Rolf Hansen

Hennops Trail for technical downhill sections and serious uphills. Do the full 35km+ route and you will know you went riding. Not much in terms of jumping and berms though. Wolwespruit has 3 downhill jump/flow lines, one shorter dedicated jump track and 2 technical downhill sections. The rest of the trail is also quite technical and lots of fun. Great fun! Iron Throne I have not been to yet but the SA Downhill champs was held there. They also have some massive jumps. Same goes for Grootfontein. I have not been there but they have some cool drops and jump lines. EDIT: Big Red Barn, Taroko Trails, Cowhouse/Hazeldean Valley and Rosemary Hill are all fun but they are all relatively flat with no real berms, jumps or serious technical sections. The guys at Red Barn have been working on their jump line and they have some technical Black Diamond sections.

Holy Hell 4.5bar? It must feel like you are riding on solid steel wheels. I am a light guy at 73 kg but I run front at 1.6 and rear at 1.8. Tyre pressure aside, if you like the way the Crossmark II felt you can go for the EXO one with the tougher sidewall.

I currently run a 2.25 Maxxis Ardent EXO on the front and 2.25 Maxxis Crossmark II EXO at the back. I don't have a lot of experience but these are treating me well.

Myself and two friends bought bikes over the last couple of months. What I have learnt is that there some things that are non negotiable. 1. The bike absolutely has to have an air fork. 2. It has to have a proper groupset. No Shimano Tourney! Asking the gears to change and getting no response sucks. 3. Hydraulic brakes are really nice if you do some gnarly trails. Mechanical disc brakes are still pretty damn good but the pressure required on hydraulic brakes is so much less that on longer rides it actually makes a big difference. All of this anly applies if you intend on doing trails. If you are just going to commute, ride around the neighborhood or ride light trails with the kids you can go for any bike.

What size bike do you require? For that money if I needed a size XL I would go for this: https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/hardtail-mountain-bikes/466521/trek-roscoe-7-2019 or even better this one: https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/hardtail-mountain-bikes/472305/commencal-am-ht-for-sale-or-swop

I agree that is terribly poor form but unfortunately a very common occurrence. People advertise something, get a lot of response and then decide/realise that they could have advertised it for much more. I have to add that as far as I know "Offer to Sell" is not a thing. Offer to Purchase however is. In this environment though neither of those two really exist.

They work fine if you don't transport that often or don't have more than 2 bicycles that you carry often. From my experience they don't "comfortably" carry what they claim, depending on the bike and it's size of course. A 2 bicycle one works great for 1 bicycle but is a little painful for 2. As for the 3 bike carrier; works great for 2 but not so much for 3. The same goes for the tow bar and the ones that strap on the back of the car. I now use a tailgate pad which is only useful if you drive a bakkie

Says who?

Agreed. The "looks" part of the helmet is just a thin layer of plastic that is mostly for aesthetics but also because the surface of polystyrene damages quite easily so it prevents the polystyrene from getting hundreds of little dings because you dropped your helmet when picking up the car keys/lightly bumped it against the dining room table, etc. In a crash the thin outer layer does nothing for protecting your head, that is the polystyrene's job.

No, the little ones are allowed to ride with a hiking/running adult on the hiking trail - 5km, 10km, etc.

I understand. Trail #4 at BRB should be fine though. For the little ones they suggest riding the hiking trail with a adult hiking alongside. They don't go fast enough to endanger the runners/hikers and nobody passes them with a bicycle. It sucks as you cannot join with the bike but might be a solution? My kids started like that at BRB.

Surely just pulling to the side and letting someone pass should not affect their confidence all that much? They should be able to handle that if you want them to do proper trails?

At BRB trail #4 is mostly on its own but it is very short and probably fine for a 4 or 5 year old. The moment your child moves up and can manage longer distances I think there will always be somebody either faster or slower. My 12 and 8 year old sons do the 12km #3 trail on their BMXs without issue and has done several times. We don't often but sometimes pass slower riders. They can do the trail much easier than for instance my mother would be able so how are they supposed to classify the trail? I find Wolwespruit much more of a problem where some quite fast sections of the trail crosses/shares the path of the runners/hikers.

