Kom

you can get an aeropress for R650 if you search well enough, otherwise R750 on Yuppiechef/Takealot is a 300% increase in price since the OP. Im still not brave enough to pay R2k for a hand operated grinder though

Bringing this one forward in the thread - best advice ever! My aeropress doesn’t rest. You don’t often hear people emphasizing how healthy this way of drinking coffee is either with the paper filters holding back oils/sediment. What’s also changed for me is that I don’t gravitate to dark roasts/espresso beans anymore, the magic of coffee taste in a machine like this is the light roasts.

I’ll be the first to advise that for R20k you could get an alloy soft-tail like the 2014-2015 epic. If you can push the budget this scalpel up on the hub at the moment is a bargain (full Carbon too!) https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/dual-suspension-bikes/428525/cannondale-scalpel Soft-tails keep their value for resale/upgrade one day, Cannondale, Specialized tend to do a better job of value retention. Momsen, silverback make up for their perceived lower value by offering better group sets, it will bite you when you need to sell it though. I know you are set in a hardtail, but soft tail opens up so much more to you with comfort!

The 6X pro is definitely the one to go for, has all the good features, and that awesome new bigger high res display. No sure where the advice comes from, but anodised stainless steel will always scratch easily. Ive always had the silver which doesn't suffer from the scratches i see on the coloured versions. If you are aiming to keep the watch for 3-5years, the sapphire glass is a must - the extra R2k amortised over that period is an easy justification. The solar is a total gimmick - not sure why anyone would give up on the display size and clarity to introduce a power source as inefficient. (just my 2c, dont judge).

I also have the 7 Black - still an awesome piece of equipment (this was the GoPro that launched with a death of the gimbal campaign). Video Stabilisation after the 7 was incremental IMO, but the forward facing screen is really quite attractive (even though roughly aiming and framing with a wide angle lens is not that hard). Another interesting proposition is the weight of the 9, and by implication the promises of better battery life. My Hero 7 is ok if i switch off the GPS, any connectivity (manual image transfers using an SD card reader), and constantly power cycle the camera between recording. At $449, us locals should be prepared for a Cape Union Mart launch of R9k (R8999) me thinks. Not sure what the local plans are, but if you buy the 9 with the GoPro subscription package, you can save $100 (~R2k) which is a decent saving.

I’ve got two kids and echo this sentiment 100%. The oldest turning 18 this year is kicking my butt up hills, literally become my riding partner and official hand me down accepter (we ride the same size bike, wear the same size shoes and if I keep Banting, we will soon wear the same size kit ). As an old hand at owning a kid(s), I can guarantee that the balance of having kids and having nice toys are not mutually exclusive, in fact I would argue that my financial luck only increased when I started having kids. I currently have 4 bikes, my son has two, my daughter her first decent bike recently and wifey just wont let go of her Carbon specialized Sirrus. There are at least another two more bikes joining the garage as we speak.

Just realized it’s e*13 who make the 11spd 9-50, wouldn’t recommend their products, overpriced, and they can’t back pedal without the chain jumping around. This is a great deal from cycle lab: https://www.cyclelab.com/product/sunrace-mx80-11spd-11-50t-mountain-bike-cassette?utm_campaign=11013068295&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=461107209839&utm_term=&adgroupid=116511647668&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuMmfo5fR6wIV1O3tCh2TYQg-EAQYAiABEgIp4vD_BwE Combining an XT RD, Shifter and KMC X11 chain will be perfection IMO.

Slightly off topic, but I personally find eagle 1x12 very fidgety to get right, I find myself making micro adjustments all the time to get the shifting right. I miss my XX1 1x11 setup which was robust/reliable and somewhat cheaper to run. I am looking at another bike build soon which will definitely be back to a 11spd setup. What’s important to consider is the cassette you go for as SRAM and Shimano produce hockey-stick profiled cassettes which can make the mid to low range gears feel too far apart. The 11spd cassette options from both manufacturers are limiting too. Sunrace make great wide range 11spd cassettes which are linear in profile, making for a much smoother progression. (Using sunrace with my GRX setup on my gravel bike, it’s a really great product, and the MX8 looks good too). Depending on your weight and fitness, a 34T chainring could be limiting on hard climbs, even with a 46T ring at the back. I would consider swapping to an XD driver so you could get a 50-9T 11spd cassette from Sunrace, this will give you nice range on both ends.

What’s frustrating is that only heart rate goals are zoned on this page, power isn’t so you are constantly guessing your power input to make goal.

