Longbarn Killer

What exactly is your speedo doing or not doing? Often the little contacts on the unit itself or the handlebar mount corrode and just need a little cleaning up. This normally shows up initally as jumps in speed.

NO......NO......NO. Puting Shimano/Sram on an Italian frame has the same effect as seeing Breyton Paulse with his semi Afro. It is the same guy, but it just does not look right.

There was a very lengthy thread some time back about Litespeed, their tendency to crack and their inability to honour their warranty obligations.

The brakes are inside the fork and seat stay. I thought that this would have started a new treand, but it doesn't seem to have.

Went throught the same process with Probike. Last year June I requested a Raleigh carbon frame. Month after month was told that stock would arrive soon. In Feb 2011 I was told that the next shipment would be August 2011. August 2011 arrives and Probike no longer sells Raleigh. Surely they would have known in February that they were dumping the Raleigh brand. Why did they tell me they were arriving in August when they knew the brand would be discontinued.

Had a similar problem with an FSA crank. Two different bike shops rekoned my bb was stuffed and was charged R400 for a new BB. The problem still persisted after the installation of the new bb. After much searching, I eventually traced the creak to the head set. A bit of grease and a little tightening here and there sorted the problem. The sound apparently resonates down the tubes and gives the impression that it is coming from the bb/crankset area.

From what you have described, the deraileur that you have is not a clamp on, it is a braze on. It has been attached to your bike with a braze on adaptor. Braze on adaptors are clamps that allow you to attach a braze on derailuer to a frame that does not have a braze on bracket.

J Rossouw doesn't ride a Scott or has he moved over? Wasn't he with Rocky Mountain.

As per Edman's advice using those hobby paints. They come in hundreds of different shades and cost about R15 for a tin. I used an airbrush that I bought from Makro for R120.00 to take scratches out of an old bike that I had. It worked like a bomb, you could not even see the repair. I just bought the paint that closely matched the colour of the bike.

I love Builder's Warehouse as much as I love the bike shops. I could buy a brand new bike and my wife wouldn't know. I went as far as building up a whole new bike (which I sold) and not once did she ask where the extra bike came from.

This may sound silly, but do you have a block under your front wheel that lifts it to the same level as the rear wheel when attached to the indoor trainer? The pain that you are describing points to the possibility that your front wheel is too low when on the trainer or if it is too high, you could also experience pain. Check the levels of your wheels before spending cash on anything.

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/107567-at-what-point-are-you-automatically-a-tjop/ Refer to this post

What is the 50% for? I thought sporting goods are duty free. I know that VAT (calculated with a 10% upliftment) is payable, but nothing else.

A little off topic. Am I the only one that battles with their website? It is so damn slow.

What many people don't realise is that new bike prices have dropped considerably since 2009. I believe that there are even more decreases in store for 2012. You get some poor bloke who paid R30 000 for his carbon steed in 2009 and now tries to off load it for a reasonable (for him) R20 000; only to discover that the new, more improved 2012 version is now R22 000. What gets to me is the people who don't research their prices before advertising or even bother to read the name of their bike on the side of it. How many Fugis have we seen for sale? A simple glance on the down tube of their own bike will reveal that is real name is a Fuji.

All that has happened is that Probike are no longer the owners of the Raleigh brand in SA. From now on, Raleigh UK will be supplying to SA. They are to be distributed by Emotion Cycling, the current distributors of Cervelo and Eddy Mercx.

When cars que at a robot, there is always one arse that will stop so far left on the road that you cannot get past. Pedestrians will never move over for you on a cycle path and cars do not use indicators.

Merida = good quality bikes at good prices. You can't go wrong.

There is a guy on the Hub who makes decals. Cannot remember his name, but do a search on decals. His name might be Tyronne, but I'm not too sure.

No.............Raleigh of UK will be supplying Raleighs to SA from Jan 2012. They are busy setting everything up. It would appear that Emotion Cycles (Cervelo and Eddy Mercx) will be distributing. Probike used to own Raleigh in SA, but they parted ways after they joined forces with Scott.

Firstly, the older Merida 880s use Shimano 2200 parts mixed with Sora. That makes them a step below Sora. Sora does everything it is supposed to, but Ultegra/105 does it so much better. Sora's shifting is harsh, slow and clunky; whereas the others are fast and silky smooth. Sora also battles to change under load (when climbing or sprinting), the others change easily under these conditions. There really is a big difference. Having said that, I would'nt upgrade the 880 frame. Rather ride it and be patient until a buyer comes along. Remember, your bike is considered entry level meaning nobody will buy it to upgrade. Almost all the hubbers already have entry level or better, so your market is limited here. Try and advertise on Gumtree or sell it outright to a second hand bike shop.

No...... Road bike sizes are normally quoted using the Seat Tube length. So, if he is talking of a size 54, then the seat tube, from the centre of the top tube to the centre of the bb is 54 cm. Top tubes are normally longer than the seat tube. That is why the top tube is 54.8 on the size 54 bike. Also remember, because the seat tube is at an angle, the higher your seat post, the further away you are from the bars.

There was a problem with the 2007 carbon frames. These were re-called and replaced. Other than that, there is nothing wrong with Raleigh. In fact, there has been more SA titles won on Raleighs in recent years, than any other brand. The re-call was due to a crack in the cosmetic layer on the drive side chainstay. The product manager of Raleigh at the time assured me that it was purely cosmetic and there was no risk of failure. Most of the 2007 frames were re-called, but some people chose not to exchange their frames as the problem was only cosmetic. These frames do pop up for sale from time to time. There was one for sale a few days ago on the Hub. This is basically what the re-called frames looked like.

I was doing the usual lunch time surf and came across this 2012 Wilier. I want one, but at US$12 000, it is unlikely I would ever own one.

Whilst offloading some stuff at the local tip I came across what was once a very nice bike. It belonged to one of the vagrants that has employed himself at the tip. He told me that he got it from a friend, who got it from another guy. To my utter dismay, the frame was hand painted in green, so you cannot see the brand, but you could clearly see it had carbon stays and a fork. The bar tape was yellow. It had a Campag Centaur groupset (with Daytona callipers) and some unmarked wheels with carbon hubs. The groupset set and wheels were in perfect condition, just dirty. In all probability, this is a stolen bike and judging by the condition of the groupset and wheels, was recently stolen. Is there anybody on the Hub (in PE) that knows of someone who may have had such a bike stolen? It makes me feel sick to see such a nice bike being treated like this. I would dearly love to offer to buy this bike from him and restore it to its original state (if I can determine the brand), however, I do not want to buy something that has been stolen.