SSCC

I think it’s your reading and comprehension skills that are lacking rather than his writing skills. You completely misunderstood his point about JHB riders. He makes lots of good points backed up by stats.

Do you own one? Oh boy where to start. The 66 degree head tube angle sounds cool but doesn't work for drop bars. Wheel flop and understeer to the max. When you build a bike to take a 170mm dropper you have to make the seat tube and seat stay junction very stiff. Add a dropper and it's a super harsh ride. The same on the from end. Massively stiff and harsh front end. Then they make the max tire clearance 50mm. So it's designed like a mountain bike but don't take MTB tires. They add 7 water bottle cage mounts and say it's designed for all day epic rides. It's such a stiff harsh ride it would be horrible as an adventure or all day ride bike. The designer is a mountain biker and designs awesome mountain bikes but he had no clue how to design a good gravel bike. Not hating on Evil at all as I really love their mountain bikes and the owner and guys I met at their HQ are really cool people.

It’s the worst bike I’ve ever ridden. I wanted to love it because Evil is awesome and the bike looks rad but it’s an absolute **** show of a bike.

Ripped? If you are referring to the cost of a bike in SA vs the States then this simply is not true of all brands. It is true of Santa Cruz which is a giant rip-off in SA. You can buy a Giant Revolt advanced with the carbon frame for the same price (Inc vat) as it would cost you in the States. Cube is another brand with very competitive local pricing.

That’s a very entertaining, thoughtful write up. Congrats on finishing another one. The early years of most events are the best. As the “formula” gets polished they often become worse experiences. Care to share what you did for on bike nutrition this time around? Like you, I see a lot of people hammering a carbs per hour number without considering temperature, intensity, how many days an event is etc.

Yeah no reason to stay in the winelands. Loads of people drive from CT to the start every day. The cost of an Air BnB in Durbanville is a fraction of the total Epic cost.

I don’t understand why anyone would stay in a tent in the race village. There is lots of accommodation in CT or the towns close by. It’s the same every year. Who wants to be in a tent with no shade in Paarl in summer?

You mean the multiple times USA XC national champion? That guy? I think people forget that he’s first and foremost a mountain biker.

Super easy to set it in the long position and just leave it. Zero failures in this area of the bike. Frame comfortably fits 2.2 mountain bike tyres.

Google Profile design aerobars. They sell them with 50mm or even 60mm risers. Some guys get custom risers made that are even higher. But you don’t want to go too high as it’s crap for handling and somewhat defeats the saddle pressure benefit you get from aerobars.

I’m sure it will be a very good event. The organizer puts on other excellent events at very reasonable prices.

Asking for a friend - bike value R180k. What are you paying per month and which insurance company?

Says who? There are plenty of gravel races in the States that have single track sections. They pioneered modern gravel racing so I’m not sure that we should be telling them what a gravel race is or isn’t.

Unbound has no single track. There are sectors of jeep track or double track as our American friends call it.

Dude you have no idea of who KS actually is 🤣