Looking forward to an update (with pics) of your new ride James - your fellow hubbers deserve some reward for all the keyboard and coffee on this thread!

Chris Willemse are doing a great deal on the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt for R3999. This is cheaper than 2nd hand, and at least R1.5k cheaper than retail - i ride with one and can highly recommend it. Keep in mind that sensors are excluded, and probably need to be on your radar: Heart Rate Monitor, Cadence, Speed sensors are a good start, Power Meter is nice to have in the budget later.

Not sure i agree with this anymore - im a longtime fan of the brand, but their latest stuff is a bit whack. More detail here. I would hands down recommend the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt against garmins R2k more expensive, if not more.

If you want my opinion?: for the same brand, Trek, Specialized, Giant etc etc the difference between all their base and upper models is quite significant: Groupset - Drivetrain components and Brakes can vary hugely, not just on the initial out the box feel, but the overall duration and endurance of the groupsets, even maintenance costs. There are diminishing returns beyond SRAM GX (X01, XX1 and AXS are extremely expensive to own and live with), and Shimano XT (XTR and Di2 are just not worth it) Fork and Shock Combo - easy to underestimate the difference between an entry level fork and top of the range. Rock Shox as a brand vs Fox for instance, you will ride these suspension brands yourself and easily feel the difference, Fox is definitely the gold standard, but pricey AF! Frame Material - Alloy -> Basic Carbon -> Advanced Carbon - trust me its not about the weight, its about the way it "feels". Stiffness, compliance etc there are differences which you can get used to depending on your riding style. Wheelset - this to me is the category where there are the biggest diminishing returns. Everyone has their favorite brands and hoop material favorite, but its clear that a - DT Swiss hubs are the best to own/maintain b - carbon hoops "rotate" nicely, but they crack and need costly repair a-lot more than a decent alloy rim which could be "bent" back into working condition, either through Tru'ing or even light repair with a disc truing tool. c - inner width for running large volume tires is super important, i've even seen XC'ers running 30mm inner diameter hoops which allow for low running pressures, larger 2.4" tires etcAs you can see there are a ton of attributes that differ between base and top of the range model. How do you know which is best for you? if non of the 4 points above made any sense to you i.e. you are starting out, my recommendation is to get the cheapest alloy MTB from your favorite LBS, don't listen to the hog wash about carbon and electronic shifting unless you have learnt to disseminate from the above attributes.

As a side bonus - if anyone needs help adapting their Garmin Mount for use with the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt or Roam its really quite easy ... just rotate the detachable inner of the mount through 90deg and the wahoo will work perfectly. The Wahoo actually comes with a couple of really nice mounts, 1 out front and one stem mount, but if like me you have custom out front mounts on your road and MTB, then knowing this helps! (i also needed to dremmel my one out-front a small bit to accept the tab that locks the inner into place - can send pics to anyone considering the same).

