madmarc

A spare battery in your pocket between the smokes and the BIC lighter and you be sorted

You will never ride Campy "moer toe" you can only ever run it in

I'm convinced this will be the next big thing from SRAM - An AI that takes your power and HR profile and auto shifts you into the most efficient / fastest gear while riding. Imagine climbing a hill - the AI takes the segment off strava and knows the gradient and distance - takes your current power being produced and knows your ftp - takes your current HR and knows your HR zones - auto shifts to the best gear and tells you what cadence you need to produce to get to the top of the climb in the fastest time without puking up a lung. With me it will simply put it in the granny gear and tell me to walk faster

On MTB yes - I recently went AXS and loving it On road No - I'll stick to my mech Campy - Nothing better than spending time dialing it in and feel it work like a swiss watch forever.

I heard he emigrated to Scotland a number of years ago after he sold his Yellow Saddle setup to Cyclelab

10% bar oil with 90% engine oil - More or less - I use an old lube bottle to mix it - sometimes I add a bit too much bar oil and get strands coming off the chain when i spin it - Then i add some more engine oil, i still get a few strands initailly, but i spin the cranks a few times and then wipe the excess off the chainstay - I also lightly rub off the inside of the chain after lubing. The trick is not to overlube the chain 1 drop per roller is more than enough. Apply the same as you would any other lube

And thats why you add Bar oil - it increases the viscosity and dramatically improves retention but still allowing enough fluidity to move in and out of bearing surfaces

Yes also known as bar oil - normal engine oil tends to be a bit runny and drips/sprays everywhere the bar oil makes it a bit more sticky - Don't mix too much i use about 10:1 ratio. If you spin the pedals and you get strands of oil forming between the sprockets and chain = too much bar oil. also people tend to over lube the chain cause they in a hurry and spin the cranks while lubing this ends up gungking up your sprockets and pulleys - 1 drop per roller is all thats needed. I actually need to give credit to Johan Boring Man - Its his recipe from that article he wrote on chains and chain lube many years ago. From an engineering point of view, the only correct lube for chain drives is a hydrocarbon lube (basically oil). If dry lubes worked then every chain drive manufacturer would be recommending it and i've only ever seen snake oil salesmen in the bicycle industry recommending it.

Because the market has led the sheeple to believe dry lube is the answer to longer drivetrain life with a lot less cleaning required - And we all know how lazy we are when it comes to cleaning the drivetrain - less cleaning makes a happy cyclist. 500ml of 20W40 mixed up with a bit of chainsaw oil to increase the viscosity - you be having chain lube for the next 100 years and a much longer chain and sprocket life.

My Tacx Flow setup Sensors = Dual Ant+ / BT speed / cad sensor all in one cost about 500 ronds Ipad with built in BT mounted on handle bar with Tacx Tablet mount cost about 600 ronds for the mount. I used the Traineroad app as at the time it was the only app that had virtual power function. I only used the Tacx Flow head unit to set the level which was at 0 based on TR recommendation for that trainer. Always had issues with BT connection especially the BT heart rate strap I then migrated to the TR beta app and used my laptop with Ant+ dongle - works a lot better and very stable connection. Now days you have a host of choices as to which apps to use and they all mostly do virtual power. It depends on how serious you want to get into IDT training. I now use both Trainerroad and Zwift on a Kickr Core off laptop via Ant+ cast to 55" tv mounted in front of my IDT Use TR to control the trainer but ride in Zwift at the same time to make IDT work a bit more fun

If you on a budget, go the dumb trainer route with a BT/ANT+ speed and cad sensor, nothing wrong with that setup - I used it for years on an old TACX Flow trainer until i went down the rabbit hole of smart trainers. If you find a used magnetic/electronic trainer like the TACX FLOW then make sure it all works before you pay - If the cable or head units are faulty they cannot be repaired and there be no spares for them

