Matt

Sorry to hear about this @Johannes Joubert Please could you share details about how they contacted you (e.g. phone, whatsapp, email) and what number(s) etc. were used. This may help others to avoid falling victim to similar scams in future and could help us at Bike Hub to detect & block this person if their enquiry originated from Bike Hub.

In 2020 we pulled back almost completely on any original content generation. We loved creating content, but from a business perspective it was necessary at the time. As we stand we have no one on the team in a content role or with capacity to manage or create the stuff you mention at any meaningful scale. We’re looking at options to address that.

Thanks for all the feedback on this. As some have noted this is a sponsored piece, it should have been more clearly labelled as such. That's on us at Bike Hub. We'll do better going forward. It's awesome that a brand like Thule is putting money and marketing behind a SA rider like Luke. Not doubt some lessons here in delving a bit deeper for content like this, even if it's marketing. BUT... it's clear there's interest and an opportunity to learn more about the rider, Luke. So I'd like to propose that we do a follow up (purely editorial) interview to learn more about Luke Moir as a rider. We'll put together some questions and see what we can line up with Luke & his management... most likely after Worlds. In the spirit of a community driven AMA style interview... what questions do YOU want answered?

Targeting wanted ads isn't a new tactic, but does seem to be the most prevalent approach we see attempted on Bike Hub. Removing your number on wanted ads will help to some degree, but we've seen in the past that it won't stop these guys trying via Chat, but will quickly push you to Whatsapp or even a call. However restricting contact to Bike Hub (at least first) would allow you to vet their profile. A new user responding to your wanted ad should be an immediate red flag.

Phone number verification is on the list. Although for most of these guys it seems phone numbers are almost as disposable as emails, it is another hurdle and a far more onerous one than creating another email. With anything like this there's also always a balance to strike in preventing misuse while not making the processes too cumbersome and restrictive for the 99% legitimate users.

The primary reason we do so is to be able to connect the dots and identify possible scam accounts. Unfortunately it's unlikely to ever reveal a real identity, but it does allow us to quickly identify and ban these accounts.

Well done to all! It sounds like it was tough out there. Official post-race press release is up here:

As I'd mentioned, this was purely an anecdotal observation rather than being based on firm data.

Hi Ruan, The feedback system is restricted to only allow selection of users who interacted with the ad. But you should be seeing the buyers user name on that form. Please either DM me with more info on the ad & user this was for, or hit the Contact us link in the footer and we'll look into the issue. Matt

Hi all, Just a note and caution against posting any copies of IDs or Drivers licences that scammers share with you. 1. POPIA 2. These are very likely the documents of other, innocent folks that they've obtained somehow and not the actual scammer Any identity docs posted will be removed but please refrain from doing so going forward.

This topic is somewhat sprawling, but I guess a reflection of the multitude of factors hitting peoples pockets and purchasing decisions when it comes to many things, including bikes. Circling back to bicycles and the bike boom. Rick Vosper tends to be an interesting read for those curious about the economics of the bike industry. Very USA centric, but also a fair reflection of the global market. https://www.bicycleretailer.com/opinion-analysis/2022/07/08/vosper-welcome-aboard-2022-23-roller-coaster#.YuJ4IOxBxsY TL:DR he points to three vectors: 1. The biking population is flat YoY (at best), more likely declining 2. There's a looming oversupply in some categories 3. Economic pressures, inflation and pending recession Closer to home, on Bike Hub the second hand marketplace offers some interesting indicators. Anecdotally we're seeing a taming in the inflated pricing on second hand bikes, presumably as stock of new bikes normalises and perhaps a signal of waning demand in general. In terms of hard numbers... - Demand (measured by leads generated) is down 10% year on year for Q2 - Supply (measured by number of adverts listed) is down 6% year on year for Q2 Much of that drop is attributable to a big drop-off in June. April/May YoY were pretty much flat. That could just be normal seasonality creeping back in to the market as people hibernate and holiday over the winter months, which we've not seen in 2020 or 2021. Or it could be a signal of a broader slowdown in the bicycle market.

It is tough to beat the convenience and functionality of Whatsapp, we know this and do have a planned WhatsApp button in the works which will automatically open a WhatsApp chat on your phone or WhatsApp web if on computer. The reasons we advise against putting a phone number (or email address) in the description are two-fold: Plain text phone numbers and emails are at risk of being harvested by spammers Scammers have one less hurdle to cross in order to contact you regarding an item, if your details are in plain text they don't need to sign up on Bike Hub in order to make contact.

Latest scam attempt targeting wanted ad posters: User name: Jf ride Phone: 083 216 9334 Using the name "Ryno van Walt" He's been banned here but keep an eye out on other channels.

Our forums run on the Invision Community platform and we're hosted on AWS. Invision do offer hosted options which makes it all a lot easier with entry pricing at $49 per month (hosting + licence). If I were starting out or starting over I'd look at something like https://www.discourse.org/ They also have similarly priced hosted options, but their platform is 100% free if self hosted and is a very light-weight forum focussed option. Invision has many other bells and whistles that may not be needed.

https://ryderinnovation.com/groove-tool-pro/

And based on the reports in our Stolen bikes section, theft from home is a considerable risk. Personally, the on/off thing isn’t the draw card for bicycles (I have used it for phones etc. while traveling) but decent rates + super easy process on an app is a win.

You need to toggle on or off, but I don't bother with that. I haven't checked out car premiums but on my bikes they were a fair bit cheaper than my previous, specialist bike insurer, even for always-on cover.

Do you use the same password on Bike Hub and other services? Our team are all Mac users and none have received any notifications of the sort. Its most likely that the a common password was breached elsewhere.

What is cool to see with this is the introduction of the TQ drive unit. TQ is an interesting company and although relatively new to ebikes, they have a lot of experience in creating small, powerful and efficient motors for robotics, aerospace and many other applications. Will be interesting to see what else they might have up their sleeves for ebikes.

Definitely "against the grain" of expected e-bike evolution. But based on Trek's media launch and marketing this is aimed more at the current non-ebike riders. The higher power + higher Wh battery options are there and it sounds like will continue their own evolution, this fits somewhere in between analogue bikes and "normal" ebikes.

Watching this years Tour via a mix of DSTV streaming and GCN+ I've been wondering how others are watching the Tour de France. Scanning the various threads it seems GCN+ is fairly popular, but that might be skewed by the regular commenters. Personally, I've been enjoying the commentary and overall production on GCN+. Nicholas Roche on the DSTV feed has some cool insights being perhaps the recent pro of the regular commentators, but he's just not as slick as Carlton and the Eurosport crowd.

Only for Bike Hub Plus Premium*** members 😉

Hi all, Apologies for the errors this morning and unavailability of certain features. We hit an unexpected error this morning following some database maintenance late last night. We had to revert to a backup and rebuild search indexes which is why Active topics and search are currently unavailable. This should be complete within the next 2 hours. I've switched the default forum view to a feed for now to act as "active topics". https://forum.bikehub.co.za/

Faces Africa, the company behind the world’s second-largest timed cycling event, 947 Ride Joburg, are excited to announce Virgin Active as the race’s new title sponsor. The initial three-year deal sees the flagship event, along with its mountain bike and the children’s ride subsidiaries, become the Virgin Active 947 Ride Joburg. For event entrants, this […] View full article