Innholdsfortegnelse for Jan/Feb 2025 i Bicycling South Africa

CAROLINE MATSIMELA’S DAY JOB IS HR MANAGER for UK-based e-commerce firm RedCloud Technologies. After hours – like all true superheroes – she slips into her yellow-themed disguise as the driving force behind the Matsimela Ladies Clinic, an initiative she started in 2020 with the simple aim of inspiring more women to spend time outdoors. Matsimela started the clinic, which caters to all levels of riders, with two friends. In four short years it has grown to include six branches in Gauteng, and a membership totalling just over 180 riders. You’ll recognise them on the road and at events around South Africa in their distinctive, bright-yellow cycling gear. “I never imagined the Ladies Clinic would grow into something like this,” she says. “I just wanted to help my community. I had no…

BEST SPEC FOR THE PRICE ROCKRIDER 120 XC R23 000 / DECATHLON.CO.ZA THIS ALUMINIUM-FRAMED XC RACER from sporting megastore Decathlon has excellent spec for the price. A size medium weighs about 12kg, which is pretty good for an off-the floor ‘beginner’ bike. There’s nothing here that you’d have to replace. The fork is a RockShox Recon Gold with 100mm of travel; the drivetrain is 12-speed SRAM NX Eagle with SRAM Level hydraulic brakes; the SunRingle Duroc alloy wheels are tubeless-ready, and they’re shod in quality Vittoria Saguaro tyres. The only component you might want to swop out is the rigid alloy seat post, for a dropper post. It’s a do-anything bike that will cruise happily on tar and gravel – and it’s definitely capable of XC riding. Enter a race.…

BEST VALUE ROAD RACER TREK ÉMONDA ALR 5 R40 000 / TREKBIKES.COM THE ÉMONDA ALR BORROWS ITS GEOMETRY (down to the millimetre) from the much pricier carbon version. Riders get the same proven, race-winning frame design for a lot less. For many riders, the cost savings might be the most enticing feature of the ALR, but the updated aluminium frame is the showstopper here. Much like its carbon version, the Émonda ALR features a mix of aerofoil (Kammtail) shaped tubes along with more traditional round profiles. Trek uses its 300 Series Alpha aluminium for the frame, and it weighs in at 1 257g (claimed) for a painted size 56. The full carbon fork adds 406g to the package, resulting in a frame-fork combo that weighs a mere 34g more than…

BEST KIDS' BIKE TITAN RACING CHARGE JUNIOR R19 000 / TITANRACINGBIKES.COM ▪ Yup, you’re not hallucinating: this is an e-bike for kids. There are models with 20”, 24” and 26” wheels – in blue and pink, of course – before the jump to the adult Charge E-One (R21 590). It makes sense: if your child is riding a 24” bike, for example, they’re probably around eight or nine years old – with enough skill to handle the bike, but maybe not enough stamina to keep up on a longer ride. The Charge Junior enables them to press a button and not only keep up, but decimate Dad on the green belt. It’s niche, but we like it. (We’ve listed the retail price, but look out for specials. At the time…

YOU MIGHT HAVE HEARD the terms ‘lactic acid’ and ‘lactate threshold’ tossed around in cycling circles. Often, a rider talking about the feeling of lactic acid build-up refers to that heavy sense of muscular fatigue, or a ‘burning’ sensation in the legs. Here’s what you need to know. What is lactic acid and lactate? ▪ Lactic acid is a common misnomer that tends to be used interchangeably with lactate, but they’re not quite the same. “Lactate is a byproduct of anaerobic glycolysis, which occurs when our body breaks down glucose for energy for muscle contraction in the absence of oxygen,” says Prof. Julia Casadio, exercise physiologist and creator of HerStrength.co. Easy to moderate exercise requires predominantly aerobic (meaning with oxygen) pathways to produce ATP in the muscles for contraction. So,…

BEST ALUMINIUM DUAL-SUS SPECIALIZED CHISEL COMP R59 000 / SPECIALIZED.COM THE NEW CHISEL FULL-SUSPENSION ALUMINIUM MOUNTAIN BIKE shares its name with the Chisel aluminium hardtail. Though that might confuse some buyers, Specialized could have named this bike whatever they wanted, because the new full-sus Chisel totally rips. At first glance, the Chisel looks like an Epic – Specialized’s carbon full-suspension XC race bike. And your eyes are not deceiving you; the similarities are striking. Specialized even claim that the two bikes share kinematics and geometry. That said, the new Chisel is perhaps a closer cousin to the previous-generation Epic EVO. The two bikes share the same amount of suspension travel: 120mm in the front and 110mm at the back. (With 120mm of suspension travel front and rear, the latest Epic…

20-INCH AVALANCHE FLASH R5 990 / AVALANCHEBIKES.CO.ZA ▪ Hydraulic disc brakes! Fat tyres! This little mountain bike is a total riot. Thank goodness brands have moved away from suspension on bikes with 20-inch wheels. The rigid fork makes the whole bike so much lighter, and there’s still plenty of shock-absorbing squish from the wide rubber. This is a dream starter bike that will get your kids hooked on riding for life. 24-INCH TITAN RACING HADES 24” DISC R7 250 / TITANRACINGBIKES.COM ▪ Want to compete at the schools races? This yellow rocket has modern geometry, tubeless-ready tyres, mechanical disc brakes and an easy-to-click 1x8-speed Microshift drivetrain. The low standover height gives you lots of room to extend the seat post, ensuring that it will fit your mini-Hatherly for as many…

