Jewbacca

I'd avoid the advice of Tinmug, he seems to be very free with advice but a bit limited with actual knowledge. One thing to really look at is the Geometry. The Titan has relatively up to date geometry and it is a very diverse option. I had one of the original team carbon Cyphers and ran it with a 130mm Cane Creek Helm Fork with 120mm rear travel and it was a very capable short travel trail bike that felt very at home doing some XCO and XCM races too. Weirdly, I'm pretty sure Merida and Titan warranty claims and after sales service are backed by the same company in SA, so you'll be dealing with the same company. BUT.... My very limited advice, while learning, doing basic stuff and getting yourself comfortable on the bike and into the scene, any of these bikes will do. YOU will be the limiting factor and the differences for a novice are splitting hairs.... I'd go for the Titan as I know it has good geometry for pretty much everything and can be dressed up. I also think Merida bikes look ugly, but that's very subjective. Get the bike that you like the look of and makes you think, I want to mount you. You'll ride it more

It just astounds me how people see the advancements in medicine, stem cell research, gene splicing, re-connecting spinal chord injuries, growing teeth, manufacturing ligaments and tendons etc but still think performance enhancing is injecting prehistoric drugs, testosterone etc that falls under scrutiny in even the most basic of tests. Things have moved on

These big teams are likely farming babies and harvesting stem cells for massive stem cell infusions and other things so far beyond 'doping' with traceable drugs and foreign agents. Seriously, think way beyond what you get told at the Dr when you break your collar bone. People are currently re-growing teeth. TEETH. The things that don't even heal themselves with much efficiency.

Looks like Big H is getting into Tri Athlon with that sleeveless getup! A trip to the bikepark with my squirt is an option during these rather long school holidays!

If it's not banned, it's a bit like creatine or spending 58000000dollars on a wind tunnel so you can work on saving 0.2 watts per 100km on socks. These guys are all smashing stem cell infusions and a whole heap of stuff 'not illegal' (yet) that pales in comparison to some cow milk infused smoothie.

No, I get it. I've been building bikes from scratch, wheels and all (even built my own frames), for a very, very long time. I have built a lot of bicycles. I'm saying that buying a lower tier bike then spending loads of money to make it lighter etc is a bit of a non starter as you can buy an Epic Evo with likely equivalent parts to your upgrades but a better frame for the same price. Specialized offer an amazing range of bicycles with very small price/quality/value gaps with some very high end wheels etc specced the higher up you go. I wouldn't buy a lower end Spez and 'kit it out' because the money spent would be better used buying higher up the Spez ladder. It's a bit like dressing up an old 2007 Corsa for the same money as just buying a 2020 VW Cross UP

Is Bovine Colostrum the new rage? Why is it in the conversation?

Spending big money to make it lighter seems like reinventing the wheel for the sake of it to me. A bike in that price/weight bracket already exists ready made. I think Kylie summed it up perfectly. Not every bike needs to be full factory spec and super light to be fun and fast. Buying 'cheap' and spending more money than buying the model above it to achieve something so similar but likely less good smells like folly

Ja, but only 11% of the population were allowed to use it. It was also safe because exeat cards and racial zoning meant that all poverty was hidden, removed and forgotten. I'm glad there were riots. The country wasn't better 'back then'

As well as the ability to have recovered from injury AND actively recover through 3 weeks of racing for that last day ITT. No mid stage champagne and neutral ride into Paris this year. The race of truth into Nice. 33.7km of full gas racing. It will be a nice change to the procession into Paris and the Crit race that follows, especially if GC is tight.

SRAM groupset in the pink and blue.... sold! I prefer the shifting on the SRAM for a gravel bike. The padel is behind a fixed lever, so when it's rough and bouncy you don't accidentally change gear while activating the brakes while getting bucked around. I have Shimano on gravel and road bike, but I ran SRAM on my old Gravel bike and preferred it. It feels more stable But others will of course disagree and poo poo me. Neither are bad, so it's splitting hairs and will come back to either/or, marginal preferences and both being on a very rad bike

I don't think a good railway would do anything in Cape Town. Our carcentric culture doesn't allow public transport a foot in the door. People simply don't go to places they can't park close to. A train station that exits onto a busy road is also a mess. There are many studies that show that first we need to remove cars from small areas and create 'people spaces'... When people see people walking, they immediately assume the space is safe to walk so will walk/inhabit that space. It's funny because carless areas also tend to be cleaner and less dirty. Take away the 3 ton bubble of safety and people are forced to interact with their senses and their surroundings. BUT...... It's not a thing in South Africa. It will take years of changing mentality and automatic carcentric behaviour. Spending huge money of public transport infrastructure doesn't automatically create buy in. It will just mean more white elephants that require maintenance, which we know is not a strong point with the powers that be, especially if it only services a tiny segment of the population.

