LazyTrailRider

…or just buy a new stem. They’re one of the cheapest components generally speaking, any engineering time spent is likely to vastly outweigh the cost of just getting a new one.

The short answer is that there is no such thing as a single “overall best” lens. The variety of lenses exist for a good reason. I have three different sets of Oakley Sutros. Prizm low light, road, and black. Low light is for the 05h30 missions (even in pitch dark in the middle of winter), Road is for trail riding, and I use Black for road riding during the day. One could argue that I should be using Prizm Trail instead of Road for the dirt (because duh, trail), but because most of the trails around CPT are wide open without tree cover these days, slightly darker is better for me.

Yah, not one I'd be interested in. The one I bought in 2014 was already more than that. I'm looking at a 2yr old with 20k-30k mileage, anything more than that is already too old because I'll be keeping it for 5-6 years. I want current-gen tech, otherwise it's going to feel **** in 2030. I'd be downgrading (and not enjoying it, so there would be no point) without features like adaptive cruise, adaptive LEDs, adaptive dampers, auto-park, autonomous braking, mirror puddle lights, sunroof, heated seats and a proper sound system. You may see these as silly and a waste of money much like the Epic 8, but once you've lived with them for a few years your mindset changes. It's silly hating things which are nicer than you can afford. They exist for a reason, and that reason usually has absolutely nothing to do with "rich people are idiotic".

You know what annoys me much more than R300k hyperbikes? The fact that next year, I'm going to need to fork out close to a bar for a new (low-mileage) car. Bikes are cheap in comparison.

There's the (albeit extremely simplified) crux. Granted, the exchange rate has fluctuated wildly and has actually been better in some years than would expect given the long-term trajectory, but the bottom line is that at the current exchange rate (meaning, if we were as proportionately poor back then as we are now) an SW Epic would have cost R167k in 2010. From that to R295k in 14 years is really not the "OMG, inflation multiplied by gazillion eleventy, this is getting insane!" thing people like to throw around. In fact, R167k in 2010 is R332k inflation-adjusted. Yes, I know this is an oversimplification, but I wouldn't be surprised if the data roughly aligns.

Every year, this gets rehashed. Every single year. A top-of-the-range bike has always (even when I started checking when I was in varsity in 1998) cost roughly the same as an entry-level Polo. Now it's slightly more than an entry-level Polo, but only because of the very expensive electronic tech which has been tacked on. I honestly don't think this is excessive. The reality is simply that the South African economy has regressed in buying power against large parts of the "first world", so it seems crazy to us. In my industry (software dev and SaaS) the gap in cost between local skills and US skills as an example, has grown significantly the last 15 years. For those who haven't realised it yet (I don't know how this is possible) the average South African is getting poorer in real terms. This is structurally expected unfortunately, but it still makes people go WTF. Sorry folks, things are expensive because we're povvos, not because they're overpriced 🤷‍♂️

Yes, and it's R295k because it's old and worn. At the equivalent age and wear, an Epic would cost R60k. Apples and Bananas.

That’s Flight Attendant and those ridiculous lightweight new Rovals for you. The Levo SL SW (which also has Flight Attendant, but only the fork) seems good value in comparison, you get a whole motor and battery more!

I meant the bike itself 😆 but totally agree with you, Terra Cs are awesome. I have a set of Aeolus Pro 3Vs (the Bontrager equivalent) on my Diverge, they completely transformed the ride. Would be interested to hear your opinion, agreed on it looking cooler. I think Richard and Jayden might take more of my money (like they haven’t taken enough already) later this year, the Diverge is pretty much my road bike, so thinking of getting a new Roubaix better suited to how I ride it instead…

That’s a really nice looking set of wheels. I feel like I’m missing something though. All the cool kids are buying Cruxes instead of Diverges (poor plural naming, but whatever), but besides the fact that Mr Beers and the rest of the pros are racing them, why? Surely having the FutureShock’s squish is a no brainer? Every time I take my Diverge onto dirt I wish for *more* suspension, not *less*. What gives?

Yeah, I love the functionality, but for some reason a new set of Code Ultimates still look nicer to me. This looks very agricultural. I'd like to rephrase "Take my money!" statement to "Maybe I'll give you my money..." 😆

Just like all of us thinking that only 0.01% of people could justify the ZEB when it was originally released?

Shut up and take my money!

In EUR the top-specced one is apparently 13 999 smackeroos. R280k, so about the same as the SW Levo SL Ltd, but that comes with Flight Attendant (which this does not....)

Here is Steve’s take: