Johan Bornman

You can't retract a rant, I'm sure it is in the rules somewhere. In order to lay a charge against those making, distributing or selling goods, you need to prove that you are the owner of the IP behind the stuff. In other words, I cannot now go and lay a charge against those okes selling fake CDs next to the road. The charge must be laid by whoever owns the rights to the movie, music, etc. Even in the case where the owner of the IP may have a subsidiary in South Africa, that entity isn't automatically the owner of the IP and special ceding and whatnott has to happen. However, nothing stops you from sending a cease and desist letter. It is the legal equivalent of "fokkof and die". You can also demand that they hand over all of the stuff to you for destruction. You could even just get them to hand it over if you promise not to take it furhter. I have used this quite successfully on two occasions. It usually scares the hell out of the perpretrators and they just comply without bothering to check your bona fides properly. Get a large sherrif to do the handing over of the letter.

Seat Tubes in general are a big problem with water. On conventional bikes it carries the water into the BB shell. Wash your bike and then open the BB. A cup of water comes out. If you ride in the wet, the back wheel shoots dirty water agains the seat post. From there it runs into the seal tube - past the clamp, and into the frame. This is easy to confirm. Simply take out your BB and you'll find water or, evidence of water in there. The best cure is to drill a drainage hole in the bottom of the BB. This saves your BB from rotting from the inside....but, very few people are brave enough to drill a hole in a BB shell. Whay, I cannot fathom.

Good luck with this job. It is the crappest design ever. The cable goes internally into the tube, through the BB, where the housing disappears and a slide-guide takes over. The guide's sharp angle and exposure to dirt is a recipe for rubbish shifting. Ben, you have to remove the BB - press-fit IIRC, which you just knock out from the inside with a dowell. Most of the comments here shows that they don't understand the problem. It is not trivial, as our IT okes used to say whenever I wanted some mod done on the software.

A generic solution to this type of problem is to find the design length of the crank axle. For instance, with Shimano Hollowtech II and Truvative cranks and compatibles, the axle length is a standardised BB shell width (we standardise it with the addition of one, two or three 2.5mm spacers) and the combined thickness of the BB cups' protrusions. If you know the lengh, you'll quickly figure out how to space the BB adapters and certain ridges and/or spacers will start to make sense. What this doesn't solve is the chainline issues, but that you can tune afterwards once you know the sumtotal of spacing.

Methinks if you just tighten it from one side you'll have the same effect. Newton said: "The anchor pulls as hard on the ship as the ship pulls on the anchor."

Thanks, what a good idea. I'll appreciate some peer review on the document. Solid scrutiny can only improve it.

I'm in. See you at 5.

Your cassette is stuffed. Especially gear number 7. This gear was obviously a favourite gear of whoever rode the bike the most. However, the reason it started to perform badly is not because of chain and cassestte wear, but because of cable deterioration. A chain and cassette mesh with each other right to the bitter end and as long as you keep the adjustments right, they will mesh, no matter the mileage. You talk about "jumping" but this is not a useful term as it doesn't describe what happens when the chain disengages. A chain can disengage sideways, like in gear shifting or poor gear shifting, and it can disengage radially, as in skating over the teeth of the cassette. The former happens when the adjustment is out. The latter happens when a chain has elongated past a point where it can engage with a sprocket that now has a different pitch than the chain. The best way to see if you need a new chain is to measure it. Lots have been written about that here. The best way to see if you need a new cassette is to fit a new chain and see how it performs under pressure. Lots have been written about that here too. It gets quite complex but it is something everyone that hangs around in this forum should understand. Search for "Everything You Need to Know about Chains." There is a document on the topic.

There is a tapered seal in there but it seldom leaks. 99% of the leaks from the top comes from a small O-ring that seals the silver metal shaft against the black top cap. Replace that O-ring first before investing R900 (or whatever) in a new MCD. A new O-ring wil cost R2-78

Not me. I have no problem with them.

Hey Mark, don't give in so easily. Around here we say, "if it aint broke, fix it." There are three things that can cause the lock-out to fail. 1) The first reason is complicated and involved and only affects botched installations. We assume that one is not for you. 2) The cable doesn't pull enough so that the lockout mechanism doesn't rotate to its full extent. Easy to test: Put the lockout lever in its locked position and see if you can, by hand, rotate the blue dial on top of the fork a bit more. If you can, you need a cable adjustment only. 3) Not enough oil, If the step above shows you that the lever does pull the dial all the way round and it still doesn't lock out. There is not enough oil in there. It is all described in the post mentioned above. Welcome to DIY.

