Jewbacca

That's helluva harsh To win you need to finish. He finished, the others didn't Let the man celebrate his victory.

I think the first bus is a 4:30. It might have changed, but I don't recall anything faster from the past. What time are you aiming for? Silver sub4?

I'm with the 50 to 75 minute interval or structured session on the trainer group I can't sit longer than that. In the junk weather I will run or surf or smash a ride inside a good weather window if possible, but the two short sessions with structure plus other non threshold training keeps me pretty able in Winter The cold is the cold. You dress up to get down. The feeling of surging cold that makes your nipples feel like they are about to pop when you drop from little chappies into Noordhoek valley is a reminder how awesome it is to be alive!

Dunno... My MIPS helmets all have holes that align with the other holes.... But it is weird/interesting to see how certain things are perceived by different people. I am not actively against anything, even if it doesn't do entirely what it says, it isn't LESS safe than any other sort of benchmark, so if it's within the price bracket all the added wizz nizz is a bonus. Oval chain rings are the same. I really couldn't care if it adds 0% or 3% or whatever, the chainring feels good, it's comfortable to ride and it retains my chain. So I lose nothing and 'May' gain something. (I don't use oval chainrings as a preference, it is an example)

Use BikeHub pay Seriously, It's so easy. There really is no reason to be scammed on BikeHub when selling anything of any va;lue anymore

I have one of those built into my tire lever It's also different if you're racing vs riding. Aint nobody got time to deal with valve caps when you're looking for formula 1 pitt stop efficiency. I saw the 18 second Buff Megamo wheel fix. They would spend at least 7 minutes looking for the valve cap that would inevitably be in a pocket or under a stone they had checked 34 times

Who uses valve caps? I'm more likely to make fun of someone WITH valve caps these days

If you're going to spend that money, just buy this? https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/dual-suspension-bikes/655473/2021-commencal-clash-24 As I said, I got to a point where scraping grams vs ease of build became a battle that wasn't worth fighting. A proper groupset with short reach (the cassette is the big gram saver here) along with the hubs and good cockpit. Tubeless tires in their various forms can save you 400g too. The Vee tyre Snap are pretty readily available here and work brilliantly. The rest is just a hack and will land up taking loads of time, efford and cash for almost no real gain. I build all my own wheels and have done all my own carbon work and rebuilding, but it's still been costly. I would also really recommend a light weight Alu bar and stem over carbon. Kids tend to fall a lot and also tend to be less precious about how they lean it/lie it down. A good set of alu bars and stem will weigh roughly the same and offer peace of mind in terms of damage and longevity.

George ..... If I had to pick a small coastal town with affordable housing, great riding and very good surrounds, I would choose George. Gravel passes and mountains just in land, Vic Bay right there, other good waves not far away. Amazing riding trails and riding community. Hiking and running trails a plenty as well. IMHO, as someone who lives in Muizenberg in the Cape Town and is not an overzealous local selling their own town, George has everything, even good health care and hospitals.

Your rebound might also be set super fast, OR there is too much air in the negative air bladder. If the rebound isn't set too fast and your sag is set at 25-30% ish, then you will need to balance the air chambers again. It's easy. You deflate the fork and manually pull and push the fork lowers until you hear a little high pitched 'weeeeep' like a tummy sound before you fart. Then pump it back up and re check the sag etc as it will behave differently. Hard tires are also a thing, but usually distinguishable from the fork. Good luck. Don't be afraid to play with the settings of your suspension. If it's as bad as you say it is, you won't make it worse.

What air pressure are you running? How much do you weigh? Sag set? Rebound setting? I have never ridden a harsh Pike.

You're welcome to borrow my wheel trueing stand if you go all in. You'll need to rebuild the wheels anyway. Good luck. It's a deep dive, but a lot of the 'upgrading' is just fluff. Once the kids are on 26 inch bikes it's probably worth investing. My boy is probably going to ride 20" bikes for a long time. I am in my 40s and still ride 20" bikes daily...... Bigger wheels isn't always better because it's easier for us. Stay smaller longer IMHO

Down to a T is generous. I have had to deal with a LOT of hurdles and it's been time consuming. I hard tail will definitely be easier From my experience, the rims make little to no weight difference at this size. Hubs will save you loads of weight. Just use straight gauge spokes. The kids aren't heavy enough to flex the wheels and weight penalty is nil. There is also the reality that things weigh what they weigh. I have a Momsen 20" kids bike. The frame and fork are carbon and weigh absolutely nothing. I've kitted it out with light 145mm cranks, a tiny sawn off seatpost, light cockpit and proper Hope Pro4 hubs laced to Spank spoon rims and tubeless tires. The whole bike weighs in at 7.2kg ish. I cannot see a reasonable, working bicycle weighing less than that unless it's SS with only a back brake.

I searched pretty hard. 28 and 32 hole rims are about all you will get that are decent. https://thebikedads.com/ This site is handy and links quite a few sites which we can import from. The only other thing I could suggest is contacting the Commencal importers and the Titan and Silverback importers. The Commencal kids bikes have Spank Spoon rims which are strong and light and tubeless. The others are rebranded or branded Alex rims, which are less good but honestly, the kids weigh so little they aren't going to be burping tires and struggling with ballooning on corners After a good few years of playing with this, I've realised not to overthink kids bikes for kids. Get some small hand short reach hydraulic brake levers, a small hand short reach shifter, a very responsive fork that can run at super low pressures without wallowing and let them rip

If you really want a project, Cut, sleeve, bond and wrap an existing bike...... I'm finishing off a 20" carbon full suss with 107mm travel and 120mm fork Made from a modified XL trek front triangle and a modded Transition rear end. I'm going to ride it hard to check that it's safe.

