Grease_Monkey

Can you ride without a phone on these bikes? Unless I am riding solo I leave my phone in my car when riding most of the time. Edit: Reading your post again answered the question.

I used a Mule from my Enduro (motorbike) days which made it's way to mtb use eventually. I used it for 14 years before retiring it - and that was only cause I could no longer wash the stench of sweat out of it. In terms of wear and tear it looks very good. Replaced with an Osprey because at the time I was shopping all the Camelbak packs I wanted were only available in Yellow, Orange, and Blue. I wanted a black pack. Gotta say, I am equally happy with the Osprey. When the time come to replace it I will have a look at what is available from both brands.

The Piket bo Berg trails are not open to the public. You can either ride it in the U, the Pike Bo Berg challenge, or hopefully they have another open weekend this year. Or maybe you know someone... I have a good friend who farms in the area, when we go visit him we are lucky enough to get access to some of the trails. The only time I got to ride all the trails though was during the open weekend last year - it was amazing. The views, the trails, the whole experience. It is in a league of it's own when it comes to techy and natural marathon / xc riding.

My top trails: 1. Jonkershoek (in order of preference) - Status Quo - Red Phoenix - Iron Monkey - Armageddon - Fire Hut - Plumber Jonkers is really the only big mountain experience we have in SA. Bit of everything - slow tech (Status), fast and flowy (firehut, phoenix, iron monkey), natural (armageddon, plumber). I don't think there are better trails anywhere in SA. IMO, the closest we can get to heaven on earth. 2. Helderberg Fast, steep, what's not to love? 3. Banhoek Machine made flow trails and well sculpted jumps that make you feel much better than you are. And the climbs are pretty mellow. Fast becoming a favourite. 4. Eden / Mont Marie / Coetzenburg / G Spot Again, a bit of everything - I love the natural trails rooty trails in Eden and rocky ones on Coetzenburg. 5. Tokai Only been once, but it was awesome and I need to make an effort to get back. 6. Contermanskloof Good fun, again a bit of everything there. 7. Oak Valley & Paul Cluver Really lekker for a bit of distance and a more mellow ride. Love the 24hr event held at Oak Valley 8. Wannabees Can't say the trails are anything to write home about, but it's on my doorstep so really nice for me to ride from home during the week when I don't have time on my side. 9. Bottelary Again, not much to write home about - pretty mellow trails, but if you want distance with a good amount of climbing it does the trick nicely. 10. Ezelfontein Only been once for Ezel Enduro - I still dream of those trails - absolutely amazing. 11. Tygerberm: With the exception of Contermanskloof, a bit of a bore IMO. 12. Piket-bo berg Absolutely amazing natural techy XC single track. You work for every km, but totally worth the effort. If you get a chance to ride there, take it. 13. Table Mountain This is one of the places I seriously need to get to - been wanting to for years, but my local trails have kept me busy.

Because they are fun. Alot of fun. I would never replace my normal bike with an e bike, but I would something like a Kenevo with a Boxxer fork - basically a downhill bike I can pedal to the top of a hill and just do repeated runs of Helderberg after work. As fun as that place is, sometimes I just don't feel like climbing 500m vertical ascent for a 10mins descent when I only have an hour to kill.

It depends where you ride - the steeper it gets the faster an ebike is in comparison to a normal bike. On Helderberg I got double the speed. In Eden where it is not that steep only about 40% faster. I would imagine the flatter it is the closer the two will be. In my experience the places I ride you have to be dam fit to keep an average of 20km/hr. When I used to live in Pta 25km/hr ave was easy... so this comparison has to be taken in the context it was made. I think the conclusion would be very different if the testing ground was Jonkers, Helderberg, Cascades, etc etc.

Do you take the tyre off and clean out every month? I also top up once a month, but only clean out every 3 months.

I do it roughly every 3 months.

Ja, if you made the error. If you ordered a 2.35 and they sent a 2.25 they will send you the correct one and cover all costs.

Yup, should've added - in the dark. Someone needs to tell the police that as well - they just sit there on the side of the road at 11PM with flashing lights. I am surprised it hasn't caused any accidents.

Compare it to your car's lights. If it is brigther than your standard light (non brights) it is too bright and you are gonna get the same reaction from cars you likely give to cars when they have their brights on. Also, check the angle. Bike don't go fast, you don't need to see 100m ahead of you. And for f's sake, don't put your lights on flash - that's just stupid.

Haha there is just no winning in this situation, the first post with a non white person was always going to be perceived as "corrective" (which I guess it is). But I would have waited a while before posting anything at all on Insta if I was them.

Q3... we live in SA, no need for anything but full summer kit year round. For me anyway - I didn't see that option. TBH, I just want some plain black shorts with a pocket to go over my bib, and any well ventilated exercise t shirt (apparently inpossible to find in any cycling brand, so I just buy UnderArmour vanish shirts). Oh, and I sweat in it, so if it's expensive I'm not interested. I have yet to find any exercise shirt I don't have to throw out after a season of use.

There is no such thing as an 10, 11, 12spd crank. They are either 1x, 2x, or 3x. The chainrings you fit just need to make sense for the cassete / gear range you have on the cassette.

AP Cyclery in KZN. They are on instagram. PM me if you need the number. Not cheap though...

Edit. Not worth it.

Not what you are asking for - but have you considered a fidlock bottle. Bike also looks completely cageless when you don't have a bottle mounted. Only downside is you have to use a fidlock bottle. But on Topeak stuff. I was looking for versamounts a while back which no one stocked - no one even knew what I was talking about. I just took a photo and part number along and asked my LBS to call the supplier and order... pretty sure any bike shop can do that for you.

No. Wheelsize has nothing to do with frame size.

Yes, tried both - not worth it. Very low km, sunrace more so than the premium KMC chains. But both less than GX chains.

Good to know, I thought they were about the same. But my last XO1 lasted just over 2500km compared to the XX1 that lasted 3000km and is still going (on a bike I sold) - less than 0.25 wear when I sold it. Will replace the XO1 with XX1 when the time comes.

It's been said on a few threads here, but there is a massive stock shortage. If you can find the bike you want in the size you want, take it. You are not likely to find stock again this year. I think the price could come down a bit, but given the stock situation it's probably not unreasonable.

No, you won't. You will however hear the cheap stuff creak, and that alone is worth the extra $ to buy the premium stuff.

Try Kean Bikes. They are on instagram as KeanBikes and I know he does carbon forks of all sizes for around 3k...

I think in Gardens... but yeah, CT. For what it's worth, if you are patient and managed to fit invisiframe yourself, I don't see this being an issue to fit. I am the perfect combination of a meticulous perfectionism and lack of patience that it won't result in an end product I am happy with. Paying them R900 for a perfect seemed like a good deal.

R900, that included pick up and drop off. It also included pick up and drop off when I asked them to make some changes. PS, if they don't have your frame kit, they will make one for you.