patham

Your use of the PO box seems to be the issue, they need to be able to drop it with a live person so they can collect their VAT's duties etc. I use my work addy, as I can always delegate someone to pay even if I am not there. Good luck in establishing if the Depot is your local one, or JIMC. The JIMC secret fax line is 086 688 4139, twice now I have just faxed through instructions (with all the back-up docs attached)and lo and behold the stuff actually happens like magic.

Hmm, never happened to me or my mates orders. I take it you did supply a physical addy, and that the SAPO do normal mail to that area ( some suburbs they only do PO Boxes, which puts you in a dilemna- dilemma- quandary)? BTW- its not just R50 extra for DHL, they rush you an extra R100 admin / clearance fee for handling customs and VAT on your behalf, payable to the man in the van before he hands over. Good luck anyways & keep us posted - always good to know if new trends are about to occur with the wonderful world of CRC

I have tried both Stans & OKO. The Stans in my LUST tyres lasted longer than my tyres did (18 months or so), and when I finally cracked open the seal of the tyres it was suitably messy. The OKO also does a good job, but I think to get the same degree of coating inside the tyre you need a lot more of it (as mentioned above its a far higher viscosity). Old rumours on the HUB say a blend of the two is the bees knees. Maybe my next tyre change I will experiment and give some feedback.

At last someone else also admits to an Ignitor up front. They are very thin in relation to the nominal size on the box, my 2.1 Ignitor up front is far skinnier than the 2.1 Kenda on the back. I just need to devote an afternoon & a bit more Stans to address the situation with a 2.35 up front - should be sorted then.

Organics are supposed to stop you faster, especially in wet conditions, but wear quickly. Sintered are the other way around. The Clarks Gold are meant to combine the best attributes of both. I have just received the gold ones with a new brakeset, but with bedding in new brakes, rotors and pads at the same time I cannot comment on if they are better or not. All of them have the ability to generate large amount of noise.

My Monorails had stans in for at least 18 months with no issue. Now have a Maxxi's Ignitor and a Kenda for about 6 months, early days I know, but no signs of trouble.

Being a SRAM MAN, as a comparison, in the Sram 9sp chain range the more money you spend, the more esoteric the benefits. Eg. hollow pins, nickel plated links to prevent the chain from rusting etc. The odds of a chain rusting through on the highveld are fairly slim if you bother to clean & lube. So I buy in bulk (CRC used to sell three- packs of the cheapies) and get the cheap stuff. The savings were significant (less than R90 at the time for a chain), and the chains are far cheaper than replacing chain rings & cassette.

With the spruit submerged I was impressed by my Maxxis Ignitor UST up front. Bit heavy and high rolling resistance for jeep track, but good tread for cornering and self cleaning in the muck.

My shin scars can confirm the length of the pins. I now just wait for the demi-gods at CRC to pack off my order. Ta for the validation of my purchase.

Are vanilla MTB'ers allowed to post under gravity topics ? If so, I was convinced that these shoes are the business, mine are on order, hopefully they are as good as this article.

I do 12th ave Rivonia up to Emmarentia solo on the weekends, company is never far away, either mtb or dog walkers, and I have never felt threatened. During the weekdays, there will be a lot less friendlies, but there are some commuters who use the route so it can't be terrifying. In the middle of a weekday, I couldn't say. In short, be alert, and take back our trails !

My bike originally came with Monorails, which wore quickly, and are really not suited to a multi-terrain ride. Throw in some wetness, mud and sand - they were hopeless. Have now gone for Maxxi's Ignitor up front, Kenda Nevegal in the rear, both UST. Lot of rolling resistance on hardpack, but they grip like anything. Self-cleaning in the mud, they have pulled me through the bog that is currently the spruit with no worries.