BEST CLIMBING BIKE ORBEA ORCA M10I R210 000 / CYCLELAB.COM AS RACE BIKES became more complicated, Orbea has returned its long-running Orca model to its roots. For a model conceived and created in the hilly Basque country, that means designing for pure climbing prowess rather than aerodynamic efficiency. No visual clue is more telling of the Orca’s renewed focus on weight and ride quality than the absence of dropped chainstays. The lack of this nearly ubiquitous modern race-bike feature almost makes the Orca look, dare I say… classic. In a way, the new Orca treads a similar path to the much-loved Specialized Aethos. But while the Orca also prioritises ride quality and low weight, it’s decidedly more modern than the Aethos. Nothing groundbreaking; but things like hidden cable routing, a minimalist…

BEST GRAVEL BIKE SPECIALIZED TURBO CREO 2 COMP R120 000 / SPECIALIZED.COM WITH ITS 50MM DROPPER POST, flared riser bars, 47mm Tracer Pro tyres and SRAM Apex/X1 AXS drivetrain, this is a super-comfy gravel bike that also incorporates all of Specialized’s latest e-bike advancements. It features the same 1.2 motor and 320Wh battery as the Levo SL mountain bike, which keeps the weight to around 14kg. Power delivery from the mid-mount unit is smooth and intuitive, vastly better than some electric road/gravel bikes that use a rear-hub motor. Specialized claims a range of “five hours”, which is as vague as you might expect, since range is highly dependent on terrain and elevation; but you should safely get up to 100km on a charge, if you ride conservatively. It also gets…

THERE’S AN AMUSING VIDEO CLIP doing the rounds on social media, of Hugh Grant listing all the little things in life that irritate him. In his classic ‘I sound like I’m only joking, but really I’m being deadly serious’ style, he rattles off a list of his pet peeves to the interviewer. “I walk around the streets peeving,” he starts. “I don’t like people walking slowly. I don’t like people with backpacks. I don’t like people with backpacks on their front. I don’t like water bottles. I don’t like roadworks with no people working on them.” The clip ends there, but you get the impression that in real time, the interviewer was held hostage for hours as Grant went on to list everybody and everything in London that raises his hackles.…

I STOOD AT THE TRAILHEAD, trying to look like a mountain biker. My husband and I were on our first holiday without children in nearly two decades, and we reckoned I could make it through this trail. Its ‘least difficult’ ranking was marked by a little green dot on the map. I knew our ride would get more challenging on later trails marked with ‘more difficult’ blue squares, but I decided the beauty of the scenery and freedom from teenagers could inspire me through anything. Our guide gave us a quick lesson on how to ride the rental mountain bikes. I couldn't believe how comfortable the Santa Cruz felt compared to my road bike back home. I admired its wide tyres and had fun playing with its dropper seat post.…

If you’re into cycling, chances are you’ve thought about a riding holiday in the Alps, tackling all the legendary passes you’ve seen on TV over the years in the Tour de France and the Giro de Italia. Your holiday fantasy probably involved flying there with your road bike – but did you know that most of these passes also have gravel siblings, almost devoid of traffic, which take you through meadows full of cowbells and birdsong? This group of friends did a modified version of the Ultra Gravel Tour of the Alps, and turned it into a bikepacking adventure for the ages. This is how they did it. And how you could do it too. DAY 1 SAINT-MICHEL-DE-MAURIENNE (FR) – VAL-CENIS (FR) 47 KM / 1 411 M The first…

TRENDS FOR 2025 AERO-OPTIMISED DESIGNS. Aerodynamics remain a top priority in the road category. Bikes with integrated handlebars, hidden cables and streamlined frame shapes are becoming more common, designed to reduce drag and increase speed. Many new models are also incorporating aero gains in wheel design, with deeper rims becoming popular. ELECTRONIC AND WIRELESS SHIFTING. The rise of electronic shifting and fully wireless systems means that frame manufacturers can ditch cable ports and routing entirely, further improving aesthetics and aerodynamics. TUBELESS TYRES. This has been a trend for a few years already, but tubeless is finally gaining dominance in the category. Also, running wider tyres… Wider rubber offers better grip, lower rolling resistance and greater comfort. Expect more road bikes to come with tubeless-ready set-ups as standard. INCREASED CUSTOMISATION OPTIONS. This…

SPECIALIZED S-WORKS TARMAC SL8 R250 000 / SPECIALIZED.COM ▪ The latest Tarmac doesn’t come at you with the usual hallmarks of an aero frame, like airfoil profiles and an overbuilt downtube. It’s an unassuming frame, with relatively classic lines; but at the same time, it smashes the numbers out of the park when it comes to drag and weight. It’s one of the lightest pro-level frames around: a mere 685g for a size 56. The aero advantages really come into play at pro speeds of 40-50km/h. At that velocity, with an apparent wind angle of 0-7°, the redesigned nose cone and fork do a lot of work to minimise drag. But at slower speeds (read: ‘speeds we amateurs are likely to attain’), the focus is on a light and snappy…

BEST TITANIUM BIKE SLING TAGATI ADVENTURE R109 250 / SLINGCYCLES.COM AH, TITANIUM – that most wondrous of frame materials. It’s popular with custom bike builders, mainly because it shares many of the properties of steel, but has a greater resistance to corrosion and fatigue; so much so that many titanium frame makers offer lifetime warranties against manufacturing defects. Titanium is also renowned for its smooth ride quality, which equals (if not exceeds) top-end carbon fibre. It’s also easier to repair than aluminium or carbon fibre, so if it ever does break, it can be fixed. The downside is that titanium is a relatively rare (and thus expensive) bike-frame material, which is labour-intensive to work with; meaning you won’t find budget-range titanium bikes. That said, once you’ve ponied up for one,…