Craig Armstrong

Hey guys, I live in Edgemead and work in Woodstock. Occasionally I see cyclists commuting along the train route (Obviously not on the train track, but on the open area next to the track) Im curious to know, is this safe? Not sure if mugging is a concern in this area?

Hey guys, I'm currently rocking a Spez Camber with the stock M447 brake calipers and M506 levers. I really feel like my brakes aren't good enough. I'm pretty sure they're sufficiently bled, but they just don't have good stopping power. I don't have much frame of reference, so I don't know where I should be looking to upgrade. Calipers, rotors or pads... Are the M447 calipers known to be not great? Would M615/SLX brake calipers would be a significant upgrade? I'm currently using 180F/160R rotors. I'm not sure if I should move to 203F/180R rotors, or if 180F/160R should be good enough with the right brake set? Does anyone here have M447s and feel like they are good enough? I'm not sure where my issue lies. Could even be the pads, I guess

This is just for the lowers, not the damper. You use fork oil in the damper. The lowers just needs a lubricant for the dust wiper

For years, people have recommended Castrol Magnatec as a good alternative for the lubricant for RS lowers. I've just realised that Castrol Magnatec has a new label and supposedly has some fancy new formulation or something. Has anyone been brave enough to use the new Magnatec? I'm worried that there might be some dodgy additives in the oil Or what other oils do you guys think is safe for RS lowers?

Does anyone else use the Garmin Edge 25 with a Wahoo trainer? I haven't been able to get the Garmin to connect to the trainer. Wondering if its possible at all

So, while we wait for this new integration feature which will hopefully be released soon, what is the best workaround? I have a Garmin Edge 25 that I use for my outdoor cycling. Are you guys suggesting that I should hook my indoor trainer up to the Garmin as well as my PC (Which I use for Zwift), and then the Garmins data will be accepted for Vitality? If that's correct, is that generally the best way of doing this? I've got my Zwift set up to sync to Garmin Connect, but Vitality doesn't seem to accept the rides that way. Is there a trick to making it work that way? Or must I do the previous solution

What type of trail can one expect when going to Van Gaalens? The trail is a bit of a mystery to me. I've heard about it, but couldn't find much on trailforks or elsewhere on the internet. I've moved to Gauteng from Cape Town this year and really miss the Cape Townian trails (ie. Trails that aren't as flat as a pancake). The best trails I've ridden in JHB are Wolwespruit and Kingskloof (Because they have fun descents, rather than just a gradual 300m over a 40km route). If I ride at Van Gaalens, can I expect fun/fast descents? Or is it more of a marathon type trail?

Jirrre I don't know how you guys have any grip on such high pressures. I run my tires at 1.1 bar. Any more than that and I feel like I'm on ice skates. Mind you, I only started running so low when I went onto wide rims. Don't know what the science is behind it, but the wider the tire, the harder the tires feel at the same pressure. I know wider tires allow lower pressures due to having more support against the tire rolling sideways, but even aside from that, the tires just feel harder on wider tires. This may all be in my head though, but it's just my experience

Does anyone know roughly how much ascending is involved in the 35km race?

Well I must admit that my sample group is very small, but the guys I ride with here in SA are all XC mal, like Grease Monkey said. They believe 100mm XC bikes are all you need, even for shredding the single track trails, jumping, etc. This is in contrast to the guys on GMBN and other EU or USA riders who are all riding 140-180mm travel bikes and sort of look down on the XC guys in their lycra kit. With that said - Clearly the vast majority of voters on this poll have also opted for the trail bike route, so maybe the Saffas that I talk to are just the minority. PS: This post has made me feel very happy about the 2017 Spez Camber that I just bought.

Since I started riding (not that long ago), I've heard various opinions regarding how much travel is necessary or what the best type of bike is. Some say that trail bikes are just too slow and trade off too much pedalling efficiency. Others say that trail bikes are capable enough to climb and just much more fun on the downhills. I also seem to think that the opinions online (from other countries) seem to differ to what I hear from a lot of South Africans. What do you guys reckon?

Just to be clear.. is the team race a relay-style race or the team all rides together at the same time?

I wouldn't have asked if I knew you had Will come past you when I have the chance. You wouldn't happen to sell oils to the public too? Sorry, haven't been to your workshop before so I don't know the setup

Awesome, thanks so much for your valuable information. Is SRAM Butter readily available in South Africa/Cape Town? The only shop that shows it online is Evobikes but they're out of stock (Not sure how long they've been out of stock for). I move between Stellies and Blouberg so there's a lot of bike shops around, but maybe someone can point me in the right direction. Would BMT have?

Wow, I'm glad I asked to clarify then. So Synthetic Bel-Ray 5WT fork oil is roughly equivalent to Rockshox' 5wt oil. And the Castrol Magnatec 5W should do the same thing as the Rockshox 15wt that they suggest for the lowers? And when you're talking about Magnatec 5W, are you talking about 5W30? Thanks so much for the help, Droo PS: Final dumb question, the fork service manual suggests 2 different types of grease - Liquid O-Ring military grease and Slick Honey Grease. They aren't very clear about when to use which type of grease. The only time a specific type is mentioned is that they say that you must use Slick Honey on the insides of the dust seals. Does that mean that everything else should use Military Grease? I've read some stuff about how Sram Butter/Slickoleum/Slick honey is the only grease you need inside a fork, is this true? I've also seen Red Rubber Grease and Prep M mentioned a few times, where do they fit into the equation? Sorry for all of the rookie questions, but everyone starts somewhere, right? Also, if Sram Butter is the suggested route, where can I get some locally. Can't find any via google.