Karakoram

Outride date: 7 May 2016. The first big, phat Winelands Fatbike get together. Ride your fattie (or regular MTB) on the Wannabees Cycling Club's Fatbike Patch and single track trails. Share the love of Fatbike riding with fellow fattie pilots and savour the delights of the coffee shops along the route. This could also be your opportunity to try out a Fatbike before you decide to buy one. The outride playground is about 35 km long, consisting of farm roads, single tracks, climbs, and the delightful sandy Fatbike Patch. (A R40 day-permit fee for non-club members will apply.) Please book at: secretary.wannabees@gmail.com, before 4 May 2016. (Limited numbers can be accommodated) Parking at Vredenburg Manor House (https://goo.gl/maps/ci9GLK5YN6P2), R30 (will also buy you a coffee and muffin), free for club members. Arrive at least 30 minutes early to socialise, install Java (coffee), buy a day-permit and to hear about the route plan. (We will visit the Burry memorial tree, ride all the single tracks we can find, draw a really huge fatbike outline on Strava or any other favourite sports tracker, enjoy the delights of two coffee shops, have a fat chat, and get to ride a fatbike if you don't have one yet). (Refreshments at other route stops will be for your own pocket.) Fatties brake for cake, and play in the rain.

Fantasties! Die Strava prentjie was op 'n gewone bergfiets gedoen. Vet is vrolik, maar nie verpligtend om die nuwe Vetfietsbaan te geniet nie. Laat weet hoe jy dit ervaar het.

One of the club's members just shared his Strava Art of riding the Fatbike Patch. (The ride was described as Shake, Rattle and Roll). The track will smooth out as more wheels go over it, but also get more sandy.

When you are in town, come and ride it. Drop me a call, and I will go ride it with you.

Thought I would share news about a new trail section, part of the Wannabees Cycling Club in Somerset West's trail network. It doesn’t matter if you’re Mandy or Andy, the patch will introduce you to Sandy. A 2km labyrinth of twisty, sandy tracks on a meadow, designed to outline the shape of a really huge Fatbike. The trail section is called the Fatbike Patch. The club managed to obtain permission to utilise a fallow piece of sandy farm land for the establishment of a fatbike trail. The novelty of the Fatbike Patch is that it outlines the shape of a huge Fatbike, just over 2km long. The trail is negotiable on any mountain bike, but is much more fun to ride on a fatbike because of the sandy soil. (On Strava, the segment is called "Dawie's Fatbike"). Non-club members may ride the trail provided they purchase a day-permit (R40), available at all the LBSs in Somerset West, also available at the Lord Charles Hotel reception desk (24/7), Campus Solutions at Waterstone Shopping Centre, and Somerbosch Wine Estate. We are also planning a Fatbike outride in May, riding the Fatbike Patch as well as the single tracks/Jeep tracks of the club, stopping at coffee shops on trail, altogether doing about 35km. It will be an opportunity for Fatbike owners to share ideas, swap high calorie stories about gear and trails and sharing the love of fatties.

Try your local bike shop, they always have spare kit laying about, especially Silverback agents. My Silverback double Scoop has a similar adapter for the front derailleur. Perhaps they can help get you a spare. I've been riding my Double Scoop for about a year and hardly ever use the granny gear. I could easily run it as a 1 X 10 rig. I am sure you could use a 3 X front derailleur if the limit screws allow sufficient adjustment. (My bike's shifter is a 3 X unit, limited by die adjustment screws on the front mech).

We, at the Wannabees Cycling Club are trying out a new vandal-resistant design. Our current A5 size ABS plastic boards go brittle after a while in the sun and are easily vandalised. Time will tell, hope the new design stands up to the test. More news in our next club newsletter. Will keep you posted about its durability.

