michaelbiker

Just putting this here as it explains it the best for me.

Been using the ykwybike bibs with Italian pads the last few months and have been very impressed by them. Multiple days with 6-8 hours in the saddle. I went up a size from the Asian size - so Large for 1.77m tall. Paid R750 a pair.

Am not sure if a thicker chamois will make it more comfy. Probably a better saddle or a good bikefit. I’ve ridden the EI Paris pad on very long days (8-10 hours) and not had issues and it’s relatively thin. That being said if the Ciovita bibs work for you, why switch?

Not really available locally but these come highly recommended: https://www.yoeleobike.com/products/altera-g21-gravel-frameset?variant=50652971794713 and you can get a lifetime warranty, bars and wheels at the same time. Even a custom paint job if you want Definitely would be my pick if I was looking for a carbon gravel bike to build up. Throw in a group set from Merlin cycles and you have a pretty high end build.

I do love the Chinese parts descriptions though

Yeah, would be refreshing to see a brand that has no nonsense branding and good quality at an affordable price. Something like Decathlon I guess. The PNS, Rapha crowd can shove it with their hyperbole.

Looks like you can get the parts on EBay if you search around, but yeah Wahoo won't do it. Maybe a cellphone repair store can help if you have a replacement.

I use the Aliexpress ones. Been quite happy with the Kingstop and Cooma Gold pads. Edit: I don't use the V4 pads, have been using the E4 pads. They still work well nonetheless.

Eventful weekend with some major k*ktrapping through some gnarly mud in the most incredibly beautiful valley. Capped yesterday off with a street dog bite - a silent bugger, no bark, no warning - just ran up to me while I was riding and zap. So had to visit the doc for rabies and tetanus shots. Still, could be worse, could have been stuck at home glued to the phone...

These bikes were in a lot of French bike shops in Provence this year. I don’t think this is a uniquely South African thing. I also saw quite a few people on both Y1RS and V4RS too. In Singapore, the amount of S-Works and Dogma Fs on the road is incredible. We’re talking entire pelotons worth more than a block of flats in Seapoint on their way to drink overpriced coffee at 25km/h. It’s a status game and the ticket price is quite high. So best to just watch from sidelines.

Whoa! “No licence required” - does that mean it’s road legal or just that it’s not registered? What a ridiculous machine.

Beautiful Chiang Mai

I am just gonna leave this here. It's a fascinating lecture on how countries have changed from being worker-centric to consumerist...

Never ceases to amaze me how blown out of proportion this stuff gets. I guess our lizard brains are wired to look for threats and people and businesses will continue to exploit it. AI is going to make it impossible to determine what’s happening on the ground vs what is fake. My motto, use your common sense, stay off social platforms like instagram, facebook, TikTok etc - they are trained to feed you stupid sh*t like this - and go outside.

This list is not accurate. Not a single Indian city? Anyone visited Bangkok or Manila? Cape Town has nothing on those cities. Bangalore traffic took me an hour to get to the office 10km from my hotel. I could have walked faster…

The aliexpress / Temu glasses are probably the best bang for buck at the moment. I have a set of Kapvoe photochromics and if they die, I lose R300 - so a tenth of some Oakleys. They are comfy and work pretty well. Oakley are ridiculous, particularly their sh*t lenses. The frames are pretty tough but that doesn’t help if you have to keep replacing the lenses. I also had a set of Raybans peel but only after 4-5 years. Best I’ve seen were a set of Smiths which are still going strong after 14 years but they are pretty old school now.

They do use SAPO. If you need them in an emergency first chat with their support they will send them from the US (FedEx) rather than Hong Kong with SAPO.

As others have mentioned, wheels would be my first upgrade. GX AXS Eagle is still very good. I haven't tried transmission, but that would require chain, cassette etc which is pricey. I run it on 4 bikes now and been quite happy. XX1 is not worth it as it's almost identical save for a bit of weight in the cage. I'd avoid the SRAM brakes in general, although have heard the newer mineral oil versions are decent. If you want a noticeable brake upgrade, go with 4-piston calipers or larger rotors.

Those roads...

Looks like an amazing experience. Do you have a screenshot of the map / route? Would be cool to get an idea of the locations after your write up.

Pics from the weekend. Things are drying up nicely after a very wet week. The rice also turning yellow - so nearly harvest time.

You might be able to use this. You’ll need to take it apart and attach the quarter turn male end into the base of your mount. I did this on my mount (it’s hard to tell if your mount has threads in the pics) to fit a raveman light to my k-edge mount. It seems very sturdy once attached https://share.temu.com/4I615Ih6EkB

Also totally blown away by the quality of the ykywbike kit on Aliexpress. Decided to try them out after my last pair of Assos bibs lasted a year before the leg grippers came apart. Local agents refused to replace them under warranty and offered a 20% discount on a new pair! The aliex bibs are better made and just as comfy for a quarter of the price.

What is interesting though is seeing how well some of the Chinese brands are doing for a lot less money. Take for example the Yoeleo and Winspace frames and the feedback on quality and performance. We ride Lun Carbon gravel wheels (Winspace), and they have been through hell and back and still not missing a beat.