michaelbiker

Like all forks depends how it’s setup but I felt the small bump compliance was a lot better and the fork just felt smoother overall. I put it down to the needle bearing design. I also had installed a compression adapter in my Lefty 2.0. Servicing wasn’t any more expensive, just a pain because you had to send the fork away. Full disclosure: I went from a 100mm Scalpel to a 120mm BMC and I find the BMC overall a more capable and fun bike.

I ride a Fox 34SC 120mm with Fit4 damper. I miss my Lefty... 😅

I ride a 34 with 10-52. The answer really comes from where you ride. I had a look at some of my rides on the AXS app (rides were in different parts of Spain and one in Singapore) and I generally ride in middle of the cassette - which was surprising to me. So I tried to pick a few a rides that were varied in terrain as examples. Note, you really want to ride the majority of your ride in the middle to upper gears to save on wear of your cassette since the smaller rings wear faster. The first ride is approx 500m of climbing over 30km. It’s a lot of up and down but not much sustained climbing - none of the individual climbs are longer than 50m elevation gain. Probably more similar to riding in the cradle. The 24T is clearly the gear I like the most on flat trails. The second ride is more moderate climbing, maybe on average 50-100m per climb also around 30km and total elevation gain 650m The third ride was a 52km ride with a very long climb at the start - something similar to wapad up to Noordhoek peak. Total elevation gain was 1200m. You can see the 32 would probably move the ratio further down the cassette but it was still completely manageable. The end of the ride had a pretty nasty dirt road climb. The last ride here had a 450m 4km technical climb. It was really loose and very rocky. Probably one of the hardest climbs I have ever done. Total ride was 960m over 37km. For this ride I would have liked a 32 but it’s the only ride in the last 20 I have done where I have thought that.

As others have said, use soapy water. It basically allows the tire to slide into place.

For muddy trails the rekon race packs up quickly and is completely useless. It’s also downright scary on wet rocks and roots. In the summer it’s great. Rolls fast and corners well. Waiting for a Kenda Karma Pro 2 in 2.4 and a Bontrager XR3 2.4. Have ridden neither before but they are supposed to be better for wet or slippy stuff. The Kenda gets really good reviews for the wet. The combo is also 250g lighter than the maxxis combo I am currently running.

Yes. Had to do this the other day and it’s fine.

squoosh.com works well on mobile too and it’s free.

I have seen this video before and the wear rate test is not that great according to the guy at Zero Friction Cycling. If you have the time - and I mean time, since he goes into heavy detail - have a read through his site TLDR; using Molten Speedwax and a crockpot gave the best wear results. https://zerofrictioncycling.com.au I was actually contemplating providing a subscription service to people who would like to have pre-treated chains send their chains in at one point but I figured the drip wax approach really was good enough and so much less hassle. As for cost, a new XX1 chain is now close to R2k and cassette is nearly R7k. I would rather spend a bit extra on lube to make it last longer than have to replace my drivetrain every year.

I guess with all these things there is some truth and some hype but all I know is that I got over 8000km on my last MTB drivetrain with two chains (both XX1) in rotation and when I sold it (to a friend) the one chain was still under the 0.5 wear indicator. The other was just over. All I used was Smoove and basically wiped the chain down and reapplied every 100kms, making sure to let the wax dry before riding. The big problem I have with oil-based lubes is how gross they get. With wax you never need to degrease - just some meths in a rag and most of the crud comes off.

It also cuts down on the spurious, middle-of-something “still available???” WhatsApp’s which drive me up the wall!

I never list my phone number anywhere. If they want to chat they can go through the Bikehub chat system. I’ll only exchange numbers once I have figured out the buyer is somewhat legit. That way I can see their profile age and their history on the site. Same goes for gumtree - although I haven’t sold anything on there in years. In Singapore everyone uses a service called Carousell and it’s brilliant. I wish they could come to SA. Bikehub is perfect for bike stuff but when you want to sell any electronics on FB Marketplace or Gumtree it’s a nightmare.

Our last ride in Talarn / Tremp, Spain. These pics were taken while we were checking out the steep sections of a trail called Serengueti. Blue trails in Spain require a different level of technical skills to blue trails in SA. Steep, technical with huge drops on either side but really well maintained by the local trail groups.

Tremp, Spain. MTB paradise… especially after the weather cooled down.

Our last ride to Besalu, Catalonia.

MTB ride to Girona for coffee... the croissants were 💯

Maybe try a Maxxis Aspen 2.4. The wider casing should work well with your rims and it’s essentially a semi-slick tire. It’s the next fastest after the ikon I would say. Otherwise ikon in 2.35 but the 120tpi version.

Hot ride yesterday. Spanish summer is in full swing.

View over Lake Banyoles, Spain

A few more pics from Spain - somewhere near Girona. The weather has been amazing.

Hope you like it hot! It’s currently 33 degrees in Catalonia…

Cooking Spain! Rode to Girona yesterday under the Rocacorba. Stunning ride!

Oh and happy to donate. Please send details.

I used to ride through Blue Valley all the time from Hout Bay but now drive to Constantia Nek to ride. Riding up Constantia Nek is okay but riding down can be dangerous in traffic. Especially if you need to turn at Longkloof. Hopefully this trail will allow us to ride down too.

Somewhere in Catalonia, Spain

AXS upgrade complete. It’s oh so nice…