RobynE 🚵‍♀️

I agree 💯- but at R999 I’d be hard-pressed to say no 😂

Just saying! 😊

I would agree, but users should only be able to do a 1 or 2 star once, to another user. Could see how this could be abused if someone is really upset.

I suspect the weight distribution for the vertical rack makes the calculation a little different? I know that I much prefer to use my hanging rack on corrugated roads. My platform rack just bobs too much for my liking (and I see the same thing with brand new platform racks on vehicles in front of me heading to events). Even on the highway, going over a bridging plate or resurfaced road at 110+ km/h makes me feel quite ill with the platform rack. And I have recovery setups on both vehicles, not standard balls.

Unless you’re replacing something known, it is highly advisable that you go try them on. Some shoes make walking from your bedroom to your bike absolutely intolerable. Sole feel and pressure over the top of your foot varies so much from shoe to shoe. Power transfer is one thing but I also need to be able to walk in my shoes without pain and bruising! To add to your list, Scott BOA Comp MTB work great for me. Lake is often recommended here on the hub.

Wow man, what a story! I can’t even imagine what you must have felt watching them ride away and all the confusion, especially for the kids. Sounds like you handled it really well and making peace with it was the ticket. Well done to those other kids for being stand-up guys.

If you stand on your towbar you’re pushing all the force down. With a rack it’s pulling more than pushing and there’s a fair bit of bouncing around as well

Well my daughter went from the BMX to a Norco Storm 20” (birthday present) with gears (grip shift and I think 7 speed) and had the gears down in like a minute on her 8th birthday 😂 I truly believed she would struggle but nope. That little Norco had stupendously good hydraulic brakes where the BMX certainly did not. As I watched her a few minutes after she got on the bike I realised I’d bought the entirely wrong size bike, and two days later sold it again and bought the 26” Titan. In those two days she did all the hills without even blinking, using her gears and hydraulic brakes. She learnt to skid (on purpose) during those two days. It was actually a little mental 😂 The Titan had a 1x8 Microshift mezzo, which served her well for the first 8 months or so, but we kept having a chain drop issue, which was really annoying, and eventually @RobertWhitehead changed her drivetrain to a SRAM GX 1x10 and she absolutely flew. I think it was @droo who said the chain drop issue was because the mezzo derailleur didn’t have a clutch. We tried various fixes at the bike shop including new chain, shorter chain, different chain, derailleur adjustment and chain guide, but every time she did a bumpy descent at whatever pace her chain would drop off the chain ring. It knocked confidence and eroded joy. The change to GX made the gearing absolutely flawless, and on her 650b (which is an ex-2x11 now 1x11 Shimano XT) she’s never had a chain drop. Chain drops on kids bikes are so much worse than chain drops on your own! I really have no idea about 3 speed bikes. I’m sure they’re better than single speed bikes and from reading online I can’t seem to see anything comparing them to bikes with derailleurs and more gears. I saw a little dude (maybe 5yo) trying out bikes at LBS the other day, had to he lifted up to get on the bike which was a Signal 20”, fell over before he got pedalling, and when I looked again little bro was riding around like he’d ridden that bike all his life, changing gears and doing turns 😯

Your kids are going to outgrow the 16” and 20” in no time. Literally any 2nd hand big name bike will serve them. The extra money you’ll spend could go towards their first proper bikes which will likely be a 24” and 26”. A second hand Scott/Norco/Marvel/Silverback is miles and miles and miles ahead of a Raleigh. My kid could barely ride her first Raleigh (16”). Got her a second hand BMX and she flew around the place, could do any hill. At 8 she got a 26” Titan Calypso, had it for 2 years and outgrew it, got a medium 650b last year for Christmas and easily rides my medium 29” hardtail now. She’s 11 next month. She’s tall for her age but it was having a decent, reliable, rideable bike (the BMX) that got her skills up - not drivetrain spec. 1x7 or 8 is really all they need. I have no idea about internal gearing but in my mind’s eye I’d think the jumps between gears would be a little excessive. Maybe I’m wrong though.

If you filter the classifieds by kids bikes there’s a few to be had at literally half the price of your budget. NB if you bought those kids bikes brand new, the prices in BH Marketplace are the best you’ll expect to get for them to moment you take them off the sales floor. When you look at the ads look at the actual pics. Like there’s a Titan there that says 24” but it’s a 20”.

Viz the suspension - I personally wouldn’t bother on 16 or 20” bikes. From 24” upwards it’s a definite yes. Have a look for second hand Norco or Scott 20” bikes. They’re proper!

I would definitely go good second hand for all of them. They’ll retain their value better that way as well. And even though mom will only ride every now and then, a lighter bike with simple gearing will make a huge difference to how long she can ride with you guys. I picked up a second hand 2016 Trek Stache a couple of weeks back and it’s a fantastic bike. @RobertWhitehead swapped the Avid brakes for entry-level Shimano and the bike is really lekker. 1x10 Shimano XT, Rockshox air fork. The bike was R6k all in. There are a few Merida/Silverbacks etc to be had for less money than those new bikes you’ve mentioned, with much better quality components. Nutt brakes are really horrible and AdventX is sadly no comparison to XT. I had a bike with AdventX and it got the job done but not the same experience at all. Parts are not as readily available as Shimano/SRAM.

