Sandro

I'm at my wits end and about to give up on a second hand dual suspension I bought a few months ago. The bikes history is it fell off he back of a bike rack but not at high speed. The gears gave trouble after that, even snapped a few chains. I decided to buy it to fix up and use myself. I took the drivetrain off my hardtail and basically swopped the parts. The bike actually worked fine for a few months until it needed a service. I decided to take it in, I was told the chain needed replacing, the cassette needed replacing, the gear cable housing and the BB set as well. The parts were all supposedly replaced, even though I later realized they hadn't all been but lets leave that rant for now. The gears ended up being a disaster, the bike wouldn't even change onto big chain ring. I took it back and when I tested it the chain kept being thrown off the big chainring this time. I decided to take it elsewhere as I didn't even have the patience to go back there again. I took it to another shop that were at least a lot more helpful and made an effort to try fix the bike properly. They said they thought the problem may have been solved but they didn't even want to charge me until I was happy, they said the problem could have been the derailleur hangar was bent which made sense actually considering it's history. I paid them anyway because I appreciated their honesty. The gears were better but slipping on big chainring, I took it back and asked them to give it a proper major service which I was happy to pay for even though it had recently been 'serviced' . They changed the rear derailleur wheels and the gear cable housing as that hadn't been changed after all. The gears are however still slipping in big chainring, specifically under load. I don't really know what to do now but I can't keep throwing money and replacing parts as the whole process of elimination is getting a bit expensive especially considering its an old bike. Is there anyone who thinks they can sort out the problem, I'm at a stage now that I might just sell the bike as is, and disclose the trouble upfront and pick my battles rather? I would actually upgrade the whole drivertrain to a 1*11 or 12 but I definitely don't want to go to that expense if the problem persists. Appreciate any input you may have.

Thanks a lot for all the input guys, sounds like I need to do some exploring and preferably not alone if I want to get some good mileage in there! Will check it out though.

Hi guys, Have ridden most of the pta and jhb trails but not Van Gaalens yet. Battling to find details on the various routes and distances, can anyone assist? Much appreciated!

Its ok - sorted.

Anyone know if Luvhandles are still operating? I sent an order with payment on Monday and still no tracking number after emailing them after their system confirmed payment?

Good Lord I don't live in Cape Town but if you guys want it so badly and are afraid to lose the tourism revenue, then enjoy it. It does however make sense as to how the problem has been allowed to become so serious. Out.

I hear what you're saying and in theory you're right but from what I understand majority people weren't sticking to 50l so how will they stick to 25l? I don't see it as a financial problem as much as it will be a health problem. Nobody knows the real repercussions because its never happened in a major city before and that's scary. Anyway I hope day zero doesn't come but I still see people under the impression that its an idle threat or a government hoax, those people may well be in for a big surprise if they don't wake up. Just my 50c anyway.

I already know people will shoot me down in flames now but I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone could think having the Cycle Tour is even a consideration. I don't care how you justify replacing the 2m litres odd that will be used, rather cancel but allow people to enter on a donation basis and use that money to pump the 2m litres into the system anyway.

Good luck to all of you riding today!

Couldn't agree more, raise some money for charity and have a jol on the mtb. Road bike stays at home this year.

Ouch. I can only imagine when the new Apple Watch is released and people are still bound to a contract for the obsolete one. Defcon 1.

I must say I'm quite amazed at how much weight people have attached to this points system, I was also quite annoyed when the goalposts were moved but happy that I decided not to opt for the watch. I can understand the frustration around 2 years of commitment to a novelty like that. I'm certainly not going to change the way I train or get annoyed or bitter if I do or don't get the points. Discovery must fit into my life, not the other way round. My training is based around my needs and goals.

And according to them that workout is the same as 3 gym card swipes where they don't even know if you're training? This is what I have a big issue with.

No, I go to gym (and actually train there) a few times a week and with my weekend rides I get points so I'm more than ok. The problem lies with people who don't like gym and train via HR. we all know that training for extensive periods at 80% max HR is not easy when you're fit. So the people actually putting in the real work aren't benefiting from what I see.

This rewards system has become the biggest dog show, they're so paranoid about people cheating the system, but now if you swipe your gym card and have a coffee at gym 3 or 4 times a week you get 100 points each time and meet your target every week without breaking a sweat. Meantime people like Daryl Impey going on 4 hour rides get the same points. A full Ironman is 300 points. Hilarious.

From what I remember if you are informed of, or find out that you have a condition that develops after you take cover and you don't inform your insurance, then you stand to lose cover relating to that condition? I'm not positive so I'm interested to know if this is the case or not?

Does have optical HR, makes sense.

Thanks guys! Last question, do I even need to activate Strava when I ride, or just the Garmin and let it sync afterwards?

Can I ask you guys to help me out please.. I recently bought a Garmin Forerunner 235 in order to get the extra points for Vitality Rewards. It works perfectly, the problem I am having is getting Strava to pick up my HR on it. I have bluetooth connected but it doesn't pick it up so the ride gets recorded on Strava and Garmin but only the Garmin has my HR data so Discovery don't allocate the extra points. What the easiest way to use these two before I ride in order to post to Discovery with all the info? Apologies, I'm sure this has already been covered, its just too much to sift through.

Just shy of R5k. The 235 has the HR in the wrist piece, the 230 is the same watch but uses the HR strap and is about R4500.

Picked up a Garmin 235 yesterday so I can get more points training with HR. This watch is amazeballs. All notifications from my phone get sent straight to it, as good as any smartwatch I reckon.

Thanks, wish they didn't make it quite so complicated. Was a bit too easy I guess. Rather going to go with the Tomtom HR though.

The Vitality rewards points are taking forever to lead now. You get 600 points for a ride you used to get 3000 points for. Goal posts shifting all over the place. I'm so glad I didn't opt for the Apple watch gimmick.

Was at D circle at 6:00 but went through to the start at 6:10, couldn't see anyone with cable ties and doesn't really help I don't know anyone by face. Maybe I was a bit early, or late? Anyway well done to all!

Sorry to hear that, get better soon and thanks for initiating all of this!