[Who of you are thinking about buying a gravel bike?]

I also got the GR titanium bike last year, since then my mtb and road bikes hardly ever get ridden...

In an effort to resolve the n+1 financial strain, I have invested in what I believe is my trilogy of bikes, carbon road racer, steel mountain bike and my titanium gravel bike over the last few years. The "problem" is the gravel bike has become the go to bike and I should have rather invested in a second wheelset for the GR  rather than a dedicated road bike, i.e. skinny wheels / tyres for road and wide tyre wheel combo for offroad. The spare wheelset can also accommodate suitable road gearing, to offset the ultra compact front chainring set upfront, when trying to hang with the roadies on Marine Drive loop.   

 

My decision to purchase the gravel bike was also dictated by my work (renewables industry in the Little Karoo and all of the Northern Cape), and the mountainbike was too slow to cover larger distances over our off weekends. A decision I don't regret, as it also very easy to add the bikepacking gear for the overnighters I end up doing.  In short the gravel bike allows for speed and comfort to explore large areas.

[CRC waiting time]

I ordered on 8 Jan, it was dispatched the same day and I collected yesterday.

I chose the normal free delivery that comes in via SAPO, the shipping email I receied was from TRAKPAK, they were spot on, the parcel was not even in the SAPO tracking system and TRAKPAK showed that it had arrived. The link is:

 

https://www.trackmytrakpak.com/

[Two cyclists killed in KZN]

There's a lot of cyclists on the M4 every weekend, so yes. The stretch they were on has a wide yellow lane, so we can only speculate at this time as to what happened.

 

Have also seen this link, look at the state of the car, must have been flying!!! So sad and unnecessary!

 

http://northglennews.co.za/75137/two-cyclists-killed-on-m4/

[Update on injured Absa Cape Epic rider]

What happened with him?

[Hollard Juma 2015: bigger, better and more badass than ever!]

R400? I will ride my local trails and have a breckie for 1/4 of the price

[[Event] MTN National MTB Series #8 Ride Crater Cruise Driven By NISSAN]

I agree that the bottleneck was extremely frustrating and at the wrong moment. BUT the route overall was fantastic

[[Event] NISSAN TrailSeeker #1 Diamond Rush]

Great event, great route

[Build-a-Bike - Enriching the lives of the less fortunate]

Hi all, I have two guys that I have been helping to get proper bikes to start participating in events.

They both live in Cullinan and commute by bicycle daily to Pretoria to work.

 

The first guy, Lucky, has already participated in the Beast of the East, Down and Dirty, Dullstroom and Sabie. I am very gratefull that Bestmed has contributed to entry fees, transport and accommodation and to Chris for the Felt bike.

After the conditions of Dullstroom and Sabie his drivetrain and brake pads are cooked.

Can anyone help me with a 10 speed chain, cassette and chainrings? The crank is a Truvativ (not sure about the model) The brakes are Shimano disk brakes. I will also appreciate 26" tyres with decent life left in them. His wheels are tubeless but we can use non-ust tyres if we can get some.

 

The second guy, Mlongise, got a Scott Aspect 40 FOR FREE from a fellow hubber. However the lockout of the Suntour schock is broken and it is stuck in lock position. It is a spring shock and my LBS says to send the shock to Cape Town for repair may end up costing almost as much as a new shock.

I saw that CWC sold a shock like that for R500 on the hub recently!!!!

Can anyone help with a 26" shock or know someone that may be able to help with repairing the lockout?

The bike is fine for commuting but I would like to get him to some events and for that he will need a working shock.

 

Thanks

[Things I've learnt from commuting]

Read this topic yesterday and got inspired to start commuting again today. Lekker man lekker

[What watch are you wearing?]

My Festina TdF 100 yr edition

[Pretoria East - Weekday Morning Training Ride]

Velo rides starts at 5:30 at the Engen on the corner of Atterbury and Hans Strydom (Solomon Mhlangu)

[94.7 MTB Disapointment]

I stopped doing it three years ago, the problems are still the same. Cannot believe such bad organisation is associated with the 94.7 Cycle Challenge. The primary school fundraising race is better organised.

[Koos Klopper]

Alles van die beste Koos, hoop jy herstel gou

[Archery.]

Yip, the Archer's Edge guys are amazing. I am on their range a number of times each week. DP hit an Inian myna on 85 yards on that range! Do you know that SA had three male archers in the top 8 in December's world champs in Singapore and took gold and silver in the ladies. I have seen a lot of Hoyt archers get converted to Bowtech on their range.

[Archery.]

I shoot a Bowtech Insanity CPXL. I use the range at Archer's Edge in Pretoria and the indoor range at Bow Shop. I have shot at distances from 20m to 90m. It is an awesome sport

[ASG Trans Baviaans 24hr MTB Marathon 2012]

Yes that was me, at that point our driver was also lost in JBay. Thanks for the friendly offer.

[ASG Trans Baviaans 24hr MTB Marathon 2012]

Highlight - hot chocolate at checkpoint 7

Lowlight - handlebar broke after checkpoint 7

[Stolen wheels]

My mtb wheels were stolen at the Parys Island Dirtmax on Saturday.

It has Hope Pro 2 hubs, ZTR rims, Kenda rear tyre, Racing Ralph front tyre, SRAM casette with green body.

 

I can't believe a fellow rider will just take what doesn't belong to him. I stupidly thought people taking part in the same sport and events would be honest and at least hand it in at the organisers.

 

I wonder if this guy gets a flat or needs assistance if he expects some help from other riders???

[They are among us...]

Yes I also liked to believe in friendly helpful mountain bikers. At least until the Parys Island Dirtmax on Saturday. Some criminal decided he'll help himself to my wheels at the bike wash. I cannot believe that someone is riding on my wheels today thinking what he did was right.

 

For the record the wheels are built with Hope pro 2 hubs, ZTR rims, Kenda rear tyre, Racing Ralph front tyre. The casette is a SRAM with a green body.

 

Come on give it back man, it's not yours!!!

[Chain Reaction Cycles meltdown?]

CRC recently helped me to replace an out of warranty Garmin with a refurbished one. I wasn't invoiced for anuthing other than the VAT on the estimated repair cost. So for R150 I now have a fully refurbished Garmin and a lot of praise for CRC warranty dept

[Chain Reaction Cycles meltdown?]

All the banks run fraud alert systems that will pick up suspect transactions according to their rules. If a transaction violates a rule, they will call the cardholder to check if it is ok. If you shop online like CRC frequently it will be seen as normal for your profile and not trigger a call to check.

[Show your mtb]

And here's my trusted steed. Pic taken at the bridge across the Vaal where the Crater Cruise halfway is.

Pity it won't float, I had to turn back.

[Tyres for Desert Dash]

I did the DD a few years ago and any tyre will basically do. The key to the sand is not to go too fast into the dips/river beds at night as you don't have much time to react in the dark at high speed. The surface of the roads are quite good and a tyre with a reasonable amount of tread should work fine. Close to Swakop there are sand patches but by then it is light.