He isn't looking for a dropper post actuation though? Suspension lockout. And yes, it's not 'scientific' but it may be fiddly to set up if the throw/pull is way off the rotation of the suspension lockout

I think he would leave the rachet and grab IN for suspension lockout though. It's not for a tension and release dropper post. OP, IF the pull ratio works then you could. So you would need to see if the grip shift pulls enough cable to rotate the lockout mechanism on the suspension around enough to hit the lockout position and release all the way back to open. It is unlikely to be exactly correct but if it's a larger pull you can play with cable tension as 'open' is 'open' so you could have cable slack there that then balances the pull to lockout when tensioned.

Rumour has it that Gordon Ramsey is more hardcore than the legend of the rent......

Nostalgia! I had a grey Niner SIR9 that did many adventures with me in many guises.... It's my favourite bike but probably not the 'best' bike I ever owned. I remember it fondly because it slept in bushes with me, raced all over the country, Lesotho and a few international races, did RASA etc It was stolen from outside my flat the day after racing X-Terra Grabouw. I was devastated. I hope whoever has it has enjoyed it half as much as I did

You guys are serious! I have a small ride in November and have no idea where I am re tracking/fitness. I find if I exercise 4 or 5 times a week, be it running, riding, surfing, trainer, stretching/yoga, golf etc I am fine to turn things over. Consistency is key and being less focussed and more open to change/variety/rest also keeps me going. I find being too structured/chasing goals sometimes kills my motivation and/or keenness I see exercise like I see parenting. A little bit of good stuff every day is better than grand gestures and inconsistency. Years of 'lifestyle' exercise is tweekable and trainable, but if you're not exciting the ticker and keeping the blood flowing most days you're always playing a 'training for' game instead of a 'this is life' type thing. I'm not saying this will get you into racing groups, that takes tweeking and training, but a very wise Kenyan runner once said, 'you have to run for years before you can train to race'

Chiropractors are basically like ordering false teeth off Temu........ 🫥 I'd hit up an orthopaedic surgeon. I'm not sure who is out up the west coast, but the lower leg (Dr Workman) and arm (Dr Mike Mulder) at Constantiaberg are both world class plus change. So Gevender and and Polley would be a good place to start in Cape town But closer to home I'm not sure. I'd avoid non specialist push/prop hacks if it's been months

Without getting into it, you've pretty much just repeated what I said while disagreeing with me. 7th is her best result at a 'big race' on international shores. She is an outside medal chance at the Olympics at best. The dominance at local Ultras is all relative to the quality of the front bunch because not many top runners actually run ultras, while the 'international Ultra scene' is also still tiny which she is yet to explore...... So far, she is a big fish in a Small Pond Is she inspirational AF as a local runner? Yes Do I hope she wins every time she lines up? Yes Is she one of the top distance runners in the world? Probably not. By her results she is an 'also ran well' not a contender. Not yet anyway

Her best result in an international race of 'high regard' is 7th. While she is breaking records in South Africa at various levels, she has not set the world on fire outside of our borders. Also be aware that Ultras are not a huge focus for 'most' top distance runners and Comrades and 2 Oceans seem 'huge' but in fairness the field is pretty limited at the front of the race. Big fish, small pond I'm not disputing her absolute dominance in SA or taking away from her achievements, but on a global scale and going into the olympics she is an outside change medalist at best. While her dominance here is likely garnering some sideways glances, the top marathon runners and the officials monitoring the top marathon runners are likely not hugely concerned at this stage. I for one didn't even consider her to be doping until reading this but firmly believe all the top cyclists to be dirty in some way. Strange how differently all of us view the same thing.

Where do you think the 'filtered' reviews go? They get filtered into a void. This is absolutely not a thing. It's like being blown away with surprise and outrage every time ANC corruption is reported

So 'filtering' reviews is standard practice. If you look at Booking.com for example, they have a 'latest 200' system, that drops older reviews AND filters the outliers below the average. They also have a word function that filters anything that could be construed as prejudice or damning. So it takes the average, removes any rude word/hurtful ones, the outliers below a certain median and then re calculates the average. Also, it isn't really a requirement for the company to show any reviews...... They do so as a part of the package that comes with an on line shop. Cherry picking what they get is definitely not exclusive to them. It's more common than grumpy threads on bikehub!

According to his coaches, he is definitely NOT tdf ready. He is still quite a few KG overweight and has a big recovery period as he is fatigued from the injury recovery and the simultaneous training load

You and Tim should meet Tim's involvement in the cycling industry over the years is extensive, the least of which is having been the Editor and chief at Bicycling Magazine for a long time. Instead of throwing grumpy banter at each other, you might learn something from one another. Instead of just being a 'community' on Bikehub on the Forums, we can try to extend it into real life too. 🥰

The report button? You get way more kudos from the users by starting a thread, inviting casual racism blaming the Chinese, which inevitably descends into a chorus of 'I's and moanings for comments in the classifieds and doing nothing to actually get the ads removed.... Do you even BikeHub? 😝