Some of the trail marshals on the Helderberg MTB trails are taking day permits and ties along on their rides. When you get stopped for not displaying a bike board, you have two choices. Buy a day permit on the spot, or else get escorted off the trail. This is not a convenient mobile day-permit purchase service, but an enforcement of the club's 'no board - no ride' rule. So, we don't carry change, don't take credit cards and won't accept anything else in lieu of the R40 day-permit fees.

If our club ever gets to vote about allowing off-road e-bikes on our trails, I will vote against granting permission. The trails were founded for mountain biking, and mountain biking is a human powered activity. Pure and simple. In the meantime, I think the term "human powered only" needs to be included in trail rules and cycling club's constitutions. If a person wants to ride an off-road e-bike, it would be prudent set up dedicated e-bike clubs and trails for this purpose. I guess its going to be difficult. It was damn difficult to get mountain biking trails established and the permissions are fragile.

Sorry to hear about this. Violent bike crime is now out of hand all over the country. I've been doing a lot of Googling to find devices for self-protection and to assist recovering stolen bicycles. Most available GPS devices are expensive, have short battery life and require some sort of subscription fee for tracking. Perhaps the most cost effective solution at the moment is DataDot Microdot. Brush on a 1000 near invisible microdots all over your bicycle. A UV reader device will pick up the dots and positively identify the bike or components. Kit available for R449. See: http://datadot.co.za/datadot_buy_for_bicycle.php

The electric-motor cycle manufacturers want to sell e-bicycles. So, next year's model will have e few more kilowatts of power to entice the market out there. The resourcefulness of tinkerers already have ways to override the governor of exiting machines or instructables to add extra zoom to last year's sloth. see this thread: http://www.bikeforums.net/electric-bikes/434853-disconnect-governor-speed-limiter.html It will be impossible to ban the new more powerful electric-motor bicycles from the trails because a president has been set with the previous models. At the Geelsloot bike park in Somerset West I've been told a kid on a small petrol help-my-trap contraption is damaging the berms at the park. By definition, mountain biking should remain a human powered only. Trails designated for use by mountain bikes, should not include assisted anything. My feeling is that eBikes riders should start their own trails and stage their own events.

That is one of the problems I foresee. Electric-motor cycles allows relatively inexperienced riders to go faster than their skills actually permit. The rider and very expensive ebike will soon be in the repair shop. That is okay by me, as long as damage claims does not affect the trail as we know it. I've taken the trouble to cycle at my wife's pace and it wasn't long before she wanted a better bike. Now I struggle to keep up with her. Simple, no e-anything required.

Don't even mention that it could cause a reVOLT, but hey some people are AMPED up about it.

Mad Maxxis

There are many opinions, but I like this one: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/opinion-a-secret-trail-and-the-argument-against-e-bikes-2014.html

Maybe I am over reacting. I've seen the speeds these things can attain on the road in Barcelona and I am concerned that similar off-road speeds will present trail maintenance problems and rider conflict and encourage even more powerful cycles to also feel they have a right to use the trail. I have seen what damage a motorcycle does to our trails.

Electric mountain bikes are beginning to trickle into the country and will soon find their way on to your favourite MTB trail. What would the appropriate local approach be to these bikes? My immediate reaction is to say no to allowing e-bikes on traditional MTB trails. Mountain biking should remain a non-motorised sport. Riding e-bikes on natural surface trails is not mountain biking. It is preciously difficult to keep mountain bike trails maintained and open as it is. The risk of loosing the goodwill of land owners and loosing access to a trail is very real. Mixing motorised bicycles into the equation is an unknown factor and could easily sour the deal for all. What constitutes an e-bike has been defined in some countries, but I am uncertain about the local situation. The problem is that electric mountain bikes are getting more powerful all the time and it would be difficult to regulate if an e-bike is within or over specification. The battery assisted power provided by these bikes could easily lead to irresponsible use of trails. Dedicated trails for e-bikes is my second reaction. These bikes are the new kids on the block, they need to establish their own playground. It is not all negative. These bikes would be great for commuting, even a boon to mounted trail marshals, guided tour groups and dirt track touring. I am not sure if event organizers have considered what to do about e-bike entries?

