esCape-ist

Hans Rey: The grandaddy of the extreme mountain biking and pushing the limits of what can be done on a bike. These days, the Hans Rey Adventure Team epitomises everything Mountainbiking is about for me. Plus, he is simply an absolute gentleman with no airs about him. Greg Minnar: The ultimate DH racer. He has been at the pinnacle of the elite field for as long as it has existed, and his professional career spans longer than many of his current challengers are old. Plus, the Fresh Prince of Big Air is our home grown superstar Nino Schurter: Olympic gold medalist, 9 time world Champion, 7 time world cup overall winner - need one say more. Oh yes, almost single handlely revolutionised XC racing by bringing incredible technical skill and style, and combining it with insane fitness, forcing the uci to make tracks ever-more technical. Steve Peat: The second most winningest DH Racer of all time (after Minnaar), He played an instrumental role in “profesionlising” DH racing, and continues to contribute to the spot through development programs, as well as developing technical gear and clothing through his involvement with Royal Racing Gary Fisher: pretty much invented the mountain bike, and has an epic moustache. John Tomac: Pioneer of the early professional era. Having at the time of his retirement in 2005 won more races than anyone in the sport, but more impressively, had won those races across pretty much every discipline in MTB (and a couple of major road titles too) Julian Absolon: 7 time WC Overal XC Winner, 5 Time XC World Champ, 5x European Champion and won every national championship in his native France between 2003-2016. Just an incredible athlete. Sam Hill: The first rider to succesfully transition from DH into the EWS when it was just starting out. Mutliple World Junior DH Championships, followed by 3 senior World champs, and 2 x World Cup Overal winner, and then won the EWS in his forst year racing in 2017. Plus, placed 6th at he Downhill World Champs in 2017, riding a single crown Enduro bike… (more to come. Need to do some work now first)

Here is a list of the in my opinion, the ten greatest MTBers in the short history of the sport. Lets hear your opinions. To keep it civil, let's set some ground rules: 1. No one is right or wrong, this is purely based on opinion. 2. The ten names on the initial list, are my personal selection, and are listed in no particular order 3. If you feel someone has been left out, please nominate them, with a brief description as to why they should be added to the list NB: Do not vote if you wish to rather nominate a new name. You can only vote once, so wait till your nominee is added to the list before voting 4. Once nominated, at least two other members must second the proposal by quoting the post - and saying “Aye”. I will then add the name to the list 5. The list will be expanded to a maximum of 15 names 6. If you disagree with a nomination, or a name already on the list, feel free to voice your opinion, with valid reasons, but keep it civil, this is just a bit of fun after all. EDIT: I Just realised poll options cannot be edited, so the original list of ten will need to stay as it is…. Sorry guys. No adding of names….

Agreed, it's a great video, and Seth has always done really cool and quality DIY work, since way back when the channel was still called Seths Bike Hacks. I still doubt any normal person would be willing to forego the warranty on a brand new AXS dropper to try this, instead of just fitting a cable dropper to solve the problem. Especially on a relatively heavy enduro type bike

Yep, Rob brought his own style to the commentating, and it was awesome. I fear the new commentary will become traditional, with some dreary mouthing off about stats etc, no real insight, no fun. I didn't realise that most races are geoblocked in South Africa still. But like I said, then just get a VPN, and problem solved. 3usd a month won't exactly break the bank.

I was being facetious. I know how jump bikes and freeride bikes are set up. But the okes running front brake only enduro bikes to do barspins with them are obviously also a small community of riders. That is normally only done of dirtjump frames

Hundred percent. I think AXS or DI2 is the way forward for road bikes. Makes perfect sense there. XC bikes also. But that doesn't mean it's the answer everywhere. Like in this video. We talking about a seriously expensive AXS dropper fitted to a 14kg (Size Small) 170mm travel trail bike....and it's not working right. In that instant fitting a cable dropper would solve the problem.... Instead of hacking the brand new AXS to make it work...

Yeah no fine. I do understand that in some instances, electric shifting etc has a place, but the advantages just aren't worth the asking price - and in a scenario like this, I think a cable dropper post is a better option than hacking an overpriced axs model and losing the warranty. Kudos to Seth for making sure he did a proper job of it. His handy work is always top class. How are these mates of yours stopping these enduro bikes of theirs, coz wireless brakes to the best of my knowledge haven't been launched yet (although MTB ABS is now a thing). You can tailwhip a bike with cables too...

