SSCC

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 🤣

I think most forum users are pretty respectful and it's hardly a toxic environment. There are a few aggressive know-it-alls but they mostly don't post much anymore.

Even though KV believes it will become bigger than the Epic I have my doubts. MTb has the advantage of single track excitement to give the riders some “fun” or excitement day after day. Gravel racing is not that. It’s a high intensity smash fest start to finish. I love it but I’m not sure I love it 7 days in a row. Congrats to him for signing up the big corporate sponsors. He sure can put on and sell a big event.

I wonder if they had to pay to be part of the Gravel Earth series? Offering prize money and paying to be part of a global series like UCI (or GES) seems like a really bad idea for SA events. Participants end up paying for both of those things with jacked up entry fees. My hope is that the other grass roots gravel events that we have in the Western Cape avoid those traps.

How tall are you and how muscular? Unless you are both tall and very muscular then you body fat percentage must be pretty high. There is nothing magic about IF. If you eat the same quantity of calories in the 6hr window you wont lose weight. If you are not type 2 diabetic or have any metabolic dysfunction - If you preference is carbs then listen to that. Try a low fat diet, moderate protein, moderate to high carbs, control total calories and you will lose weight. It really is as simple as that. If you don't lose weight then you are probably eating too much fat or calories in total. Why not try something different given that IF has not resulted in any significant weight loss in the past?

I think these are an Omnico house brand. Anyone had these? Any good? Specifically the alloy MTb wheels.

The Cedar route is 10/10 but their aid stations were 5/10 with no water or coke at the finish. So yeah it’s overpriced. Who publishes the “gravel series” list of races? Is it a WP cycling thing?

Would you like to retract your previous support of the UCI accreditation 😂 Race organizers have to pay the UCI for accreditation. More accurately the people that enter these races are the ones that are paying that bill. if there is prize money the people that enter these races are paying for the prize money if there is no major title sponsor The Cedar costs about R5,000 to enter once you pay the entry and R2,000 camping fees plus transport. For that price you could enter 5 gravel events within a few hours drive from Cape Town and arrive on race morning

I’ve fixed my Revolts creak. Removed the crankset. Cleaned and greased the crank spindle and the creak is gone. Weird thing is the bike is only a few months old and there was some rust on the crap crankset spindle that comes on the Advanced pro 2.

I haven’t but I do have a Tailfin rear axle that is the same pitch thread (1.5) so I’ll try it.

I have the 2025 Advanced pro 2 and mine has just started creaking after being silent for the first 2 months of owning it. Weirdly it is silent for the first 30 to 60 mins of riding then it starts. BTW my slipping seat post nightmare was solved by changing carbon paste brands and adding locktite on the wedge bolt. I suspect high speed corrugation vibration was unwinding the bolt.

Do you see that as a positive thing? Would you travel to the world champs if you qualified?

I think it's also an option to pay R2,150 for an event. Limited to 13 riders. It's really weird. If 8 people pay and show up to the start line do you really have a product that people see value in? The fields are so small there is not even social media or brand value in it. Some of the smaller events use their races as Instagram marketing for affiliated brands but this does not even have that. At least with something like the 500km Munga grit you get water points, medical backup and a sweep vehicle. All for R2,800. At least they are providing something for the race entry fee.