Rolf Hansen

Perfectly normal. Get yourself another hobby then you can switch maximum levels of obsession between the two.

I find Big Red Barn very well marked. The worst I find to be Van Gaalen's. I really like their trails but if you don't know where you are going you keep guessing all the time. If you are used to doing a little distance it is not so much of a problem but if you intend on just doing a short <10km or so you might be in for a surprise. Northern farms I did not find too troublesome but we once found someone on the trail around 30km in. He was so exhausted, had no water left and had no idea where he was or how far he had gone. He thought he was still on the short 8 or 10km trail. He lost focus because of fatigue and had a nasty fall on his face just before we found him. Wolwespruit is not well marked at all. It is easy to find yourself at exactly the same place after a few km. I have done Wolwespruit so many times so I usually know where I am or at least the direction that I need to go. I know of many people who have only been there once and refuse to return because they got so lost. Last weekend we went riding at Wolwespruit and for those who have been there will know that on the highway side of the trail there is a very nice and easy flow trail that requires no pedaling. This is on the easy green family trail. What they have done, I assume to make it a little more fun for more experienced riders is to add a small but very steep jump on the right section of one of the bumps/jumps. There is no warning or indication and a child/inexperienced rider might not see what it is before it is too late. My brother hit the steep jump as it was directly in his line and subsequently we had to take him to Kloof Mediclinic for quite severe injuries. There is no warning or sign of any kind and it is part of the family trail.

Went for a ride at Wolwespruit today. Fun ride cut short "toe my broer sy moer los val". Luckily Kloof Mediclinic is right next door. He had to go for CT scan and x-rays for his neck, chest, shoulder and ribs. Apart from some very gnarly face wounds and a serious concussion he is thankfully fine otherwise. His flight back to the Netherlands has been postponed by a week at least.

So it seem that it is around R9 500 for the Titan and around R14 000 for the Specialized. This is a significant difference so I don't know if comparing the 2 directly is sensible.

I cannot imagine that they are similarly priced? I am in two minds about the fork (suspension or not) but I found with my youngest the weight of the bikes was by far the most limiting factor. He had a Titan Hades 24D and it was a very solid bike but ridiculously heavy for such a small bike. I would imagine there would be a significant weight difference between the two forks. I'd go for the one that is the lightest if there is a significant difference.

If they cannot/don't want to fix it they should tell you beforehand and not pretend they know how to fix it if they don't have the skills.

I had a Renault 5 GTL. Remember the spare wheel in the engine bay and the ignition on the left of the steering wheel? Seriously oddball cars.

I have been using Squirt for some time and I am very happy so far. I cannot say how well it actually lubes but it does stop the chain from rusting and it does not attract dirt at all. It does not taste of bananas...

I am going to have to agree with PhilipV. I don't believe your intention was to mislead and the buyer could have (should have) confirmed but taking the advert on face value I would also have thought it to be included.

2015 feels new if I think about the date but then I remember we are already halfway through 2022. I have a 2008 Cannondale that now has a 140mm fork, new brakes with larger rotors, short stem, wide bars and 29/27.5 wheels. Doubt I'd win any races or have people admiring my ride but hell do I have a lot of fun on it on the trails. Upgrade the fork to a 29 and run a mullet setup. It will feel like a new bike.

My Moka pot is more than 15 years old and is still perfect. Cannot recall the name but it is made by Bialetti if I recall correctly - my brother bought it in Italy. I would not worry too much about the aluminium unless you scrub or wash it with harsh detergents and a new layer of oxidation has to form all the time. Mine has only ever been washed with water.

I ran Ardent on the front and Crossmark II on the rear. The combination worked very well.

The problem is you sometimes get to junctions where the route you want to take has arrows pointing in opposite directions. The mind boggles.

Unfortunately I won't be able to help you with that as I don't have any electronically mapped routes. I am a manual rider that rely on the signage 🙃

Keep it! I use to own a Blue and Gold Raleigh. My parents sold it when we moved to Cape Town. This was my first bicycle and I was crazy about it. In Cape Town I then bought a very expensive (R130) 2nd hand, all original Mongoose Californian with additional laid-back seat post. Someone relieved me of it outside the games arcade. My parents could not afford to replace it. Years later I bought myself a GT Pro Performer with yellow OGK Skyway mag wheels. In high school I lent it to a "friend" who needed transport and never saw it again. I would love to have any of them again to cruise around the neighborhood.

