[At what point is "name & shame" acceptable on BH?]

Frustrating experience. Sounds like you have been more patient than many would have been 

[Tour Durban 2023 route is now M4 Loops 😴]

1 hour ago, Jewbacca said:

I have no idea why South Africans are so against racing laps. 

Pretty much all social bike racing in most other countries comprises of laps. XCO. CX, Crits.... even world road champs and some of the classics are laps. 

The Champs Elysees is laps. 

It makes for really exciting racing, it's awesome for spectators, better for sponsor banners and way easier logistics for everyone.

We are one of the only countries where XCM stretches out forever and our road events close entire cities for more than half a day. (slight hyperbole before anyone jumps on that)

Laps are the future of sustainable racing and if you get over it, super exciting

Durban isn't very pretty anyway, so looking at the same pile of litter and derelict house with tons of flapping laundry a few times vs different piles of litter and derelict houses with tons of flapping laundry isn't going to change the racing. 😜

Durban is the best city in the world bru - our litter and derelict houses are prettier than anywhere else. 

[Motorists vs Cyclists.... again]

10 minutes ago, 'Dale said:

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.  —Maya Angelou
 

Week 5 since the hit & run incident in Green Point, Peoples.

My right leg is losing its musculature due to lack of activation and mobility. My ankle and calf is still under reconstruction and finding its way to full recovery with daily wound management and physiotherapy 3 x daily. My left leg is working twice as hard and compensating for its missing twin. 

I will walk again and my right leg is getting ready to kiss the earth in a few weeks’ time. Looking forward to the horizon, I have ordered a new road bike and replaced all my accessories which felt like an administrative task. My inner work now is to work through any splinters of post traumatic stress when I visit the scene of the incident next week.

Grateful for so many things: The loving and protective bubble around me at home, a durable and resilient body, the privilege of having a superb medical team attending to me and to all those caring messages that pulls me back towards Life. 

Incredible attitude. Thank you for sharing your journey. 

[Flying with bike versus bike rental]

1 hour ago, Bub Marley said:

Having lived overseas and gone through the hassle of flying with my bike back home, I can tell you that people underestimate how massive those bike bags actually are. If you dont have much other luggage then you can work around it but if you are carrying a large suitcase on top of the bike bag it makes getting around very tedious. I think if it’s a short trip then just rent a bike. 

100% - I normally travel alone so rent an SUV and drop the seats for the whole trip in order to stick the mtb and the bag in. Also only if renting at airport and dropping off at airport so minimal dragging bike about. 
 

With family, wouldn’t take a bike along, rather rent. 

[Flying with bike versus bike rental]

16 hours ago, bigringing said:

Hi everyone, 

Going to be flying into Milan, Italy and, for obvious reasons, am looking to do some road cycling in that region. Currently trying to figure out whether it makes more sense to rent a bike box and take my own bike, or look to rent a bike locally. I have never flown with a bike before and do not own a bike box. I know there are some Scicon Aerocomfort bike bags available for rent in Cape Town. Appealing given the minimal disassembly required, but am wondering if the lack of a hard shell would place my bike at risk.

Any suggestions and/or views regarding travelling abroad with a bike bag/box? Alternatively, anyone perhaps have any leads on decent bike rentals in or around Milan? I've had a Google, but a suggestion based on a good experience would be preferable. 

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance. 

I have travelled with my bike quite a lot and have always used a soft bag (mtb) mainly because of the weight. I check it in as an extra bag so try and keep total weight below the max allowed. 
 

I rented a road bike for Milan in 2019. I’ll try and dig out the details of the rental guys. They were very thorough. The bike was a Wilier. I didn’t end up riding it because of an issue with our meetings, but it was a lovely bike. 

[why does a top end MTB cost more than a motorbike?]

Listened to the podcast referenced above last night. Really interesting breaking down the costs per bike of a small manufacturer. Would be interesting to hear similar detail from A big (ger) manufacturer. 

[First Look: Specialized Epic 8]

13 hours ago, BaGearA said:

I can 100% understand the argument of selling goods in a massive untapped market is a good idea.

 

But I'm i just so good at only seeing the horrible conditions Chinese people live in to think their quality of life and income is very low ? I mean its very popular that apple and other tech giants have nets around their buildings to catch the people trying to commit themselves.

 

That doesn't all translate to a large population that can purchase and then ride these bikes , i mean don't you have to go a fair distance out of the metropolitans to even have a chance at trails ? 

The nets around the building is a contractor that manufactures for lots of companies and employs lots of people in their late teens and early twenties, not specifically an Apple contractor. Worth reading up on it as it’s a fascinating manufacturing organisation, effectively a self contained small city that manufactures for some of the world’s biggest names.

China is massive. Both times that I have been there, I have been to cities that I had never heard of before that have millions of residents. The middle class is growing fast and are wanting to imitate the west in many ways. Expensive phones, whisky’s and cars are very popular, so why not expensive bikes? 

