droo

Bikehub Pay. The end. If the seller refuses, move on. Also - when buying suspension on a budget, expect to have to service it at the very least.

The main damage to bikes after Imana is because okes just rinse them off and lob them into the garage when the race is done. Proper service before, full strip down after. Like take the whole thing apart. Seatpost, BB, pivots, rim tape. Rinse out anything that's a cavity. Inside the frame, bars and rims. Fork, shock and seatpost service. Reassemble. Job done. Or, as Philip says, just get a rigid SS.

It is useful in one specific case - hot waxing. Then you've always got a fresh one ready to roll while the other one is going through the 2 day washing, drying, boiling, cooling, faffing and incantations around the pot. People have just adopted the rotation part without the background. And it does extend the life of a drivetrain, just not as much as doing it properly.

That's only because you let one chain wear out. Measure them properly and your cassette will last basically forever. Also - rotating chains is a bit pointless. Just replace the chain before it gets to 0.5% and bin the old one.

For a complete bike, Triptych. They do a flat rate bike box to major centres for about R 500. If you need a box, Boxman do one that's the right size. If you want a drop and forget service, PM me and we can sort the whole lot for you.

KMC are great up to 11sp. 12sp you need to spend as much as an X01 chain to get decent life, so just buy X01 or XX1 and be done.

This is possibly the most important bit of advice in this whole thread

And being able to find spare lever blades for when you crash them off, or spare internals if you pop a seal.

Novatec MTB hubs can all take 15mm axles, so you'll just need to drill out the adapters. Way easier than faffing about with inserts for fork dropouts.

Yup, those FB groups are the way. Will probably be worth a reasonable amount to the right buyer.

Warm beer? Sis. Fetch the pitchforks.

Pretty sure you can just drill the adapters out then. Find someone with a lathe and a 15mm bit.

What hubs? The easiest solution would be hub adapters if they're available.

If you buy used you'll be able to flog it for about the same as you bought it for, the original owner has taken the knock for you.

As you no doubt found out, half of what makes a cheap kids bike suck can be fixed with a rebuild and decent cables. But it'll still be heavy and prone to falling apart. Agreed on the affordability for most people though, although it does depend on priorities. I mean, who needs school fees when your kid's gonna be the next Mr Min, right?

Those spacers are supplied with most new brake sets, so your LBS should have a bag full of them in the back somewhere. DM me if you don't find any.

Suspension fork on anything less than a 24" is a waste of time - nobody makes one that is sensitive enough for a 20kg rider, all it does is add weight and bushing slop. And yes, they're expensive. But buy a cheap one and see what you get. Also, they won't break in the 2 years or so that you'll use them. Or even end up looking scruffy. So you'll be able to sell them on for pretty close to what you paid for them when you're done.

Early Rider all the way.

Awareness and insurance. If you grew up on a bike in SA and survived, your situational awareness is probably already pretty decent. So just find an insurer who will cover you for out-and-about theft. There's a whole thread on insurance around somewhere if you do a search.

There's a fine line between brave and stupid, and I reckon anyone who decided you're an easy target is probably on the wrong side of it. That's a pretty solid looking solution. Shout when you start taking orders.

90s full rigid MTB with a drop bar. Cos the geo is right for a rigid fork, and top tube lengths were basically the same as road bikes back then. Disc mounts may be an issue though.

We used to run 2.4" tyres on 17mm rims back in the earlier days of MTB, and we're still alive. So as long as you keep your pressures under 50psi or so you should be ok. There are many charts online that will give opinions, the best one I've found so far is the Zipp calculator - https://axs.sram.com/guides/tire/pressure

What's the internal width of those rims? You'll need at least 17mm to run 38s, preferably closer to 20 or 21 though. Long tubeless valves are easy enough.

Looks like it uses the same freehub as a Cure XC4, but you're not going to save more than R 100 and it may not work. Cheapest option if you don't want to buy the freehub is to find a 2nd hand wheel to play with, and then sell it on if you don't like it. Cheapest and least admin is just buy the freehub.