Matt

The 25G sleeves aren't available separately or with the 4-up kit, but you could swop over a 25G sleeve or two from the original "2-up" Slyder 25G kit (available online for around R139). With the bigger sleeve and canister it will be a tighter squeeze though so some shuffling might be needed to make it all fit nicely.

Agreed, the upward trend in pricing across all brands and types is pretty scary. I guess where the outrage comes in is people feel brands are taking the mickey in charging what people are willing to pay. I'm sure there is some degree of that built in, in the same way you'll pay a big premium for an Apple device. But, doing the maths is quite interesting. In 2016 the Sworks Levo was going for R155k. Apply inflation at 5% per annum and in 2021 you'd be paying R198k for the same bike. That still leaves a ~R40k "gap" but keep in mind the 2016 Sworks had an alloy frame, no AXS. Are those worth an extra R40k? Perhaps so if you consider how we'd view it in the context of analogue bikes. It's a scary amount of money however you try to justify it. But the very rough maths above leads me to feel that it's not totally inconceivable to get there given inflation and tech improvements. i.e. not a brand simply loading the price because "hey, people will pay". I get your point on the drag effect on the entry pricing, whether we're talking ebikes or others. It starts to make the sport feel more and more inaccessible. But the capitalist in me believes that if there is opportunity to deliver value at a much lower price point, other brands or new brands will capitalise on that part of the market.

It's all relative and for the folks earning in that league they probably spend more on property rates & levies in a year. What I never quite understood is that with most of these launches from manufacturers people get whipped up into a frenzy over the top end pricing. Right now, yes, the two Gen 3 models available are outside the budget consideration of 99% of the market. But, as we've seen in the past, it's likely the lower tier Gen 3 models enter the market later this year/early next (*a personal opinion/speculation). They will still be a lot of money, probably more than most of us would be willing to spend or could afford to, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see models around half the price of the S-works. It's a bit like bleeting about the the price of a BMW M3 (at R1.8m) when most buyers will be in the market for a mid range model (around R750k). Neither is a small number, but for those in that market segment the mid ranger offers more than enough for their needs.

We had the opportunity to join a video launch with their engineering and marketing teams & other media. The motor reliability/durability was a something that they spent some time on - the belt in particular. They tested a number of new options and materials and seemed pretty satisfied it was a big improvement, but as you say... time will tell. They did mention that the new 2.2 motor tune will be "retrofittable" to the 2.1 motors. So even some Gen 2 owners will benefit from the software/firmware improvements for this bike. Other small touches were things like the waterproofing of the motor and electrical components. Although according to them the Gen 2 was already best in class here, the Gen 3 is significantly better in this regard.

Thanks for the feedback TheoG. We're excited to see this grow and evolve as we build more convenience into the service (e.g. booking shipping). There's a long list of ideas, updates and improvements you'll see roll out across the site in 2021

I'm assuming this was tongue in cheek, but just to ensure we're not a fake news source here is the MSRP per their website: Levo Gen 3 Sworks: R240k Levo Gen 3 Pro: R195k

Anything below the Pro on their site will be the Gen 2 Levo so will have 29" front and rear. For now the Gen 3 is only available in SWORKS and Pro spec.

Some interesting feedback in the recent posts. Thanks for all sharing your experiences and experiments. @ChrisF, out of interest: Your friend who refused to advertise on Bike Hub. Can you share why or what led to this? As a general note we know each platform has its own dynamics and some are better/worse in certain areas. While we of course aim for Bike Hub to be the go-to for all buyers and sellers of bicycles and cycling gear, that needs to be carefully balanced with the buyer/seller experience. We wouldn't want to open the flood gates only to land up with largely poor quality ads (little to no photos, insufficient detail, generally suspicious). At the same time, if serious (i.e. good quality, reliable) sellers and buyers are favouring other platforms we need to pay attention to the "why" - and we do. We've always set ourselves apart through our depth of understanding of bikes, the underlying community, dedicated support team and more recently through Bike Hub Pay. However, there's a lot we can do to further improve and in some areas learn from the big guys like FB. We been around a few years now, but still regard ourselves as a scrappy startup, continually improving and hungry to outpace our bigger rivals. With that in mind we welcome all this feedback - thank you!

What a cool outcome! It's a privilege to be a part of a community that can so seamlessly band together around a good cause. Reading back through the threads yesterday there were numerous Hubbers who shone a spotlight on this early on, BuffsVintageBikes then kicking off the campaign and taking responsibility, the many Hubbers who contributed in time or money, Andrew Steer for taking on the logistics, meeting with the family, arranging the handover. And CycleLab for helping to find and then donate the bike. Thank you all! Good job Hubbers

Thanks for the feedback, some answers below: By default new ads will be enabled to allow Bike Hub Pay offers. As a seller you're not obliged to accept an offer via Pay and, if you prefer, you can disable it when posting or editing an ad. When typing in the location selector, even if you type out the full word you'll either need to hit Enter or click on the "Centurion" that appears in the list to select it. What I'd suggest to save time is to rather save your location data in your settings. That way it will be pre-populated when you post a new ad. https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/settings The announcements and support forums were excluded from the Discussions box filter... more an oversight than by design. It will appear in there now. Only ads with photos appear in the Recent ads feed on the home page. Photos are a critical element on any ad and we felt this was a small incentive for folks to post their ad with photos upfront while keeping the home page looking good.