 

[Strategies for dealing with cramps and preventing them]

1 hour ago, Baracuda said:

It is something that I just stumbled on, apparently it is a big thing in the States on 100mile gravel rides. Just need to get my head around riding the first 130km with a gerkin in my pocket..

 

 

Is that a gherkin in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? 😜 

[First Look: Specialized Epic 8]

7 hours ago, BaGearA said:

Okay but it's not like the average Chinese can afford a 17 000$ dollar bike , also we know the real money is in quantity ( Cajees) so neither can they afford rockhoppers at 600$ ? 

 

Like China's average person seems to be much worse off than our average, and the average south African isnt even thinking about expensive mtb's 

 

That's why social media does well there , any cheap 5$ dollar phone can have facebook or tiktok and with an overabundance of free wifi everyone can sit on phones and melt brains away on ads.

 

And again when millions of people are doing the above tech companies bank. , which is every clearly shown in the tech markets now 

China and, more recently, India, are where global brands are fighting for expansion. The more mature markets are what got brands like Apple, Nike etc etc to where they are now. China and India are what will get them the growth they need going forward. A market that size with an emerging middle class in the hundreds of millions is always going to be a decider. 

[First Look: Specialized Epic 8]

8 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Indeed, that’s why there’s the “vote with your wallet “

all the electronics has actually made bikes heavier. 
so if a R100k mechanical bike still weighs the same as R100k bike from 2018 and the shifting and braking is similar in performance than that’s a win, but it’s not. 
todays R100k bike is over a kilo heavier.

and this is not just a SA inflation thing, it’s a global discontent that is playing out in declining sales 

According to that podcast that was shared last week (escape collective), Spez is seeing consistent 50%+ YOY growth in China, so I suspect that they are protected overall from a restriction in sales. 

[First Look: Specialized Epic 8]

1 hour ago, Giant Bicycles South Africa said:

Yes man! Although we have some spicy new Anthems that just arrived... and you can get two of them for the price of one Epic 👀

Been perving over the new anthems recently. Unfortunately I can fund my daughter’s varsity accommodation for a year for the price of an anthem so maybe in 4 more years 😂. 
 

i love looking at new bikes but my skill, my wallet and my abilities are way more matched to what i already have. If okes can afford 12k bikes and they love them, then good luck to them. 

[First Look: Specialized Epic 8]

1 hour ago, LazyTrailRider said:

Every year, this gets rehashed. Every single year.

A top-of-the-range bike has always (even when I started checking when I was in varsity in 1998) cost roughly the same as an entry-level Polo. Now it's slightly more than an entry-level Polo, but only because of the very expensive electronic tech which has been tacked on.

I honestly don't think this is excessive. The reality is simply that the South African economy has regressed in buying power against large parts of the "first world", so it seems crazy to us.

In my industry (software dev and SaaS) the gap in cost between local skills and US skills as an example, has grown significantly the last 15 years. For those who haven't realised it yet (I don't know how this is possible) the average South African is getting poorer in real terms. This is structurally expected unfortunately, but it still makes people go WTF. Sorry folks, things are expensive because we're povvos, not because they're overpriced 🤷‍♂️

Looked at this bike online in the UK yesterday. 12k in pounds is still a brutal amount for a bicycle. 

[First Look: Specialized Epic 8]

3 hours ago, splat said:

I know that I am not the target market, but I look at these bikes the same way I look at a Super Car. Its just a thing of unattainable beauty and frightening cost. I would like to touch it, but don't think I would want to own it (unless I won several Lotto's).

I feel a bit sad knowing that each year and each new model (of any brand) puts me further and further away from owning a new bike. But I do think about the trickle-down tech in future years.

I also wonder what it does to the 2nd hand market.

I still look at my 2014 Anthem with love, even after looking at these bikes 😂 

[Why should I keep Vitality?]

3 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

What I think is true of all these loyalty schemes and scams is that you have to be 100% committed to them to get the real benefit. On Vitality, you need to be on Diamond Status, and jump through all the hoops of shopping at the right place and buying petrol at the right garage etc to get real value back. On eBucks you need to be on Level 5 and do all your banking with FNB and jump through all of their hoops. It's seldom that you can maximize the benefit of 2 places at once because quite obviously, their loyalty program is geared to make you loyal to them, and not the other bank. 

I think we easily forget that all of these programs are behavior modification tools specifically designed to maximize the profit of Discovery/FNB/Momentum etc, and not benevolent programs designed to reward you and give you extra money for being such a good citizen. We're basically all just circus animals being given treats for obeying the commands of our trainers and punished for being disobedient or listening to the instructors from a different circus. 

This x 10000

[Heart rate monitors]

Learned the hard way that the tickr is not consistently reliable. Garmin was good until I left it salty for too long.  Currently using a cheapish bontrager strap that is bulletproof so far. 

