Rigardt@Scott

Yeah, blows my mind how much more efficient road bikes are. Even my 13kg steel gravel bike with 45c tyres feels like a breeze to pedal than a lighter XC hardtail! But, as with all things there will always be a niche that wants what bike manufacturers come up with. With you on the new gen Kenevo - if I had an extra 125k lying around that bike would be in my garage tomorrow.

Pretty much yes. I'm sure the guy I was riding with was still holding back (alot) but it was nice to know I could at least keep up and still have a conversation. But like I mentioned, biggest upside today was the amount of trails we got to ride in a very short period of time. That loop would usually take me 5 hours and I'd be stuffed. Downside: the extra weight was not ideal on Status Quo, bike was alot to get around somw of those corners. And the crappy Guide brakes did not help at all - but that's got nothing to do with ebikes, those brakes are terrible on any bike.

Hahaha pretty much

On the road ebikes - I don't see the appeal there. But that's just me.

Haha no, not at all. The gap between us is just so big that it's not a little bit of slowing down. He has an FTP of 450W (EDIT: I overstated, it's 415W to be exact), me 250. He weighs 80kg, I weigh 105kg. But that's not actually why I think it was so great today. He landed at 12, earliest start we could do was 1:30PM, he could only ride till about 4:30PM - so it was more about the fact that we could do all the nice trails in a very short time span. For me an ebike will be a full on downhill rig that I can shuttle on. I don't see it ever replacing my normal bike - but it is nice for those times you only have a short time - before or after work and doing DH type runs is your flavour....

A friend came over from Hong Kong today for a wedding, and we decided to squeeze in a ride, I usually struggle to ride with him coz he is very fit (like very - won Berg and Bush mid week, W2W mid week, 3rd in 36One, and top 50 at the Epic). So I usually push myself int the red when I ride with him, which although nice is a bit of punishent. Anyway, he didn't bring a bike over so he had to hire one - and all that was available was an ebike from Ride Inn. I borrowed my old man's ebike for a day. I just upped the assistance a bit more than he did and we could ride quite comfortably together today. We did Status Quo, Iron Monkey, Plumber, and Firehut - all top to bottom in just over 3 hours. Flipen impressive. An ebike will never ever replace my normal enduro bike, but (one day) I will buy myself something like the new Spez Kenevo with a double crown fork - for a day like today an ebike was just the best tool for the job. Loved it.

The products and after sales service Lyne is producing is next level. I haven't heard a single bad thing about them to date. I have had 3 of their droppers, 3 cranksets, 2 Holy Rails, and a bunch of smaller things - excellent service every time, fast delivery, and no hassle with warranty on the ocassion I did have a problem. Can't speak highly enough of them.

Will you confirm plans here the Thurs/Fri. I'm keen to join...

No... that comparison is so far off it'a not even funny. GX and XT on the "same" level. Plenty threads about this though.

If you make a claim it is on you to back that claim up with evidence, not for someone else to disprove you - that's how any sort of coherent person argues their case. You will still learn this at varsity I hope. It may be true - but back up your statements with something. I may not agree with Odinson on 50% of what he says here, but he at least provides (sometimes questionable) evidence, take a page from his book.

My dad bought me one in 1991 when I was born Also still have it on display!

Ah c'mon, I don't go round kicking cows and hurting them for the fun of it either. There is a big difference between animal abuse and killing them for consumption. So that argument does not hold water at all, and anyone making it knows that and is likely doing it for the reaction. I won't eat dog, but in Asia they do - I don't really see the issue. The issue there is the abuse they put them through (skinning and boiling whilst alive for example) - I would have the same issue if someone was doing that with a cow. And I am aware that happens at some slaughter houses - so that's why I am selective about where I buy meat. So in short, I'd be as pissed off at someone moering a cow as my dog.

We don't have to, I agree. But I do want to. And I don't see killing an animal to eat it as exploitation or morally wrong in any way - that's why we will probably never see completely eye to eye. Where I do see a need for a mostly plant based diet is from a health,sustainability, as well as a moral view in the sense that we cannot possibly produce meats in the quantity we do without large scale suffering for animals both while they live and in the manner in which they are killed. The killing is not an issue for me, the issue is the sometimes (or maybe more than sometimes) the way in which it is done. PS, I know veganism does not ask me to see human and animals in the same light - it is just often argued like that to drive home the morality issue.

Lots of people (including myself) will disagree on this point. I agree 100% that the way humans are treating the world and animals cannot continue and is immoral and plain stupid. But I do believe there is an in between. Just like some animals kill to eat (I don't think a lion is applying a moral code, he is just eating), we can also kill to eat without it being morally wrong. But, and this is a key "but" - they way we as humans do it has to change. The way we look after the animals we eat, they way we kill them, and the quantity in which we do is not healthy, moral, or sustainable. There is a sustainable manner in which we can still eat meat, there is a moral way (in my view) of killing animals painlessly, and there is a healthy way to do it. In my ideal world (an I am making this change myself at the moment) is that we choose very carefully where we source our meat (farming methods, killing methods, etc - decide for yourself what is moral here), that we cut down on how much meat we eat (max 3 to 4 servings in a week), and live on a primarily plant based diet with minimal animal products. I think that's realistic, sustainable, and moral (subjectively - I don't see human life and any animal life in the same light).

You tell it to think about it's grandma and fat chicks usually works.

Like Myles said, digital compression. Rather than sending pics around to make them smaller in future, what you can do is to take a screenshot of the photo, crop out all the bits around the edges you don't want, and voila - you a have a compressed image.

Spot on.

They are bicycles, not rocket ships. You certainly don't need a qualification to work on a bike just like many very successful (software) coders don't need a qualification to produce some awesome products. All you need to work on a bike is knowledge, attention to detail, and being meticulous. How you get those things - I don't really care. Sure a qualification helps to tell me you have the knowledge, it doesn't address the other factors that influence on the job performance - same as ANY other career or job. I have met many very competent people with no qualifications, and many incompetent people that are very highy qualified.

I'd be speaking from hearsay alone so let me rather leave this one to someone that was there and experienced it first hand. (I was only there for the ladies race last year).

Yeah, but the ladies there aren't "ignored". I put it in hakkies because the men aren't ignored, there just seems to be a bigger effort not to mention men while this is not the case for ladies at the other events. In any case, let me not stick my foot in here again (well any deeper in), I did last year and seemed to have the unpoppular opinion...

Same happened last year. The guys that won the overall event were not even mentioned. Like you said, nothing wrong with a ladies focused event - but it's just about how it's executed. Everyone pays the same to enter the event.

I sure hope a bear didn't get hold of your tyres

No.... wider is better. It's more comfy and it rolls faster. The only penalty is weight, but it's not much. I personally won't ride anything narrower than a 2.3 on the back of my XC bike. You won't regret your purchase.

Talk about making lemonade when life gives you lemons! Glad you are okay. That is quite a common spot for jackings, I think they rely on the fact that you will be tired at that point.

I have been up Helderberg just over 150 times since I moved here in Jan 2018, and I never get sick of these trails or view. Best back yard anyone can ask for!