Yes I know it is the same old Cannondale but man do I love this bike! Pictured here with my wife's Silverback before our ride this morning at Big Red barn.

I do not have a matt car or bicycle but I am a big fan of the Angelwax products for my cars. https://www.auto-dna.co.za/product/angelwax-luminosity-matte-shampoo-500ml https://www.auto-dna.co.za/product/luminosity-matte-wax-150ml

I want to add my MTB to my insurance but I have no idea what it's value is. Do they also have a book value guideline same as with motor vehicles and pay you out based on that value? Details of the bike: Cannondale Rush SL 26" - I believe it is a 2008 but I could be very wrong. RockShox REBA Team fork with remote lockout. Fox Float RP23 rear shock Avid Juicy 7 brakes. SRAM X-9 rear derailleur and shifters. SRAM STYLO crank Shimano Deore front derailleur American Classic wheels (rims and hubs) with Maxxis Ardent front and Maxiss Crossmark II rear - tubeless. Fabric seat. Not sure how much of this is relevant when insuring a bicycle. I know it is not a high value bicycle but I will be super miffed if someone relieves me of it.

I'd get a tailgate pad if I were you. I use one on my bakkie for 4 bikes at least once a week. Sometimes 5 bikes. Takes seconds to load a bike.

L-TWOO is the same stuff that can be found on Apex and Avalanche bikes. Distributed in SA by Rush Sports, the same guys who distribute Signal and Apex. Their higher-end stuff looks very much like the SRAM stuff. Not sure how true it is but the company was supposedly founded in 2016 by ex Shimano and SRAM employees.

Fortunately for him I don't currently have the cash otherwise I would have taken that one. Without getting into a debate about wheel size; I can tell you that you will get an infinitely better 26er for R5k than you can get a new 29er. I started MTB in September 2020. I bought a new Silverback Stride 275 for R6 500. As a new rider I though the bike would be more than I would ever need: suspension fork, Shimano gears, disc brakes, etc. I did several easier trails with it and it handled everything great until I started doing rougher, faster trails. The things I learnt from riding this bike on some of the more challenging trails: The coil fork on the cheaper bikes make some of the tougher trails "interesting" Your fingers will go numb if you have to regulate the mechanical brakes on a long downhill section. Shimano Tourney gears are terrible if you need to shift in a hurry and expect it to go to the gear you want. I have since bought myself a much older 2nd hand Cannondale dual suspension bike that has a much higher spec level including hydraulic brakes, tubeless tyres, an air spring fork and much better drivetrain (SRAM X-9). This makes an incredible difference! If you are going to remain a recreational rider and will only be doing light trails, then a bike like the Silverback I bought would be perfect and you should remain happy. Anything more and you WILL be longing for a better bike.

My black Cannondale.

I have been a member for a while and have been browsing and reading for quite a bit longer. I started mountain biking in September 2020. I started on a Silverback Stride 275 MD which is an entry level 650b from Silverback. Not bad for recreational riding but after doing Big Red Barn, Hazeldean, Rosemary Hill, Wowespruit and Buffelsdrift I realized that for the type of riding I enjoy I need something more substantial. I have since bought myself a Cannondale Rush SL and have given the Silverback to my wife who is a little less serious about the trails than I am so the bike suits her well. We try and ride a trail at least every weekend with my two sons on their BMXes.

Oh OK. We were long gone by then.

We were also at BRB today. Was in a group with 4 kids - they would have crapped their pants. What were you riding?

We are in Gauteng. Went riding at Big Red Barn in Centurion over the weekend. My two boys aged 8 and 11 did the #3 12km trail with their BMXes. I am very chuffed with them but time for mountain bikes I think.

My Cannondale. I put some of my old pedals that I removed from my Silverback on there until I can fit some decent flat pedals.