Dicky DQ

Often times Ally frames are lighter than Carbon. But they would never spec an alloy frame with lighter parts as that would blow the market.

Fortunately if you have the correct gear you do NOT NEED TO BE TOUGH. That is the point. Ironic that.

But I know you are old school, Kudos, not taking anything away from anyone that rode. Just commenting on all the twatter/crapface etc. posts.

Noted, however rain and mud is synonymous with cold temps in that region at this time of year. You can't have the one without the other.

O Eina, Only an 8 speed (I might be wrong), it will be worth more to you as a training, commuter, IDT bike than to anyone else. I think

To my point, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing or preparation.

Edit, Deleted post as it adds no value, except to rev up the Karens.

Very interesting rear triangle/dropout setup.

But, But they were the original Crackondales or did that only start with CAAD6's. All jokes aside I love my Crackondale Evo6. It has not cracked yet...........

Everyone I know had a normal if slightly more challenging ride. My assessment is people are underestimating big rides, or getting soft or organizers are getting scared. Time for everyone to drink a cup of cement.

I am sure that under the hood they are exactly the same.

No worries, it is just that many get confused and their nickers in a knot for the wrong reasons.

E Bike Branding, nothing more nothing less.

While I agree with your sentiments, the above is a bit of a red herring. riding on national highways is ALL GOOD, riding on freeways is a different story altogether. However you need to know the difference. Freeways are typically denoted by a sign with two lines going under a bridge and there are no roads directly joining the road except via on and off ramps. https://www.diffen.com/difference/Freeway_vs_Highway As long is it is not a freeway you are good to cycle on it. Is it safe to do so is another story altogether.

Do not be tempted to use Car Batteries even if the appear cheaper. Their design application is not the same as Deep Cycle batteries.

Well there's the rub (Manicured tracks) who wants these, why spend money creating them There are more than enough of these in bike parks. All you need is a route with a bit of gravel and a bit of donkey trail and you are sorted. You enter, you look after your medico etc. Why should there be huge medical facilities etc. you know what you can ride and how far/hard. sort your own food. Damn MTB has become a sissy sport with everyone needing to be pampered. All that event organizers should be catering for is land access and a bit of water along the rout. Back to basics and volumes will grow again. Then again I an from a time when things were different.

Well not for the majority of MTB riders in Cape Town. Botties still has a few un-manicured single tracks, but they are getting less and less due to public demand for manicured trails, even though they have 120/140mm dualsuss bikes. The mind boggles.

Bottelary trails should offer you enough variety.

Damn, I did not think NZ fuel costs were so close to ours.

Well in the past it lasted less than 1hr, so you are doing well.

They will close this one down soon as well. I lost count of how many the canned recently.

Have you checked the indexing? That seems like the simplest option. Different cassette types have slightly different over all specs. Often times you cant just swap out cassettes or wheels with cassettes. Simple to the check, adjust the DR and see if it works better. Also note different wear levels on the chain/cassette will also cause this.

I don't do things right but fueling depends on want you want to achieve. I would typically not eat breakfast or take anything but water on the bike for base rides up to 100km. I don't really have enough time in the morning. Normally alarm goes off and I am out on the bike in max 15 mins. However if you are doing hard intervals etc or a hard 100km ride breakfast a fueling on the bike would be needed. See here: https://trainright.com/what-to-eat-and-drink-during-bike-rides-of-any-length/

Wimpie should really pay more attention when riding. I have yet to find someone that has more accidents and incidents /issues with Aggro drivers in my life. Heal Up Wiempie.

Another interesting titbit for those looking at E-Bikes (I know everyone already knows this) There are two types and typically the hub motor bikes fall into one group and most of the BB mounted motors fall into the other. Hub motors typically give a set amount of toque /power /assist depending on the amount of assist selected and give this whether you soft-pedal or give it horns. i.e If you select full assist, it will give 350W as long as the cranks are moving until the cutout speed which (on the Avalanche is 32kph if the combined weight is moderate and no huge headwind) BB Motors are typically toque multipliers up to the desired setting. In both instances the assist stops at the limits set and then you are on your own. The better option, I believe, would be the toque multipliers as you could manage the battery life better, but they cost significantly more. It is also an issue if a stronger and weaker rider ride together the the Hub motor bikes as the push bike rider needs to manage the speed quite a bit. On the climbs the ebike blasts away, but on the flats they struggle to keep up. Going at 31kph with assist and you get to 32 all assist stops. I know they can be chipped or the wheel size can be modified to allow assist up to a higher speed but it is worth considering.