NotShatterProof

If I may ask (hopefully not seen as a hijack) where do you buy those?

Sho. Let me answer one at a time. 12sp is optional, 11sp is also fine. I am on a 29er. I have 780 and could not imagine wangling 800 bars through traffic. I would love 2.4 but they just-just don't fit. I cannot imagine 150mm of travel, nevermind 170mm, I'm on a hardtail ( and sometimes SS) and would not change it for the world. I don't have the guts or skill for the kind of thing that requires 170mm of travel. Finally, at my age the WC is something you watch on TV 🙂

I would not say peer pressure (I wish I had someone to ride with). I'm struggling to find good spares, that is the main reason. I'm currently running a 1x10 SRAM setup on a 29er. I commute daily so the spares turnover is an issue. I'm happy with 1x10 (more than good enough for greater JHB region). I'm also happy with my wheels (which are HG) and would prefer not to spend money buying a new hub (or freehub). Nevertheless, I'm open to suggestions/criticism.

@RobertWhitehead @MORNE Your wisdom please: I'm somewhat in the same boat needing to upgrade from 10 speed. So if sticking to HG what are the best options from SRAM and Shimano, do they both do HG options? I've tried looking on various websites but the options are confusing and as you say, they're keen to lock you into their preference and thus tend to obscure anything else.

This. Cannot agree more. I commute, and since switching to Assos it has been a massive improvement. My total costs in terms of bibs and cream has actually gone down. I used to ride other brand bibs and apply plenty of Chamois cream (acutally BumCream from faithful to nature or the Assos one). I found that it ruined the bibs in next to no time and didn't really help, still got saddle sores.

I've owned the 122CDI for a long time now. Unbelievable vehicle. Still gets about 8 litres/100km on long trips. That's not a typo, and yes it is the 3 litre engine. Which brings me to my biggest gripe with the new V-class: why the small engine? My other gripe: the Blue Efficiency is great while it lasts but very expensive to replace when it goes (and it will). One other comment: I use a tow hitch mounted rack, far more convenient than that crazy rack shown here. All in all though, in a perfect world, I would get another one of these but right now mine is just fine.

OK thanks. That's a little close for comfort, I'll need to keep an eye out and alter my routine for a while.

If possible could you please indicate at roughly what time this happened. Apologies for replying so long after the original post but I don't always get time for the The Hub. I commute fairly close to there and any additional information will make a difference. Thanks.

Alrighty. Thanks for all the information folks. @Frosty, I did see that on the GCN website (and I did look at the GCN thread on the hub but it seemed somewhat stagnant), but my concern was that if I have registered via SA can I still watch stuff if it gets blocked. It seems I can. Mostly I intend to watch the XCO and DH so for my purposes then GCN+ sounds fine. Most likely the annual subscription will end up about the same as 7 months (roughly the length of the XCO/DH season) of monthly subscriptions, which isn't cheap but probably worth it.

Hoping for a word of advice from those of you who are not going the DSTV route and are going the GCN+ route: If you have a GCN+ subscription that you initiated from South Africa (does that matter?) and you are geo-blocked due to local rights issues, can you use that same GCN+ subsscription plus a VPN to watch the geo-blocked content? I'm trying to figure out if I should go for GCN+, Discoveryplus, DSTV or something else (not yet defined) but I want to be sure before forking over the hard-earned cash. Any advice? I already miss Redbull...

Sad to say, but I agree. I'd like to support the local industry but right now I'm just not feeling the love. If you're old school, and you ride a hardtail (or rigid SS in my case too) and you're not on 12 speed and AXS or Di2 it seems you're not worth catering for anymore.

Sounds like that could work. Who do you use online. My experience has been that many of the European and North-American sites will not ship to South Africa, especially not SRAM products. Or is that where the global shipper part comes in?

I'm not too fussed about gear ratios. Normally I ride 11-36 on the 10s but I'm OK with 32 or 34 at the top. On the 11s I normally ride 11-42. Frankly, I don't know Sunrace that well. Do they have equivalent quality? The reason I ask for the aforementioned types is that they don't rust, shift well, and don't weigh too much. So, if Sunrace has an option that ticks those boxes then I could definitely look at that.

Thanks. The second I saw this I went there but sad to say that neither PG1070 nor the 11-speed cassettes were in stock. Guess I was too slow. Anyway, thanks for the advice, I left a "back in stock" email with them, who knows, maybe I get lucky.

Hi Hubbers, I've done the rounds: Both at the various LBS and online. I cannot seem to find SRAM cassettes. Specifically, I'm looking for a PG1070 and a XG1175 or XG1195. Does anyone know what is going on, why are SRAM components so hard to find? Any ideas where I can buy (in Gauteng that is)? All advice appreciated, thanks. Cheers.