Hey, I recently (almost accidentally) registered for the Cape Town Cycle Tour (Argus) and was a bit astonished when my entry was accepted. With this I find myself in the position of requiring a bicycle (which I do not currently have). My strongest consideration currently is the Lycan Orvin VX3 Alpha from Sportsmans Warehouse. This is for a few reasons. I did notice that whenever somebody on the "hub" inquired on any the purchase of a bicycle under some form of budget the overwhelming consensus seems to always be to be patient and buy the best second hand bike you can find (Giant, Silverback, Merida, etc.). The only issue with that is that my time seems to be very limited. I reckon I need to get at least some practice in before attempting the 109 KM event (I am feeling the burning desire to start cycling as soon as this weekend - 10 October 2015). I am not very well disposed towards those slim wheel road bikes. I would prefer to be able to do a little jump off the pavement without bending the rim. For this reason I am considering getting a mountain bike (29") and putting on some of those slick tires a bit later (before the actual event): http://s13.postimg.org/gzj1rpntz/koast_sport_1.png The budget is maxed at R5 000. With this in mind, the bike mentioned above is currently R6 000 at Sportsmans Warehouse. I can get 25% cashback with my vitality subscription, which puts me at R4 500. Now the question being whether this bike is worth R4 500 (photo attached): http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.co.za/lycan-orvin-vx3-alpha-29-mountain-bike.html#.VhJ41PmqpBd http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.co.za/images/product/1086500.jpg Sportsmans Wharehouse also have some other brands (Mongoose, Titan) of a similar price. Would any of those potentially be better? I did not find anything appropriate on the clasifieds of this site (I live in Cape Town) and am finding in very difficult to judge the actual value of bicycles I see on Gumtree/OLX. I would also mention that the aesthetic value I place on anything I buy is really higher than it should be, but I have no intention of changing/overruling this (hence, you can assume I like the look of the above bike). Any advise?