So My trusted KS LEV 31.6 - 125 Dropper post developed a sag after years of working like a swiss watch. Even more frustrating is that KS don't have an importer in SA anymore, so any spares need to come from online guys overseas, which would probably be cheaper to buy a new dropper from the likes of Lynne. Not to be deterred i went onto the University of YouTube and Google landed me on the this MTBR forum page https://www.mtbr.com/threads/ks-lev-diy-cartridge-rebuild.899659/ I decided to ignore standard "Do not try this at Home" BS and go down the rabbit hole and repair it myself - KS LEV insist that the cartridge cannot be repaired and could result in serious injury or even death (Really !!) I managed to get most of the seals & "O rings listed in the post from BMG and after three cartridge assembly attempts its back to working like a swiss watch, total cost about 300 ronds which included 500ml of fork oil of which I used about 100ml. A new cartridge is about 100 USD online excluding shipping. The most complicated part was re-inserting the hydraulic piston without getting any air in the hydraulic damper - the best part is now I know exactly how a dropper actually functions. In fact its no more complicated than doing an oil service on a rear shock or fork.

You could also just not come back - be a lot safer 🤣

I don't buy the shipping cost argument either - They made in Taiwan so shipping should be the same Taiwan to Germany vs Taiwan to ZA What i do suspect is that the local importer is probably supplied from Europe - so Shipping from Taiwan -> Europe -> ZA. But even then it would never equate to 15% on the value

I'm comparing an online retail purchase in Germany against an online retail purchase in SA. I'm not comparing the price between importing a unit from Germany and what i would pay in SA. Besides, if I imported it from Germany (which i cannot) the German VAT would be zero rated as it is an export then the calculation starts @ R 10 715.00. So your VAT argument is mute. Somewhere from OEM -> Importer -> retailer there is an additional margin being made when comparing the retail pricing at current ROE and incl VAT of various countries. What is a bit pleasing is that with Garmin this difference isn't that big = approx 15% with SRAM its as high as 45%

No - But i'm comparing what i would pay in Germany as to here in SA out of interest German VAT is included @ 19% so in ZA this would be 4% cheaper I stand to be corrected but GPS devices fall under 8517.62 tariff heading which is 0% My ROE is a bit heavy as i could today buy Euro for 16.41 making it even a bit cheaper.

R 12 750 online in Germany incl 19% VAT @ ROE 17:1 - Can you compare ?

In my opinion, bike repair stands are the worst design i've seen from an engineering point ye ye I know its an industry standard but for me clamping on the seat post / dropper post or the frame just doesn't sit well with all the work being done on the bike - spinning wheels - tightening and loosening things - could place that one bit of force at the right spot at the right time and end in tragedy. I built my repair stand that mounts on the front wheel dropouts (front wheel removed) and supports under the BB. the only issue i've had while working on bikes is the handle bars are a bit high when working on the levers which i could fix by cutting the stand leg in front a bit shorter but i been too lazy so i just stand on a small stool. The best part is it folds flat and hangs on the wall out the way when not in use

Granted - However I don't know what the duty is on hydration packs but even at 100% it doesnt come close to the local price

Thats what i do - i'm fortunate to work for German company and need to be there 4 or 5 times a year - each time i go i have a shopping list delivered to my hotel. I looked at USWE hydration packs the other day - In Germany they are 1/3 of the local prices

Bike Discount for the duals = 14 400 ronds & single sided = 11 000 ronds @ ROE 17:1 and includes 19% German VAT Bike24 duals = 12 900 & single sided = 9 300 also incl 19% German VAT

Then give me 10 or 15% cash back on my med aid prem at the end of the year and let me draw out leftover savings that i have left because i'm such an active healthy chap ( I have nearly 100K sitting there not earning interest) - Don't force me to go buy sh$t that i don't really need and then discount it telling me thats my reward - Or tell me i have to visit a restaurant i don't particularly like to get my free coffee

Vitality has become the biggest scam ever invented. Members are all led to believe they get rewarded with free stuff for being active. when the goal is to actually have healthier members to reduce their insurance risk. Until they start offering reduced premiums on Med Aid and Life Insurance based on your Vitality status then it will remain a scam in my opinion.

Agree 100% - But you still need to set the indexing correctly

I've done a number of GX 12spd installations both mechanical and AXS Electronic - They all still smooth like butter - Make sure they are set up perfectly though or you be cursing like a sailor