Goodbadugly

Yup, it was the older R-sys wheel spokes. They were recalled. I would rather stay with stainless steel, thank you. http://www.velonews.com/article/93054

I saw a series of photo's on a website where the spokes on his front wheel snapped in a corner and the guy fell himself into hospital. I will stay with metal, thank you.

Frail. You are one serious bike breaker!

Anything can be broken. Alu, carbon and titanium. If you pull it through your kloof. But I did not pull my carbon bike through my backside and it broke. I am back on aluminum. Handle carbon with care.

I have done the circle and I am back on an aluminum hardtail. I get more bump absorption from a 2.2 tire and a good fork than from a carbon frame.

Gobi xm

You are going to battle to get the weight of that bike below 11 kilo's. I have a similar bike to that. The weight of certain items bottom out at some stage. Wheels at 1.5kg, a fork at 1.5 kg, durable tires at 600g, seatposts at 180g, handle bars at 140g, disc brakes at 400g. A 120 gram handlebar broke on me 2 months ago. Ek het my gat af geval. Be careful of going into the gray area of "should be strong enough".

18 years old? Stay with a hardtail.

Thanks. Couldn't figure out how to get the top part off. Ahhh. The lefty thread... (I even tried to remove the little roller pin). Will fix this little problem over the weekend.

Use the "protection" as a "ust" if you like inflating tires a lot. I tried it. It is a pain in the butt to try to get the Protection to seal its sidewalls.

If cable friction is your problem, try a thicker gauge sleeve like those for the brake cables.

Good question.

I met a guy at the Induna who said that his broke clean off (a 27.2mm). He changed to Thomson. But then again there were pics of a few broken Thomsons on the hub a few weeks ago. I have a KCNC in 30.9 and it is still fine. Goodbadugly2009-06-16 14:06:18

Another sad case of brain drain in RSA.

Just like grade 1 school kids thinking they can buy a Merc with R200. It took the UK (First world country with money) about 10 years to implement their system. Our government(third world country with less money and in a recession) promised their voters a NHI in 2011... I wonder where they plan to get the hundred billion rand (excluding bribes) to get this system up and running. Also from the 5% of the population paying tax?

I am not so sure that the XO's are worth that much extra. I recently bought both derailleurs and shifters (X9) from Solomons for about R1700 (new). A new XO rear derailleur costs much more than that. If you can get a good deal on second hand X0's, it might be worth it. New? No way! Function? Don't be fooled by bling. X9's are good. The X0's might be a bit more smooth. But not R3000 smoother. Depending on your budget of course...

I have serviced and replaced the bearings on the DT hubs. They might be stainless steel, but the are made in Japan (says so on the bearing). I would go for the DT Swiss setup.

Each for his own. I enjoy climbing with a 11kg hardtail much more than climbing with a 15kg brute. Enjoyment factor.

Weight reduction. We all are weight weenies to a certain extent. Guys might spend many rands on weight reduction. The Americans quote $1/gram weight reduction. Say about R9/gram. That is about R4000 for your 500 gr waterbottle. Just remember that once the waterbottles are empty, the lighter bike will still be 500 grams lighter than the other... Some guys "use" a 5-2-1 "rule". 5kg on the body=2kg on the frame=1kg on the wheels. So if you can loose 5kg of body fat, you don't have to spend R20000 to loose 2kg on your bike. Loose weight on the cheaper places first. Like foam grips and dump those Nevegal tires. Then the fork and wheels. (MTB) Just be carefull. Losing weight can be addictive. (See a tread about a week ago of a guy not liking his 9.5kg MTB)

Apply shammy cream on a creaking crack.

After I have cleaned my bike with a strong soap solution (Like Kleen Green), I have found that the stanctions are "dry". They also tend to be sticky. (The soap probably removed the thin film of oil on them). Lubing it with oil get them going nice and smooth in no time. Goodbadugly2009-05-24 05:52:29

Have you lubed the joints on the derraileur? The need a small drop of oil from time to time. (All eight of them)

I have used HG53, 73, 93 as well as XTR chains. Also tried SRAM 951 and 991. I can't really say that any of them are much better than the other. Even the KMC on my training bike runs OK. Sometimes you just get a "dud" chain. My last "dud" was a HG93. So the last chain I bought was a HG53. Costs less than the others.

You made the best choice.

You could: Sandblast the paint off the frame, remove every second bolt on the rotors, saw off the seatpost and handlebar, titanium bolt kit, Maxxlite tires, import an aluminium casette... Even better. Get v-brakes. You might even get somebody to remove every third spoke on your wheels and drain the oil from your fork. The biggest advantage from you being so fast is that you will be standing all the way. So you can discard the seatpost, saddle and that heavy seatclamp all together. Or you can ride the bike as is. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It is already weight weenie as it is. Goodbadugly2009-05-13 12:41:51