[Don't Miss The New Limpopo MTB Stage Race In May 2024]

I didn’t think the prices were too bad in the article. Even if you pay for tents, it’s still cheaper than Sani for the three days. 

[Motorists vs Cyclists.... again]

@Dale just reading this now. Sorry this has happened and hoping your recovery is as smooth as possible. 

[ESCAPE independent bike media]

On 3/1/2024 at 1:56 PM, Shebeen said:

https://escapecollective.com/how-did-the-bike-industry-get-into-such-deep-trouble/

 

EXCELLENT series

Thanks for the recommendation- on episode 2 now. Fantastic 

[XCM MTB tyres]

12 hours ago, daveno7 said:

looking at maxxis crossmark 2 ....delivery time in April....and quoted different prices as well...have them on the bike at the moment...and cant complain at all about them...

My LBS can get them if you’re stuck. Says he can have them in stock for Tuesday. Drop me a PM if you want details. If he can’t ship them, I can collect and post to you no problem 

[XCM MTB tyres]

3 hours ago, daveno7 said:

interesting comments....been trying to get a new set of tyres for my mtb here in the UK...trying to get a set of tyres ...but a lot of local places haven't adequate stock...and the delivery times are long...Shipping and Brexit rearing its ugly head...

What are you looking for?

[Strategies for dealing with cramps and preventing them]

My worst day ever cramping was Sani 2016 day 1. Arrived from Ireland on the Friday before the Tuesday start. Worst cramping I’ve ever had started about 40k’s in and make the next 40k fairly interesting. Day 2 and 3 were fine with zero cramps, although I must have chowed about 30 or 40 of those USN cramp tablets on those days.  I assume that it was a heat and altitude reaction but the nerves theory also makes sense.

 

[Wiggle/CRC future in doubt]

Seems like that’s it. If Mike Ashley buys it, that’ll be the end of anything decent. 
 

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/almost-every-member-of-staff-axed-at-wigglecrc-as-company-hits-rock-bottom

https://road.cc/content/news/mike-ashley-set-take-over-wiggle-chain-reaction-306867

[Power meter on MTB?]

19 minutes ago, openmind said:

New Favero SPD power pedals:

https://escapecollective.com/favero-assioma-pro-mx-2-spd-power-meter-pedal-review/

I’d be frightened of $750 pedals on a mtb, especially with my propensity for misjudging rocks and smashing pedals on them. 

[Power meter on MTB?]

1 hour ago, + Ryperd + said:

Hi BigDL

I went with an indoor trainer to ride during the week. I use this for interval training, etc. Following the Sani2c program from Absolute Motion. 
 

Weight loss … not too successful. Dropped to 97kg from 113 a year ago, but then gained 2kg back. Now it seems I’m stuck at 100kg 😒

Lekker - also following the absolute motion plan in anticipation of sani. Weight dropped to 99.5. Losing about a kg a week so hoping to be 92-94 by sani. Which event are you doing?

[Power meter on MTB?]

On 9/12/2023 at 2:40 PM, + Ryperd + said:

Background:

I used to train for a race/event - that was the motivation. The 2022 Attakwas broke that. 🤪 

I'm no racing snake. In fact, I am overweight and unfit. Made a concerted effort to drop weight from Feb this year, and am down from 113kg to 97kg. Want to drop down to 94-95kg. The last 2+kgs are stubborn! I'm 51 years, 1.88m.

I've fallen back in love to just ride and not "train" because you have to ride a race/event, etc. The idea is to ride as often as possible, but add structure. Thus not just plotting along, but add hills, technical, etc. I have a good idea what to do based on my 2021 Sani2C plan from Absolute Motion. Back then I used an old spinning bike for indoor, later upgraded to a Wahoo Kickr 4. Got used to "knowing" my power output, and it was used to fine tune the plan. Idid not follw the plan... was lazy.
 

Current:

The last two weeks I managed to get back onto the bike on ave 3 times a week, clocking 200km. Not much, but for me a HUGE improvement. The motivation is BACK!!

Through the years I've noticed what cadence range works for me, where my hear rate should be and to pace my effort.

I've entered for the Sondela 3-day mtb race end November (will be my 3rd one, as I enjoy the weekend with friends and family), then in 2024 the Ride the Karoo (3rd one) and the Sani again. I want to be fit, strong and stable in terms of my weight before end November, carry that through December and be ready for 2024. Normally I only started some base work in December, but the intensity was slow and low. It's December. 🫣

The question: 

A power meter on the bike. Does it add real value, or is it more nice to have stats on the Garmin app and Strava? If it adds real value, can a mere mortal use it or is it better to get a coach?

And last question - which is better? The crank arm type, the pedal type? This is an expensive purchase, I don't want to waste money or buy the wrong item. 

Any good advice will be appreciated.

Hey Ryperd, was following your thread with interest as we are similar height, age and weight. Wondering how your journey is going? Did you go with PM? Have you managed the weight loss etc?