Matt

By default the active topics view does exclude the off topic sections. The forum platform does offer options to allow users to save their own feeds, but at the moment our site only loads the standard Active topics view - there's no easy way to access custom/saved feeds. We can look at how that can be incorporated.

Sorry for the delay @RobertWhitehead On your points, I have a few questions that will help us to track down the cause(es): 1) Could you share the file size of a typical photo on your phone? Are you unable to upload due to the file size or the HEIC format? 2) Support for HEIC image uploads to ads is on our to-do list. It's unfortunately a format/standard that's not yet widely supported and not yet natively supported by the image processing tools we use, but we're actively looking at workarounds. In the meantime, unless you specifically want the HEIC format the best would be to set the default on your phone to JPEG. 3) How are you inserting emojis, via the phone keyboard or the icon in the tool bar on the comment box? It would be very helpful if you could share a screen recording of this. It's not something we've encountered on any of the devices we use. 4) You should be able to start a topic from any device. Are you not seeing this option or encountering an error?

We've updated the thread title. By all means seek feedback from others around any stores where delivery is below expectations, but I'm in agreement with the sentiments above - let's refrain from being too quick to label any business a scammer outright.

Yes, and yes. @Maree du Preez please post this in our Classifieds, we have a dedicated section for Cycling Industry Jobs: https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/c/cycling-industry-jobs

We've toyed with the idea of doing something similar for a few years, but it's tricky. In the autos market you at least have book values etc. and less room for customisation. Bikes quickly become a minefield. In "ordinary market conditions" (if those exist?) I think we could automate the rough calculations Hubbers often share to approximate value. But there are perhaps too MANY variables to rely on a computer. Bicycle Blue Book have a nicely put together value guide, but I've seen varying reviews of it's accuracy and usefulness. https://www.bicyclebluebook.com/value-guide/

A better comparison might be Pinkbike's buy & sell section which is a closer proxy to Bike Hub: https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell As a reseller focussed on upper tier bikes (spec & condition) I'd expect TPC pricing to be higher than a typical private seller. But even then 5% is VERY slim. They've been laying off staff quite aggressively this year, and their CEO recently stepped down. I suspect they grew fast in the covid boom with some venture capital backing, but now that growth has slumped.

It's not something we allow or encourage, but I'd be happy to see how we can assist to get to those answers without needing to scrape. Ideally, we need a solid sample of actual selling price vs. listing price (as you've alluded to and others have mentioned). Bike Hub Pay helps there in certain categories, but I'd love to have more complete data around that across more listings. We used to collect selling price (user reported) when marking as sold, but it wasn't widely used. -- 3.4. Virtual agents. You may not use any technology (including spiders, crawlers, bots, and similar virtual agents) to search or gain any information from this website, unless we have given you permission to do so. https://help.bikehub.co.za/en/articles/4656777-terms-of-use

Is the second hand market dead? No, but it is slowing after an over-heated 2020/2021 where demand was high and new supply was scarce. We've got some very blunt, but reliable data to look at that paints a picture of supply & demand on Bike Hub. Supply (sort-of): New ads created per month (excludes re-listed ads in a given month) Demand: Unique leads created per month New ads created per month is slowing steadily, but the level of interest in ads (contact made with sellers dropped off considerably after Q1 2022. Not dead, but slowing. And there's much talk of over-supply of new bikes in the pipelines + slow moving stock already on shop floors and in warehouses. That will put more pressure on the secondhand market if prices of new bikes are discounted to move stock. A reverse on what we saw in 2020/2021. Will it kill the second hand market? I wouldn't say so, especially not if you're a buyer with further pressure on prices.

In South Africa it might have a suitable corner-of-the-market appeal among non-pros.... people who currently buy S-Works Epics for predominantly gravel endurance races (Trans Baviaans, 36One, etc.).

Just the racing hardtails on the top few steps of XCO podiums 😉

Yes that one. It also played a lead role in a recent SRAM technical video. As in my earlier comment, a brand taking the risk in having a new "secret" bike ridden in public is very different from someone intentionally leaking what's currently private detail & material about that same bike. On that note, we won't stop the chatter about it here based on what's already known and in the public domain. That would be unreasonable.

The situation you describe is ridiculous in the internet age (and happens to a degree in the local bike industry), but is not the case here. If Specialized USA or others had officially released this info & the bike it would be a very different story. As it stands, the specific information shared is confidential info which I presume was leaked by a journo ahead of embargo or someone internally. Either way that document is not supposed to be public... an internal white paper is very different from a cameo in a SRAM video or spy shots of an athlete riding a bike in my book.

Your version of events is a lot more spicy than the truth. 😆 No mafia style leaning here. We’re reasonable people and it was a reasonable request.

Since you asked, it was deleted by me. 😉 Yes, they called and asked politely since the material leaked is confidential. We felt it was a reasonable request. The fact that the bike is coming and images/videos of it are not exactly a secret, but this specific info has not been made available anywhere publicly as yet.

I'd agree here. There was much inner to-and-fro about whether to even mention it... if anything its getting ahead of the inevitable comments. At this price point and spec level I felt it was a respectable weight. Most importantly, before knowing the actual weight it wasn't a consideration in the real world.

The Epic Evo has been without a brain since the current iteration launched in 2020. The standard Epic of that generation still has the brain. https://bikehub.co.za/news/review-2021-specialized-s-works-epic-evo-r8142/ https://bikehub.co.za/news/review-2021-specialized-s-works-epic-r8141/

@MORNE1102 I think you need to cool your jets here. All commenting here have concern for the issues you raise and appear to share a well grounded scepticism around the hyperbolic stats you shared. Just like scammers in the classifieds, we won't tolerate aggressive behaviour in the forums. Let's find some constructive outcomes here.

As @Nick mentioned, please report any suspicious users and include details on why or what was suspicious. Such feedback is an essential part of us weeding out any bad actors. I see you have a few recent ads. Can you share specific examples of users who've been in contact who you feel need a review?

We’ve had a few reports of similar issues following a recent site update. Clearing your browser cache should resolve it.

Doubt anyone here missed the news, but the official wrap up & some pics from today is up: https://bikehub.co.za/news/2023-absa-cape-epic-bursts-into-life-with-thrilling-prologue/

Scam alert: This user was specifically targeting folks with wanted ads earlier today: Phone: 0784383352 (comes up as a Business account on WhatsApp - common tactic to appear legit) Name used (fake name): Muhammad Ishard Bhana User name: tecrider

We're following the debate with interest. We've always taken the stance of the market will decide in terms of the price a given seller will accept and what a buyer is willing to pay. And we still stand by that with respect to the general debate about resellers, pricing, etc. However, feedback here around lowball offers in particular and an influx of recent complaints about these does have us questioning how to better approach this. Historically the assumption on our side was that on balance "a low offer is better than no offers", but feedback here and from users directly makes it very clear that this doesn't hold true. In some instances no offers would be better than a low offer and an all round better experience as a seller. We are actively considering solutions and welcome further feedback here or via help@bikehub.co.za

It is something we've noticed as well. It seems to be a language issue, i.e. people assume "rims" refer to complete wheels. It's not unique to wheels/rims and a challenge with any user-supplied data. In a perfect world everyone would know the difference between a cross-country/marathon bike and a trail bike or an "Enduro" event vs. an "Endurance" event. There might be some different naming or a different category structure that would help avoid it, but short of vetting each ad and correcting categories I'm not sure that there's an easy fix here. We're open to suggestions or insights that may help.

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Another scammer targetting wanted ads. Will either contact directly or push you to WhatsApp on the following number: 071 146 4456