RobynE 🚵‍♀️

Nice bike! Before upgrading anything I would do a bike fit, and see what needs to be changed to meet your comfort levels. If I were to change anything at all it would be the groupset, to manual SRAM GX for now. If you can afford the outlay of AXS then cool, but if not GX is much smoother than NX. Not sure what brakes are on the bike but just make sure they’re going to give you sufficient stoppage for your needs. This doesn’t necessarily mean stopping on a dime but rather the feel in the levers, the modulation, etc. Make sure your pedals have sufficient grip - I am assuming you are in flats. You don’t have to rush to cleats (clipless). Bouncing off your pedals is a quick way to ruin your day especially if 🥜 get involved. I’m a girl so don’t have 🥜 but a vag-punch is bad enough. Once you’ve done your bike fit spend some time at a bike park where you can get comfortable with the bike. As Lynskey says it’s an aggressive front end which is inclined to bring your centre of gravity forward. You want to be sure you’ve got a handle on the handling. Or you might find yourself going arse over kettle in a split second over something as innocuous as a stone or root or a wayward hand squeezing a front brake a little more than was needed. My own bike is quite aggressive and when it was in for a service I rode my wife’s bike, which has a much slacker head angle, and first ride back on my bike I nearly went over the bars over a rock garden because I forgot what bike I was on. Gotta keep your wits about you on bikes with aggressive front ends.

I’m sure there is an existing thread in this regard but I can’t find it. A platform to share sales/bargains. So I’m sharing the link to Mellow’s current sale - some super prices on popular items eg Vittoria Mezcal, Maxxis Ikon and Forekaster, AXS stuff, Assos, Garmin stuff, kids bikes, fancy bikes and all bikes in between. Mellow Velo Epic Sale

I think that’s the big thing here. Like it’s ridiculously expensive to enter this event. I don’t think that the 120k is babysitting fees, but I do think that 120k should include proactive event management that minimises risk, and I don’t think that happened. If you are undertrained and underprepared it’s one thing. If the conditions are unrideable for the masses and you know you’ve got a water issue, stop the stage. And before 14:36. As a well-meaning ammie, it’s a little upsetting when you’re doing your best and you get to WPs that are being cleared up or the marshalls stop coming by. It feels like you could be forgotten out there. I don’t pay an entry fee to be abandoned on a trail. I’m not expecting babysitting but I am expecting there to be what the organisers say there will be whether I’m podium or last in my category. Conversely people can turn around for a DNF and not notify anyone, meaning that the organisers really don’t know you’re not out there anymore, but I don’t think a person in the Epic simply turns around and goes home, and the promised support should remain whether you’re first or last.

Yeah what I mean is, that they’re somehow managing to keep everyone schtum on saying anything.

Have they ever done a Race and Review (TB style)? Like keep the Race for UCI, Elites and highly seeded ammies, and then do a Review for Joe Public?

https://www.treadmtb.co.za/absa-cape-epic-issues-statement-on-stage-3-safety-measures/ If there were fatalities they’re sure keeping them under wraps.

Last year at Trailseeker Cradle, it was 36 degrees (according to my watch) at 09:30am and as we hobby riders approached WP1 (if I recall) riders who had turned around said there was no water. Lots of people pulled out. I had a backpack and bottles so carried on. By the time I got to the WP there was water arriving and there was water and electrolytes at the next one as well. This year at the same event we reached WP2 with the tail end of the bunch (2200 riders on the day) and it was still fully stocked and operational with not only water but all the food offerings as well and it was probably 10 degrees cooler than last year. Maybe Faces/Advendurance should take over the operations of the Epic. If they can manage Ride Joburg, the Trailseeker series (consistently over 2000 riders per event) and others during the year, they are surely the better people for the job than the crowd doing the current “organisation”. Last year I watched the support crew come in at the end of 947 and what Faces/Advendurance pulls together is really something incredible. Of course Trailseeker isn’t the Epic in terms of the riding itself but I’m speaking purely from an organisational point of view.

This really sounds so badly organised 😮

I’m a massive Temu fan but in this case we want to go with what we know 😃 My second hand Thudbuster has served me so well for a couple of years now.

Not something that will be thrown away but looking for: Cane Creek Thudbuster Preferably in 31.6 but can shim if necessary. Fine if it’s been cut as the bike has a very shallow seat tube Budget up to R1000 but ideally less 😂 for a mate who is a student

Yes they are, but as with all things, make sure you access their info via their proper URL.

Giant Trance Advanced Pro

I personally wouldn’t ride on that. You stand to lose your rim, never mind get really hurt.

