Edge_Design

The word "fraud" immediately springs to mind for some reason... If you're going to do it, rather just do it properly - customs in SA are surprisingly good at what they do and it's really not worth the risk to save yourself a little extra on the cost of the bike or anything else. If you can't afford the VAT then you can't afford the bike (it's exactly the same as buying locally where you are still paying the VAT in the purchase price). Those air freight costs are pretty impressive! Air freight is very expensive, but that just seems excessive... I'd try a logistics company rather than a courier company as they are often much cheaper - the best courier quote I could get to send a complete bike from CT to JHB was R800, DCB Logistics could do it for R350 at the time (door to door). I'm sure one of the forwarders could help you out.

If by some slim chance you decide on Crank Bros, I have a set of brand new 5050X's that are still in their box (never been on a bike)... Happy to let them go at a good price.

You can't realistically expect them to carry stock of every model ever made in every size surely? Sounds like the current equivalent model is being offered so not much option on your side... The value of a bike really isn't in the frame so I wouldn't worry about the price reducing in the new model (unless you are paying for the paintwork as on the bigger brands) - that would be related to the spec and not the frame. Your resale is always going to be better on a 2013 model than a 2012 equivalent with the same spec.

The "alleged" incident involved a colleague of mine who cycles in Tokai forest a few times a week and the report is a fairly accurate account of what happened. Please keep an eye out for a large white Anthem 29er with full XT spec and ZTR Crest wheelset at too low a price or somewhere it shouldn't be (like Neils Wheels). It also had Look Quartz pedals, but I'm sure those will disappear quickly. The bike was insured, but after his Magicshine, Garmin, tools etc are included, it was a fairly large loss.

The alternative view to yours (Lapa) is that you sacrificed the deposit when you cancelled your attendance at the earlier courses and he was kind enough to offer you a discounted fee for this final one which he cancelled so you actually never paid a deposit at all - you sacrificed that long before the final cancelled course. It appears as if you were looking for an out from early on to get your money back and you thought you had finally found it which backfired on you as I seriously doubt he will give you the discount on future courses after this! If this was the first course and not the rescheduled one (at your request) then I agree 100% that you should receive the deposit back, but that wasn't the case and you had already sacrificed that in terms of his T's & C's... He had already clearly told you previously that you would not get the deposit back.

Are you sure? Looks like a much older model to me, I just can't find that paintwork to work out exactly what model it is... I wouldn't guess it's a terribly expensive bike 2nd hand and could be legitimate. Definitely doesn't look like something I would get too worked up over personally unless you know of a bike like that which has been stolen - the police are unlikely to help you so you're going to have to get a little vigilante on him with no proof.

Supply and demand... They will keep increasing the entry until they find the point where they battle to fill the race and then they will stick with it. If they can fill the entire race in a matter of days then they are clearly under-cutting themselves. Everyone moans about Cape Epic entries, but they could sell 100 early entries in less than a minute - clearly it's actually a bargain and worth it to more than enough people. I can't justify the cost of the Cape Epic so I guess that's my loss and I'm not their target market (yet...). No-one is forcing you to ride in any of the races, same as no-one forces people to pay R50k+ for the bikes they ride them on. You do it because you choose to... I agree completely that it's expensive and I hate paying it, but it's a choice I make every year and I honestly don't know what price it would have to reach before I wouldn't be willing to pay to ride the Argus. Start triathlon's and then cycling will suddenly seem like a bargain!

Would I be correct in thinking the OP was supplied with a faulty part? He may have understood it was second hand, but did he understand it was faulty and a voetstoots transaction? If not then he possibly does have a claim there (even if it was done with the best intentions, it didn't work out the way it was intended unfortunately - nothing personal against the workshop, merely a response to the facts given). If what Johan says is correct then it appears as if you should have gone to your insurer or to Magura for a warranty claim when the faulty/damaged part was originally discovered rather than fitting the dodgy used part. A MTB fork should be designed to take sudden knocks (if it was a rock rather than a pavement then everyone would take it as normal riding rather than an accident, but same principle) as far as I'm concerned and it should have been a warranty claim if the internals failed from that knock... Seems like a pity, but it probably is the incorrect time now to start trying to claim from anyone after you have accepted a unsuitable repair job to the fork as that could have created further damage and made it impossible for anyone to properly assess the situation now (you are after all asking them to part with their own money here which no-one really wants to do!).

I had bunches of closer to 100 riders coming past me in the cycle with the marshals riding next to them... Think they just gave up on doing anything about it. It did spoil the spirit of the race quite a bit for me, but at the end of the day I was racing against myself so just plodded along on the side of the road and let them go.

I'm in for my second one! Entered and ready to think about starting to train! Did about 6.11 at the last one if I remember correctly and loved it so hoping to get that down closer to 5.30 this year (lost about 20 mins in the run with knee problems and took the cycle very easy as it was my first one and I had no idea what to expect).

