Danger Dassie

Yes it does.

Given that the charger is an integral part of the drivetrain and the bike’s usability, it should be a given that it’s included. Not really a grey area imho. It’s not like pedals, bottle cages, Garmin etc as these transfer to another bike, and often the buyer has these items. Whereas the Di2 charger is a dedicated item that’s originally included and conflating with phones etc is a false equivalence. If the charger is used for another bike as an extra for convenience, or to be sold on separately. Well then that’s at the op’s expense and a bit swak. In plain simple terms including the charger is just right thing to do. No grey.

Sure to thing, here you go https://strava.app.link/Pp4FEckMKDb

Yep, also works great for gravel. You need to weigh up the extra protection afforded versus the extra admin of sealant top ups and the very slight scenario if you need to tube a tire.

Saturday burbs mission celebrating a mates new gravel ebike. Loads of people out running, riding, paddling etc… possibly the one good side effect from Rona, the amount of people actively enjoying the outdoors.

After the initial reactions, there’s benn good feedback on the course and racing in general. Consensus is apparent that it’s an improvement on last year’s inaugural World Champs. People do seem to forget that this is a new discipline, so not everything will be perfect. However. The none broadcast of the women’s race is just pure ineptitude, and we missed being able to follow what was clearly a good race. Ended up playing hopscotch on different Instagram account to get an idea for what was happening. Some interesting tech info on the men’s winning bike- https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/tech/news/did-matej-mohoric-win-gravel-world-championships-on-an-unreleased-merida-bike?fbclid=IwAR1ED1kRggRAjOX1AM9yUo_6ZQTbJDk7-qUap87LvZGKSnhxVVoCJIPd9Iw_aem_AVOqmJ-Y6WancoNg90gTsWFHgHAd-uWVGMrLjswc7XYMvK-NK6MyNYthB9T-9VVImE0

Can try the agents, Dragon Sports. https://www.dragons.co.za/mavic/ Alternatively, if you’re in Gauteng you can ask your LBS to ask the local rep, Deon. He’s often pretty good with things like this.

This was the point I wanted to make earlier when mentioning the lack of mention from local cycling media, there are at least seven brands out there. Although Coolheat as the agency did share the notification from Shimano. Wait and see feels a bit cavalier, the consensus it is a global recall process. Based on that I think it will take a while for the programme to roll out across the board.

Same as most other MTBs, max out at 36-38t. Possibly may have to offset/space out a 38t though.

Gravel ride ina Souf. Just one of those perfect mornings out with mates. Good weather, nice route and world class banter, ride and post ride.

I it’s Trappers or Cape Union, found a small pop up tent, really decent and well priced. Cheaper than Deacathlon. Approx 1400zar … must find out

https://road.cc/content/feature/investigating-shimanos-snapping-cranksets-304173?fbclid=IwAR3QgPnyT-IH2yp8GskB-OKEq0FWl3ySMdjJvTbHDzokj747orZRjvOvcD0_aem_AeYFWaZ0ReJkxGqm2Up8MA_ONBBcudIs9gHUtzpRpUbXCNtOnKgk6olxmCCg69yTQh4

Updated | "Global safety and inspection and replacement programme" to start from 1 October. https://www.bikeradar.com/news/shimano-crankset-recall/

Could be a bun fight of sorts. Would be surprised to see this come off. https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/racing/news/report-jumbo-visma-and-soudal-quick-step-looking-to-merge-teams

https://www.facebook.com/100063745234470/posts/pfbid04LRBApgSUBDmscFqUHCdJZFbduzAeu4md3JtJa3RSWHmEo5cX8wXvYvJPnKRB6TTl/?mibextid=cr9u03 Interestingly it doesn’t seem like any of the local cycling media have done anything either.

Seems to a prime example of virtue signalling. The greeting thing is a universal point of debate around the world, it’s entirely nonsensical to say that Saffers have no idea of courtesy. Guessing that is a generalisation designed to gaslight people more than anything. Greeting is great, even better when it’s sincere. There’s no entitlement to be had either way. @dexterdent and @W Smith nailed it.

