RobynE 🚵‍♀️

From my experience a 16” is a “blink and you miss it” bike, so if kiddo fits on a 20 and is comfortable then it’s the better option to get more use out of it.

If his feet can touch the ground when he’s sitting I’d go for this (link below) and let him really get a feel, and then when he’s ready for suspension and gears a Titan Hades or Norco Storm would get my vote. https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/kids-bikes/803533/silverback-skid

Guy I was at Mellow today and I must say it’s a sweet looking bike and seems to be boxing above its grade at the price point. It’s also huge so probably your size 😂

Given your history and the reality of what you’re asking - snap up that discounted Titan from Mellow, as you don’t need brakes on the IDT anyway 😂 It’ll take them like an hour to swap those brakes for hydraulic when the need arises and you’ll be ready to go for your road-ish races. Fist bump to your wife for kicking C’s ass! Edit: the Chinese drivetrain on the Avalanche has been around around for a while, well the brand at least (L-Twoo). I don’t love it myself, having had it on an MTB. Just needed SO much fiddling a tweaking even though it was mostly used on road. SRAM or Shimano for me. I’m not a fiddler so anytime something doesn’t work it’s a trip to LBS and that gets old really quickly.

I also need mine to tilt down - a level saddle doesn’t work for me. Too much junk crunching (girls have junk too!) My daughter also needs a slightly downward tilt where my wife and cousin both need perfectly level.

Wouldn’t water ingress on your e-MTB be covered by your insurance? Like coffee spillage on a laptop keyboard is covered but keyboard failure in the absence of liquid ingress is considered wear and tear and not covered.

They are such cool bikes! To many people I guess they’re old, boring, upright, etc., but if they make you happy and they’re reliable, why not.

Those chain ring sizes yoh

You get TA to QR and vice-versa converters/adapters, but I’m not sure if they work for all axle widths. I bought a hub for my bike which was boost and TA - the TA could have been sorted with the adapter (bike is QR) but the length of the axle itself was a problem and would have resulted in brake misalignment if we shortened the axle. My current strategy: realistically to get a new sub 11kg bike that feels SO good and easy to ride would be like a 70k exercise, which I definitely can’t afford. I can buy a lot of good quality “old” parts for that money so I’ll keep mine going as long as I can.

Super cool feature

I’m sure the Capies can suggest the right spot for you to do a fit and find your solution

I think you just need a bike fit and possibly new saddle. Another dropper isn’t going to be an instant fix. Where do you live/travel to?

Is it a different saddle to the one you had with the previous dropper? Is It currently hurting the meat and veg or the pudding? I’d do a bike fit first and see.

It’s a tough one because you’ve got a pretty lekker bike there. I guess it boils down to what you can find within your budget that will give you the same riding joy while removing the parts risk. I ride a ~2014 Giant XTC carbon hardtail and I’m really hard-pressed to find anything new that can compare within my price range. Being a hardtail I don’t have the rear suspension risks but being non-boost is starting to creep in as a problem now - though thankfully you can get non-boost Novatec hubs brand new, which are serviceable, so that negates most of the boost risk. But I still feel like I’d rather fumble on than settle on something new to replace it with.

071 005 1907 and he’s good on WA

It depends on what hub, crank etc you have so it’s a bit more complicated than just 2x9.

Income of ~R78 million before sponsorship. For the 60k per person the organisers have R7,500 per participant per day to make sure accommodation (tents!), food and support is provided. I don’t think anyone was expecting Michelin star food, 5* accommodation, pristine routes. But they got *** food (or could buy some from limited options), thorny or muddy campgrounds, insufficient support despite knowing the conditions in advance, limited comms and then got bare-faced lies when raising the issues. That jobs are created by the event is like saying it’s ok to wait in queues at Home Affairs when 8/10 staff are drinking tea and watching memes on their phones because at least they have jobs. The same and more jobs would be created if the organisation was better. Like a job for the guy to double check the camp sites for thorns before pitching the tents. A job for a food QC guy. A job for a person with a phone to send out comms. Jobs for dudes on quads to ferry 25L water cans around with a medic behind them or even sponsored bottles with cold water handed out along the way. Jobs for another 10 medics. I’m sure there was room in the 78mil for more jobs? Yes; it is supposed to be epic. Even epically hard. But it’s not supposed to be dangerous and uncomfortable for fit and prepared people because of poor organisation.

What drivetrain do you currently have?

Waseem in the classifieds can hook you up with a decent road bike for smaller money (if it’s a Liv Avail you were looking at, that’s a road bike). If you are looking for a mountain bike there’s Zarras (Bicycle Yard) and a few other second hand dealers in the WC. Getting into cycling doesn’t have to be too expensive as long as you speak to the right people.

This is a very lekker bike, at my LBS, and I reckon it ticks pretty much all the boxes. 2020 Santa Cruz Blur at Mellow

Heat stroke is a clear and present danger in any species and how each individual descends into it, differs. I might be ***ting myself on the trail, projectile vomiting, someone else might ride themselves off the cliffside in delirium, someone else might have a vicious headache but nothing else, someone else might get violently ill way later after everything is said and done. Fact is, it took 90 minutes for qualified help to arrive. If the patient had fallen off the side of the mountain and was hard to access, fine. But by all accounts he succumbed to it on the track, and was accessible. So where was the help? Helping elsewhere? Why wasn’t there enough help on a day like that? Rather you pay for 20 medics who don’t unzip their bags than have 20 patients and no medics. Imagine Ronny was your child, your brother, your spouse. Would 90 minutes be acceptable then?

I have feet that make people believe in the existence of a yeti. I’m female, size 6, and I leave footprints like a gorilla. Super flat footed, super wide feet. I hate shoes but I also hate being barefoot so I have to wear shoes, and obvs have to wear cycling shoes. I cramp in almost all sneaker brands and normally have to take a size or even a size and a half up from my “official” shoe size. My Scott Comp BOA have been very good to me and I have no complaints. Feet don’t feel tired at the end of a long ride, I’ve never cramped, I can walk around in them for a couple of hours, all good. They were fitted for me at my LBS (Mellow Velo) by Ben a couple of years ago and Richard the bike fitter did the SPD setup which Mitch (bike fitter at Mellow) has since checked and all good.

I saw a comment on social media from a Belgian guy whose brother was in ICU, where it said SOS was not responded to and it took something like 1:30 for him to get any help - I’ll try find the comment. Ok found it. Not sure if this is the guy. Edit: it is. Condolences to his family 😞 Emergencies are real. If you are paying this sort of money there is simply no reason to not be able to extract people or at the very least have enough ILS and ALS medics on bikes or quads, hell, even on horseback, who can get to the locations of SOS calls and keep people from circling the drain. A time frame of 1:30 is not it! I really think the organisers need to be changed out completely, and to get someone else in there with a fresh eye and modern approach to high risk sporting event management.

@stephan - not sure which tag is correct - LOVED your write-up, thank you so much. I could feel every crank revolution and slipping foot. Super cool.

How flippen cool to have Saffas on the GC podium both men and women 🇿🇦 💪 😊 You go you good things.