RobertWhitehead

https://www.competitivecyclist.com/Store/catalog/fitCalculatorBike.jsp#results - here's a nice website to assist with getting the right size bike. PWC is fairly technical for new riders (from what I hear - I've never been) - I would rather go to Northern Farms Welcome to the madness! The bike doesn't look too bad from the picture, why don't you do the measurements (from the link) borrow the friends bike and head out to Northern Farms and try it out before you buy?

Feel free to do so, I'm based in Garsfontein and there's quite a few bike parks we can visit in our area. Rosemary Hill does offer rentals as well Send me a pm then we can arrange some "kamp staaldraad" sessions

Welcome to Hubland - You won't really spoil yourself for the first few weeks if you're just moving out of Couchlandria . There's a plethora of information that you need to absorb and learn before I would go into getting a bike. I'm a fairly lazy chap this late in the afternoon (so no essays) but my suggestion will be that you meet up with a friend or one of the folks on this platform (hence the importance of location) at a bike park and rent a bike from them. By doing that you will only spend beer money on a day out and not sit with a white elephant if you don't like it. Feel free to send me a pm if you need any assistance getting into the game, here's another link which I found to be fairly accurate to get the measurements: https://www.competitivecyclist.com/Store/catalog/fitCalculatorBike.jsp#results

Google is your friend : Wikus: team@ecobound.co.za Marc: INFO@THEMUNGA.COM Neil: business@bouttime.co.za Fritz: info@advendurance.com Even the folks from SA Stage races may be keen to help out: http://stageraces.com/contact-details/ Or even the folks from Anatomic, they host the Crater Cruize in Parys every year: http://weardirect.co.za/contact-us/

My suggestion: I would make contact with the experienced guys in the industry: Wikus - Trans Baviaans Marc - Munga Debbie - Recce C2T (not sure if she's still part of this one) even Fritz @ Advendurance Neil - Bouttime Pitch the idea / concept to them and possibly get buy in or a partnership going so that folks with the experience can do the heavy lifting and make it a sustainable revenue stream for the cause.

If we all read the title we would've all said: Ok. And then moved on . If we can't be "keyboard activists" and give our opinion about something we know very little about then we'll all be slightly more productive at the office . I mean surely it's a very simple concept: If you want to know the price of a car then surely you will get the most accurate estimate from a car dealer. But, if you ask the local green grocer for an opinion he'll try to sell you some potatoes .

I recon you'll raise more cash with a 24h than a 3 day. It also depends on how tough you want to make the 240km . I will gladly support the race if you get it off the ground

There is a fairly nice saying I read in one of the financial books the other day: "Taking a loan is borrowing from your future self" IMO - If you can see yourself riding the thing for the finance period without wanting to upgrade again and or replace the group set and or other parts on it just to keep up with the Jones', then it's fine, borrow cash from future self. I mean at the end of the day you have to live with the decision for the next 48 months (or whatever the finance period). Something I would suggest is to put Murphy to the test for the next month or two, get all the quotes and paperwork to see what you're in for, now the lowest amount you can finance is something like 30k. I would then take the 1,5k or whatever the installment is going to be and put it into another account where you do not have access to it. Now if you can easily get through the month without said funds then by all means, go for it. But, if you cannot get through the month without having to retrieve the funds then you have your answer

R5 difference in price between your link and mine, I suggest going with your link

Not sure where you get the bike rental info but the tickets can be bought through web tickets: https://www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?itemid=1462153038 And no, the amount of mud is not normal, there are some areas with water / puddles but mostly a dry route.

True that ????. I haven't been there in forever, think I need to go soon

Nice video - looks quite lekker (on an E-bike)

My guess is dust or debris in the cable housing or possibly the cable got pinched / damaged within the housing. The cable is quite cheap to replace, I would start there and see if that sorts it out

I used to be on a HT - I actually had 3 since 2011 and I built a dual sus late last year due to a herniated disc in my lower back. In my opinion: a dual sus is a fantastic piece of kit, it may weigh slightly more than a HT - mine comes in at 12,35kg with 2,35 tires, but you don't even feel the extra kgs if you're doing a marathon ride. I can concur with Skubarra, dual sus is the way to go

I have a glaring question here: Have you confirmed that the rest of the bike is not damaged? The image of a botched repair job on a taxi comes to mind - those taxis that look like they were a crab in their previous lives . I'm not trying to dis your bike, I'm just thinking that there may be something else wrong with the bike on top of the obvious - the wheel. MadMarc has mentioned giving the bike a "once-over" to confirm the rest of the bike is sorted but I think we need to expect that the frame may also be damaged as well as the rear mech. If the bike got dragged the saddle and bars can also be damaged (even if only cosmetic). Now IceMan, no need to feel bad hey, stuff happens and people have it rough from time to time! The good news however is that bad things normally happens in 3's and by what I've read it would appear your bad patches are now over . I will throw my hat in the ring here and assist in getting your bike back on the road. I have a tire for you to fit to the wheel from Johnson. I can do the tubeless on it as well, I have everything needed to do it, easy peazy . I do have a lot of other parts I can add into the mix if needed. (Donation made via the link as well) Then my last question: will you be able to do everything on your ace or are you going to take it to someone? I mean it's pointless having to pay a shop to get it sorted for you - your whole donation will go towards their labor. I'm based in PTA but am willing to slap the stuff together for you.

