NGM

Nice build. How are you pairing the 105s with the XT derailleur? Tanpan? Or do the older 105s just pair normally with mtb stuff? I know that some of the older shimano 9 speed road and mtb stuff have the same pull ratios but knowing what will and wont work is a dark art.

Just adding in my experiences here... I bought the Tacx antares while they were on sale at Takealot (briefly R2.7K, but just checked now and price is back up to R3.8K). They arrived just in time for the big cold front in the cape so I'm getting a good idea of what some of my winter training sessions will be like. For the first few minutes of trying to ride them I thought the purchase had been a terrible idea; I couldn't let go of my white knuckle death grip on the window frame next to where I'd set up. Fast forward 10 minutes and I'm happily pedaling away, clicking through the gears and probably getting over-confident (might end badly, will keep you posted). As others have mentioned, two things really help when getting started: Look further forward, well beyond your front wheel. Don't look at the front roller Use bigger gears. The higher revs of the rollers help make balancing a lot easier.Some other things I've noticed: Sweat: my word. I'm not a sweaty dude but I guess I underestimate how much evaporative cooling happens when you're moving through air outdoors as opposed to being stationary inside. It wasn't pretty. Resistance/Recovery. They don't provide a huge amount of resistance but this makes it really nice for recovery, and was/is possibly one of the main reasons for people using rollers I guess. I'd done a hard outdoor ride a day earlier, not crazy hard, but the sort of ride where the next day your quads have a dull ache if you have to go up a flight of stairs. Maybe other people don't get that, I'm not sure. Anyway, after a 20 minute session on the rollers my legs felt warm and loose and still feel that way today. So I'm ready to go again. That said, I got my heart rate up to about 140 during the rollers session and kept it there, so it was a decent workout as well. You can't really "zone out" the way you might be able to a stationary trainer. Maybe that will change with time when balancing on them becomes second nature but if you're looking to pedal mindlessly, they might not be for you. Also I've heard good things about it improving your pedal stroke and balance. Anyway, just writing this if other people are thinking of going the rollers route. I'm sure zwifting (etc) is a lot of fun but I just wasn't prepared to spend the money on that. Happy with rollers.

52mm at Mont Marie, very close to JHK as the crow flies: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/IWPJAMES3/graph/2021-03-11/2021-03-11/weekly JHK likely got a bit more than that. It wasn't high intensity stuff though, just constant. And we need the rain more than we don't need it, if that makes sense. People seem to think we got loads of rain last year, but as Karman's link shows, Stellenbosch hasn't had an above average rainfall year since 2014.

There was a pretty severe fire in Jonkershoek in 2015 too unfortunately. Well I'm pretty sure it was 2015. I live here and should know. All I can remember is that it was "a few years back" and it was pretty damn bad. This last one was a bit worse though. Definitely no earlier than 2015.

Surely another reason to justify the spend is that, without great trails, people wont be buying fancy trail bikes. So it's an investment that comes back to the bike companies. People buy expensive bikes because they live near a trail mecca. No mecca, fewer sales. It's just a pity that it's only specialized that have made that investment and effort and not the others as well! Still much appreciated though.

Excuse my ignorance, but how do fires damage trails? I'm not saying it doesn't happen... I completely accept that it does, I just don't understand HOW it happens. Is it because the vegetation that holds the soil together is essentially killed, and so the trail can't hold together? Or is it falling trees that stuff the trail up? Or is it the actual heat of the fire that changes the properties of the soil (shear strength, etc). I'm just trying to get my head around how compacted mud and earth is damaged by fire. Genuine question. On the plus side, I live at the base of stellenbosch mountain and there does seem to be a bit more blue sky and fewer helicopters in the last few hours. Hopefully its coming right.

Not to be funny but I'd suggest a decent bike lock be part of the extras.

Donation made.

I read his autobiography a bit earlier in the year and, for what it's worth, he does at least acknowledge that he looks terrible on a bike. He said that after his first pro bike-fit with sky (I think) his saddle felt too high so he dropped it down quite a bit, which is why his legs never come close to straightening in his pedal stroke. Nobody else rides like that but apparently it feels normal to him. Add that to the elbows sticking out all the time and stem gazing.... ya it's not exactly Cancellara.

No no, this is not the way of the ethical gravel bike hipster. They (we, possibly) listen to bands you haven't heard of yet. In some cases they like bands that don't even exist yet.

Some equations and a bloke talking while looking at a Ti bike. But still, I watched it all and it may answer your question. This one is about steel, but similar conclusions, and much more flashy production quality. Also he only looks at vertical deflection, but torsional flex could play a role in comfort. Bottom line though... get a comfy seatpost.

