thebob

If you bought a fork that came with a Spark originally, you are golden for the Twinlock settings to work, but the same travel upgrade restrictions apply. If you bought a fork from a bike dealer, then the damper is not quite the same as what comes originally on a Spark, which leads to the issues as most lockouts are either open or closed, without a mid point, which is what Rockshox mostly sells to dealers.

If the fork you are looking at is a SID SL with the 32mm stanchion legs and 100mm of travel, then the answer is no. That fork cannot go to more than 100mm of travel. If you are looking at a SID with the 35mm stanchion legs, then yes it can go to 120mm, and you will just need a new air spring assembly. I suspect this might be for a Scott Spark, so your next issue is that the "mid" position does not work nicely with the Charger damper that comes with aftermarket forks.

@Mattas a first step, would it be possible to have a check box or similar when creating an advert to say whether the person posting the advert is happy for dealers to make an offer?

Be very, very careful when pushing the pistons back, especially if your brakes run the ceramic pistons. They break for vokol and there are no replacement parts available

I am not convinced. I had a previous shape Scott Spark and I tried to install a 142 wheel in it one day by mistake. It was a disaster

Lees en presteer “By designing the Tigre with a 145mm spaced rear end and developing the sliding dropouts with chamfers and tweaked thru axle threads each side of the frame can flex inward or outward 1.5mm to accommodate both hub standards with ease.”

Hopefully the driver of the car will recover from this experience as well. Seems they did nothing wrong and now have to live with this.

Dates are out for 2023. Let's support Schalk and the Trail Awareness crew. He puts on awesome events in some really excellent riding terrain. I did the whole series last year and had an absolute joy at every round!

Don't get me started on that lot! Fact is you can't even get from Shimano Japan. Even SRAM supplies spare piston kits for their brakes. Then again you can rebuild a Shimano clutch when a SRAM derailleur would only be good for the bin 😖

Amazon, eBay or Aliexpress have ceramic, metal and resin options. Otherwise scavenging a caliper is your only option

Order the length and angle you want from a Scott dealer for the 2023 model. When you fit the new stem have a new headset bearing handy as you may find the existing one is rusting already. If not, coat it in grease to be safe

Just buy the stuff that Formula makes for the brakes: Formula Mineral oil (evobikes.co.za)

I disassembled my Hyrax on one occasion, there is no bushing in those links. Dom krag is all that is needed to pull it apart. Make sure the bearings in the rocker link are in there tight and not moving around

If it was me, I'd go for the new 9.7 and be done with it. I have the 9.8 and can confirm it is an absolutely awesome bike for everything from a chilled cruise on easy trails to getting the heart rate pounding and smashing a few climbs

Ok, if the Trek is a 2020 model, it will be this one Spec for spec, there is no comparison. The Merida has better components. The only issue I see is that the Merida is an XC race bike. That means you are in quite a racy position, this might not be the best for longer rides IMO. The Trek wins in terms of being a more marathon focused bike. Out of interest, how much is the trek being advertised for? I'd suggest going and trying them both out and seeing which one feels better for you. Sizing is also very important. Don't let anyone try and talk you into something that feels too big or too small or school fees will be payable.

Apologies that there is not a couch in sight. Picked this beast up on Saturday

Share a link, let us see the model

The Merida (assuming it is a 96) is also a great bike. If it is not the latest model, then the only drawback is the dated frame geometry, which is more important than the frame geometry. Any bike can be setup to ride well, regardless of the rider weight if the correct pressures and damping settings are used. Just cause you are "heavy" doesn't mean you need to ride around on a downhill bike with 200mm of suspension travel

I've found the Trek bearings (headset and suspension pivots) are not the best, ask if they have ever been replaced or serviced. If not they might be ok, but if they are running rough, budget around R2000 for a full set with labour. Check that the suspension lockout works nice and smoothly and that when it is in the lockout setting that the suspension does indeed lockout. Linked to this is when last was the suspension serviced. If the answer is never, then you might be in for a nasty surprise. Also make sure the dropper is running nice and smooth. Again, if it has never been serviced, you might be in for a shock. All this is worst case scenario, but rather be prepared! Otherwise they are very good marathon bikes.

This is my excuse now every time those watt doping B cat racers drop me like a sack of manure

If your helmet is 10 years old, it is time for a new one

I have been rotating two Ciovita shorts with my Zwift training everyday for the past 3 years odd. They are still very comfy with no see through-ness at all. I have used the First Ascent shorts in the past and found the chamois didn't last nearly as long as the Ciovitas

Had a lekker ride today. Everything was perfect, apart from the seemingly never ending headwind. Well done to everyone involved in organising and to all the finishers 💪🏻 The only wrinkle seems to be the website is down, so no way to check the official results at the moment

Your bias aside, the customer dealt with Trek. Trek messed his bike up. There is no separation of dealers in the mind of the customer. Someone from Trek needs to put their hand up, own the problem and sort the customer out. Failing that, you won't lose one customer, you will lose many.

This is why I do as much of the maintenance on my bike myself. That way if there is a mess up, the culprit is known to me and I can force him to make good