Skubarra

There would be different opinions but my preference is buy the frame I really want for the long term, and the rest I upgrade as/when the budget allows including wheels.

Was a diehard hardtail fan for many years. For me it was 300km Tankwa corrugations over 20 hours that killed me (and the guys around me on FS bikes still looked fresh like daisies) & a 100km mtb race at McGregor shortly after where I was again broken and beaten by guys on FS bikes who I knew for a fact are slower than me. Made the switch shortly after Not quite convinced a better specced hardtail would have made the difference but an intriguing idea!

I have the carbon version, absolutely love the geometry of the bike. My roadbike and hardtail gathering dust in the garage! Only thing I changed was the 40T chainring, found that I was spinning out now and then on the flats & downhills

I have never felt wider and softer tyres can really compensate enough for the lack of suspension, but maybe I just have one of those older HTs that rattle your teeth! That said I the vibes I pick up from the OP is that he has already decided to get a HT, its really just up to the hub to help decide which one! 🤣

Not exactly a like for like comparison because my hardtail was an older model, but I bought a full sus to replace my hardtail on trails - only to see on Strava my full sus is faster everywhere including gravel and tar despite being heavier than my HT. Only reason I still have the HT is because as gemmerbal said - the maintenance on it significantly less so it works well for commuting.

I'm with @eala If you preferred the full sus over a gravel bike on gravel/road rides you would probably prefer it over a hardtail too The 2kg weight saving is less of difference than one might imagine, especially for social type rides. And you will miss your FS when you do trails. If you are only allowed to own 1 bike I would keep the FS, possibly a larger chainring more suited to road/gravel type riding might be an option for you.

True - I was thinking along the lines of Malmesbury -> Darling -> Yzerfontein -> West Coast National Park which would still include a short stretch on the R27 but at least not all the way.

As I have it the XCM will be mostly the gravel roads (including the section next to the river) but for the XCO there is a proper technical trail that was built

Even if there is a proper yellow lane I find it more than a little disconcerting trying to enjoy my ride when huge hunks of metal constantly blast past me at 120km/h+ on a busy road. Same reason I generally avoid some of the other roads around Malmesbury, Wellington at busy times or if I'm on my own. +1 on the alternative route around Malmesbury and Darling, but yes there are people who do the downwind dash on the R27 on occasions.

Not super clued up on that side of the organising but I do know that if your event is CSA sanctioned then public liability insurance is included, if the organiser have to buy that separately it can be quite expensive. Guess it depends on how big you want to go, a small event can get away without CSA easier.

Exactly - you dont have to take a medal but I can promise you there is a vocal minority who are passionate about that little trinket and will make themselves heard if they don' get one. And don't even think of replacing a medal with something actually useful like a bottle opener or bicycle bell or whatever - if its not a medal there will be complaints. Also forgot to add, don't do goodie bags if you can avoid it. Its a crap load of admin and labour to get right, can quickly get expensive and people will complain anyway about the contents.

A few tips from my limited experience: You need a strong team around you with people you can trust, on the day things go wrong and its chaos, you literally can only direct people to help and wont have time to solve big problems yourself. Assuming its a mtb race make double/triple sure all permissions with property owners are in place (owner initially said yes, farm manager now says no or some buffalo now moved a camp - suddenly there are endless problems) Plan properly to open and close farm gates. Route markers - start early with the marking, make about 2x more markers than you think you'll need, check it again on the morning of the race. Nothing else cause as much chaos and conflict as a misplaced or missing/stolen route marker. Afterwards make sure route markers are removed (by peeps that know the route), property owners hate old route markers lying around on their property. Give medals - a significant portion of participants like and expect medals and will crap on you or on social media if there are no medals. Especially in summer make sure there is enough water at waterpoints and a backup plan to get more water there if a waterpoint runs out. Participants will hate you and your race if they get thirsty to a waterpoint and there is no water.

And just like that the needle that's in this thread lately makes a whole lot more sense!

I managed to get hold of the owner. All sorted out 👍 Sadly they are closing, a proper mom & pop shop that took personal interest in their customers. Will miss them a lot!

First problem is actually to just to get hold of someone to communicate with regarding the issue

Luckily its my spare 12 year old enty level road bike (which ironically I bought there) so no hurry really - but lack of communication makes sense if it was the sheriff that locked the doors. Lets see...

Very sad to hear. I have been going there for more than a decade. Now I just need to find a way to get my bike back that was there for a service.....

Any Kuilsrivier hubbers on here that might know whats going on at the Cyclosport bicycle shop? Have been trying to contact the shop for more than a week now, shop locked up when I visited, phone is not being answered. Website looks like its down and social media not being updated...

Also respected that - still got hate on the hub though for not ratting out his drug suppliers. Nothing will ever please the hub mob 😁

I base my opinion on how amateurish it was done rather than on the believe that he had a great moral compass in his younger years. Not sure one can read too much on what happened the day David was busted, wasn't it based on new tests that were done on old samples? Sure the same tests would have been done on Kevin's samples as well My theory but that said, not exactly a hill I would choose to die on.

Personally I found it more likely that Kevin started doping at the tail-end of his career when age & failing health started catching up with him. The amateurish way he went about it makes it very unlikely that he was getting away with it for a long time, definitely not Dr Ferrari level stuff going on.

The Tygerberg marshalls I know are paid-up members who volunteer for marshalling duty. Don't know if there are exceptions but I hope not, can see how that would create problems.

I was always under the impression marshals also have to pay their annual club fees? Is this some kind of special arrangement for certain individuals?

This is my pet hate of Tygerberg, and the big reason I never invite friends from outside the area to ride Tygerberg with me. Although as I understand this is more driven by the property owners than the club, and we have access to the trails thanks to their goodwill so I just zip it and mumble to myself.

As someone living on the Tygerberg trails doorstep I am instantly offended by this comment. But I did ride bottelary a few weeks back for the first time in years, certainly was a lekker ride and I enjoyed the singletrack. (directions as confusing as always though...)