Seals: Use Enduro seals. O-rings: Get them from BMG Crush washers....you're in trouble. Search for a "Crush Washer" topic in Tech Q&A - maybe a year or more ago, and you'll find out about the history of the ZA-made crush washer. Enduro doesn't supply crush washers with their Rox seals - bizarre. You cannot use copper washers - not even annealed ones. Firstly you'll have to find the right size, since they have to fit inside the cup of the footnut. Secondly, they're too hard, even when annealed. The max torque you should apply to the compression rods is 6NM. A copper washer to seat, would require about 20NM. O-rings: measuring them up would require a vernier. Get one. Learn to use it. O-rings are measured on the section (rubber thickness) and on the ID. In other words, an O-ring that has a 25mm hole and the rubber is 3mm thick, is called a 3 x 25. Hardness is measured in Shore. Use standard 70 shore. They can be had in various materials, you're looking for Buna or whatever the brandname equivalent is. Rox forks have stacks of O-rings. There's a 3 x 10, 3.5 x 12, several 24 x 2.5 ones and...I cannot remember what else. Judge the quality of an existing O-ring by rolling it between your fingers. Any out-of roundness and flat sections, means it should be replaced. It should also be soft, but soft is subjective. Tell anyone who tells you it is too difficult, to go jump. Gooi them a finger.

The notion of "breaking" a rim is a bit of a misnomer. Rims only break i.e. the metal tears, in fatigue (at the spoke holes after many years of riding) or, from violent impact. The type of impact that will break a rim will in anyway destroy other stuff as well, so having a rim break when your neck, frame and teeth are also broken, isn't a big deal. Besides, that type of impact will break any rim, no matter the weight. Further, jumping off stuff, unless the tyre bottoms out, will not damage the rim. It flexes inwards and flattens, at the contact patch only, with no other stress elsewhere, including on the spokes and spoke holes. The notion of jumping with a bike and have the spokes tear out the top of the wheel (i.e. opposite the contact patch) is not what happens in reality. Therefore, Crest rims will be strong enough for what you want to do. Where they will fail quicker than a heavier version of the same type of rim (same material, similar profile) is by not lasting as long before cracking at the spoke holes and, in accidents where there is considerable sideways force on the rim. Crest rims have a particular weak spot and that is it dents easily when the tyre bottoms out. I estimate that 20% of my Crest customers have a come-back within the first three months with a dented rim. Each and every time the issue was soft tyres and a dented rim. They are particularly weak in this regard, mostly because the lack of bead sidewall. The dent is therefore directed directly to the body of the rim where it is difficult to repair. Crests will be fine for you, but avoid the temptation of too low tyre pressure.

Yes, there is a sweet spot and then RR flattens out with increased pressure. There was a graph showing a couple of brands at various pressures with their dynamic RRs plotted, on the interweb thing somewhere. A guy called Terry Morse did it and it was a very popular document in the early 1990s when the real big shift towards clinchers accellerated. Perhaps someone will google it. The brands won't be relevant anymore since I remember Avocet in there, Michelin (though still around) and some tubby exotics. Edit: There is no point on that graph where a lower pressure has a lower RR. RR is always inversely proportional up to a point where the benefits of more pressure diminish to zero. RR is not related to energy loss due to bouncing around though, this is a different issue.

This table brings some sanity into the debate. Maximum pressure is not as cut and dried as it seems. The rim effectively has two maximum pressures: 1) The rim tape. What pressure it can handle before caving in or splitting. 2) The rim bead. The pressure the rim's sidewalls can take (when new), before they bend open and release the tyre with a bang. As the rim gets older and braking surface wears, the max reduces significantly. On top of this, the tyre's max has a rating. For the same tyre, this rating will go smaller and smaller as the tyre's size - 19mm - 21mm - 23mm - 25mm increases. So, in summary: what was that maximum pressure you mentioned again?

Hmmmmmmm. A tubular's slightly (It is very small) rolling resistance advantage only comes in if you pump the tubby harder than what you can pump a clincher - in the 10 bar region. At that pressure the only thing you'll feel is road vibration in your goolies. But, if that floats your boat, tubbies are for you.

Do it. Do it, Do it Do it. If you've suffered with this for years you will kick yourself that you didn't do it earlier. I had mine done at the end of January and April I rode the Epic. Problem gone. I had both feet done and had to hobble on crutches for a couple of days and later a walking stick, but this was mostly for effect since I bought a walking stick with a built-in sword and this made from great entertainent in the office. I rode within 10 days (or earlier), IIRC. Running will definitely take longer since you'll have stitches on top of your feet in a 30mm long would running between the metatarsal bones. My only regret is that I didn't do this when I was 18. I suffered with it for close to 30 years. How stupid. The only side effect is a numb spot under each foot. The sole is dead in an area the size of a R5 coin. It doesn't bother me. The one complication that could happen is the nerve stump could form scar tissue, creating exactly the same pain. I was told the chance is 20%. Considering that I therefore have a 40% chance of it happening and it didn't, I'd take the chance. Edit: Was it painful? Not in the least. I don't think I suffered one bit of pain and I didn't take anything for pain other than what I was given in the theatre.

