridden a lot of SA trails on xc bikes and never felt it was too much but the mountains where I now live are just something else.

A travel case, I’ve only done national with a cardboard one. I have however flown with a friend of mine using a cardboard box and that was fine except having to open to prove he wasn’t bringing in a brand new bike. I’ve flown bikes back and forwards from jhb to Eastern Europe a couple times and Tanzania once (surprisingly there most nosey bunch about the bike)

Definitely this

You shouldn’t have any bother with anything of that nature. If they are pesky and want to check it out show them it’s a used bike and tell them it’s yours. I’ve never been stopped on multiple international flights with bikes.

They work great for flying and finding your bike bag at the airport/seeing if it arrived. Otherwise not so much. They make a sound when you move the bike and your phones not with you (at least my dads does) and notify your phone too (if you have an iPhone, but android has an app to check for them too). I took mine out and considered it a waste of time.

Maybe a bit extreme but my uncle is running a setup that comes to mind. Not sure what it is or where he got it.

I tend to agree with you, I cut my ride short when I noticed and was very careful, imagining all kinds of ways I’d fall if it caves. oh well, I just want to ride my bike with a bit of confidence that it won’t collapse, or perhaps know not to ride it. I can’t actually figure out how it happened this time. The exhaust was miles away and not even in line, I stopped multiple times to check and it wasn’t even warm. I can only imagine it must have been when I was crawling along on the gravel road for the last bit of the trip.

Hi all, amazingly I have done it again… same wheel too (different hoop). However this time the damage is nowhere near as bad. There is a slight warp in the rim, I’ve had worse from hitting rocks on alu wheels. There is a small crease as well but not shocking, I only discovered when I went riding it’s so inconspicuous. Obviously I know I need to replace it again, my question is can I keep on riding it until I can get a new rim? I’m away for a month and I would like to be able to ride a bit while here. Would the rim have completely lost its strength or not? It’s still 100% airtight. Have a lekker weekend

And cost money not yet earned 😂

I disagree. I found it to be fantastic, the course looks amazing. I feel xco should be balance of technical skills and power/fitness, this course nailed it. Falling and injuring yourself is a risk in all sports, xc typically gets off pretty lightly. Just look at the road and DH, 2 disciplines I don’t know much about, yet I can place a number of big crashes and injuries going back merely a couple of weeks. The fact that a roadie won today goes further to show that it’s not too far technically. (Yes I know he’s a lot more than that but you get the idea). This course merely separated the men from the boys more than usual in terms of technical ability.

Track looks awesome, can’t wait to watch. What time is the xcc and xco this weekend?

I’ve serviced rockshox at cogent as well as fox, they work wonders on both

100% all interchangeable in terms of what you propose. However I would change it all over, that xx1, even if more used will hands down outlast the gx cassette and chain

I understand that full well, but sometimes you have to be rather safe than sorry. It’s not a case of did he maybe alter something like his taxes, this can have a catastrophic impact on peoples lives.

Considering this was reported in Feb of last year I am disturbed by the fact that he has still been at liberty coaching and so on since then.

You won’t regret the Oakley’s. They’re fantastic.

The epic evo 8 pro frame for €109 is tempting…

I am aware of staylive, but I am not in SA at current, I was under the impression it would be on Eurosport.