MORNE

It’s def built like a tank then. My steel Cotic Rocket Max (XL) enduro bike…170mm, coil rear shock, heavy wheelset (2.5kg) on 1.2kg tyres weighed a hair over 16kg all in. Only carbon on that was the XX1 crankset. Hell, my current full retard carbon bike weighs more than that steel bike did. Steel does not equal heavy. Ive also come to realise with my enduro journey that heavier bikes ride better when it gets rough and steep. DH guys bolt lead to their BBs lol. Sure its a bit harder to get up to speed, but once it is…it wants to stay there. Clearly there will be a battle between your bike and the Earth…and your bike should win😅

Schwalbe Super Trail casings make maxxis EXO+ feel like toilet paper. You can run about 3-5 psi softer on the schwalbe casings…they are more like maxxis double downs. I run my maxxis set at 25F/28R and my Schwalbe set at 22F/24R. Then you get super gravity and super downhill on top of that! Magic Mary up front, Big betty in the rear is the assegai/dhr equivalent. The maxxis combo work well in the dry/hardpack. The magic mary destroys in when it gets a bit softer. In the wet its no contest. The Schwalbe performance line stuff you all picked up for 499 is a sportmans warehouse tyre. …Those things have no casing lol…basically a ribbed condom.

Race logistics too i guess. But something that always gets me about knysna is that it’s a ghost town on Sundays. Basically, nothing is open. For a town so reliant on tourism they really dont give a F….k about tapping into 2000k od tourists and their families on this weekend specifically. You’ve spent the whole day on a bike….finished probably one of the largest and well known annual sporting events for the area…..and everything is closed the afternoon/night you just want to sit and have a cold one and a nice meal with your family who you got to drive a 200km-return trip to drop you at the start. Once you leave that rugby field it’s like the race never happened. That was my lasting memory from 2019….not the extreme weather and anties in space blankets. Ive obviously been back there many times since and it always annoys me. The town really can do more. I want to spend money, support the local economy….but you need to come to the party and be open. I blame the seasonal migrating/foreign residents😅

They make great ‘key rings’ btw. I have one on various bunches of keys.

Yep, i find groady fun rides like around-the-pots or karoo-to-coasts take a bit more doing than the CTCT as an example(for me). Also, when you can haul a 16kg enduro bike around 30km and 1000m of climbing every weekend….rolling road hills are a joke lol.

Make sure to check out the rest too. There are smaller bottles as well as the other weights you are looking for.

https://www.rbco.co.za/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_81&product_id=395

There are a few. Notably the sram one already posted then also a Schwalbe one, and yes the Wolftooth one. They all more or less throw out the same numbers all things being entered equal. But the best advice anyone can give you is to get a digital pressure gauge so you can take consistent readings every time. Then go by feel. Numbers arent everything. Floor pump measurements can be out by as much as 5-10psi. I know mine was.

It wont hurt, but it wasn't really an issue on 11spd. Is a 12s thing. Have you had your mech hanger alignment checked, thats also a possible reason.

I had this exact issue on AXS. Somewhere mid cassette it would just hesitate for a split second and no amount of electronic micro adjustments could get it sorted. Thats the thing…when theres a cable you can at least get a new one…play around with the tension. When its 1’s and 0’s / signals and it chooses to be salty, it will be salty. Linkglide is 11 speed (11-50) , and basically a ‘mechanical version’ of transmission in the way the tooth ramps work. So shifting is slightly slower than hyperglide etc…but way smoother and rock solid. Ive been super impressed with it. It just works…even on my high pivot bike.

Same….in dubai its the poor sub-continentals. Racial profiling is a thing for customs officials

Although you could, you dont have to with merlin…firstly they ship to SA directly using UPS. Secondly, sending to to a UK address means you’ll pay the 20%+ UK vat AND local 15% Vat once it gets here. So 35% vat in total…excl any duties. Shipping direct with UPS means they (merlin) remove local Vat and you only pay 15% on SA side. Then, UPS = order on sunday…have it on your doorstep by friday. My record with merlin was with DHL express. I ordered on sunday evening and had it in my hands in Cape Town on wednesday. i wish less ppl knew about merlin to be honest lol. Ive been using them for close to 8 years. I see so much stuff in the clasifieds that was obviously brought in through them. Hell i’ve even seen some local online retailers do it😅

And here i am…swopped AXS for peasant level LINKGLIDE XT….as in R4k for cassette + mech+ shifter - on an enduro bike, and its been one of the best groupsets ive used - hand on heart. Rock solid(quite literally lol. Heavy AF) and reliable…and so cheap i dont care if i break it against a rock. Imo…you probably don't not like shimano anymore…you are bored and have upgratitus 😅 anyway, i do what i want…so should you! Get whatever makes you feel fuzzy.

Edit: Mods please remove. Not sure why this response to another thread ended up here??

Woke up this morning with yellow stains all over…… and an öhlins sized hole in my bank account….

Take solace…The fastest times down there are on analog bikes😉.

Remember the uproar when Apple launched a $1000 smartphone? Haha.

What is ‘the rest’ of upper bloem? (Serious question) There is nothing else up there worth the effort?😅. Everything between bloemendal trail head and the climb to the tower is just ‘on the way to somewhere’😊

‘Daaler is in PR shape at the moment. Just moist enough to make it loamy and super grippy with the right rubber. 0 mud. Lots of us have been doing laps down there the past few weekends. Park at 360. Trees have been doing a great job protecting it. All the higher trails are mint, rhino 1 too

As mentioned by the others already…the enduro bike will just delete rough sections at speed. I use this feature to make up for my lack of skill haha. I own a Forbidden Dreadnaught 170/160 (yes the name alone took my money), but in hindsight i should have gotten the Druid instead (150/140mm). But i still love my Dreadsled. Life’s too short not to ride too much travel on a blue trail😅

@HeadshotSo you’re shopping right?😉

Enduro wont be as playfull as a stumpy. Stumpy will climb better, turn better on tight trails too. The enduro is also old and due to be replaced by a new model…like the stump jumper evo has already. But if that doesnt bother you, good deals to be had on both. look, many of us ride 170mm enduro bikes around the western cape. Do the trails call for them. No. Is it nice taking a heavy, tedious shotgun to a knife fight? For sure!

DH bike is a one trick pony. If you are committing yourself to never having to ride up any hill ever…then yes. If not, get a 160-180mm travel bike because you COULD then peddle the thing around if you had too.