After carefully studying the picture I know exactly what the problem is: the intermetatarsal plantar nerve in either the third or fourth metatarsal space is being squashed and is forming a perineural fibroma. Translated, it means the shoe is squashing your forefoot and the nerves there don't like it. They respond by thickening, which of course aggravates the problem. Solution: Cut that nerve out. It's an op done by a orthopaedic surgeon specialising in feet. You can go to a podiatrist to have it diagnosed and confirmed. The test is easy - squash your foot sideways with your hand and move it. If you hear clicking (and whimpering), you have a fat nerve in there. Although I wasn't conscious when they did mine, I have a pretty good idea of what they did. If you want, I can scrub my workshop, sharpen my Leatherman and do yours. Stitching the wound up is easy for someone who used to sew tubbies. You can bite onto an old saddle if the pain gets too much. I bushitted myself for years that I'll find wider shoes or that the podiatrist's inner sole inserts will work. It doesn't work. Cut it out. PS. the picture only appeared after I made my diagnosis. That area doesn't suffer from Morton's. Buy if you come in I'll dig around a bit with my Leatherman and see what I can find.

Welcome to cycling. Hotfoot is something most of us suffer one time or another. Common wisdom has it that the bigger the platform under the shoe, the less hotfoot. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. Modern shoes are so stiff that platform size has very little effect on how much they flex during a pedal stroke. Pedal force is a fraction of your weight. Stand on a marble with your cycling shoes and you'll feel how little they actually flex. Remember, that your pedal force is much less than that - the guys withpower meters can tell us how much. Your feel swell during cycling. I don't know why. Coupled to that, most cycling shoes are very, very narrow and that combo causes squashed foot, that presents as burning. It is the nerves between the metatarsals that react with such a typical "hot" feedback. Don't think it is temperature, since cooling your feet doesn't solve the problem. Overall ambient temperature contributes to swelling but the actual pain is not from heat. Lots of people will tell you to buy wider shoes. Take this with a pinch of salt since wide shoes don't exist. For years and years I visited bike shops armed with a set of vernier callipers. The shoes are narrow, the soles undercut the uppers so that your feet actually hang over the soles. With swelling, this constricts the foot. Buy your shoes as big as practically possible, have your feet checked for Morton's Neuroma by a podiatrist and try one or two different style pedals/cleats. Don't go wild on the latter since I've been there, done that, with zero positive results. In the end I had the nerves removed. Now I can walk on hot coals. I don't because it smells very bad if I linger too long. Good luck with those feed of yours.

Nothing terrible will happen if you overinflate the fork and ride it like that. At worse, the O-ring on the air cap or on the air piston will pop or rather Pfffft. No problem. Iy may even self-correct at a lower pressure with no ill effects at all.

Throw away all the crap with mathematical formulas in their name. Eat low release stuff for breakfast and some faster-release solid stuff whilst you ride. Solid stuff can include a wholewheat sarmie, (Brooklands bagel with molasses and peanut butter is yummy), a little boiled potato as suggested, a banana or even fruitcake. Palatability is an issue and very dry stuff makes eating on the run difficult. Have one bottle with plain water and one with low-concentration sugar water - be it Coke, Powerade or whatever you fancy. There is no need for you to consume any syrups (goo) during any 70km race. Depending on your conditioning, you could have spiked your blood sugar by eating a high glucose snack during a race and then have the spike invert and cause low blood sugar before you finish the race - causing what happened to you. However, I think you just ran out of energy. Your body has to be trained to operate as you want it to and by zapping it with bogus race additives you're doing yourself a disservice. Bonking isn't nice, so just follow the trusted formula and enjoy your next race.

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't have a DT shock in my workshop to remind me exactly why they rotate, but I did have a spare set of busings for them. Looking closely at the bushings I can now see that it isn't their conical shape but rather the spherical plain bushing that does the rotation. If you examine the wear on standard shock bushings you'll see that they tend to go conical. This is from the side loads described by Rush Sports above. They are designed to only rotate around the bolt but in reality us strong okes make the frames flex and we wear our bushings to smithereens. Have a look at the picture below and see how they all differ. On the left we have a pair of standard shock bushings. They allow the shock to move in only one plane. In the centre we have the spherical plain bushing. My photo's angle is from straight above but picture the centre sphere moving ball-joint style in any direction. On the right is the bushing insert from a DT shock. These would fit inside the spherical bushing. These in the picture won't fit each other since the speherical bushing is from a Specialized shock and the black bushing from a DT shock that's much smaller.

Your cryptic location doesn't work in your favour.

Dont forget that if you change your rims, you'll most probably have to change spokes too. Different rims have different profiles and if you don't replace like with like, you end up with spokes that could be too short or too long. AFIK there is no Alexrims agent in ZA anymore. All's not lost though. Find a wheelbuild that can help you source a rim with exact the same Effective Rim Diameter (ERD) as the one you have. Then you can save money by reusing the old spokes.