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One can almost not help but to order a frame from David Mercer. He is as nice as he is enthusiastic and it's plain for all to see that he is a lover of what he does. Talking to him on the Mercer Bikes stand at the Africa Cycle Fair left me hungry for more Hungry Monkey and keen to experience the bike out on our local trails. Click here to view the article

A custom build is always a rewarding project. Part of this is the agonising process of looking for the perfect fit of design and components. For me, the direction of the build gets locked down once the look, or in this case the colours, has been decided. Once that is done, then the hunt for a complementary build kit begins. Click here to view the article

The Hungry Monkey 2 is a semi-production mountain bike from Mercer Bikes. Made by hand in the Mercer Bikes workshop in Cape Town, it is available in three sizes – M, L and XL. The Hungry Monkey is a relatively lightweight but long travel 650b trail bike based around a 140 – 160mm travel fork. Click here to view the article

I've worked in the high end cycling industry as a technician for more than 25years so the opinion I'm about to enumerate is deeply held and backed up with lots of personal history and pain. It's understood that opinions will differ but if you have one on bicycle frame material, I'd expect that you've done your homework.. I have and I'm very definitely a steel man. It needs to be recognised that there are a very wide range of steel qualities used in frame construction, starting with high tensile tubing and going all the way to titanium. Not many shops offer their clients anything like decent steel framed bicycles and very few make after market frames available .. there are good reasons for that but I'm one of those guys who just hates new ****. My bikes last, steel bikes last ! There isn't a single bike I've ridden (and I've worked in Dubai, on the most expensive bicycles in the world) that I would take over my old single speeded chromoly Kona .. which is why bike builders use STEEL. Maybe some of the people reading this recognise the bike, I've had it up for sale on this site before but no one was prepared to pay my price so I kept the bike .. happily, because I believe in intrinsic value and this bike like my Bridgestone has intrinsic value. It will also outlast pretty much any overpriced latest, greatest bike out there.