I'm both cheap and practical on this matter. I have a Spez Align 2 for the road and general riding and a Bell with removeable chin guard for when I shred the gnar. Both have pretty good safety ratings. One was 'cheap' at R1000 and one was not, costing closer to 4000zar. I have unfortunately needed my helmet to work pretty well on both the road and multiple times on the mountain. The road helmet hit and slid and the various MTB lids had some substantial cracks, lacerations and punctures. I obviously posses no natural talent whatsoever. When I replace the helmets, I will likely not buy the full face option again. I no longer shred the gnar and prefer to take a whole lot less risks these days, sticking to trails up to and equal to the Tokai DH/Cobra and Iron Monkey type thing NOT going full gas. I will probably buy a spez ambush or other well rated MTB trail helmet that exxtends over the back of my noggin and wear the gum guard/retainer/shock plate I'm getting after my dental surgery next month. As I have become 'good' at falling, I find the back of my helmet gets abused when I 'tuck and roll'. As to cleaning....... I have never cleaned a helmet in my life. I like the sickly sweet and sour odour of old sweat, new sweat, blood and adrenaline wafting off my head, filling my nostrils with nostalgia, stoke and amp.....

I've been down the road looking for 20 and 24 inch tubeless wheels. Anything 'good' you will need to import at a premium. You won't find a whole lot on the local market. 24 hole isn't going to save you much weight for the effort it will take to find. A good set of lightweight RELIABLE hubs laced to the rims you can find will be a huge weight loss already. Look at the crankset (I cut down 2 different cranksets to 145) as a lot of kids bikes come with pretty pathetic square taper BB/cranks which weigh a ton. The groupset and brakes are next. As an aside, skills and focussing on fun and learning are probably better motivators for a kid at that stage of bikes. I'm not going to tell you how to parent, but racing at that sort of stage in life shouldn't come with added pressure and expectation. It IS, however, a really cool project if you have the time and the knowledge to do it yourself. I did all this for me and my bikes, but that will eventually filter down to my son when he gets big enough to ride all the tiny, full specced bikes I've built.

Don't confuse 'finishing' with 'a reasonable level of performance' The two are not the same. That's like a sub 7:30 comrades, sub 11 hr IM and a top 200 at Epic.... Very different beasts to finishing!

The best part about those bags is that if you chose to put the tattoo on one of your calves, you can push down your compression sock every once in a while to show everyone that your bag matches your body, your peak visor and your questionable life choices.......

I was coming here to day what @Brawler did.... Trek Roscoe comes dropper ready, modern geo and won't run out of ability before you do. Brand new. It is a no brainer IMHO

Hardest part about Ironman is deciding where to put your tattoo......

The American giant, Paris-Niece winner, seems to have made the right move at the right time 7km from the finish! Take a bow Matteo Jorgensen and Visma

One significant thing is the economic commitment to do comrades and Epic. People are very underprepared for both, but it's far easier to be underprepared for Comrades financially. If you fork out 120k for an entry, chances are you will at least try to get there in some sort of form. When it's a few hundred bucks it's a lot easier to write off. I stand by my statement that it's easier to finish Comrades, one effort, vs finishing Epic. I'd bank on finishing Comrades 9.5 times out of 10 if you asked me to run it tomorrow, but would be WAY less sure on my odds over 8 days at Epic. There are far more variables With that in mind, statistics say that last year 92.6% of the field (almost 14900 of 16000 starters) finished, 2022 was 88.7%, 2021 was 89%........ I went pretty far back and despite the huge numbers, the finish rate is incredibly high. Like 85% or more

The strength of commitment and emotional responses on this thread by guys who aren't ever going to ride the race is testament to how big the race is!!! 😜 Running Comrades is easy. Way easier than finishing the Epic. 8 days of riding under pressure in a row is tough. There is absolutely no denying that. Probably tougher for the very back markers than the front/mid pack amateurs. Walking trails when you're dehydrated, exhausted and running on empty is often a management tool. You just want to get to the finish without breaking anything. Same as guys walking up hills. If you haven't done a race longer than 3 or 4 days, you are likely not in touch with what goes on physically or mentally. Compounded fatigue is real. I still think the challenge is rad, as long as the motivation driving you isn't to be a part of an imaginary real mtb rider club. Regardless of body shape, skill, bike brand etc getting this battle done isn't for everybody, but a helluva achievement nonetheless.

Hurting it in what way? There is a team behind each team, so doing it solo would be more like having a GT set up with guys taking turns each day getting the team leader in the right wheels and in the right positions as the cost factor wouldn't allow individuals to make it work. This will bring more rule changes in regulating how many helpers can one guy have? What level of assistance can be offered etc... The solo back markers would also struggle. Having a mate to pick you up, help you eat, remind you to drink and the between stage recovery is also better with a pal. Doing things like this alone is tough. I've done a few 6 day solo missions and there is a real struggle to stay out of your own head and keep on top of things. The race sells out pretty much every year. I see no reason for them to change anything. IMHO it was hardly boring. The lead changed hands a few times, some teams surged and dedded and the overall winners read the race to perfection. I thoroughly enjoyed it this year