How many “normal” people would be willing to hack there 2 day old AXS dropper post? I am a firm believer that electronics are an unescesarry complication on MTBs, but this is taking it a step up.... Cool video, but I would rather just have swopped it for a cable operated dropper....

Where are you based? I might be interested in it as a commute bike. Price dependent.

Yes, you can download the data from the warranty database, but in the case of a bike that has changed hands once before, I doubt the manufacturer will provide that info to a third party such as the potential buyer. Agreed. Photos would probably be a good source. But as said already by someone else in this thread, if any part of this sale is getting your spidey senses tingling, it's probably best to walk away.

Awesome build. Well done. That saddle might not make you bleed, and you can use it daily.... But that seatpost height combined with the slammed front end, would make me weary of ever pointing it downhill.... We all saw how the ass up head down set up worked for Nino this past weekend

Update: I ended up getting a really nice Spark 950 for the the missus, but unfortunately the courier company is a tad slow - we were hoping to go for a ride today already, but they promise me the bike will be here on Monday - serious fomo on this end. Was bought off a huge JHB based used bike dealer - and their service was amazing, I just wish they used a better/more reliable courier like timefrieght or courier Guy.

Not sure. Last I checked you could stream GCN+ without a VPN - but then you need to pay for GCN+. If it's really such an issue, just get a VPN. For the price of two cappucinos a month, it's not exactly unaffordable, and will improve your general streaming experience on whatever other platforms you choose.

It's most likely going to be shown on supersport anyway just like this year. They license the feed from red bull now, they will probably do the same with discovery.

Normally when you buy a new bike you need to register it online for the warranty. So maybe the local agent for that brand of frame could help verify who the original owner was….. but with POPI act not sure they would be willing to share that information, and they also need to delete/trash those records at some point once the warranty expires.

Again, to bring this back to bikes. How much of the insane increase in the cost of cycling is being driven by cyclists ourselves. there are obviously macro economic forces at play, like the shipping backlog, covid, war in Ukraine, fuel crisis etc etc. But surely the fact that cyclists seem to believe they need to be using the most expensive bikes in order to enjoy riding, and then going out and financing these buys at silly interest rates, must also play a role in the steep rise in pricing. I don’t think there is any other recreational sport on earth, where joe public and weekend warriors are so often using the same equipment as the top professionals - and that kit comes at a price.

Yes, but remember the two softer allu cogs can be individually replaced. Deore cassette needs to be binned once the two smaller gears are worn

Both are solid and will give thousands of km if well looked after, but for the slight increase in price, I would go for XT every time. XT is the real workhorse from shimano. You just can’t kill it.

Am I missing something? No Fort William this year? Or has it been dropped from the World Cup circuit because the world champs is being hosted there next year?

That’s exactly why. People who don’t really understand the value of money, highly likely don’t have transport to travel further to shop cheaper, or spending mom and pops money.

Just use 60Sixty yourself, and avoid the shopping aisles all together. What makes you think it is any different in the cape? Untreated water in the ceres valley and in and around Robertson is undrinkable. Thousands of litres of pesticide making it's way into the ground water every season.

You re price all stock at the new cost price + standard markup. Always. When the input cost rises, you need to raise the price of old stock, because you need to replace that stock at the new cost price. Otherwise down the line there will need to be a doubled increase in price to make up losses on the new stock.

I am probably just being colour blind, but that bike looks red. Anyway, I'm not put off by pink in general, and it has nothing to do with gender roles, I personally just don't like the paint job on this specific custom build. In fact, I prefer bikes to have little or no paint on at all. Raw carbon, or brushed allu all the way.

Looks like Dangerholm has done it again, with this amazing build. I will admit the paint job doesn't do it for me, and I am not convinced the custom made lockout lever that also operates the dropper post is such a great idea, but this is an unbelievable build. Would hate to know what that would cost locally. https://bikerumor.com/dangerholms-9-19-kg-scott-spark-rc-hypersonic-unveiled/