Why is it hard to sell a Second Hand Mountain Bike in SA

[Underachiever]

18 hours ago, Nic Brigando said:

If you want to get into hardcore racing, perhaps you need the latest and the greatest. When you're at the level that 100g off your bike makes a 1s difference up the climbs, and that is tangible enough that it means the difference between a 1st and a 2nd, or a podium vs not, then sure, upgrade your bike, spend the money, you've then got justified reason to complain about the costs of cycling and the depreciation of the equipment.

Other than that, any upgrade over a basic bike that fulfils the needs, is a want, and should ideally be treated as such. You can get most of the way there with a mid-range or possibly even entry-level bike, from 5-7 years prior, and honestly you can get even closer to 100% of the way there if you look at older stuff. A 2013 full sus that has a slack seat tube, has a twitchy HA, has 3x gearing, and costs less than 1/10th of the newer models and will probably weigh the same, and for most people, will fulfil the same function. It might even climb better on the non-technical stuff!

I know my bike isn't as low spec as it could be. It's got Fox suspension cause I want Fox suspension, and the 1s I might gain on an enduro trail as a result of running Fox as opposed to a RockShox 35 is the difference between mid pack, and mid pack.

If my goals were to shift, from enjoying the ride to winning world champs, then I would need a better bike. When my form is superb, my fitness impeccable, my FTP herculean, then perhaps it would be the bike that needs an upgrade to go from 2nd to 1st. Until then, it's a want.

And to round up this abnormally long passage, in the South African market, want seems to rule. Just look at the entrants to any major local event - there are guys doing 5hour+ on 94.7 with 7kg bikes with carbon wheelsets that would make my setup look like I found it at The Crazy Store. Everyone around you has premium gear and premium bikes, and it seems like anything but the absolute top of the range just is not good enough, for anyone, and makes the perspective shift from want to need.

And when you fall into that trap, that is why you feel you have been short-changed on your store-bought, new bike, just 2 years later. Because it isn't a luxury item anymore, it's something that everyone else already has, and you're now falling behind because you don't have the latest model.

TLDR; Your bike is fine, and will be fine. If the wheels turn and you're having fun, don't worry about how much it's worth. 

It's quite a lot of fun to rock up at the Berg & Bush with a 2017 Giant HT with a 2x11.  I bought it 2nd hand after been on a 26er until '21 I think. R18k...

There was only 4 of us on Hard Tails.  Old, fat and unfit, but still rode in top 30% I think.

But to add, there is a definite shift in bikes at these races.  Few years back, most of the crowd had the latest and greatest.  This year, many more older bikes. 

 

[DieselnDust]

7 hours ago, MORNE said:

Yes. I always want to need it. 😅

Suspension is perhaps an outlier. I’ll argue that better suspension is always better. It’s not just about performance, it’s about control and comfort on the bike too. I’ll rather have a cheaper frame and groupset..and splurge on squish. It’s laughable seeing sram transmission on bikes with ‘performance’ (or even lower!) level suspension imo.

Even comparing stuff at the very top end of the spektrum…the differences between say a fox factory x2, and an Ohlins TTX is enough that even a plonker will feel the difference. More control = more fun.
 

I say this as someone with what might be considered nice suspension, but also someone who is singlespeed and rigid bike curious and dabbles in the kind of “out of control riding” that goes with that lol.

Even suspension I think is a bit of a red herring. Unless it’s a DH fork, the performance of forks less than 150mm of travel is not that different if set up properly. Most people have their forks set up too Slow in both rebound and compression and often too soft. The key difference with higher cost forks is the reduced unsprung weight which does impact small bump feel where the lighter the lowers the more sensitive the fork is to the terrain. 

[Nic Brigando]

2 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Even suspension I think is a bit of a red herring. Unless it’s a DH fork, the performance of forks less than 150mm of travel is not that different if set up properly. Most people have their forks set up too Slow in both rebound and compression and often too soft. The key difference with higher cost forks is the reduced unsprung weight which does impact small bump feel where the lighter the lowers the more sensitive the fork is to the terrain. 