Beat me to it .

You do have a couple of options here: Go with contacts - this will as per the other folks here already mentioned be an easy option if your eyes can handle putting your finger into your eyes every morning (some folks find it easy - my eyes are way too sensitive and I can't get used to it )Find a brand that offers inserts - Adidas, Smith, Rudi - the downside with this has already been mentioned, the inserts sits closer to your face and fogs up and you struggle to see everything especially in the corners if the inserts are too small. You could go to an optometrist and do one of a few things: Get a pair of sunnies and have them remove the lenses and order you a set from the manufacturer. Now bear in mind that this will be the most expensive option, a manufacturer like Oakley pours all their R&D money into the quality of the lenses. Therefore you will pay to have the same amount of said coatings fitted with your prescription lenses. It will also take an eternity to get ordered (normally about 3-4 weeks). An educated guess as to price will be in the region of R5-R6k just for the lenses, if you now choose a R2k Oakley frame you can see that this option will set you back close to R10k. The medical aid will only pay a portion of this. Get the same pair of sunnies (as mentioned in point 1) and have the optom remove the lenses and fit their lenses with a tint on it. This will actually defy the purpose of buying such an expensive pair of sunnies to begin with. As mentioned in point 1, the majority of the R&D goes into the tech of the lenses so effectively you pay R2500 - R3000 just to remove around 90% of the value and put a couple of hundred bucks worth of lenses with a tint on it. The second problem with this scenario (any optom worth their salt will tell you the same thing) is a thing called: Prismatic Disorder. This is where you take a lens and bend it past a base curve of 8 (this is to be able to wrap the lenses to fit the frame). When a prescription lens goes over this level you get a "jump" in the lens when you move your eyes around whilst riding. This will mess you up from a depth perspective and items will also appear to move around. This is a no-no when cycling at speed. You can get yourself a cheap pair of sunnies and apply number 2 with them, the same negatives mentioned above applies here as well but it will be more cost effective . You can get a new prescription glasses and fit a clip-on to it (you do get quite a few options here) You could get yourself some photo-chromatic lenses and use the pair for cycling and just about everything else . This will be my option as the medical aid will most probably pay for 80-90% of the costs depending on which scheme you're on. You may have to pay for the lens coating or one or two other things.

I would say yes it can be repaired & Ruan mentioned, have a chat with the Mike

Am I missing something here? I never shift on my trainer - it kinda defies the purpose of having a smart trainer. I would therefore suggest running the 8 speed that is currently on the bike.

Join the PEMBI group on vleisboek, I'm sure you'll get plenty interest over there as well.

Sorry, I thought you bought the bike new, my bad . I went with the XT 11x46 through Chain Reaction and I've got just over 1000km on it at the moment. I cannot complain about it thus far, maybe I will have some or other glitches when I get to more km's . I built my bike up so went with all new. My view: The 30T is going to be too light when you do some marathon riding I normally play around on this website to look at the gear ratios: http://gears.mtbcrosscountry.com/#29I399I5283 Good luck with getting the stuff sorted

The formula to apply is simple: N + 1 = Nfuture N = current number of bikes you have 1 = the number of bikes you need When you get to the Nfuture state you can wait a pre-determined amount of time before applying the formula again

There's nothing wrong with those M785 XT brakes. I bought mine in 2015 and have transferred them over to three different bikes. My suggestion would be to follow this guys post and service them yourself: https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/155987-fixworkaround-shimano-xt-m785-brake-lever/ - If you mess it up you can always get yourself a new pair in Europe . I do not trust the majority of bike shops, some (not all of them) are just "spare part fitters" and do not know how to fix something unless its really obvious . Having done only around 1000km and you've had to do 2 major services and a shock service tells me that either you wash your bike with cutting paste or the bike shops are taking you for a ride. A drivetrain can last (and I do it most of the time) for around 4000km - the chain can last around 1500-2000km, easily. Do yourself a favor and get yourself a chain wear tool: https://www.bike-discount.de/en/shop/chain-wear-indicator-11464 The golden rule I follow: Just about every ride or whenever I feel its time, I measure the chain wear. If the chain is at 0.75 wear replace it (It's a very quick check and if I'm busy washing and lubing the bike the extra 30 seconds to measure the chain before applying the lube gives me piece of mind). You can push it to 0.5 but this starts to mess up the other components like the cassette. Going 1 x 11 will make a massive difference to your riding experience. I have a 1x11 with a 46T at the back. In the front I have a 32T and a 34T oval depending on the terrain. 32T is actually the sweet spot for a lot of cyclists. I will not replace the bike, as mentioned before, the Vipa is a great bike, I would just upgrade the components

I would drill a hole in the cage and rivet it in place with another piece of metal similar to what quagga mentioned already

I used to have a 1x10 with a 32T oval in the front on my 26er . I then built a 29er with a 1x11 and 34T oval. For me, (this is my experience) - I found that the 34T makes me considerably slower on the climbs because you try to conserve so you automatically use a smaller gear and then end up spinning more than needed. I then swopped the cranks (BCD's on the chainrings are different) and that to me is the sweet spot. A 32T oval in the front with a 11-46T at the back. I climb much stronger and faster and never feel that I do not enough gears. To me a 2x10 config is very annoying and you always fiddle to get the right gear - hence why I went with the 1x10