Karakoram

A few months ago I stopped to help a little farm boy with a flat bicycle tyre. His pump was broken and his tyre had also seen better days, but held air when I used my pump. I asked the little guy if uses anything to prevent punctures and he keenly piped up that they use 'meel en water'. Turns out they make up a slurry of flour and water which is inserted into the tube. It does not entirely stop leaks but results in a 'slow puncture', which allows one to get home to effect more permanent repairs. I thought it an ingenious solution. It is cheap and a product which the folks have at home already.

Yes, she was able to sit on it and the step-through frame design works very well.

This fairy tale does not have a happy ending, yet. By yesterday afternoon (1 August) the bicycle was still not ready for collection. It was delivered late (29 July) and when it arrived, two of the chain ring blades were damaged (bent). LBS still awaiting replacement spares...

Thank you for the feedback. Our LBS is busy assembling a new Giant cycle for my wife, which she hope to try out this afternoon. I'm sure holding thumbs that all goes well with the stand-over clearance. If the frame size problem still persists after today, I'll follow up your lead. Maybe a picture of the final result will be an appropriate conclusion to this thread. Must say that it's been extremely informative to get so much feedback from The Hub community, you guys and gals 'rock' and helped a great deal to solve our problem. Thanks from the Venters.

Hi Grondpad. Thanks for the pointer. Just to give you an idea of the size hurdle we have to clear: My wife is barely able to stand over a standard 26" mountain bike wheel. Any top tube located higher than the bicycle's wheel presents a problem. Following this little stand-over experiment, we realised that the only frame we could consider is a step-through design such as the Giant Revel 2 or used often used on female cross bikes. The other problem is stock levels. 2011 Extra small bicycles are sold out at most places. Suppliers view this size bike as a Christmas purchase and seem to only bring these in later in the year in limited quantities.

Very good advice. Guess that is exactly the same reason why tour guides try not to put a husband and a wife in the same canoe. Humour vanishes rapidly when the rapids become tricky. Going on a tandem is probably the same.

Great service, thanks a lot - wife also likes the colour. Who would have thought a Giant would be able to solve my 'tiny' problem?

It seems that only a step-through frame design will work for her. We managed to locate a Giant Revel 2 XS thanks to Hubber 'ghostface's' efforts.

Yea, she's got a pair of ABBA 60's type platform shoes she wore to a fancy dress once, maybe we should fit cleats to those. My wife drives a 2 seater Smart car and she has to move the driver's seat so far forward to reach the controls that I think there would almost be enough room to store her bike behind the seat (when we eventually locate a suitable frame) : ) We're having a good laugh about this bicycle hunting thing for her. The other day I got a real surprised look when I suggested that she take look at a Giant bicycle...

Dear ghostface could you please contact my LBS (William's Bike Shop on 021-851 0919) regarding the Revel 2 XS frame. William is also trying from his end to contact Giant Cape Town to secure the bike.

Thank you for all your trouble, it is much appreciated. When we started hunting for a bike for my wife, Giant Bicycles were prepared to send a brand new XS Talon 2 men's bicycle to our local LBS (William's Bike Shop), with no obligation, to try out. We were super impressed with the effort. Unfortunately turned out to be a touch too big for her. It looks like the Revel 2 model could work. I will contact William and ask his opinion, since he did the original bike-fitting for my wife. Will be in touch soon. Thanks again.

Thanks, I will check out the lead as soon as we've resolved cancelling our order with Chain Reaction Cycles.

We tried the Talon 3 XS at our LBS in Somerset West, but the dear missus had to stand on her toes to barely clear the bar. The Revel 2 W XS has a step-through frame. The geometry table on the Giant website must be wrong. The standover height is given as 69.3 inches. Even in cm the height must be wrong. How is it measured on a step-through frame?

Thanks, I've taken a look at the Anthem's geometry and noted that the stand-over height is given as 79.4cm. My wife's inseam length is 64cm. The only bike I could find with a low enough top tube height(60.2cm) is the Ghost Miss 2000 model. Unfortunately they're all sold out. I never thought it would be this difficult to find a midget MTB.

Oops, wife gave the wrong reading, it is 1.42m

Yes, we tried a Mongoose (s), Schwinn (s), Silverback (s) and Giant (XS) frames, but the bar was too high on all of the previous. Must say all were men's frames. There were no female-specific frames available. Ek dink 'n dames raam met 'n geboee pyp kan dalk werk, maar daar is nie tans enige voorraad beskikbaar nie. Miskien moet ons maar wag totdat die 2012 fietse inkom.

