MrJacques

Some more suggestions: Tomac Vanish http://www.tomac.com/bikes.php?year=2012&model=vanish-160#1 (Frame currently clearout at crc) Giant Reign / Reign X

The Yeti on your list made me think of the Cannondale Jekyll. http://www.cannondale.com/2012/bikes/mountain/overmountain/jekyll-carbon/2012-jekyll-2-21342

The hub service is actually simple enough to do at home with the right tools, especially Shimano cup & cone style bearings. But the truing and spoke tension is a combination of science and art I'd leave to the pros.

I've heard Johan Bornmann from Yellow Saddle is pretty good with wheels.

Cute little cycling robot:

I test rode a bike the other day with some elixer's on and they felt great, better than my xt's. Had a 180mm front rotor on which helped a lot too. And I like the resin / organic pads more as well. Had some sintered pads on the front and they were squaling and never bit as much as the organics I previously had on.

Lol!

Is the bike new or 'previously owned'? You can start by checking how much brake pad is left and that the rotor is clean. Sounds like a dirty rotor or brake pad to me.

A shorter stem would make it more twitchy, a longer one will make the turning in a bit 'slower'. Get the proper length fork for the bike, it will handle much better.

Any recommendations for sending a wheelset fromm JHB to PE? The seller got quoted R500 from somehwere, which is about what it would cost to send a whole bike! Apparently the volumetric is the factor that makes it so expensive. *apologies if this has been posted before, I couldn't find any recent discussions...

I like the colour scheme. It reminds me of the (Raleigh) Nomad range. In fact the mtb looks very similar to the Nomad FS Twenty in terms of design.

Ok, that looks like a proper amount of damage...

Patch it from the inside with a normal patch that you would use on a tube (or maybe a small piece of rubber cut out from an old tube) and then run it with a tube just to be safe?

Only need to get used to it if you are on someone else's bike and they have a different setup.

Indeed, I'm a little bored at the office

Yeah, it's more a personal preference thing than anything. My instinct is to use the left hand for the rear brake. With time I would get used to it the other way around if need be.

I have noticed that most new bikes are set up the 'American' way with the right hand brake lever being used for the back brake. It's one of the 1st things I swap around. All the bikes I had growing up used the moto style, so it's just more natural for me. How do you have your brakes set up?

Yes, a silly strategy, seeing that the profit would come back to them anyway, but there are probably internal politics as well. Without more info on the Axis range I suspect it will be the same way with it.

Nice. Now if they would only show us some of the bikes and give us a bit more info

Wish I had not clicked on that link.

And would they really undercut their other brand, Scott? I suppose this will be the budget bikes on offer. Will have to wait and see how the quality is.

That would be the Scott Aspect 60 @ R2699. Should be plenty tough for a commuter bike. There is always the option of asking / looking at older models e.g. clearouts of 2010 / 2011 stock. The (Raleigh) nomad range had some budget bikes at good prices.

One of the reasons I won't buy an Anthem second hand (the warranty is only for the original owner), and why I won't buy it new either, because who would want to buy a bike that has such a reputation for breaking. A pity because they are actually really nice bikes. Hope they have fixed the problem with the newer ones.

Yeah, I'm mostly a fair weather biker. In winter I rather lie under a warm blanket. If the wind is howling like today in PE (50-60 km/h) it's just too unpleasant to go ride. If it's raining the mud is just such a mess to clean up and causes extra damage to the components, although I've done that before and it was actually a lot of fun. Like a little piggy in the mud

For those that have bought / sold bikes here on the Hub, what company would you recommend for couriering a bike?