LazyTrailRider

Seriously guys?

Weird, my memory fails me then (the thread got killed with the 2013 database meltdown). I'm getting old!

Haha, true. He was making me look bad, even with my neat haircut!

Ouch Cassie! Sounds like your crash was a bit worse than my wheel fold and cracked collar bone last year (I seem to remember you mentioning on my post that you passed right after I crashed). I hope that you're soon fully recovered!

TPBike, this is what I was referring to (it looks like you misinterpreted me). Obviously, riding on a freeway/highway like you saw people doing is really stupid and should never be done (so yes, I agree with you fully). Myself and Flowta's point was clarification that not the entire M3 is a freeway. I for example often ride up Edinburgh Drive from the Bowwood intersection, and then turn into Bishopscourt. Further than that would be unwise.

I think that's correct yes.

Well done Meurant and team, this was excellent as usual. I was a slacker and only rode the 3-hour slot, but still the singletrack was absolutely worth it. Much respect to the top guys, serious dedication. I rode most of my 3rd lap with Lance, who was at that point on his 29th. On the climbs I could ride away from him, but damn, staying with him on the DH leg was only just possible. Crazy skills to be able to go that fast after going that far!

I started this yesterday, had my first LCHF-friendly home-made muesli this morning, courtesy of my awesome girlfriend (who's also doing all the cooking, she kickstarted the process). Looking forward to the journey!

OK, so I'll give my concise opinion after having waded through everything that's been said. This problem contains several subsets of seemingly complex problems at several levels, and everyone's debating (and fighting) at these levels, when instead I think it's possible that all this complexity can be eliminated in one fell swoop with a single underlying action. We don't have a trail problem here, we have an authority problem. Bitching and moaning about which trails are built, how they flow, who's responsible for them, who gets input into how they're designed, is all irrelevant. Forget about the trails. What is needed is a single person at the appropriate level of authority to *tell* Parks (not ask them) to hand over control of the mountain biking trails to the mountain bikers, with the appropriate business case (its fundamentals already exist) as backing. It shouldn't be a debate, it should be an executive decision. This may seem like a pipe dream at first glance (especially if you've been caught up fighting problems at the lower levels), but it may very well be doable. Spending precious energy fighting about trails is not going to get anyone there though. Instead, maybe we should be directing this energy into lobbying someone with real power, not some committee. Alan Winde is likely a good starting point.

Absolutely worth it, cheap and highly effective. Good cables are totally underrated.

At +- R3k/set for an MTB, no thanks.

I'm really just feeling sorry for his legs already! As far as jump lines go, I reckon it'll pretty much swallow most of the jumps whole with about half its travel

Spruit bike?

Quite likely, yes, if you're not sure whether R65000 is worth it. If, on the other hand, you're a suspension nut who's fanatical about the advantages offered by VPP, you actually understand what anti-squat characteristics imply, and low and high-speed compression damping setup makes a difference to your ride, then you may find it very much worth it. If not, an Anthem will be just as good.

Honestly? If you need to ask if buying a R65k bike is a good idea, you shouldn't be spending that much to start off with. Why? Because it's clear that you don't know even close to enough about bikes or have enough riding experience to extract the performance a bike at this level offers. Punch me for being harsh, but these are the facts.

Yeah, when I had the Demo stolen from my garage, I simply sent my broker a photo of the smashed security gate lock (after of course reporting to SAPS and having an inspector come out), they paid out without even asking any questions.

Hmmm, that's a good point...

I hope you reported this at the nearest police station... Behaviour like this is unacceptable.

Damn it!

You forgot to add "..., and I *only* have R30k to spend" Nuts how much newbies spend on bikes these days. (Highjack off, I don't know much about thin-wheeled bikes lately).

SNAP!

What you've described is pretty much XCE...

Now that I think about it, your explanation of building up stuff brings back memories. The same cheap triple-clamp I mentioned previously had too much stiction to give me the traction I needed to be competitive, so I converted it to "open-bath" by filling it up with moto fork oil and "sealing" the bolts on the lowers with cut up tubes so the oil wouldn't run out too quickly. Plenty shuttle bakkies had oil stains from my fork in their loadbeds...

Spot on dude. When I said "ancient piece of metal" I didn't mean "ancient POS", I just meant that it really is old in year terms, from an era which I also used to ride in. Don't worry, I built up my own bikes as well over the years, scraping money together as I could. I raced the 1997 DH nationals on a hardtail with a triple-clamp fork because I couldn't afford a proper DH bike yet, so I know exactly what you mean Like I said, the Demo stolen from me was recovered, so there's always a chance!

Haha. My girlfriend isn't keen on camping, so I'm riding the 3 hours instead this year. Still going to be fun, the singletrack is awesome!