The sceptic in me says that when somebody does add some criticism to a review, it just makes you believe the complements more. It's a well documented idea. Some people are paid to write reviews of things on amazon, so they'll say "OH this toaster is great. I was a little disappointed that they (insert trivial complaint) but other than that it is fantastic". This is more believable than "Oh this toaster is perfect". That said, I'm not saying that is the case here. I'm of the same opinion as everyone else, it was refreshing to hear him say what a lot of people are thinking about disc brakes. ie: The dudes that came first and second last year in the TdF were not using disc... are we really ready for this? And as you say, I'm glad that he hasn't been slapped on the wrist for saying something vaguely negative about his sponsored bike. On a separate note, I've just finished reading his autobiography and he comes across as a decent guy. A bit late to the party but I put off reading it for so long because (i'm not joking) the title was the same as a Miley Cyrus song.

I'd be very surprised if this hasn't been shared here already, but I'll share it anyway because its a classic (pun intended):

Strange how it coincides with the advent of smartphones. "Well did you get a picture?" "Ermmmm... no"

The second last line of this document says that GRX-800 level stuff works with Shimano DuraAce/Ultegra/105 (ie: the current batch of 11 speed stuff): https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/information/news/gravel-upgrades--mixing-and-matching-shimano-grx-and-road-compon.html While I've not tested that, the last line says that Tiagra works with the 10 speed GRX stuff. I can confirm the the last line is true, because I have that exact setup on my bike and it works perfectly. So I'd be pretty certain the they are correct about the 11 speed option too. Also, the evobikes link you included says that GRX 812 is the one to use for a 10-42 casette. So basically, I think you're right on the money with the Shimano Road shifters + GRX. Should all work as intended. It's not even a bodge, the stuff was made to be compatible. As for the mullet option, it may be great, it's just not what I would do. That's just my opinion but it looks like more fiddling. You need two different tanpan components. I'd just go for something simpler, possibly because I'm not one of the gurus.

Flipping rad, thanks, although I think 2020 link is a duplicate of 2019. 2020:

Jirrre that is a good looking bike.

The comments are Hilarious.

Is that a Jones bar? If so, how are you liking it?

Yip, correct I'd need to upgrade the derailleur too, but there are often 11 speed mtb cassette and deraileur combos going on bikehub as people switch to 1x12. I was at Mason's bike Inn a few weeks back and he said he has loads of them for that very reason.

Hahaha this NixM character sounds shrewd. I think you're right about Franshoek. I've actually got a solution for increasing the climbing gears, (which it sounds like I will need for places like swartberg pass): I currently have a 2x10 GRX, which has 30/46t in the front and 11/36t at the back. But when I looked at the crank it actually says "11S" on the chainrings, which I've had confirmed means it will work for 11 speed. Don't ask me how that happened, I orders a 2x10. Anyway I've since bought 2x11 bar-end shifters and will fit an 11x42 mtb cassette on the rear. This will give me a climbing gear of (30/42x29) 20 gear inches, which I think will be plenty. I thought about tinkering with hanger extenders and other tricks like a tanpan, but I like the simplicity of bar end shifters even if they're a bit cumbersome. And yes, totally agree about getting out of the saddle and "attacking" a climb with 20kgs. I tried, but the frame wobbled all over the place and the idea was quickly aborted.

I was just about to type this. Botmaskop is the only place I wont ride alone. Of all the places listed, I think I've heard of the odd incident around G-Spot/Eden, and by that I mean literally 2 incidents that I'm aware of over 6 years in a wide open public area that sees LOTS of visitors. So I can't promise your safety, but can promise that the N2 from CT is more dangerous.

So far my only "tour" was an overnight to camp at theewaterskloof. A bit of a test run with a loaded bike. At the base of Franschoek pass a young lady came running up to me shouting "would you like some biscuits or a coke? Where are you heading?" This sort of things doesn't happen to me often so after the initial shock I said yes to the first question. The second was more tricky. I think she was hoping that the answer was cairo or something, and I was worried that the coke and biscuits from question 1 were hanging on my response, so I tried to keep it vague and said "well my stop tonight is a campsite at Theewaterskloof dam." I didn't elaborate that my stop the following night would be back in my own bed in stellenbosch. Eventually I was forced to tell all though and she seemed a bit deflated. But not half as deflated as I felt when she told me she was there supporting her brother who was 90% of the way through an everesting attempt (he finished it) and although you wouldn't know it to look at him, he technically qualified as a paraplegic. I still got a coke a biscuits though (as well as a nice conversation) and am surprised at how many strangers want to talk when they see you riding a loaded up bicycle. Other things I learned: My gearing was fine over a longish pass (Franshoek) with about 16kgs, but steeper passes and heavier loads will need smaller gears than I have (climbing gear ratio is 30t front, 36t rear) if I want to do it day in, day out. I like the upright sitting position on my bike and was happy riding for 5 - 6 hours. I could have carried on. It took me a while to get used to the mindset that its not a race and ticking along at 15-20kph is actually really nice loaded steel bikes feel a bit "noodly", which you get used to and actually start to enjoy after a while I want to go on much longer trips and Copperhead's photos are making me jealous!

Keen to hear your impressions of this one as I've been wanting to do it too.

I'm not part of this challenge so I feel like an impostor, but I found this useful, an ex-pro giving some candid tips for losing/maintaining weight