I saw a Vertorack in use with a family at an event and it was flippen nice.

Do you ever get bumps/abscesses? That wear must surely indicate a lot of movement. PS I think he meant kilos as in distance vs weight but I stand corrected. It looks to me like your arms are a bit too straight. I can’t see clearly from the pics but are you rotating your hands forward and down to shift/brake? If so it could be a combination of saddle too far back and controls too low (meaning that you’re moving in the seat each time you use the controls).

The irony is that I am an exceptionally tolerant driver and extremely aware of other road users whether cyclists, horse riders, heavy vehicles, etc. I live just off Cedar Road which is a cycling hotspot. I am often behind groups, and in fact getting hooted at by people behind me as I wait for a safe place to pass the group. I think I have admonished one group, and that was for an overtake manoeuvre on a left bend where I narrowly (and I mean like maybe 30cm) missed hitting the rider as he, without looking behind, pulled around a two-abreast to overtake on the bend right in front of me on an 80km/h road. I did get the middle finger and a “eff you” for my “what are you thinking” hand. Now I just shake my head and wait to get past with a whimsical expression on my face, and hope that whoever is behind me has seen that I’m going slowly because there is a group in front of me, and won’t violently overtake me and swing in front before seeing them.

In that case I apologise, I opened it again and I see that now. The driver risk wouldn’t have been increased. I still stand by the fact that riding three abreast on a public road is unjustifiable regardless of the circumstances and that the lynch mob is typical of what happens when cyclists are called out.

So a photo of random, unknown cyclists riding three abreast on a public road is shared on a thread dedicated to cycling safety, and the cyclists turn up defensively justifying their behaviour and resort to personal attacks on the poster for calling them out. I mean it’s just about scripted. “In order to keep us safe on our bicycles as we flagrantly disregard road safety by our own choice, put your vehicle into the oncoming lane and overtake us with your own exposure increased”. There’s no justification for riding three abreast on a public road whether it’s a metropolitan CBD or a one horse town on a Sunday and your aggressive defence is painfully typical of what happens when people call cyclists out.

Even my 10yo knows not to ride like this 😞

I would buy a Varia if Garmin figured a way to buzz the car. I’m alert. Someone looking at their phone isn’t. Yesterday I had a very nice mid day road ride with people consistently passing me generously. I was leery being that it was booze and rendezvous o’clock on a Saturday and it was a little cloudy. I did have my F/R flashing lights and was wearing a high contrast jersey (black and white) and my orange helmet and bright “tie dye” Krank’d socks. Not sure which of those contributed - if any - but I’m going to say, all of them. So thank you to all the drivers around Fourways/Kyalami yesterday - zero chops.

Yes my bad, apologies. I have a 2014 Giant XTC (carbon) as well as the Trek and I prefer the Trek for non-technical stuff. Though the Giant is much, much faster and more fun 😁 Very spirited bike if that makes sense and hella fun on technical descents.

Cool.

The above doesn’t use dark clothing - all clothing used is high viz/safety (including the “Polite” jacket) Additionally, it doesn’t address the matter of visibility; only of driver behaviour. We’re not discussing if clothing changes intentional behaviour. We know it doesn’t. We’re discussing if brighter kit makes a person more visible in general.

I don’t have a Varia but I have many iterations of flashing lights lol. My main take from anything involving a screen is that your attention is taken to the screen. Which, we could argue, is not too different to a phone user’s attention being taken to their screen. So my (mine alone) approach is to avoid anything that could take my attention off the road, when I’m on the public road. While looking like only one less wheel and a slightly larger nose would get me a job at the circus.

Honestly for farm and gravel roads any lightweight hardtail will be your friend 🤷‍♀️ The Spez is a dual sus where the other two are hardtails. If I were you I’d keep my eye out for a Trek Stache or X-Caliber. Bikes you can ride for days and days and days and days. My 2020 X-Caliber has regular Kovee rims which wear the 2.3 tyres really nicely - it feels like a Bentley and the 1x12 Shimano is effortless and shifts like butter. One of my staff just bought a 2016 Stache for just over 5k, 1x10 conversion but otherwise 100% stock, and it’s a surprisingly nice bike to ride. The Roscoe is lekker but heavier and I believe more designed for downhill type stuff, though I stand corrected.

So you’re approaching a busy intersection and the lights are out, on three different days. On each day, someone is directing traffic. Who do you see first - the person wearing the high viz jacket and/or white gloves; the person wearing standard issue metro police fatigues; or the homeless person wearing regular “living on the street” clothes? Answer honestly. I see the high viz/white glove guy first - every.single.time. The fatigues and regular clothes blend into the tarmac/backdrop. If high viz wasn’t a thing, it wouldn’t, well, be a thing. I’m not trying to win an argument because I don’t think there is an argument for something that is science vs opinion. I’m just a little shook that there are educated, intelligent people who don’t think wearing black places you at higher risk 🤯