michaelbiker

Ko Lanta, Thailand

Also, why is Leatt stuff cheaper in Europe than in SA?

Leatt gloves are pretty shite. I have 4 pairs. The first pair I bought in 2017 and are still going strong. The second I bought a year later and the tips started coming apart recently which I had repaired. The most recent pairs (bought 2023) are literally falling apart. They also fit really poorly - something changed with their sizing and QC for sure I have switched to Hirzl Gripp and they are amazing. Highly recommend them even if they are a bit pricey.

Sunrise Ko Lanta, Thailand

Chiang Mai, Thailand

I’m referring to these if anyone is interested: https://a.aliexpress.com/_onixa04

Interesting. My strap came apart and within 24 hours they had sent me a new one. This wasn’t from sportsman’s though, it was from the agents. On another note the Aliexpress replacement bands are really good and cost about R100. I’ve used them on wahoo and polar.

I went cheap and bought a set of Lun (Winspace) Grapid wheels from China (all in paid R16k). They are 38mm deep and 24mm wide. For the equivalent Zipps I could have gotten 2x Luns. I couldn’t be happier. I run 44mm 180tpi tires on them and they are not only light (1400g) but seem really, really sturdy. Comfort wise, I can’t really tell but I think tire size plays more of a factor here than the rim profile. The hubs seem well made and use larger steel bearings as opposed to smaller stainless steel ones that the competition often specs their wheels with but you can upgrade to ceramic if you wish on the lun site. I don’t see the point of ceramic though. Their shipping is $100 a set with FedEx. Hell even if the hubs died, it would be cheaper overall to rebuild them onto a set of DTs. I have done approx 2000km so far on some pretty terrible roads / singletrack and they are still looking and feeling brand new. Oh and my wife has a set too, so that’s double the anecdote.

Maybe a section with spares. Spokes, nipples, driver bodies, bearings. I know these are tricky due to the million different sizes and brands but maybe it’s just an inquiry box or like the Chinese brands do, we can just write what we need. Lubes and bearing greases for hub maintenance are almost impossible to find online, so that would be good. It also helps with SEO. You could also add a section on wheel servicing / repair with set prices. Not sure how feasible this is though.

Temple time and rice planting season

Paddy life…

Any chance you could give more info on this? Would love to increase the capacity of my lights.

Chiang Mai, Samoeng Loop, Thailand. Tough but beautiful ride.

Would be great if they worked on improving device robustness. I know of several (my unit included) that stopped working. The waste of coin cell batteries is a red herring if you have to replace the unit every few years due to moisture ingress. Or replace the strap every 6 months due to it falling apart or corroding.

Green for miles. Cooking here in Northern Thailand but oh so beautiful.

Switch to Afrihost Airmobile. Your phone number stays active indefinitely and your balance I think only resets once a year. Data bundles last 2 months. I travel frequently and rarely use my sim overseas and my sim still works even though it is theoretically prepaid. No need to deal with using it every two weeks.

Having a gravel bike here in Northern Thailand has been amazing

Short answer: No Long answer: Expect to wait a really long time and lots of headaches following up about customs invoices etc. Ordered some bike stuff from Italy - which was shipped EMS beginning February. Only received it mid-April after lots of chasing. Had to pick it up from CapeMail directly. It was high value. I’d avoid this headache as much as possible in the future. The company I bought it from wasn’t clear it would be sent EMS - they just said express courier - which it wasn’t. That being said, the stuff did arrive. All in one piece 60+ days later.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Dodging the rain between the rice paddies

Not every day you see these signs on the side of the road

Any hard case plus mtb is going to push you over the 23kg limit which is often included in your ticket. If you were traveling with a road bike it might make sense. But bike, helmet, shoes and some spares and you are already at about 16kgs which leaves +-7kgs for the bag. I’ve been using an EVOC bag for a long time and it’s withstood a lot of abuse. Bikes have always come through unscathed. I do find it a squeeze on my Rocky Mountain Element but this is on the original EVOC case and remedied by removing the derailleur (SRAM AXS FTW). As others have mentioned the pro is a lot longer, likely to fit with derailleur on.

Back in Thailand. This time with the gravel bike.

Never did the proof of export. Never been stopped and asked for it when returning. YMMV but I’ve travelled overseas with my bike about 2-3 times per year for the last 10 years. I was once stopped returning with two bikes (mine and my wife’s) but they were just looking for cigarettes and alcohol. I even opened the bike bag to show them I had nothing on me.

BTW it’s fairly straightforward to get an importers code. I did it all online using e-filing and these instructions: https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/guide-how-to-get-your-importers-code.1150950/ Took about a week to receive it - in the end my shipment was over R50k but customs said they didn’t need the code.