Johan Bornman

Of course, I always pay my PR agents. Besides, we have a 30% discount on Shimano at the moment.

You are right.

Alex is still 5th.

29-er Arch has an ERD of 607 and 29-er Flow has an ERD of 603.. Your spokes will be far too long if you from Arch to Flow.

No.

This is very poor advice.

29" or 26"? Alu nipples or brass?

Ja, it hurts me when I have to work on someone's bike and it is full of grease. My least favourite is to grease the entire steerer tube. Thereafter, lathering the waterproof sleeve in the BB and then grease on the crank. Why do it? Stop wasting grease, Save the planet, whatever, but don't put grease where there are no bearings.

Don't use any grease on the splines. That's not a friction surface at all. Goes in clean. Grease is for inside bearings and inside bearings alone.

The silver pin fits inside the plastic spacer that lives in the groove of the crank's pinch-bolt arrangement. The pin pushes into a hole that's in the crank axle. It looks like your broke off. What's with the green stuff?

Sorry Brad, but you should NEVER do it that way. A shifting spanner will only introduce a new dent at the fulcrum end of the shifting spanner in a sharp line. Use the method mentioned above.

Duh! I just looked at the insides of anodised nipples and the colour is perfect right inside the thread. A little inspection should have answered that question. Most carbon frames just have a piece of straight alu tubing as the seat tube (with fancy carbon and stuff wrapped around it), so I cannot think of a single reason why not to anodise it. I think it is poor attention to detail. Now if someone can please tell this stupid built-in spell checker that anodise is spelt with an s and not a z, I'll be very happy. Friggin Americans.

Nudge,nudge. Wink wink...I won't ask what your occupation is but can you do a "job" for me on two yapping chihauhas next door? If that is successful I might have something bigger for you too.

I have several LED Lenser torches and will buy more if temptation overcomes me again. They are superb. Mine even tells you when the battery is depleted by doing two blinks every minute or so. As for the nonsense about hard anodizing. It just isn't an issue. I have one that lives in the workshop clipped onto the tool board with one of those chromed spring clips. After two years the black anodizing started to rub off. There's no way that will rub off in your pocket. But still, who cares. Great lights.

Let me guess. It is your shop?

Generally spokes rubbing over each other don't make a noise. It is usually the skewer. I suggest you find yourself any old Shimano skewer, clamp the wheels real tight and go for a ride. I am willing to bet that the noise will be gone. An external cam skewer such as that supplied by AC is not up to the job. The nipples, no matter what material they're made of, won't creak. It is either the skewer or the bearings. Those wheels have preload adjustment, so make sure there isn't some lateral play in the bearings too.

That doesn't rule out shifting. Chains are manufactured in a continuous process. Should there have been a manufacturing defect (SRAM had one a few years back), it will show up in many chains. We haven't seen any reports of mass chain breakage yet and I doubt yours is a special case. If you have given up on the chain, test it's integrity thus: Put it in a vice and forcefully bend it sideways. See if you can make the sideplates pop off relatively easily. let us know.

Ooops! Those okes take their welding seriously. I though this was a DITY bike frame fix.

I went there and got ignored. Obviously I'm not trendy enough for those hipsters. They did have some nice stuff there through.

I don't know. As far as I know, carbon paste is simply a friction paste to prevent the carbon seatpost from slipping inside the seat tube (stems etc also qualify). Usually carbon cannot be torqued sufficiently to prevent slip, so they put gritty past in there to prevent slipping. Most of these pastes are actually the cause of the problem. In old-fashioned quill stems, the grease put on there emulsifies and exacerbates the problem since the water cannot evaporate but is still available to do damage. I suspect carbon paste doesn't protect against galvanic action but makes it worse. I may be wrong, but I don't see an ingredients list on my tube of carbon paste to confirm or deny the thought. I'll take it out frequently - once a month, as a precaution. I wish I practice what I preach, then I won't have to saw off those expensive stems.

No, It isn't dipping as in hot-dip zinc plating (galvanizing) where you take the object and dip it in a bath of molten zinc. It is a chemical process where you lay a layer of ceramic on top of the alu. Actually, not on top. One half of the layer is on top, one half penetrates the alu. It is an electrolytic process, which is why I question the possibility of plating inside a tube. But, my knowledge of anodizing is limited and I'm assuming that like chrome, you cannot plate inside a Faraday shield. But yes, rust-proof it aint. It's a bitch

In the first picture the welding didn't go wrong. It was a good bead with no burn-throughs and no swallow nest. It just wasn't as neat as the second picture. I suspect the first job was done by acetylene torch and second by TIG or MIG. Both will be equally strong but the latter has more commercial value thanks to aesthetics.

Not enough information here to answer your question. Give us details.

As of now Alex is 3rd. His plan is for a podium finish but with a win within three years. His biggest challenge is that he doesn't know the terrain. These guys memorise the terrain in order to minimize map-consultation time. It is one of those sleeper sports but fascinating to follow. My favourite insanity-race moment was when two Freedom Challengers were discussing strategy in my workshop. Glenn said to Retief: "The best way to avoid the mud is to get some sleep. Sleep until midnight and start riding when the mud is frozen." I have great respect for these guys. Go Alex! Edit, misread the sequence.

He can't. There is no secret. If the nipple is seized, we cut the spoke. You'll just frustrate yourself if you try and work loose a seized aluminium nipple. Brass nipples never ever seize.