RallyRob

I am fortunate to have owned a Camber (the model with RS1 fork) which was replaced with the Stumpjumper ST and now the Epic Evo. I absolutely loved my Camber and thought the new Stumpjumper ST would pretty much be a direct replacment. Although the Stumpjumper was definitely a good bike (especially in technical terrain) it felt a bit too “lazy” in comparison to the Camber….I’m definitely not a race snake but in Pretoria one needs a bike which can perform on the flats which doesn’t really suit the Stumpjumper (even the ST version) Just over a year ago I was fortunate to move onto the latest Epic Evo model and immediately it felt like I had my Camber back…..in fact my new bike felt even more racey than the Camber but was still good enough to handle the rough and technical sections with ease. In my mind the Epic Evo is definitely the best of the 3 models and I have definitely not been disappointed by this bike….bike is definitely better than the rider. One thing to bear in mind however (and without trying to sound pretentious) is that I was fortunate enough to have owned the SWorks version of all 3 bikes so I’m not really sure how the other models in each range might compare…..with the same geometry as the SWorks models I would think my experience of the 3 bikes would still be relevant regardless of the model.

My baby.......????

Hi everyone (especially Pall who helped me out last year) I am heading for Dullstrooom this coming weekend (seems to have become an annual trip) and this year will be staying at the Highland Gate estate which I assume is linked fk the golf course. The Highland Gate website mentioned a 43km route from the gate house but doesn’t make five any further directions, so was wondering if anyone else had any interesting MTB routes (40-50km or around 3 hours) starting from Highland Gate?? Many thanks

Does anyone know if there are perhaps luxury tent accomodation options available on Sani2C (as with many other events nowadays) or just the standard 2-man tents and the B&B option??

Seems part of my post got cut off...... Hi Pall....rode the first of your proposed options today and had a great ride. With the extra bit from the Walkersons reception it ended up being a solid 45km loop. After yesterday’s heavy rain there was a fair amount of mud and standing water, but everything was still rideable even though the bike needed a PROPER clean afterwards. I thoroughly enjoyed the route you put together and the bit along the railway line included a few technical surprises so one had to stay away. The not so pleasant surprise was that th first 20km was pretty much flat or downhill (<100m ascent) whilst most of the 2nd half was very uphill with some long sections hitch punished the legs You did warn about the 2nd half being uphill, but the length of the climb and steepness still came as a shock. If anyone is coming to Dullstroom I can strongly recommend Pall”s routes and can definitely say that Dullstroom is underrated as a mountain bike venue. Thanks for all the effort Pall, as finding my way around without your assistance would definitely have been a challenge and I would not have experienced such a great riding experience.

Hi Pall....rode the first of your proposed options today and had a great ride. With the extra bit from the Walkersons reception it ended up being a solid 45km loop. After yesterday’s heavy rain there was a fair amount of mud and standing water, but everything was still rideable even though the bike needed a PROPER clean afterwards. I thoroughly enjoyed the route you put together and the bit along the railway line included a few technical surprises so one had to stay away. The not so pleasant surprise was that th first 20km was pretty much flat or downhill (

Thanks for all the help.....really great to come across someone prepared to share his passion for the sport but helping people enjoy their riding in a new location.

Looking 40 to 50km ride......probably something in the region of 3 hours. Any thoughts??

Hi guys.......staying at Walkersons next weekend and was wondering what route you’d recommend for MTB?? Ideally want to ride from the resort without having to load up the bike. Thanks

My LBS did the original build with the shock upside down and apparently that's the way they've always built up the TB......even double checked when I first collected the bike to make sure someone hadn't been having an off day during final assembly. Kept having hassles with the shock requiring new seals and loosing pressure unexpectedly until eventually (after get another rebuild) to turn the shock "right way" up and no further problems.

This was my first Santa Cruz TB.......damn I loved this bike. Recently got the new TB2 and really enjoying the added stiffness (most likely also helped by changing to Mavic wheels to accommodate the rear thru axle) and will post a pic shortly. Got some mates with SWorks Epics and they just cannot seem to understand why I stay with Santa Cruz, as there bikes are clearly lighter and faster yet having ridden their bikes I would not change my Santa Cruz for anything.

More interested in the possible new trail just off the N1 (Rigel) as I live in the area and it would certainly make a pleasant change to have a fairly technical route close to home.

Anyone got further information as to when this new trail will be opened? Are they looking to just provide a riding trail or will there be other facilities on site?

How’s this for scary. On my way to work on Friday morning of last week I collected my bike from the bike shop where it had been serviced and continued to the office…..my Nissan Navara is fitted with a 3-bike Thule EuroWay towbar mounted rack. Imagine my surprise when on Tuesday of this week I received a “Class Discrepancy Notification” from SANRAL advising that their records indicate a discrepancy between the class registered on my e-toll account and that recorded during a transaction. Basically because of my bike rack the system re-classified my vehicle as class B which meant an increase of nearly 300% in the applicable toll fees. Now the interesting part…..the aforementioned document includes a statement which basically means that if I don’t sort this matter out then my vehicle will be permanently reclassified under class B with significantly higher toll fees applicable. “Should this matter not be resolved your registered vehicle class will be changed to the vehicle class detected by our system” Did you know…..some research into this matter revealed the following: “Vehicles making use of the Gauteng e-road are classified in accordance with a combination of the length and / or height of the vehicle, while vehicles making use of other toll roads are classified in terms of the vehicle axles and / or number of wheels” Based on this statement one must wonder about the implications for cyclists in general as not only could a towbar mounted bike rack have an impact on your e-toll account, but even a roof mounted carrier as this will greatly increase the calculated height of your vehicle (especially if there is an actual bike mounted thereon) and in so doing affect the overall size.

I was on holiday in Salt Rock for the Father's Day long weekend and enjoyed 3 fantastic rides at Holla and always felt completely safe........certainly felt far safer when riding alone in comparison to my solo rides in Gauteng. Red route is only around 28km but some fantastic riding - did the same route twice as the 2nd run was even more enjoyable knowing what to expect and being able to attack the track (route marking is not perfect so you tend to spend much of the 1st run looking for markers instead of enjoying the actual riding) By the way.......hopefully this has now been corrected by now but I discovered that the online GPS route was not the same as the marked route which caused quite a bit of frustration (ended up doing 32km on my first ride instead of 28km as marked)