MORNE

Poor Uk trail builders must have a tough life… to be fair though, at least in the WC, the rain is like this maybe for a month. We could probably suck it up and do bunny hops in the driveway. But maybe…since we DO have a wet winter here…there could be scope for one or two trails dedicated to sloppy winter fun. Natural trails. It will focus the mess in one place and provide a new challenge. Maybe there is a purpose for upper Majik afterall👀

Had another random thought on this thread while sitting in traffic for 2 hours between N-burbs and town yesterday… Even ignoring raw unadulterated skill/talent…you also have to realise that the top 20 riders/teams etc ride prototype equipment, suspension that hasn't even seen the light of day. That alone puts even a normal ‘sponsored’ rider that just gets given a MY2024 bike up against it. Its like taking your yamaha R1 and entering a motoGP race and expecting to finish on the same lap, or Its pitching up Lemans 24h as a wildcard entry and expecting you will compete with Toyota, Ferrari, Porsche factory teams. You wont, even with Elon’s credit card in your pocket and Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso in the car. It wont happen. You will plonk around at the back and finish 15 laps off the lead. BUT, you will gain invaluable race experience you can build on every year. DH is widely considered the formula 1 of mtb racing purely for this reason. Its basically a manufacturers testing ground. ‘Win on sunday, sell on monday’. The amount of prototyping voodoo happening at the front on any given weekend means if you pitch up even on a current year retail version of a bike, your kit is likely already 2 years out of date lol. Have a look at whats happening on the Bruni’s handlebars, suspension or how Greg starts a weekend with telemetry kit attached to almost everything, or how Amoury’s Magic Mary looks nothing like the one you and I can buy in the shop lol. There are drivetrains that dont exist in any retail catalogue… It all makes a difference and also means that breaking into that field on your vanilla kit from the ass end of the world is so much harder and more of an achievement if you can do so.

….’when your sarcasm is so advanced, people think you are stupid’…. @Shebeen 😉

Pretty low imo. suspect stellenbosch is likely to be the only place where some riding might be possible this weekend, if any.

Can we just stop referring to some of these riders as dimwits or also rans haha? If you see what some of these people can do on a bike you will likely re-asses why you even try to turn a crank. They are that good. You and I get better trying our best by taking their advice on weekends, riding their lines to go faster etc. And progress, but still be a minute slower down a 3minute track lol. Similarly, they need exposure to faster people than themselves to progress. Competition is fierce…especially in something like DH where the difference between qualifying or not can be counted on one hand. Top ten in milliseconds over a 2min run. EVEN the GOAT has fallen short on many occasions due to how close it can be. Anyway, it doesn't effect me really, but I wont call these guys ‘lower management’ being sent to ‘directors’ conferences. They are associates looking to make the step but are being held back because of the ‘oldboys club and nepotism’. (To play the comparison) Anyway, they’ll figure it out. They care enough and have the potential/talent.

This. My STEEL cotic rocketmax was a kg lighter than my carbon forbidden dreadnaught😅 mostly same components too. Edit: OP, if it were me..id probably be shopping Trek. Purely because personally feel they make better looking bikes. I also think at that price point the specs on both brands, like for like, would be close enough not to matter. NX/GX/SLX…ish. Id compare brakes and suspension options more than anything. The wheels will be round and the frames will have colours… You’d also be silly to scoff at some at the deals to be had at places like specialized at the moment with stumpjumpers or the new Chisel duel suspension. Lots of bike to be had in your price range that used to cost 50% more.

Gatekeeper syndrome, like the Karen on the body corporate… it gives them great satisfaction being the enforcers. Its the case with almost any ‘national committee’ in any hobby/sport. They take your money for a license and pitch up to an event to tell you not to swear and to wear your helmet while on the bike or else, then you never see them again. Cushy gig…

Slik grafix (sweden) are are a licensed ‘factory’ option if you want. They DHL to SA. They can do almost anything your heart desires and their quality is amazing. They use proper 3M too. have used them a few times. Pricey though. https://www.slikgraphics.com

They are fine but comparing them side by side with other options/factory ones, they are not as ‘crisp’. It’s a print quality/resolution issue imo. Almost like 150dpi vs 1200dpi. Might just be the ones i saw. I’ll admit that not everyone sees or cares about this. I do lol😅.

I had plenty of deathgrips on various bikes…still have many of them in my parts bin. Then one day bought some burgtec bartenders because I liked the colour. They are now my favourite. Feel nicer in hand than the DG’s to me. Cheaper too. The only thing that i prefer about the DG’s is…they go on and stay tighter on the bars. SQ labs 70X is a nice grip too if you want more squish. Expensive though.

https://www.cogentindustries.co.za/?s=Fox+decal&post_type=product

HY! What is this? Amateur-hour? here:

Wont lie, Pretty bike

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9P5NRPsJDv/?igsh=MWU5Z2d2ZmkydDRzeA==

Customary meme

Lol, then i probably shouldn’t remind you that it was you that got me to start doing it in the first place😅. Around the time stoke was still in Salt River…with a set of MTX33 rims and silver hope hubs you built for me. The hubs didnt come with the 1.85mm spacer in the box like they should have. so i tried it on your behalf and can confirm it is fine. Still do it till this day, quite a few bikes later🤫😉

Or use the cog spacers from an old 11spd cassette. Sure its 2.1 or something but it makes 0 difference if your OCD can handle 0.2mm spread across 11 gears

Peasant! They need to cost more than the first car you bought…at LEAST. Together your bikes should be able to cover a 50% deposit for a house in an average middle class suburb. 👀

I

Noob…you should have made your edit a new post all together👀

In the end it’s an online community and you can scoff at forum posters all you want. Active members who interact with each other every other day also build rapport. It all plays a role. It’s not JUST business. Then it would be gumtree.

Years on hub, trader rating, forum post count are all things i take into consideration to put my mind at ease. If you’ve been on here for a few years, have more than 10x 5 star ratings and have an opinion you don't mind sharing…then i’ll gladly trust you in a sans bikehub pay deal. Extra brownie points if i spot reviews from known hubbers. BhP gets expensive at higher numbers…especially if you still have to pay for shipping of bulky items too. If not, bikehub pay, always.

Not at all. And well done for loosing a bunch of weight already. look, thats also why those Rapidé wheels never buckled. A good quality, hand built wheel will always be better. Most alloy rims that come on cookie cutter bikes are only supposed to stay round up to the sidewalk on the way to the car in my opinion lol. It’s not just the spez ones. In many cases I dont even think you can buy aftermarket rims that bad to get built up (maybe Temu)

Ugh, im planning a big purge again too and won’t lie, not looking forward to dealing with these types. But it is what it is.