Edge_Design

Sounds awesome, but R5k for 3 x 1 day races and lunch - ouch! I only call it 3 x 1 day races as they have 1 start and finish venue and no "rider camp" so the only element that makes it a stage race is the fact that they're on consecutive days.

It's a great initiative, but people are (understandably) questioning the intentions. It's fascinating reading the history of the project. In 2001 the target was 1,000,000 bicycles by 2010. In 2014 they had distributed 95,000 nationally. Great success - 9.5% of the target and 4 years late! Every time they "hand over" 50 bicycles (at a budgeted cost of R75k) they have a ceremony for it with the press etc invited which probably costs 10 times as much. This was 71 bicycles earlier this year -- "The MEC responsible for Transport, Safety, Security and Liaison, Ms Mapula Mokaba-Phukwana has the pleasure of inviting you to Witness the distribution of bicycle to the Leaners of Capricorn District (Molemole Municipality) at Nthabiseng Secondary School." How much do you think today's "ceremony" will cost with MEC's and blue light convoys there? The bikes are only worth R225k of taxpayers money. I'm guessing the options were 150 bikes and the ceremony or 200+ bikes with no ceremony - which would you choose? You really don't think this is politics?

It's fairly seldom that shipping a product like this would be based on actual weight and not volumetric weight which is likely to be greater. Not quite sure what you are debating though as it could just as easily be R20k as R25k (the extremes of the range given) - are you also arguing that R20k would be a great price? The ZAR could very easily go to R20 to the USD so I think it's quite fair for them to give a broad range if they haven't secured a forex rate yet for the units.

The only way to learn is to try! The chance of doing serious damage is slim so if you do a little research then you should be good to go. At most they might not be as sharp as you'd like and you get the LBS to bleed them again (maybe you end up needing new hoses and waste a few hundred on the lesson if you're unlucky).

I guess it depends on whether or not you consider the buyers to be your "friends"/community in which case you should advise them. A friend of mine recently bought a bike for about 3 times what it was worth (decent frame, but +-12 year old parts and she doesn't know enough to tell that the parts were much older than the frame). It really irritates me that someone didn't stop her from buying it as she could have gotten an awesome, nearly new, bike for the same price.

I've always found my 165mm shock significantly outperforms my 6.5" one personally so I can fully agree that someone misunderstood the April part of April fools...

Is +-R120k really that much money for it? I'm sure they could get sponsors to pay for it, but they're trying something different. These guys probably earn 10 times that amount from their sponsors while doing the build and do the crowd funding for a bit of fun (pure speculation, but there aren't many people in a position to spend a month in a city for zero income while making a video). I personally don't see the need of donating to it (so I won't), but think it's a pretty awesome idea and just wished it was closer to home so I could see it.

R1800 is steep if it's just the suspension and a standard service (and not pivot bearings etc as well which is separate to the shock itself) - hopefully there were some replacement parts included in that price. They owe you a breakdown of what exactly is included (worth having for your records as well for future reference).

I've never ridden there, but looks quite nice - is there signage on the route (to move between the trails) and where do you start from/park to go on to the Coetzenberg XC track?

Great that we will be able to go up to Silvermine dam in the foreseeable future, but end of 2016 for the main forest - ouch!

Is it worth it - no Do you want it - yes Go get it if you can afford it! It won't make you a faster rider than something half the price, but you will feel so much better doing it. 90% of the people that posted on this thread will still be jealous of those who can afford them - the only difference is you'll be in the latter group (I ride an Anthem 29er so include myself in the former group!).

Once it's reported stolen you may not recover it without the cops present as far as I am aware so you must get them involved. Cash Crusaders will have a copy of the ID from the seller and most of these guys have sold many items to CC so they know them well... CC will help the cops to get the people as it is in their best interests - they claim ignorance, but they normally buy these bikes for around R2k which they have to know is considerably less than the real value (their entire existence is based on them knowing the real value of the goods). Put pressure on the cops to follow up on it and keep calling them until they actually do it - a lot of them are really good and will help you. I recovered a stolen bike from Wynberg CC and they gave the bike back without any delay (carbon Niner with XX groupset - they'd paid R3200 for it). They had 3 pages of items they'd bought from the same guy and all at ridiculously low prices (basically all the stuff you would find if you were to clear out a few garages).

100% agree with the comments re getting a tri suit and using it a few times beforehand over your race distance for each event - I have an 2XU 1 piece and not the most comfortable thing ever, but made it through IM 70.3 with it after lots of training in it (chaffed really badly over Olympic distance the first time I wore it)... If I could find someone with a decent range in CT then I would buy myself a good 2 piece rather as it is very restrictive. Given how small the padding is to start with, it's probably worth investing in good quality kit.

Do your research - get an e-mail from a work address if it's a company you know or can find online or ask them to take the bike to a shop where you can speak to the shop directly about it. They could also inspect the bike for you and pack it for the courier (normally around R150 for a box and packing). I would never send anything to someone I didn't know without getting full payment up front - it's their risk to take, not mine, as I already have the item they want.

I recently bought a 2nd hand Pyga and a 2nd hand YZF450 in the same week - the Pyga cost me R6k more (the Pyga has also required more maintenance after 2 rides on each bike so there goes that argument!)

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No thoughts/advice?

I recently bought a Pyga 110 with a Talas 125mm fork on it I also have an F29 120mm Kashima coated fork which I could use on it Anyone with a Pyga able to give some input as to which would be the best option? For my riding I don't need anything more solid than the latter fork so only interested in whether there are any other benefits that I haven't thought of for sticking with the Talas.

Just to clarify - Ryder/Extremelights/DX lights etc MIGHT come out of the same factory (I don't know this, but would guess they probably do), but Magicshine is not from the same factory as them. They do look basically identical in a lot of cases, but they are not the same lights at all. There also should not be any issue at all with the warranty backup on Magicshine's and, being an internationally recognised brand, there will always be support for them. Back to the original topic - 4 year's is a pretty long lifetime for most li-ion batteries (try using a 4 year old laptop!) so why not just buy a new Magicshine battery for it which won't cost much at all (if it is a Magicshine light and not a copy)? If the LED still works and has given you enough light for 4 years then there doesn't seem to be much point in investing in a new lights for 20 or 30% more lighting power.

It could be 80% discount and I still wouldn't go into that shop personally...

I have used a Camelbak Lobo for years and it has plenty of storage space which is great on the mountain. I do some trail running as well and find it bounces around a bit much for running so I've recently bought a Camelbak Octane XCT which is much better from that perspective. II might start using that for cycling as well as it should have enough space for the basics. Quality wise the Camelbaks are incredible so I will always stick with them - rather pay the extra now and then you don't have to worry about it again for years.

I don't really understand having a climb like that near the end of the race - not many people were riding up it that I saw (and I wasn't too far back). Probably good for separating out the top guys, but not great for 90% of the field. Other than that, some really nice tracks and a very tough fight against the wind!

Thanks to a very honest hubber, I am picking up my GPS this evening! I never expected to get it back so it was a very nice surprise to start the week! Thanks to anyone/everyone who might have read this message and an especially big thank you to the person who found it and took the effort to get hold of me!

Thanks - will PM him... I must have been concentrating seriously hard as I couldn't remember looking at it once after we got to the top of Cobra until we got the Chrysalis... Was very strange when I finally realised it wasn't there and wasn't even worth going to look for it as I didn't have a light and had no idea where to start!