Problem Solved (I think) I had a spare Shimano Acera M390 9 speed compatible front derailleur floating about in the garage. I thought, what the heck, and fitted it. The shifting seemed to be really sweet during the setup on the bike stand. I should get an opportunity to try out the mech's performance on the trail tomorrow. The clearance between the replacement derailleur's clamp mechanism and the rear tyre is a bit smaller than the outgoing XT mech, so it is going to be a real crud catcher in winter. It was also possible to fit the Acera derailleur a little closer to the big chain wheel than the outgoing derailleur.

Thanks a stack. I also live in Somerset West.

Thanks a lot for the offer. I could also remove mine and bring it along to compare. (Stellenbosch?) The interference of the derailleur is at the bottom part of its cage against the chain stay, when selecting the smallest ring. The seat tube has plenty of mounting space for the derailleur clamp and there is lots of room to move it up or down. I've written to Momsen with the same query and the response I got was that most of their customers build up their steel frames as single speed rigs, or with dual front ring set-ups. They recommended that I should also look at SRAM front derailleurs, which apparently would work with my XT shifters. Not exactly much help. I was hoping to get a derailleur model number that would fit the geometry and my drive setup. The selection options on the web is overwhelming and the jargon not so clear for a novice at component sourcing. I've heard of short, long and medium cage derailleurs, but it is not obvious from the online spec-sheets which is which. Then there is a 'total teeth number' and seat tube angle just to confuse you even more. I think a derailleur with a shorter cage (perhaps a medium) will work on my frame, but I am not sure if it is compatible with a triple chain-ring.

Hi Tankman. It looks like a bottom clamp to me. (Not being an expert, I could be wrong). Image here: http://www.jensonusa.com/Shimano-XT-FD-M770-10-Front-Derailleur

Thanks fanievb, but I need to get the derailleur in a lower position down the seat tube, towards the bb, not further away from the bb, if I understand the function of the spacer you describe correctly.

Hoping to tap into the combined wisdom of all the Hubbers out there. I've recently bought a Momsen STR 29 steel 29er frame and transferred most of the components from my outgoing Silverback Segma 29er onto the new frame. The original Shimano front mech (model: fd-m770-10) worked perfectly on the old bike, but the cage seems too long for the new frame. It is not possible to position the mech at the recommended minimum spacing over the big ring, without the bottom of the cage interfering on the chain stay. See image: At the moment shifting performance is the best at this high position, but not very good at all. The chain often hunts when moving from the middle to the big ring. Adjusting the chain tension helps a little. I run a 24/32/42 chain wheel and 10 speed 11-34 casette. The seat tube is 28.6mm and the angle between the seat tube and chain stay is 73 degrees and requires a bottom pull setup. What replacement Shimano mech will work here? Thanks for your advice in advance

We will be touring Barcelona by bicycle, later this year and I wanted to mount my smartphone on the bike's handle bar to view the Bike City Guide navigation app. The folks at BikeCityGuide sell a unique silicone bike mount, called the Finn, which accommodates any phone. I've ordered two via friends living in the UK (they don't ship outside the EU at the moment) and have to admit that the mount is simple and simply fantastic! See: http://getfinn.com/ Another option is a pouch, strapped to your bicycle's top tube. It protects your mobile from water and dust and also provides a handy storage space for things you want to carry with you. A huge selection can be ordered online from DealXtreme.com (China). See: http://dx.com/s/bicycle+cellphone+bag Just make sure of the size to accommodate your specific cell phone.

Great to hear that there are a other Hubbers who have discovered the virtues of the Mary Handlebar. I am probably the only 'weirdo' in our cycling club running a Mary at the moment. I've recently moved my Mary over to my new build, a Momsen Steel frame 29er and it is bliss.