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Fork-it: Did you find a ride yet? Here's a nice ride, not sure if its in your budget? https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/hardtail-mountain-bikes/469155/merida-big-nine-xt

Headed up to the Old Ranch road in Tzaneen yesterday, boy was I happy to see that stop sign! 10km with 550m of climbing

A few pics of the terrain the riders had to endure Pics were taken by one of the race crew The track is down there by the bike

Sometimes the big smoke throws you a pearler with a peach of a day. The 'cliff to the cradle ride on sunday Pisses me off that the new national flower is lying behind my rear tyre!

If they're in the n'cluff area they can join us on a daily morning ride. Start at 05:30, done by 7. We ain't pro's

If they're in the n'cluff area they can join us on a daily morning ride. Start at 05:30, done by 7. We ain't pro's

I think Kevin ran out of spare tubes

If anyone wants to follow the race, check it here: https://grit.themunga.com/what/tracking Race started 12h00 today, will finish on sunday at 14h00 50 hours, 562 km! The tracking is pretty much live

Its game on in 1min for the Cape Grit guys

Me? I'd stay away from the 3 x in the first advert, unless you're just in it for social riding, or if you can convince the seller (a dealer so he might just be able to accommodate you) to change it for a good price to a 2x or a 1x The 2nd to me looks good, except for the age of the frame. The specialised would be my choice due to the components and age of the complete rig - and if you can check the paperwork of the previous major service, you might get a good deal there.

Those ain't cheap either

Resurecting the thread so I can follow the cape grit chaps for the weekend

On friday I took the SR71 out on a little 71km out and return via the circus - what a magic little stopover spot! She does blend in well, yes? ... packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus Off she went with a trumpety trump, trump trump trump

I have a third theory: it's the venue owner putting the brakes on the event organiser. The venue owner can't take a risk against loosing a license (of sorts) due to the event happening, and therefore revokes the permission to have the race. Organisers that own the venue have more control or risk VS. reward hence a few races/events still happening. I'm pissed that the strada is postponed, it's been 3 months of slog to train for this 12 hour. But, I've put on my big girl knickers and accepted the fact that we (the Organisers included) are mere puppets (read as schmucks) to the rule setters, sadly. I'm still going to do the event, just at a later date and I've asked the Organisers to keep my entry fee. I feel their pain as for some it's their livelyhood - they didn't ask to be kicked in the rear end. If it were 10k or more entry fee, I'd ask for it back (or a portion there of). A few hundred ronts won't put me out, but collectively it sure will hurt the Organisers Sorry to add rain to your post. Look at it on the bright side, the training was always worth it 117, out

Postponed to early September 2021

Geez, that happened to mine a while ago too on an XT crank arm. (some numpty prior to me owning it cross threaded the leff thand thread New was around 1k, 2nd hand was 300 ronts, and the option to re-weld it up and re-tap the left hand thread would just take too long. You can't get left hand helicoil anymore either, otherwise that'll be the easiest option. As posted above, cycle lab has new or alternatively you could support your local shops and ask them for a 2nd hand crank arm - they might just have one

Ahem... cough cough

There is the crux - his claims ratio is too high. That tells me he is claiming often (one wonders what and why???), which as an insurer, they'd probably get upity and not honor the claim or increase his premiums to a new premium anyway He knows he's in for a clobber at the insurance gates regardless, which is probably why all this crazy effort. But, I'm a pay if forward kind of guy - Where can I send his bag of popcorn to?

De-virginised myself up the Northcliff rock yesterday on my SR-71

Edit: stand alone will be more expensive

Add it into your household

There's nothing wrong with the original topic of a new Merida big nine 200 (I ride a Merida) and I'm not trying to detract you away from a new bike, but keep your options open. Generally if you can change a car tyre you'd be able to sniff out problems just by applying common sense and logic on a used bike There's a couple of things to look out for on a 2nd hand rig, maybe start a new thread to ask for pointers. Sorry for the thread drift CTP MTBer

You can get a lot of 2nd hand bike for that budget I was in the same boat awhile ago. I found that the new price wasn't the walk away price, as there was always the "oh, you want to go tubeless? Its tubeless ready but you need to do ABC. Thats an extra kaching kaching". "Oh, the stock tyres are rubbish, you want to go tubeless with these tyres instead, its an extra kaching kaching". "These stock pedals are junk as well, rather get these flats instead, kaching kaching" So the budget went from (an example) R15k to an actual R10k bike with 3k to 4k accessories. I left 1k in the budget for a helmet. Thats not a 15k ride sadly. I also found lack of stock everywhere and I called/visited just about every bike shop in the greater gauteng I was guided with some great advice for the 2nd hand route and I set up a list up of what I wanted - the frame size, the components (this was an important factor to me on the good advice). I ended up looking at around 10 different bikes and settled on a frame that I am more than happy with. Plus, it was already set up with tubeless, flats etc. Ok, granted I did service it just after purchase, but this was factored into the budget anyway. I think I ended up with a much better valued ride than an out of the box machine. The point is, dont be shy to look arond at the 2nd hand markets. Be patient and the right ride will pop up. Set up the alerts to automaticlaly keep you posted and browse the classifieds daily and multiple times daily as occasionally ad's get snapped up quickly. If its in a different area to you, call a friend in that area to go have a booger look see to give you feed back, or I'm sure some hubbers can help out if needed. You have an itch in the pocket - I get that, but dont rush as good deals pop up all the time.

Re-opening a rather old thread; any suggestions for routes in the deneysville area? MTB will be great, but if it's a road route that's also fine. Heading out there for easter egg hunting over the long weekend. What's the general areas like safety wise? I'm ideally looking for about 4 hours saddle time routes please. I've checked and there's nothing that I can find on trailforks. Shot-a-lot

Do the due dilegence on the components to make sure you're getting the most bang for the buck. Look around in your budget - find a frame size that suits you and then look around again to see if you are still happy. If you want to conquer the Epic on your first bike, make sure the wheel are tubless, the deraileurs are not damaged or bent, the bottom bearing is in good nick, the chain is serviceable, no funny sounds/clicks, the wheels are tracking straight, the brakes are ok etc. Do a good old standard mechanical check over first. If you can change a car tyre, you can give the bike a good look over yourself. In fact, if the buyer is serious, you can make an arrangement to get it chcked out by your local bike shop. Or, you must have a friend or colleague thats been on bikes before or at present. Talk to them too