Jono

It's not worth it. The idea of insurance is to have your bike covered for theft etc. See the stats in the article below... https://bikehub.co.za/news/bike-theft-what-to-do-if-your-bicycle-is-stolen-r8476/

New tech is awesome. Early adopters will pay for the privilege of new stuff, the average rider will benefit from the trickle down. But XT shifter and deore derailleur combo is all I want. Peace ✌️

My 2 cents is the same as what everyone is saying above, look for a second hand bike rather than a makro/game bike. Preferably with 29 inch wheels, its a better wheel size (sorry @RobertWhitehead). I'm also 5'8 (172cm) but fully grown 😆 and ride a medium. However with a tight budget options might be limited, so possibly sizing up and swapping out to a shorter stem might be an option. I spotted this... https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/hardtail-mountain-bikes/626240/29er-silverback-spectra-mtb-l-air-fork Try using a filtered search approach with 29 wheel size and R6000 as max price (people are negotiable and even more so when an aspiring young cyclist is getting into the sport) https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/c/hardtail-mountain-bikes?maximum_price=6000&meta_wheel_size[is_multi_select]=true&meta_wheel_size[value]=29" Whatever you end up going with enjoy your new bike and be lekker 🤙

If you have a 3d model I’ll print one. If you don’t I reckon it’s probably best just getting one from specialized. How much are they?

Not this stuff...

Just out of curiosity how tall are you?

I guess different things wind up people differently. What gets me wound up is when people use the word adds for ads 😉

Have you entered tour de ppa? I only know one rider who has entered and his seeding isn’t showing

I was very impressed with the marshalling, we had a car in front of the group with hazards on and a motorbike that was ensuring on coming cars gave us space and assisted cars from behind over take when it was safe. Definitely the safest I’ve felt in a race on open roads.

If the weather is good and you're in a decent group sub 3 is very achievable. You need to stay with your group and hopefully contribute by doing a turn or two on the front. The groups seems to blow up on Chappies so hang in until then and do your best from there. When we were doing the stretch after Suikerbossie I realised we were very close to the cut off so rallied up the small group I was in and dug deep. The year before I did a 3:00:47 from 1G and wasn't keen to let that happen again! And no 2hr 59min and 60sec is the same as 3:00:00 and not a sub 3!

this...

I did a sub 3 from 1C in 2021, well just...

Thanks!

Is dstv showing this weekends world championships?

Is it 10% slower with road tyres or gravel?

If you want to race at the sharp end, the merida If you want to have a bit more fun on the bike and have a bike that rips on the trails, trek I have the top fuel, such a capable bike. But wouldn't be my first choice for trying to podium

The resin d03s are available from Olympic https://www.olympiccycles.co.za/product/shimano-d03s-resin-disc-brake-pads/

What you are describing sounds like a creaky csu. I had this issue earlier in the year. There is a simple test you can do involving pushing and pulling on the fork to test. Def get in touch with @droofrom Stoke Suspension, he'll talk you through the test and they have the equipment to sort it out. Their service is excellent.

Don't CRC have a set fee for bikes or am I missing something?

Customs will more than likely use the invoice, if there is a frame in the box and no wheels, but the invoice says bike they will apply the duty and vice versa. They aren't opening every single package. Will CRC ship the bike in 2 shipments with 2 invoices?

This just popped up in the classifieds https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/shifters/603584/shimano-ultegra-st-6800-hoods

With regards to signage on the stretch from Clovelly to Muizenberg, how about signs that display "cyclists have right of way on this section of road" and "no passing of cyclists for the next 3km" I reckon this will take the death rate to zero whilst only adding 5 minutes or so to commuting time.

Definitely agree with this. There are some sketchy sections on Boyes Drive, the cars are going faster, mix in some blind corners and the need for having to get past the cyclists and things get spicy pretty quickly. I also use the cycle in the middle of the road approach on certain sections of main road from Clovelly to Muizenberg, obviously this is received with mixed feelings from motorists, either way I always do a thank you wave when the cars wait for me. I try maintain 40kph or more on this section. It is a 50kph speed limit here.

Nearly rode over a boomslang on snake eyes this morning