Saris Bones definitely fits and the Holdfast ones (I think it’s called the Boot Carrier) do as well.

How do we do this for mobile browser on iOS please?

Seeing as there’s quite a few new cyclists on the site, I thought it would be good to revive this thread 😁 My all-in recommendations accessible to the Joburg north area are: Mellow Velo (Broadacres, near Fourways, Gauteng) is my LBS. Ian, Wes, Evo, Ben, Pro and all the rest of the guys and gals are top folks. Mitch does a fantastic bike fit. Wide range of stock of all the well-known brands, and can get you anything you need via order @RobertWhitehead (Garstfontein, Pretoria, Gauteng) for second hand bike builds that are damn well priced and super reliable (and he’s a mechanical Yoda and usually has just the parts you need in his bins and buckets) Jakes aka Jaco from Shockingly Good Bicycle Service Company (Witpoortjie, Krugersdorp, Gauteng) for suspension services, and he also does all manner of other work

I was looking at the CTCT photos and suddenly got lus for a tandem, so my kiddo and I can do 947, CTCT and some local gravel events. I am 166cm, she is 150cm (10 years old) and growing like a weed. I’m a M mountain bike and she’s S/M currently but rides an M Titan 650b hardtail. I would like something that I can use say Cinturato H tyres on, a 1x drivetrain with decent range, disc brakes, suspension seat posts (I use a Thudbuster on my hardtail - I’ve had back ops) and an air fork up front albeit 60 or 80mm just to soften the corrugation and bumps. I had a 26” straight steerer Fox Fit fork on my 700c hybrid bike and it worked like a charm so I’d like to do the same. Do I get “any” frame and then buy the components as I go along? What size frame will I need? How would I buy a tandem drivetrain? Do I look for something already halfway to my needs like the Avalanche Envi I saw advertised and just upgrade the bits that I know will be k*k? Any and all advice appreciated!

Ok James that bike is nothing at all like the link you posted and it’s definitely more in line with the Phoenix. What is your son’s height?

Is it definitely the one in the link with the Deore M6100 groupset? Do you have a photo of the actual bike? They are such different bikes so I’m trying to understand the similar price point. The Phoenix is circa 2010 I think so I can’t understand how a 2022 KTM is lining up.

The components matter the most - so it comes down to that. Can you link to the 2 ads and we can have a look?

Wes and the guys at Mellow Velo Broadacres will sort you out for sure

I used to think it sounded SO arrogant and entitled when 10k was considered low for a bike. I feel that seeing Makro bikes pricing has lulled the non-cycling public into a false sense of bike worth. I bought a 13k bike as my first “proper” bike. I felt so fancy. Coil fork and all 😂 I had great aspirations of tinkering myself. Ja, no. Big LOL. I am not my own mechanic. My peace is second hand with good quality proven components that are serviceable. On the 2 second hand bikes I have bought, I have had no need to tweak and they are super reliable. Granted I bought them from someone ethical who stands by his work (@Robert Whitehead). But still. The components themselves have been flawless. The three new bikes I bought (before buying the second hand ones) needed so, so much tweaking. It felt like I was at LBS after every 50km. Something was always skipping, squealing or jumping. On all 3 bikes I had to do the rear hubs within 200km (I am not the rider of all 3). Three different brands of bikes and not cheap brands; entry level models with components from the likes of Tektro, Nutt, Microshift, L-Twoo. On the 26”, once the components were upgraded to good used (rims, hubs, drivetrain, fork), never a moment’s trouble. Rims and hubs from TRC OEM to used DT Swiss. Fork from TRC OEM to old model Rockshox SiD WC. Drivetrain from Microshift Mezzo to SRAM GX 1x10. Headset bearings had failed after a crash. I did a few mods on the 700c before selling it and those good used parts didn’t fail either (the OEM components had failed/were getting increasingly problematic at 1000km in - I’d had to replace hubs from OEM to Novatec, OEM Suntour fork to Fox). All 3 bikes have since been sold and are serving their new owners well - albeit that the only one sold “stock” still needs frequent tweaking apart from the hub which was upgraded. People have their comfort levels for sure but I will always go for component level before “newness” after my experience. Sometimes you luck out and get decent components at a bargain price, but that’s not the way it usually works out. Lots of talking and words from me but anyway.

This sounds very cool. I think your dates are muddled as the text says July and Entry Ninja says June.

That’s a very heavy hardtail with a lot of entry level components and I can’t find a thing about it online.

I haven’t personally, no. What are the specs?