BigDL

Nope - 2 yrs to rent a bike lol

Thanks - had a look at the Aprilia - looks good, only issue, according to the reviews that I read, is that the subframe is welded on, rather than bolted, which apparently can be a serious issue (probably showing my lack of knowledge here). Popped into a dealer today that has Yamaha, Honda and BMW showrooms all within 100 metres of each other. The Tenere World Raid is beautiful but I like the traction control on the others. Unfortunately you can't test ride a bike here if you haven't had your licence for at least a year ,so having a think about how to get around that.

loving this thread. Been reading from afar for a while. Turned 50 in June and passed my motorbike licence test this week. Been riding bikes on and off my whole life but never got around to getting a licence as in SA you could ride for a year or two on learners licences back in the day. Haven't owned a road legal bike in many years, but am looking to fix that currently, so busy comparing adventure style bikes. Really like the T700 World Raid, but also looking at the BMW GS and the Honda Africa Twin. Don't know enough about the benefits of each yet to make a really informed choice so would appreciate any advice from those in the know.

s

Capitalism summarised in one sentence

My neighbour, who farms about 300 acres across a few different locations, with no labour other than himself (and neighbours when cutting and baling hay), drives a 2003ish Corsa with the back seats taken out. He reckons that anything that he can't shift in the Corsa, he'll use a tractor.

Farmers have a very different attitude (or need, I'm not sure) to vehicles in Northern Europe to SA.

Fair enough.

That I'll never understand. Why buy a car outright when finance is (comparatively) cheap. Surely that money would be better being invested somewhere?

96 months - Holy Crap I've no idea what the max is here as a percentage of income. Interest rates are pretty low though so paying a deposit on a car makes zero sense. As a comparison, in 2019, I financed a 2016 Polo for my son over 48 months with zero deposit and an interest rate of 4% APR. He has now taken on the payments (or is at least paying me the money every month) and, as a part time gymnastics instructor in a council leisure centre / gym, he is able to afford the monthly payment comfortably (about 13% of his take home if he works 35 hrs a week).

What luxury products have dropped in price after a rise before? Other than houses and fuel of course?

Lol - I didn't buy a house, but I bought a BMW 320 just before the rate went through the roof. Was paying prime + 2% if I remember correctly and the payments went through the roof. Cured my 25 year old self of any desire for fancy cars after that.

Over here, the bike shops are saying that they cannot fulfil the demand at the higher end. I was chatting to a shop owner the other day who says that custom builds are most affected, often because of not being able to get one or two components. A mate of mine took delivery of his new bike on the weekend from Ribble. It was supposed to be delivered in March, but was delayed because they couldn't get some of the Ultegra parts to build the bike. At the same time, it seems that the biggest growing industry in the UK is Charity Food banks

Presumably, if stock is still constrained and demand is still high, the bike boom is not over.

That's brutal

So true - We've just been through an enhanced salary review that was brought forward three months from the usual time. It is humbling to work for a company that has stepped up, increased salaries early and by a far higher margin than in a normal year. First company that I've ever worked for that doesn't just talk about valuing employees,, but lives it at every turn.

Loving this thread and learning a lot from it. I just had a quote last week for a PV setup. We're in a different position to a lot of you folks in that we don't have load shedding to worry about, but electricity is very expensive and traditional energy generation doesn't help global warming, so we've decided to go the PV route. We have an electric shower, so don't need hot water going into it, and our water pressure is so poor that a bath will take 45 minutes to run to about 8 inches deep, so only really need hot water for washing hands, dishes that don't fit in the dishwasher etc. At the moment, our house and hot water is heated by an oil boiler, with a 1200l heating oil tank outside. I have a TADO system to automatically manage the house, so run the boiler for an hour a day to heat up the hot water tank/geyser and that gives us enough hot water for our daily needs. That may change in winter, but the boiler will be running the central heating at that stage so hot water will be no issue. The plan is to install a system now, without batteries but battery ready, and to set washing machine, dishwasher etc etc to run during daylight hours to maximise use of generated electricity. The excess then gets sold back to the grid for 25% of what we buy it for. Installation cost is about £6,800, which will hurt. Next step, after we properly insulate the house (new windows, thicker insulation in the ceiling etc), is to install a battery system and a heat pump setup to control temperature in the house, which should be largely run by the PV system, especially in Summer. This will allow us to get rid of the oil boiler altogether and save the £1,200 per year (based on last years prices, twice that now) that we spend on heating oil. We investigated a small windmill at the top of our property as the wind never seems to stop at our place, but decided, for all of the reasons listed on this thread, to stay away from that at the moment. Anyway, the point wasn't to bore you all with my plans, but wondering if anyone has any thoughts on whether this is the right plan or is there a better way to do it?

So true - for so many of us, the benefit of skinny tyres, enhanced aero etc etc make little difference to our ride. I rode across the UK a few weeks back and only realised afterwards that I didn't use my drops once. Made my think about why I have them.

In for both. Thanks lads

Not sure about the front, but I converted my Ultegra back setup to 11-34 from 11-28 two weeks ago. Needed a longer cage derailleur (there was also a wolf-tooth adaptor available instead). This was because of a ride across England that I did last week. Genuinely made such a massive difference to my enjoyment of the ride. Front is 50/34 I think

I would rather pay a bit more and have a local supplier to go back to in case of issues or for accessories etc.

Is that landed in SA, VAT and duties paid?

Makes sense. Why phone makers generally won't say that their products are waterproof, even if they are. My good mate has a Ghost bike and I swear he spends more time fixing it than riding it. TBF he rides hectic trails.

I would assume that, where there is an electric motor / battery etc involved, there is more opportunity for failure when coming into contact with water, should water ingress anywhere into sealed units and they would be harder to dry out completely.

Lots of folks here ride with cameras and submit footage of close passes, phone use by drivers etc to the various authorities. I have never ridden on the road with a camera as I can hardly get organised with charging my lights, radar, garmin, phone, watch etc and I know that I wouldn’t ever take the time to download and edit footage. this might change that as I already have a varia so no extra charging, and if it keeps overwriting itself, so no downloading needed, it might be useful in the event of a small incident. Will have to wait and see what folks think once more have them