She is 1.42m 'short', inseam 64cm.

Hi Hubbers I am looking for a very small frame (34cm - 13 to 14 inch) ladies hardtail MTB, but cannot find a bike or anybody with stock anywhere. (Not a 24" wheel kid's bike). I am based in Somerset West. My wife decided to join me cycling and she's already bought all the required apparel, but we are unable to find a bicycle for her. As you are able to gather from the frame size we're looking at, she's quite tiny and requires a stand over clearance of less than 62cm. The only likely candidate cycle we could locate was a Ghost Miss 2000 34cm model at Chain Reaction Cycles. (We were even prepared to import a bicycle as a last resort). This afternoon CRC informed me that they are also unable to source this bicycle. Any recommendations or possible leads for a brand or source for a XXSmall MTB, from the very knowledgeable Hubbers out there.

We also came across the riflemen on Saturday afternoon at about 3pm. We were also a little startled to see a rifle on a stand pointing in our direction on the trail. They guys only resumed firing when we well clear, but there were no warnings on the approach to the spot where they were situated. The riflemen are also unable to see approaching cyclists because they were located in a dip. Cyclists are unable to see the 'range' till they crest the small hill in very close proximity to where the targets were set up.

Thanks Mountain Lion. I've updated my Google route accordingly.

Yes, we want to start and end at Middelvlei doing the yellow route plus the extra purple loop. It works out to about 22km according to Google Maps. Here is the route as I recreated it on MyMaps, see: <http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=200715723603269957649.0004a2f89d95c600c5bd5&t=h&z=14> Hope I've got it right? I assume the purple route's arrows are marked in purple and that where the purple and red routes overlap (red and blue dotted line on the official map)the route arrows are in red.

We want to try out the yellow and purple loops this Saturday afternoon. I got lost on the red loop during the inaugural ride and want to avoid a repeat. As a precaution, I've traced the route as track back on Google's My Maps using the published image of the route as a reference. I then transferred the traced track to a Google Maps app on my smartphone. The phone is equipped with a GPS and it will be possible to navigate the track should any doubts arise about having missed a route marker. The plan is to record the workout after which an accurate track file should be available.

Overinflated? Not actually. I agree with Tumbleweed. 29er’s value for money is very good. Pre 2009 big-hoop bikes were not common and consequently also expensive, but since 2010 they've become main stream. The May-June copy of Bicycling Magazine features a shootout of most locally available hard tail big wheelers for under R20k. It will be difficult to self-assemble a similar bike with the same kit for less than the asking prices. As a reality check, look up the the retail price of the front shocks of the featured bikes in relation to the final asking price of the cycle.

I wanted a Canondale, but bought a Silverback due to stock shortages. (Very impressed with my Silverback, so not a bad experience afterall). My brother liked my Silverback a lot, but there are currently no stock available. He is now buying a Bulls bicycle. Bulls have an interesting business model. They make the frames and then finish it with whatever kit suites your budget. I like that. Most completed bikes somehow skimp on something to keep the costs down, but not necessarily the same thing that the prospective buyer might want to skip on. Make to order will sell more bikes than completed kit, I think.

Buying a bicycle is a planned purchase. It is not an impulse thing and is normally preceded by much research. There are so many brands and models available, niche products boosted by marketing hype and glam endorsements that it leaves the buyer spoilt but confused for choice. Fortunately the Internet is available as a valuable research tool to compare specs, read reviews and to weigh up the all-important bang for buck differences. Finally the day arrives, after much research, and the buyer steps into his LBS armed with printouts and a pretty good idea what it is he wants. Then the dreaded response from the sales guy: “Sorry, we don’t have any stock” “We have been in contact with the suppliers and they can’t say when new stock will arrive” In desperation, the buyer hunts down the local importer’s contact info, but they are also unable to tell when new stock will arrive. Everybody is proposing an alternative set of wheels, and the buyer feels let down and back on square one. This happened recently when my brother and I started shopping for a hard-tail with bigger than normal wheels. (This thread is about stock availability and not the size of the wheels : ) Okay, my speculation is that only a limited number of bikes are imported. When the stock runs out, the chances of re-supply will be very limited because factories would already be producing next-year’s models. 2011 bikes were already in the stores by August 2010. I would like to propose that local suppliers should provide an indication of stock availability on their websites. It is of no use to have a glitzy website, with zoomable pictures, stating all the component specs, but they are unable to supply the goods. It would then be better to have a assembled-to-order business model (like Bulls cycles), rather than selling (or rather not selling) complete bikes.