Thanks for the feedback fanievb. Great to see many seasoned Hubbers using it and glad to hear you see the value in Bike Hub Pay. Awesome to hear Koos! Enjoy the new purchase and thanks for sharing your feedback.

Nick has been in touch via our support desk. Please could you share a link to the problematic chat with him there to investigate. Sounds like it's isolated to just the one chat? You will have a lot of trouble trying to use IE on Bike Hub and much of the web, but any recent version of other major browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) should be 100%. That was a bug a while back but shouldn't be happening anymore. Please pop us a message via help@bikehub.co.za or "Contact Support" in the footer if you're still having that issue.

Hi Barry, The option is still there bit it has been renamed to 'Archive chat' - this is a more accurate description of what the feature does. Archive chat (like the old "Clear chat") will remove the conversation from your inbox. It doesn't delete the conversation outright so if the other party sends a new message in an archived chat it will re-appear in your inbox. Hope that helps? Matt

I've made a few enquiries on bikes too... they're like hens teeth! Will post here if I have any luck.

Thanks to you guys for arranging all of this. So cool to watch it unfold. Socks... it may not be Versus but we have a load of Bike Hub socks we can offer. No kiddies sizes unfortunately, but we've got 4-7 and 8-11. Do we know Mr Nyati's t-shirt size? I'd be happy to send some up to them directly or perhaps to Andrew?

Thanks for using Bike Hub Pay and for the feedback.

Awesome stuff Buff and all those contributing! I'm sorry I missed this yesterday, but looks like you're on it in terms of the admin side. Happy to help out however we can and will add something to the pot.

I did sample it early on to test the quality I briefly considered a different "Admin / moderator" border, but then remembered that time would be far better spent getting mobile uploads in the forums (and mobile usability) up to 2021 standards.

Thanks for highlighting this. It is important that the integrity of the rating system is maintained (and improved). As frustrating as being ignored might be, it's just not something that justifies a rating nor is it in line with our T&Cs. The solution will have to come from all sides... Bike Hub: Make it easier for sellers to Mark on hold / Sold, ensure interested buyers are then notified automatically and educate users on these tools. Improve visibility of unread/unanswered messages.Sellers: Use the tools above more proactively.Buyers: Understand that even with the above in place you might still be ignored. It's likely nothing personal, unless you're truly low balling.

I've had a quick look around and all seems in order, however all three of you currently have the "Hide all ads" option disabled. So you would have been seeing some ads (only directly sold & our in house advertising). We did have an in house campaign launch yesterday which would give the impression that you're suddenly seeing more ads (especially for those overseas). Please pop into your settings and enable the "Hide all ads" option under the Plus section. https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/settings

Apologies, you shouldn’t be seeing any, even the blue and green ones. We’ll correct that ASAP.

This is something we’re getting a lot of feedback on lately. Many of the cases are a situation where the seller has dozens of earlier messages and simply haven’t bothered to respond. Not ideal for those left hanging and we’re looking at ways to make it easier to respond in bulk, e.g. where an item has been sold. However, from some of the replies here it seems there are also technical issues adding to the problem. If you’re not receiving chat message notifications either on the site or via email, or if you are finding any other issues PLEASE let us know via help@bikehub.co.za, including a screenshot if possible. @RomP apologies for the slight hijack, but hopefully we can solve any broader issues that might be contributing to the problem you’re facing.

Hi Hubbers, It's already been just over 2 months since we launched Bike Hub Pay and we're seeing growing activity. We've had a multitude of deals completed across a wide range of items. From kids bikes to high-end TT frames and carbon dual-sussers, group sets, e-bike batteries, Epic entries and more! Our minimum fee at launch was kept relatively high at R100 to ensure our back office processes and systems were ready. We're ready and pleased to announce a reduced minimum fee. Reduced minimum fee On 4 February 2021 we lowered the minimum fee to just R49, making the service more accessible on lower priced items. We're excited to continue building on the offering in 2021 to add further convenience and value. If you've done a deal via Bike Hub Pay or have questions/feedback let us know.

Thanks for reporting and sharing this. The user was banned early this morning.

It's a fair question, and although possible, we expect it won’t be a common issue. The relatively short window for logging a dispute of this nature should limit the potential for this sort of abuse of the system. Upon delivery of the item the buyer has 48 hours to log a dispute (e.g. item not as described, damaged, etc.). This time period is to allow them to unbox and inspect the item as if they were purchasing in-person. Once the 48 hours have passed and no dispute is raised the deal is automatically completed and the seller will be paid out. Once a deal has been completed the buyer cannot raise a dispute. As you suggest, it is possible that an unscrupulous buyer could damage an item and claim it arrived in that condition. To protect the seller against such issues we suggest thoroughly documenting the condition of the item and packaging with pictures/video. Similarly, if a buyer receives a damaged box we'd suggest documenting the condition before and while unboxing. Bike Hub will review such claims and attempt to facilitate a resolution between the parties, failing which we may refer unresolvable disputes to the relevant court.