LazyTrailRider

…or just buy a new stem. They’re one of the cheapest components generally speaking, any engineering time spent is likely to vastly outweigh the cost of just getting a new one.

The short answer is that there is no such thing as a single “overall best” lens. The variety of lenses exist for a good reason. I have three different sets of Oakley Sutros. Prizm low light, road, and black. Low light is for the 05h30 missions (even in pitch dark in the middle of winter), Road is for trail riding, and I use Black for road riding during the day. One could argue that I should be using Prizm Trail instead of Road for the dirt (because duh, trail), but because most of the trails around CPT are wide open without tree cover these days, slightly darker is better for me.

Yah, not one I'd be interested in. The one I bought in 2014 was already more than that. I'm looking at a 2yr old with 20k-30k mileage, anything more than that is already too old because I'll be keeping it for 5-6 years. I want current-gen tech, otherwise it's going to feel **** in 2030. I'd be downgrading (and not enjoying it, so there would be no point) without features like adaptive cruise, adaptive LEDs, adaptive dampers, auto-park, autonomous braking, mirror puddle lights, sunroof, heated seats and a proper sound system. You may see these as silly and a waste of money much like the Epic 8, but once you've lived with them for a few years your mindset changes. It's silly hating things which are nicer than you can afford. They exist for a reason, and that reason usually has absolutely nothing to do with "rich people are idiotic".

You know what annoys me much more than R300k hyperbikes? The fact that next year, I'm going to need to fork out close to a bar for a new (low-mileage) car. Bikes are cheap in comparison.

There's the (albeit extremely simplified) crux. Granted, the exchange rate has fluctuated wildly and has actually been better in some years than would expect given the long-term trajectory, but the bottom line is that at the current exchange rate (meaning, if we were as proportionately poor back then as we are now) an SW Epic would have cost R167k in 2010. From that to R295k in 14 years is really not the "OMG, inflation multiplied by gazillion eleventy, this is getting insane!" thing people like to throw around. In fact, R167k in 2010 is R332k inflation-adjusted. Yes, I know this is an oversimplification, but I wouldn't be surprised if the data roughly aligns.

Every year, this gets rehashed. Every single year. A top-of-the-range bike has always (even when I started checking when I was in varsity in 1998) cost roughly the same as an entry-level Polo. Now it's slightly more than an entry-level Polo, but only because of the very expensive electronic tech which has been tacked on. I honestly don't think this is excessive. The reality is simply that the South African economy has regressed in buying power against large parts of the "first world", so it seems crazy to us. In my industry (software dev and SaaS) the gap in cost between local skills and US skills as an example, has grown significantly the last 15 years. For those who haven't realised it yet (I don't know how this is possible) the average South African is getting poorer in real terms. This is structurally expected unfortunately, but it still makes people go WTF. Sorry folks, things are expensive because we're povvos, not because they're overpriced 🤷‍♂️

Yes, and it's R295k because it's old and worn. At the equivalent age and wear, an Epic would cost R60k. Apples and Bananas.

That’s Flight Attendant and those ridiculous lightweight new Rovals for you. The Levo SL SW (which also has Flight Attendant, but only the fork) seems good value in comparison, you get a whole motor and battery more!

I meant the bike itself 😆 but totally agree with you, Terra Cs are awesome. I have a set of Aeolus Pro 3Vs (the Bontrager equivalent) on my Diverge, they completely transformed the ride. Would be interested to hear your opinion, agreed on it looking cooler. I think Richard and Jayden might take more of my money (like they haven’t taken enough already) later this year, the Diverge is pretty much my road bike, so thinking of getting a new Roubaix better suited to how I ride it instead…

That’s a really nice looking set of wheels. I feel like I’m missing something though. All the cool kids are buying Cruxes instead of Diverges (poor plural naming, but whatever), but besides the fact that Mr Beers and the rest of the pros are racing them, why? Surely having the FutureShock’s squish is a no brainer? Every time I take my Diverge onto dirt I wish for *more* suspension, not *less*. What gives?

Yeah, I love the functionality, but for some reason a new set of Code Ultimates still look nicer to me. This looks very agricultural. I'd like to rephrase "Take my money!" statement to "Maybe I'll give you my money..." 😆

Just like all of us thinking that only 0.01% of people could justify the ZEB when it was originally released?