Ive personally only ever used Multisport watches for the ~10yrs i've been into my cycling. I recently bought a new bike which looks way to race'y to strap my garmin fenix too (actually the aero bars wouldn't allow me to anyway) so decided to take advantage of the garmin outfront mount it comes standard with and invest in a dedicated cycle computer. I hadn't yet used my device booster with vitality, so decided to use the benefit to acquire a Garmin Edge 530. Over a 4 week period of use, i definitely saw the benefit in having a dedicated computer, so the 530 was definitely a great experience for me, not ever having had something like this, but what disappointed me mostly? (This is almost everything unfortunately TL:DR i've already sold the unit to a fellow hubber). The Screen - the use of small fonts, loads of white space and a really poor contrast ratio. I think garmins push to offer a colour screen has led to a compromise of a number of very logical basic needs for a cycle computer - including easy reading. They've even defaulted to leaving the backlight on almost permanently to help the situation, which it sort of does, but at the compromise of battery life. The Gimmics - Climb Pro, MTB Flow and Grit, Jump Dynamics, impact Detection the list goes on - but let me argue this in a separate thread if the feedback warrants it, but all totally useless and doesn't work as well as you'd expect. Garmin is Going Google on us .. Ease of Setup - OMW - i couldn't believe how fideally it is to setup screens without the use of a touch screen. Get ready to fidget - ALOT! Whats worse is that the screens are fairly static - if you choose 7 fields, thats how its going to stay unless you've got a separate page for the regular access data. Course - I cant believe how hard it is to upload a course shared through Strava or GPX to the device, and you better know how to start a course from its fidelly menu's as once you've started the ride, you cannot jump to the course for navigation afterwards. Dependancy on Garmin Express - Garmin devices are not tether free, you must connect it to a laptop when you buy it to get the Africa Topographic map loaded and the initial Firmware update installed. It took me a while to figure out why i wasn't seeing the street level maps that come free with the device (Region specific only - if you travel to the EU or US, you need to buy the other maps). Route Discovery - Segment explorer is totally useless, you cant navigate to the start of segments in an area you are simply looking for a route to ride in, for road you can draw a route and its auto route feature does work, but for MTB, you better do your research before riding an area you don't know. The Trails network pre-installed with the Africa TopoGraphic maps is also extremely limited to the well known trails.There are other irritations about the device that i wont dip into, for instance auto-upload needed me to use the "upload Ride" feature a number of times. Im not convinced the device can upload to my WiFi without the phone involved, i was probably doing something wrong. The impact detection goes off all the time, heavy braking, riding trails with rock gardens etc, the jump sensor is way to sensitive, and records jumps for the simplest little bumps, the MTB grit and flow makes no practical sense for during and post ride assessment. in the end the computer is now in another hubbers hands, i wish him the best, but i can honestly say that for R6k, i'm super disappointed at what the Best-of-Garmin has surmounted to. To the point of this thread, i'm now the proud owner of a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt - after a couple of rides i can only tell you that this device is a dream - it does what its designed to do extremely well and just works - whats best? I can actually read the data during a ride! If i was to write all my thoughts down, i would mirror 101% what this author said about it here.

From my own experience trading on Bike Hub i generally am quite used to shipping my bikes from JHB//George/Bloemfontein to CPT - of the 10 -12 bikehub sourced trades, at least 8 of them were not from CPT. I only have a couple left, but the others were all sold back into the CPT market at a profit on my original purchase price - i tend to have observed the same as the OP. Its fair to note that certain brands i.e. Specialized, Giant do have a bigger demand, so tend to move quicker, and also seem to have more availability. Its also good to know model, drivetrain and wheel differences in arriving at value when making offers. A completely different thread, but ive recently bought all my bikes through my bikeshop - im discovering that most of the big bike shops are happy to help their customers upgrade by assisting in 2nd hand sales, which in my opinion is where you really stand to gain: generally involves a warranty, bike is guaranteed to be in good working/service condition.

My Garmin Edge 530 stopped showing street maps after its first sync out the box using Garmin Express. Re-installing the Topoactive Africa v6 Maps successfuly didnt resolve the problem. After much frustration realised my garmin express version was out of date, after updating to latest version, then re-installed the Topoactive maps and eureka it worked .... great success! Im quite happy with the Edge 530, ive had a long line of Garmin GPS devices and wearables, and this is really a great product, but wish they would go tetherless with their products. For instance Apple havent required you to attach your iPhone to a PC/Mac to Activate since the iPhone 4 ... im surprised in this day and age of WiFi and processor speeds, that Garmin still expect you to have a PC/Mac to get the best of your product.

Our spy's on the seen have matched photos and can confirm it - proof is in the pudding as they say

Watch the launch later here: https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/new-specialized-tarmac-sl7-to-arrive-today/ Keen to see pricing - will exchange rates only make this available to the vias-elite?

Great service from these guys!

Before jumping to the next debate on whos impacted, id recommend that those with Garmin Pay or any other sensitive data on their devices keep an eye on transactions etc over the next few weeks. Data could have been stolen if no settlement was reached, and garmins backups/disaster recovery plan was used to resume their services ...

Looks like they are rolling things back online

Not sure it’s this simple. Apparently “Evil Corp” are behind the attack. They pretty much have control of garmins backend systems and won’t release control until whatever cause they are fighting for is addressed or met. Bigger picture is that Garmin avionics is impacted too. Federal aviation in the US states all aircraft must be up to date with navigation software at all time, so this attack could have bigger influence in terms of airline operations. Whatever is going down, i assure you it’s not “maintenance”

Looks like they were hit with a ransomware attack. This might take a while longer, their call centers are down too. This is going to have a huge knock on effect for Strava, vitality, training peaks when all our devices come online ... this is a real pandemic! https://www.zdnet.com/article/garmin-services-and-production-go-down-after-ransomware-attack/

Things must be rough at HQ today ... https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/garmin-connect-down-server-maintenance-website-not-working-a9634041.html https://connect.garmin.com/status/