The primary feeling for me is fatigue. Even when set up, a Suntour XCM fork is not going to perform as well a Fox/Ohlins - but perform here does not mean time/speed/traction, it means that my arms and shoulders 'feel better' at the end of the ride. And from what I can tell, that's almost entirely up to the small-bump feel as opposed to any other factor.

[Nic Brigando]

26 minutes ago, Underachiever said:

It's quite a lot of fun to rock up at the Berg & Bush with a 2017 Giant HT with a 2x11.  I bought it 2nd hand after been on a 26er until '21 I think. R18k...

There was only 4 of us on Hard Tails.  Old, fat and unfit, but still rode in top 30% I think.

But to add, there is a definite shift in bikes at these races.  Few years back, most of the crowd had the latest and greatest.  This year, many more older bikes. 

 

Pitching up at events being on a heavier, less-adept bike and yet still keeping up with guys on 200k+ world cup bikes is an awesome feeling, for sure. I won't be winning anything, but I wouldn't be winning on a 200k+ bike anyway 

[PappaWatTrap]

My first Karoo to Coast is on my 2010 Giant XTC Allu in 2017. The amount of comments I got overtaking people on my 26er up those passes, golden. 

It was the year Scott handed out free kit to the lucky few, I was one of the lucky ones. They must have felt sorry for me cause the bike was to small for me as well. Not complaining, they kitted me out with shoes, trail shorts, shirt, helmet and sunglasses. Got to finish the race on the latest spark as well.

To this day I'm a Scott fanboy, the year after I bought a 2014 Scott Scale 935 from a friend, and I use it to this day. To replace that bike that I bought for R11k would cost me R45k +

[Underachiever]

26 minutes ago, PappaWatTrap said:

My first Karoo to Coast is on my 2010 Giant XTC Allu in 2017. The amount of comments I got overtaking people on my 26er up those passes, golden. 

It was the year Scott handed out free kit to the lucky few, I was one of the lucky ones. They must have felt sorry for me cause the bike was to small for me as well. Not complaining, they kitted me out with shoes, trail shorts, shirt, helmet and sunglasses. Got to finish the race on the latest spark as well.

To this day I'm a Scott fanboy, the year after I bought a 2014 Scott Scale 935 from a friend, and I use it to this day. To replace that bike that I bought for R11k would cost me R45k +

I had the exact same Giant frame, perhaps a year or 2 younger.  Last race was the Sani in 2019.  3x9 XTR.  Loved flying past the okes with the RS-1 forks!!!!  More expensive than my entire bike!!

[DieselnDust]

3 hours ago, Nic Brigando said:

The primary feeling for me is fatigue. Even when set up, a Suntour XCM fork is not going to perform as well a Fox/Ohlins - but perform here does not mean time/speed/traction, it means that my arms and shoulders 'feel better' at the end of the ride. And from what I can tell, that's almost entirely up to the small-bump feel as opposed to any other factor.

Yeah so I can almost categorically state that there’s set up or maintenance issues here. Some forks are set up for more comfort out of the box which is something that can be rectified but there’s a trade off. I think in SA we’re “ marathon bevok” which influences how we want our suspension to feel over a cape epic or W2w stage. The compromises made for this often results in a heavy comfort bias which means a narrow optimal performance window. I run my fork quite a bit stiffer than most because I want the control and comfort at a higher speed for XCO. For XCM I will drop a few psi front and back  (more sag) but I know the trade off is going to be running a lot further into the travel than ideal. 
small bump can be set up with the air spring volume and high speed compression tune but  bigger hits will be not so good. 
we don’t need expensive forks for this, just good set up. If you want less of a trade off then upside down forks are the way to go but they come at a cost than is not returnable 2nd hand

[MORNE]

5 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Even suspension I think is a bit of a red herring. Unless it’s a DH fork, the performance of forks less than 150mm of travel is not that different if set up properly. Most people have their forks set up too Slow in both rebound and compression and often too soft. The key difference with higher cost forks is the reduced unsprung weight which does impact small bump feel where the lighter the lowers the more sensitive the fork is to the terrain. 

No sir, im not interested in your fox podium fork thanks😋. Im on the twintube damper-heavy-ass-expensive-coil-fork train

ps: one could argue that there are no ‘good’ fork dampers sub 140mm travel. Their internals are all toy grade to save weight. 