After each ride I wipe down/check suspension seals and chain. Chain will be lubed if clean enough. Seals will be wiped with a rag and/or a spritz of bike polish or wet lube with another pass of the rag. Less than a couple minutes. For a normal regular bike wash/rinse. I use a diluted spray bottle of bike wash, whatever brand. Mud buster, Red Hot, Eco logic, Muc Off etc etc… they are all much of a muchness at the end of the day. If the bike is particularly muddy/dirty, I’ll use a bucket and brush as well with a drop of car wash. Been using shield with no issues for years. Bike gets rinsed, with a pressure washer, the horrors I know. The nonsense about bearings etc is only if you don’t use it properly. Keep it at arms length (approx 1m) and you’re fine, actually carries less pressure than a garden hose at the same distance and uses far less water. Quick wipe down with a towel, leave to dry, lube chain, seals and occasionally apply a bike polish. Drivetrain degreasing is done with an undiluted bike wash and brush, lightly rinsed before continuing with either of the above. Neither of these together take more than 40 minutes, 15/20 on average.

Agreed, for a lot of random people external to the whole debacle, they really are fixated about it. Although personally I disagree with the reference towards Betsy Welsch Andreau, she's really outspoken about what went down, but I wouldn't correlate that with not living her own life. She was directly in Armstrong's line of fire those years, I don't think that many people would be forgiving of someone who actively pursued destroying their livelihood (the Andreu's among many others) and making threats. Armstrong deserves the ban issued, it's no one else's fault but his own. Does that mean I'm going to vilify the guy, do I hate him and think he has no place in making a living, even if indirectly from the sport, hell no. His pod and guests carry a lot of insight and good value, I enjoy the perspective they offer. Pretty sure he's working his own demons out and trying to reconcile more than a few demons. I have empathy and hope his journey finds redemption and happiness. But make no mistake, he betrayed that 'legendary' status and is no victim.

You had me at double. … 🤗

Epic was done on a stock standard 2x10 Axis A10 hard tail. Only the tyre were swapped out. Plenty other 10k ballpark bikes that are similarly specced. I’d say that anything would sell better than the current Raleigh’s available. I think Jewy was being tongue in cheek, well only a bit … 🫢

For sure, and for a newbie starting out who is already in that Makro segment, it’s a familiar environment and a lot less intimidating an experience than going into a dedicated bike shop. Hopefully there’s someone in their circle that can then introduce them to an LBS in their community.

Indeed they do, they were nice enough to let me use one. Woodmead. 🤓

Some historical context and random info; Volcan were launched as a ‘Swiss’ (Saffer) brand under Evolution Cycles. Who were also the Cervelo agents at the time. CycleLab/McClean were one of the primary marketing platforms. There were carbon hardtails and eventually a few frameset designs. A bit hit and miss but actually put some good models into the market. There was some alignment with Mass Mart as Evolution had an injection of investment, zany offices on Rivonia and gained the license rights for Raleigh, which was under Probike. A shame because locally the Raleigh brand had really value through knowledgable in house designers, who can forget the RM8 for example. Consequently Probike came under pressure, but given their internal knowledge base in that particular supply chain they launched Axis with good success. Coincidentally a follow through from that is Sign Bikes, but that’s a different story. Evolution imported Raleigh models directly from the UK/US. They were also agents at some point for Michelin, LaPierre bikes and others alongside their Volcan brand stable. From this it seems they’ve revived the brand name, in an incredibly competitive segment to boot. And arguably an already saturated segment. Think Signal, Axis, Apex, Titan, Zini, Marvel, Avalanche.. Everyone has stock. Still, if it means Makro are making a better product and spec out to a broader market and brings bikes closer to none core ‘cyclists’, good for cycling. Hopefully in-house assembly has improved as well. On this model, it’s not bad and well worth the price considering the spec level on balance. However, you can find similar or better at just about any LBS, and very likely built up properly by someone who appreciates bikes. I know that’s not the decider for everyone, just my personal take.

Ok

Nope, white label air fork. Almost identical to what is specced on the Marvel hardtails through MoreCorp/CycleLab.