Shut up and take my money!

In EUR the top-specced one is apparently 13 999 smackeroos. R280k, so about the same as the SW Levo SL Ltd, but that comes with Flight Attendant (which this does not....)

Here is Steve’s take:

I'm fit and relatively strong because I love pushing hard and chasing climb segments on my analog/acoustic/"real" gravel/road bike. I wouldn't even consider going E on the road, there would be zero point for me. But my trail bike has a motor because I have very little interest these days in dirt climbing. Maybe I enjoyed it to an extent many years ago, but not anymore. I'm on the mountain because I want to hit the features, rail the berms and pick my way through rock gardens. I hate having to suffer on the climbs to be able to do so, so I don't. The two really aren't mutually exclusive. PS: Come to think of it, I think I hate climbing so much these days because I'm at Tokai all the time, where it really sucks having to suffer for half the ride right from the start... 😆

It’s amazing how most of you folks keep talking about tubeless sealant, even though the OP more than once said that he’s talking about sealant inside tubes. Two very different setups. I can’t recall a sludge filled tube ever actually stopping a puncture, to be honest… Used it for years and got punctures at the same rate, until tubeless became a thing.

No matter how many times you say this, there are several people in this thread (and many, many on the roads) who fundamentally, in principle, to the core of their existence, believe that they have just as much right to use our roads in the same way motorised vehicles do, but with few extra privileges like skipping traffic lights. Some of them are otherwise very intelligent people, incredibly, but they'll fight you to the ends of the earth on this. Me? I'm pragmatic. Principles are worth zero when you're dead. It's one of those "it is what it is" things...

Oh FFS, is that what you got from this? That I'm somehow a mountain biker who doesn't like roadies? Obviously there are MTBers who behave like muppets. Duh. Obviously there are roadies who are courteous and don't act like entitled idiots. Guess what, I don't think of myself as any particular kind of cyclist, I'm just a cyclist, regardless of the type of bike I'm on, and I've been on them all and seen all different kinds of douchebaggery for the 30 odd years I've been riding seriously. The common thread is that cyclists have always done what I've described. Always. I suspect I am more in touch with reality than you'd like to admit. I cannot think of one non-cyclist I know who hasn't at some point made a remark about how cyclists act like entitled idiots on our roads. It's the perception that's out there, whether we like it or not.

I'm both a semi-roadie and a trail rider (and have been all the other types except cyclocross over the years). I love riding on the road, the way you can smoothly put watts down is something you don't get on even the best flow trails, and definitely not while pinning it through the gnar in full #enduro mode. But here's the thing: I never do group rides on the road, because I can't handle how roadies in general behave. When I'm caught by a bunch or manage to catch up to one in traffic, I purposefully change my pace to avoid them because I don't want to be part of anti-social behaviour. I can count on one hand the number of groups I've encountered who don't ride several abreast (always quoting that silly "it's safer to pass a short wide cycling group than a long single-file one" story) and who stop at all traffic lights and stop signs. I can't tell you how many times I've been stationary at a traffic light and seen motorists shake their heads at riders who think they have the right to skip lights because at that point they're in "pedestrian mode", only to switch to "now I have full vehicle rights" again 100m later. It's beyond ridiculous. You know what's amazing? That more road cyclists aren't killed more regularly. On an average 90min weekend morning ride in the Southern Peninsula, my Varia registers more than 300 vehicles passing me. Those are silly odds.

OP, you’re wrong. The end.

I too have received a beer and didn't pay for it, and also didn't tell everyone that I didn't pay for it. UNACCEPTABLE!

I’ll just leave this here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1PaagIoarL/?igsh=NzU4NXExNGVkNGds

This is a fair point and question to ask. The chances of several different components rusting due to some manufacturing defect are close to zero. One maybe, but not several. Sorry OP, but it’s likely you are at fault.

Bear in mind that Gen Z and younger use the term "scam" much more broadly than what it technically is. You only need to spend a day on Reddit to release this... Any negative feelings of not receiving the expected value from any interaction is called being scammed. @Brendan S you weren't scammed, you just received poor service. Making this distinction here and in future scenarios where you feel like you didn't get what you expected is important. Please educate yourself: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scam