Edited July 16, 2025 by MORNE

[OVERDRIVE]

On 7/15/2025 at 8:30 AM, Robbie Stewart said:

I wouldn't mind paying less for tyres for my bakkie than my MTB. I need a new set on the rear of my Isuzu and the going rate is around R7k...

https://evolutionwheelandtyre.com/?gad_source=6&gad_campaignid=20464593260&gbraid=0AAAAADEoI-emEcwUYahV3tGKUUYGwEyP4&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj7-iw_fBjgMVPYBQBh2qkQG3EBIYASAAEgLkmPD_BwE

[Dricky]

I just was reminded today again  how grateful I am for all the guys selling second hand bycicles. A decent used bike still costs allot of money.

I have three boys that ride and if it wasn't for the second hand market I would not have been able to give them the opportunity to be the great kids they are. 

But a big shout out for all the guys making it posable for good second hand bikes.

 

[Shebeen]

21 minutes ago, Dricky said:

I just was reminded today again  how grateful I am for all the guys selling second hand bycicles. A decent used bike still costs allot of money.

I have three boys that ride and if it wasn't for the second hand market I would not have been able to give them the opportunity to be the great kids they are. 

But a big shout out for all the guys making it posable for good second hand bikes.

 

ja. who the hell actually buys a new bike???!!!

[daveno7]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

ja. who the hell actually buys a new bike???!!!

who can exactly ? l look at the commuters at work who ride in...not a new bike to be seen...sometimes a few disc bikes buts the average bike age in about 5 years or even more...Rims etc..

you have to know what will suit your needs...

[NotSoBigBen]

As I sit here pondering the things of this world 2 things come to mind, we have however as with most posts wondered off the original subject ...

I am one of those that can't really feel the small nuances of suspension 'performance', as Grumpy says to me 'does it go up and down? OK then you're good to go'. I certainly also don't push the limits by any stretch of the imagination.  I would posit there are very few cyclists amongst us, if we're honest that have the 'feel' of riders like MORNE or DinD and others

As I ride along on my SWorks, which I didn't buy new BTW, I couldn't be bothered by that oke who passes me on his 26" rigid SS wearing no socks and rugby shorts. In fact I am impressed by them!

And that oke I pass with his 200k bike my only thought is good for you, if you can afford it like anything in life get the best you can. 

Lest you all forget there is only one rule

HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS 🏆 

 

[DJR]

5 hours ago, NotSoBigBen said:

..........

Lest you all forget there is only one rule

HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS 🏆 

 

I at one stage subscribed to that ........ before I realised that it ONLY applies to toys THAT YOU ARE USING! Toys that gather dust are NEVER included in the count!

[NotSoBigBen]

25 minutes ago, DJR said:

I at one stage subscribed to that ........ before I realised that it ONLY applies to toys THAT YOU ARE USING! Toys that gather dust are NEVER included in the count!

We all have our own interpretation of the 'rule' then 🤪

[Underachiever]

7 hours ago, NotSoBigBen said:

As I sit here pondering the things of this world 2 things come to mind, we have however as with most posts wondered off the original subject ...

I am one of those that can't really feel the small nuances of suspension 'performance', as Grumpy says to me 'does it go up and down? OK then you're good to go'. I certainly also don't push the limits by any stretch of the imagination.  I would posit there are very few cyclists amongst us, if we're honest that have the 'feel' of riders like MORNE or DinD and others

As I ride along on my SWorks, which I didn't buy new BTW, I couldn't be bothered by that oke who passes me on his 26" rigid SS wearing no socks and rugby shorts. In fact I am impressed by them!

And that oke I pass with his 200k bike my only thought is good for you, if you can afford it like anything in life get the best you can. 

Lest you all forget there is only one rule

HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS 🏆 

 

Lekker post!!!!

I kinda follow that rule - buy R18k HT - have spare money to spend on a Canon L lens.. buy one lens down... have spare money to spend on a drone...and so the cycle continues

Same with cars - buy 2nd hand every 7-10 years, have cash for overseas travel and early retirement!!!