techguy

The most common cause is old age, metal fatigue, the one cause that can speed this up is if the spokes are undertensioned. Just replace all the spokes with new ones and get a decent wheelbuilder to do it like Doug Patterson. Also its a myth that thicker guage spokes are stronger.

I have had a few clients who have had to have it done, it is basically a new fork, the stanchion/crown assembly is fitted with new bushes at the same time as well as dust wipers, and depending on the condition of the oil, Russel (from Fox) might do a new seal kit as well. A new F100RL will set you back anywhere from R9500

Like Danger Dassie said you can get a new stanchion assembly that'll set you back about R3k A lot cheaper than R5k+ for a new fork.... There are no quick fixes for this one I'm afraid. As it has been discussed before a fork needs to serviced often to prevent this kinda thing. Prevention is better than cure.

From the industry rumours I've heard XTR is next to recieve a double crankset, but I don't think it'll be much cheaper than XX... Go check out the kits from PMP, link earlier in this thread, they have a wide choice of rings for cranksets...as well as some decent looking duo cranksets, FSA also have a few duo cranksets available.

http://www.pmpbike.net/bike.php/p-6x41x299/Bike_Chain-Rings.htm

A 32x34 should be fine, try next time you ride, 32/44 rings are the standard rings I just removed the granny. The FD is an LX one and I've adjusted the lower limit screw to stop a lot sooner than the granny-it won't drop the chain past the middle ring.

If the spacers are missing then there's a problem... they are there for a reason. Loosen the two bolts, pump the lever a couple times and the tighten the bolts whilst pulling and holding the lever. that should sort them out...

No offence but if you need more than a 28x34 to get up something then rather run it, it'll be quicker. I've been running a 32/44t and 11-32t duo ring setup for a long time now, even did Sani on it last year, never ran out of gears or blew out my knees...

Ya it works, I personally don't feel its worth it unless you're a pro... if you want to run a 2 blade setup then find some pmp rings, they do a kit to convert your crankset to a duo. The problem with XX is everything is proprietry meaning you can only use XX stuff...including the chainrings. no other rings will fit, middle burn and the like are still to get there...just think XTR 960...

It would take a huge amount of sanding to make a disc paper thin...even with 80 grit its enough to score the disc enough to benefit...

That bike was used to set the downhill speed record of 122mph (or something llike that), I found it on velonews.com...

Could be contamination on the pads/rotors, the spokes could also be undertensioned a bit, if the caliper is not straight then the pads will hit the rotor at different angles thus causing a vibration. the pads could also be moving slightly in the caliper, try putting a very small touch of copper slip on the back of the pads.

I had a DBR DH bike back in the day with a whole 3 inches of travel! that thing was the SHIZ back then!

Just with the whole bike wash issue, I overheard the dude on day two of the race at Jolivet proudly say that they had cleaned something in the region of 300 bikes, on the adventure the day before, at R50 a pop...that's a lot of cash!

Any thing to add JB?

A VERY good cleaner is the Motorex bike wash, biodegradable, and just spray it on leave for 5-10min and rinse off. leaves everything sparkling clean. Just a tad on the pricey side...

Ah the good old E-type FDs! Very little adjustment available, the only adjustment that could go wrong is the height, and thats governed by the bolts that hold it onto the frame and the mounting plate. Try moving it upward, without more info thats all I can think of...

just be carefull of oven cleaner, there's a warning on there that says do not use on aluminium... I've seen a bike with the old 960 XTR on and the dude's helper cleaned it with sugar soap, it took all the cool silver anodizing off...

Ya me too but I've heard all the excuses, "it has to get me thru, then I'll fix it before epic" but then you see the same dude at epic and nothing has been done to his bike...

If you saw the bikes I've seen at these events you'd k@k your brooks! people rock up with the scariest machines in poor state!

I saw the condition of some of the bikes that the Specialized crew had to "look after" and crickey some bikes are so bad at the end of day one! There was one where the coating on the fox fork had worn off so badly the fork hardly moved never mind the condition of the drivetrain. In that situation there's not much you can do to make that work...

That brake therapy one looks good!

Jeez I was only charging R500 per person! I flicked myself! In all seriousness tho I don't see why the lab can get away with charging double what I was charging for doing the same thing... I restricted myself to 10 spots and kept to that, I was approached by other people and I helped them out but after all my prefered clients bikes were sorted... I finished every day by 6pm.

Get the Stan's podium mmx wheelset, good all round and very well priced at around R6000. I have had the olympic rims on XT hubs for 3 years now and are still going strong...