Hey all I'm planning on doing the spruit tomorrow morning, has anything washed away over the last 2 weeks ?? Thanx

The other day I calculated my spend at CRC on parts, and got a huge shock (10g a year is not sustainable). Some spares, but the bulk of the cost is in upgrades. I would be better off buying a new full-suss bike every 18 months, then selling off the old one on the Hub (obviously described as "nearly new"). In the end though, you reach a pinnacle, where the spending should taper off ( please, please tell me that there is such a thing ??). However, as mentioned by others, upgraditis is a fun disease, and I think no matter what bike you buy, some people would always want to tinker and improve. And if your wife complains, you can always tell her thats it still better than you spending time & money at the pub.

+1. Their rooms & meals are great. They did have a cycling special earlier in the year, with a per room rate (so you could crowd people in if you wanted) at very cheap prices, you just needed to stary for 2 nights minimum.

The DX versions were great value about 4 weeks back when the rand peaked, I then moved over from home-built to commercial light. The new battery pack with LCD voltage monitor looks the business (ducks & waits for B-L to comment), but I have not yet used it in anger. Apart from the normal risks of buying Chinese products, just remember with DX additional issues and risks are postal delays (the longest wait I've had is 3 months), and that customs at JIMC tend to pull them at the airport because they are not shipped with a detailed waybill. So if you want a light for the upcoming 24hrs, they are not your option.

On a similar note, I replaced my chainrings, and kept the old chain (within acceptable wear) and cassette - I could not get a smooth gear change. A new chain sorted that out double quick. So I think the rule of thumb is, if you change the power delivery system (chainrings or cassette), change the chain as well.

Just to add that I borrowed a lockring tool & chain whip to remove an old cassette last w/e, only to find out that I could take it off with fingers only. However the shifting has always been flawless, so slippage and lockring tightness may or may not be related. Who knows - but I made sure the new one is not going anywhere..

I was also under the impression that Shimano are dropping their 6 bolt XT range. The odds that all of the big three worldwide on-line retailers ( CRC, Wiggle, Jensen) running out of stock for a month or two simultaneously just seems unlikely. Patience was a virtue and CRC did get in ( for about a day, then they ran out again), they must have just gotten another shipment in. So if you think XT 6 bolt is the way to go, stock up now...

I have been following a lot of these threads and wheel advice. My new wheelset (from our favourite overseas place) landed at ORTIA at 9.42am this morning. They are ZTR 355's on XT hubs with DT Swiss double butted spokes. Thanks to all you contributor's to threads like these, as firstly you pointed me in the right direction for further research, secondly for the new validation of the hit on my credit card. I look forward to passing on my review of this combo in future posts.

I found 175mm was clipping too many rocks when I upgraded to a medium full-sus. Have just swapped to a 170mm set-up and seems to be much better in this regard. But you should have a reason to change size, otherwise stick to what you have.

Small value packages can sneak in for free. Out of 3 orders, 2 went great, the third took forever and they split the shipment up ( in fact I just received the last component a week ago, was ordered in October, a mere 8 months ago. There are/were local agents such as Dealspot.co.za, who do all of that admin for you, at a mark-up. Going through them was better in terms of timing and deliveries, as well as refunds if anything broke or exploded. But their shopping list has dropped considerably and they no longer do much electronics.

Getting back to the topic, when CRC messed up my tyre order they sent the proper tyre when notified and told me to keep the incorrect one as it was too much PT to keep track of.

I replaced my GXP a month back, and mine rotates very smoothly. The instruction manual does warn that the seals & bearings take time to bed, but I would still not think that it should be so stiff to turn. Although I am no mechanic, I would trouble shoot by seeing if the problem is torque related ( ie. start loosening the crank bolts - although if it is I do not know what the answer could be - maybe ditch one spacer ?) and also seeing if a dissassemble & regrease everything in sight works. Good luck - sorry I have no concrete suggestions..

As with all aspects of life, mistakes happen and CRC are no exception. They have sent me the wrong tyre before. However their customer service is great. After notifying them, they gave me the choice of a refund or sending out the correct tyre, AND I could keep the original one. So its now lined up as my experimental one for ghetto tubeless conversions....