I agree on that. I don't mean it needs one, I mean I would think it would be cheaper without the suspension fork. Unfortunately I was never in the position to pay that for a bike for my boys. I had to settle for 2nd hand bikes in a much lower price bracket. I did indeed get what I paid for and not in a good way.

Just had a look on their site. Those bikes look awesome! More than R13k for a rigid fork, mechanical disc brake 20" is still pretty pricey though. The weight is great at < 9Kg.

My son had a Titan Hades 20D. They are built tough but are extremely heavy, heavier than my dual suspension Cannondale. When he turned 9 I ended up finding him an XS 26" frame and building many of my lightweight parts on it. From what I could tell most 16"-20" bikes are very heavy except if you go for the really high-end stuff like Specialized or Commencal. Specialized Riprock 20" is just over 10kg with a rigid fork and the Commencal 20" is just over 11kg with a proper suspension fork. The Commencal is a much more serious bike and quite a bit more expensive than the Specialized but even the Secialized at R12k is expensive if your kid will only be riding it for a year or two. In 14" and 16" I doubt you will find something proper that is lightweight, especially in SA.

I know about the Versys-X but have not seen or ridden one. Should be the dog's bollocks for a small adventure bike. The 300L has significantly more power than the 250. Nice bikes. Great looks and Honda reliability. I went to ride the Hero Xpulse 200 yesterday. Seems very well built and very well specced for the price. Nissin brakes with ABS upfront. LCD dash with turn-by-turn navigation, Metzeler Sahara tyres as standard. The power delivery is very smooth and the bike is very nimble. Brakes are strong. I would not take it offroad in standard guise, the front-end and bars feel way too low. They are expecting the Rally model in a few weeks that has longer travel adjustable suspension front and back, rally style seat and two sets of tyres, one off-road and one more road biased. Much less power than I am used to but that can be expected from a 200cc.

I'd say it very much depends on what the aim is and exactly what you want to do with the bike. If you don't travel highways, don't need to go fast, only want to use it for commuting and don't mind looking like you are delivering someone their pizza you can get something like a Bajaj CT125 or Hero Eco Deluxe. Both can be had for under R20k new and will give you a range of between 500 and 600km on a 10L fuel tank. It will still zip through traffic and will save you a heck of a lot of time and money. You won't look cool, you won't go fast but to beat traffic and the fuel price, nothing can compare. Some smaller 2nd hand bikes that can be had are great for traffic in town but suck on the highway. They can double as weekend toys though. Like the mentioned CRF250/300. They won't blow your socks of in terms of power with 23/27hp respectively either but for a new rider it would probably be plenty, they look cool and make for great off-pavement toys. Can do highways but not great at it. There are more powerful dirt bikes that make for even better toys but they are more dirt focused and in turn usually makes them less suited to higways/open road. Something like the WRF450 mentioned comes to mind but I suspect that will be too much of a handful for a new rider and for daily commuting the maintenance will kill you. I currently use my DRZ400E for commuting when I do decide to go to the office. I only use it in town. It tops out at around 110km/h but does get there VERY quickly which makes it great in traffic. I have proper dirt tyres on it which makes me avoid wet tar like the plague The Honda NC700/750 are built specifically for commuting and will give you 30km/l+ consumption. Services are not that cheap but if you can do simple maintenance yourself it makes it MUCH cheaper. It has manageable power, great onboard storage and has no problem doing longer distances on the highway. There are cooler and larger bikes out there but maintenance becomes expensive and they can be a handful if you are not used to riding in traffic. Not sure if any of that helps.

If it is just two of us we usually just split the bill irrespective of who had what. Usually when we are more, like today, each guy just pays for what he had and tip. We don't even look at the final amount.

A bit of a thread revive. Last time I was at Van Gaalens with the Trailseeker last year. I went down on the rocky downhill section at/after Tant Miems. Broke my derailleur hanger and cut my leg quite badly and ended up walking in the region of 12km back to the farm. Decided to try it again today. The signage is really not great. Arrows pointing both ways for the same trail at some points. We managed fine in the end though and had a blast. We did the River/Greek Church and Baboons. Baboons was hectic and there was a stretch where none of us could make it up. Will definitely visit again and try do Baboons without hike-a-bike in some sections.

If you do the Chicken sections they are mostly OK-ish. The Bull section called Aloes & Thorns, I believe, was the most insane mud I have ever experienced. I will try and find some photos. When it is dry it is very enjoyable.

I did a ride at Rosemary Hill where we had to stop every 500m to clear the mud. I wil NEVER go there again after rain. I did not enjoy it at all and neither did my bike

Leave the 2.4 Maxxis on the front and swap the rear for a narrower tyre.