For some of us working folk, it can be quite difficult to arrange couriers etc... I won't have stuff collected from my work so I need to get it to someone else's place and then arrange a courier at a time convenient to them. This means it often will take me a few days to send stuff - I try to warn ppl up front, but they often still expect/want it sent immediately. This has lead to more than one unhappy customer, but nothing dodgy from me, just that it takes a bit of time and effort to arrange. Hopefully you come right with your purchase, I'm only posting this to show you that it could be a legitimate delay!

That sounds like incredible service! Also really struggled to find wetsuits in CT when I was looking late last year - I ended up getting a Aqua Sphere from CRC on clearance at around R900 landed cost (local retail was R2,8k if I remember correctly). One day when I'm ready to upgrade, sounds like Terry will be the way to go...

Definitely a big difference for climbing... I have 42/28 on my Anthem 29er and it was deadly when I first got on it (changed from 26/39). I've gotten used to it now and prefer having the top-end/cruising speed available - the strength will come from training on the bigger gear (all of my training is in Tokai so no shortage of climbing!). If I was doing ultra marathon stuff then the 26 would definitely be necessary, but 60 to 70km's is my max on the MTB.

I agree completely, but it is often easier said than done... I did my research on the bike before buying it and I still can not find anything showing that the original owner ever made any effort to recover the bike. If he had, I would have been the first person to help him to recover it when I first saw it (I have helped people to recover 2 stolen bikes before that I found advertised online). Thankfully MacDaddy is more than happy to make good my losses on this transaction and now it is just to make sure that the return is dealt with in the correct manner and with the correct people involved which should hopefully happen this evening. MacDaddy does appear to be making every possible effort to rectify the situation (which is not something that other stolen bike dealers I have come across have been willing to do. I do believe MacDaddy's response today - both on here and to me personally - were dealt with in the correct manner. He has taken responsibility for resolving the issues and confronted it head on rather than trying to avoid or deny the issue.

You are quite correct that I may have unfortunately purchased stolen goods... I have discussed it with the seller and agreed to return the goods to him in the presence of the detective and the original owner (if they want). This shows you why people need to use the power of the internet as this was a very good deal which I did research online and did not find anything indicating that it was stolen. I would expect someone who had something like that stolen to make an effort to recover it and posting an ad online is the first step I would take to recover it. It really is a pity, but I do make every effort to deal with people I feel appear to be legitimate and will make the effort to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

That would be very unfortunate, but I can't deny it is possible... I even bought a crankset from Neil at one point... That crank coincidentally was also on my bike which was found at his house just a couple of hours after being stolen from me. I'm not perfect, but I generally try to judge the characters I'm buying from and will always at least search on Google and the hub if I have concerns that something might be stolen.

Oh... And our favourite bicycle trader (Neil) also buys his stock at incredible prices and never knowingly deals in stolen goods so it does appear to be a common Cape Town trend. Maybe we're all just too stoopid to work it out for ourselves?

Unfortunately you have to warn ppl properly so we know who to avoid... I could make a few educated guesses, but would be interested to know the truth. As someone who buys and sells a lot, I'd rather know the people I'm buying from are legit and it unfortunately takes a post like this to expose those less legitimate... You're not accusing anyone of anything by saying you've heard it happened.

Personally I wouldn't go new @ R10k, but rather buy a good condition second hand R20k bike... Resale on TT bikes isn't great and they've generally done fairly low milage.

Post a wanted ad and see what pops up? I was in the same position as far as budget is concerned and now picking up that Focus Izalco frame from the classifieds this evening which looks like it will be absolutely perfect for me - I'll use my road bike wheels, but could buy decent wheels and still keep it within my budget if I wanted. There are good deals out there, but often takes a wanted ad to persuade someone to part with their bike!

I don't know this as a fact, but if you rode into his car, it is implied that you were behind him on the road... Would that not give him right of way and you would therefore be liable for the damage you caused? I'm purely speculating here - assuming we have to follow the rules of the road then the person in front has right of way I would think (if he passed you and then turned then I would guess it is negligence on his behalf which is a different story entirely). Alternatively, I am completely wrong, you were on the opposite side of the road and he effectively hit you head on?

That's the kind of thing you expect from a hubber trying to start a business, not a company like that! A R40k prize really isn't that big for a pretty big retailer...

Send a PM to Magic-shine on the hub... Tell them I said to contact them - I'm sure we can arrange something. Might just come out of a light replaced under warranty or something, but will work it out.

If you don't want to deal with other shops then just pick between their response and CRC and order from the cheaper. I'm sure they won't have a problem giving you a quote?

Why don't you just e-mail them and ask what their best price is for the stuff you want? Then contact other shops for comparative prices and pick the best.