Just Keep Pedaling

I can almost guarantee the problem is nothing to do with the bike model. My amateur advice. 1. Check you don't have bent tooth (on the bike, not in your mouth). 2. Watch how you change gears and apply power - too much roughness will break chains. 3. Chains normally only break when worn - so buy a chain wear indicator tool - they are cheap. 4. If you put a new chain on gears that look like sharks teeth you will soon have a worn chain. 5. Use lube before every ride. (On the bike...not on your...nevermind).

Have it delivered to your office and your wife will never know.

"What are your thoughts on my combo?" I wouldn't know and neither would most people as there are 100's of rims and 100's of tyres - with most people changing tyres once a year. Then there are different riders and riding conditions. Manufacturers sometimes list compatables tyres for their rims (compatable for tubeless). Try and look for that or contact Mavic and ask them. If you are going to stick with them maybe just overinflate them.

Personal experience of using UST tyres on UST rims and non-UST tyres on non-ust rims for a tubeless conversion. Non-Ust Uses a lot more sealant, almost impossible to pump from flat without a compressor or bomb - even bombs sometimes require a second shot, leaks air during the week, sidewalls rip easily which happened on the first ride, also had a seperate random loss of air (burping) resulting in having to put in a tube, had a friend whose tire came off the rim. UST - no real problems, the thicker sidewalls have come in useful more than once. Expensive.

From this site: http://mountainbike.about.com/od/buyersguideandreviews/f/Tubless_ornot.htm "Compatibility is a big issue. Choose the wrong tires or rims and you will end up blowing your tires right off the rim either during installation or on the trail."

"Do you guys know of any meds I can try to aliviate the pain apart from voltaren tablets?" Vicadin. Morphine. Vicanden and Morphine. Of course you will need a 'friend' who is a docter. Seriously. If you take painkillers to exercise you will end up in a wheel chair. Maybe consider another sport. Sport is not more important than health.

There is someone in charge of Groenkloof. I am fairly sure they don't read the Hub. Maybe you should complain to them? Telephone works best. Be polite.

Sorry to dear bout djour feed. By dose is blocked so sorry for dat. Maybe it is just weak muscles in your feed. SPD shoes normally have a solid base to prevent this. If it a 'numbness' you might be pressing on a nerve, where the best solution is to find a way to stop pressurising that nerve.

"Hell! Are you serious? I put on my contis the other day and my LBS did not mention that risk. Do you think that even with a decent brand it would do the same?" Mate of mine had one come off. Bike shop put it on for him and even told him it was a "Tubeless Tire". Luckily it was at low speed. I have seen another post here on the hub when someone came seriously short with a tyre leaving the rim. Lots of guys have no problem - but I suggest you pump it to 3+ bar and weight less than 70kg - in which case you could lose half your grip.

Damn. And I was really hoping to one day build some CK based wheels.

Do yourself a favour, don't use a non-UST tyre and do a ghetto conversion - because one day you will ride round a corner at speed and the tire will slip off the rim and you will look quite funny with no front teeth. Another warning, UST tires are tight, which sometimes means if your rims are not UST friendly you will not be able to get the tyre on.

Downhill and tandem wheels normally have extra spokes. I am fairly sure the lighter rim would not offset the weight of the extra spokes but the resulting wheel would be much stronger. Then again, maybe ask Johan Bornman.

ZTR Race Gold - looking at some random website they are $1000 USD while the ZTR regulars are like $500 USD. Like most premium versions of anything you are probably paying $1 for the gold paint, $20 for improved materials and an extra $479 for increased proft margins. Personally, I would get a set of rims built by a professional wheel builder e.g. Johan Bornman or similar. ZTR rims + DT swiss spokes + Hope II hubs is the default for like R3500 - but on your budget you might want some better hubs like DT swiss 240's.

"Swiss are quite accomodating, you dont pay excess for your bike and box but a fixed fee (USD 150 for intercontinental and USD 100 for within Europe). AND they will supply a bike box for free nogal...." Nice. I was thinking of flying to Durban with my bike for Christmas holidays with the wife and inlaws - that is how I will stay sane in these trying times...

I would probably remove the RD too. If anything is going to get squashed your hanger* is going to bend (as it is designed to do). *no pun intended.

Sorry to hijack - do all airlines allow this? Do they charge? How much?

Another thing. The wheels are probably the most important component on a 29er. Weight vs. strength is very important tradeoff depending on your weight, riding style and where you will ride. Buying a bike off the rack does not let you choose wheels which match these criteria.

I won't pretend to know if you will get a better bike one way or the other. What I do know is that if you build it, it will be YOUR BIKE as apposed to A BIKE. Don't forget to budget the cost of a bike shop building it - unless you have all the tools already including torque wrenches.

Thanks Patches - Was planning to go to Van Galens but could change to Groenkloof. It is for my brother in law - so even if you were serious about renting your DH monster I don't think he would know what to do with it and would probably kill himself. My wife would not be very understanding.

Linden cycles used to rent bikes but they don't anymore. Any ideas?

The gears change due tension in the wire that goes from the shifter to the gears at the back. There are fine adjustments at the front and back. Turn these and see if it makes a differance. If that does not help, you need to loosen and reattach the wire. Search for Youtube video on setting your gears. ps - check that you did not bend your rear derailer by hitting it on something - this can also cause shifting problems.

I find it strange that only Specialized have different widths. Maybe in Italy you don't get people with American sized sit bones.

Been a long time since science at school. K is Potassium, so if if you bend your rails on that one you can grind it down and feed it to your plants. Manganese can be used to make fireworks. Now you know.

Sounds like a trick question.

If its Assos then its mine. Please post to me as Tokai is quite far from where I live.