NoirBiker

You'll get a greater value for what you can buy here on the classifieds as a second hand. Once the bug bites then you may want to a buy new albeit decent bike for proper riding. Just look around the classifieds and see if there's anything you'd like within your budget.

I eat those but I still weigh 54kg except the pizza , granted I run a lot, commute daily to work for 20km plus a 4 km walk into the plant and do weekday and weekend rides so yeah. When I started cycling I was weak, a moderately fat bloke would beat me on the climbs easily until I put effort, trained hard and learned a lot of mtb and cycling skills now climbing is my forte but my sprinting could be better so in retrospect a light weight cyclist without effort and training is as good as nothing on a superlite bike.

Hhmmm... scumtree you say, well that on it's own might not be a good place to start I've often found but if you trust the seller then go for it. You'll find it that the hub offers a lot more variety and some sort of safety in the transactions between seller and buyer because we're a family here. The wheel size at this stage shouldn't bother you as this will be your first bike, if it fits your budget and it feels good riding it then buy it. My first mtb back in 2014 was a POS avalanche tundra from the early 2000's with 26" wheels a rigid fork and an archaic frame design but I learned a lot of mtb skills from that POS bike and I think that's what is important from your first bike, that you learn a lot of skills from it's imperfections.

Contrary to most if not all posters here I wear skinny jeans, size 30 on waist because there's no 29 or even 28 sometimes for males. Yes I'm quite skinny as I weigh just under 54kg. But I suppose that could be attributed to the fact that I run more than I cycle(used to actually but not anymore)

I'm still saving for my secomd ever bike so this could be nice

I'm 168cm or 5'6" for the imperial knobs, yes I know I'm short but if it bears any weight I'm a male.

I don't know if I should consider myself lucky or unlucky on the fact that I can't tolerate sweet things, that is if I eat anything sweet I always get light-headed, dizzy and nauseated. At 26 years old and only weighing 53.4kg I suppose I might have undiagnosed illnesses. Perhaps OP can try employing a concept of thermodynamics here, E(in) = E(out) so as much as OP intakes a lot of sugar E(in), OP needs to expend that E(out) by riding his bike harder than before.

RIP Dolf

I imagine that must be your "cycling group of bastion" where it's the engineers v.s the rest. I know right, I mean the kind of "discussions" I have with my friends over certain things is beyond me and we aren't even engineers yet.

Sorry to go a bit off topic, madbradd which engineering discipline are you qualified for? I honestly never thought that there would be engineers on the bike hub. My materials science lecturer says he's done cycling up until last year which he just doesn't look like a person who cycled.

I absolutely relate to your sentiments. I think with South Africa it's more of a niche market situation with mtb's. I've actually done some shorthand-over-the-heard pseudo research and it seems that mostly middle to upper classes folks are the only people who seemingly afford mountain biking which is why it makes it quite a niche market. It isn't that poor dirts like me don't have interests in the sport but rather puts more emphasis on the affordability and range. Hell yes I would sell a handfull of my healthy kidney and perhaps a piece of my liver just get hold of these pieces of mechanical wizadries. I've always been interested in mountain biking and extreme sports since I was young. This year I saved up a little to buy an "entry level" mountain bike, needless to say, the bug, oh my god the bug bit me so hard that the bike I bought got me bored within a two week time span, I had an older bike back at home, you know one of those game/makro sale ones although the one I bought this year was quite better than my "makro sale" bike in fact undeniably good(for a short while though), so I've ridden mtbs while growing up and got reasonable mtb skills and I'm quite the race snake feller if I must say. Well I'm dirt poor only for a short while I suppose and can hardly afford the mid to top tier bikes which is what everyone would kindly like to own.

I think it's also a case of what one would refer to as a series or connected crime. I'm assuming that bike thieves have people or "business partners" rather, whom they sell the bikes to. Most probably the said "partner" looks more credible, has cycling knowledge and is unsuspecting so it's virtually impossible to tell. when these "partners" sell stolen goods it will indeed be quite unsuspecting to any of us who buy them thinking that we're buying credible goods from credible individual strangers. As for parts going to other countries, I don't think that is prevalent here in SA and I'm not denying it but alluding on it as if it's a major issue would be disqualifying more prevalent assumptions. Like the case of seeing stolen bikes resurface on Scumtree and OLX. edit : added a word

I've watched so many videos on youtube of the Jonkershoek trails on countless times, those trails look world class. I haven't yet been to any of the surrounding trails around Stellenbosch, but now that I have my bike I'll be visiting these a lot. I hear Gspot is also quite impressive, does one need to pay at Gspot as well?

I am on the verge of buying a mongoose meteore team( from a folk who seems inept about mountain bikes judging from his responses to my questions). The bike is used so I am not sure which model year it is. I want to use the bike for trail riding and a bit of xc(if possible). It seems that it still has its original components. If there's anyone who currently owns this or have owned it, would you please kindly give technical info on the bike, original components, how it handles on trails and so forth. I suppose it's an old model(2008/9) and the components might be of entry level when compared to today's components. I also attached pictures for clarity.

Haven't got a MTB yet(still waiting for a hubber to respond), but this is where my feet have taken me... so far I'm a newbie here so I thought I'd share some of my fond nature memories I'v experienced with my feet. This was all taken in Stellenbosch.