droo

Dragons have 3 options in stock, 2 cheap and cheerful and one very much not. Any LBS with a Dragons account will be able to get you one. Beyond that you might battle.

Green loctite. You'll only know if you've had to deal with it.

"Press" and "hammer" are interchangeable aren't they?

Proprietary parts need specialized equipment to service, and this is no different. The tooling to service Brain shocks goes for about R 80k, so to expecting your LBS to have this on hand is a bit unreasonable. There are a few places that are tooled up for this - we're one of them, RBC in PE and Protune in PMB are the other two that I know of besides Specialized HQ in Stellenbosch.

Back on topic - when I clamp a bike in a stand I mark the height of the post and pull it out until there's enough lower to clamp that in the stand. Takes less than a minute in most cases and saves any possible heartache. Particularly when removing SRAM or RF cranks, BBs, and anything that requires flogging, which is more than we'll tell you...

For U cup seals I get this, but for O rings as well?

Almost - the oil boils at low pressure and you end up with gas in what's meant to be incompressible. Boing boing. Those seals take 500 odd PSI in positive pressure, that 14psi (at most) of vacuum shouldn't make them leak.

40% duty plus VAT = R 3 220. Not sure what tax is charged on that site, AFAIK it varies by state. I'll agree that there are some egregious ripoffs locally though, but overall it's definitely better than it was 20 years ago.

Rear wheel travel - look up the spec of the bike, it'll be on there. Someone earlier in the thread did it for you. Overstroking - almost universally a bad idea, although there are some frames that you can get away with it and some others where more than one model uses the same frame and the travel can be changed with a different shock, yoke or linkage. Yours is not one of them, mainly because a 190 x 51mm shock is the longest stroke you can get for that eye-to-eye length.

Correct. Buttercups are basically an anti-vibration mount that sits between the lowers and the air shaft and damper, which should be able to absorb higher frequency chatter than an air spring or a damper.

It's been said already, but setup and maintenance will make a far bigger difference than the actual damper. Both forks are great, but both can be made to feel rubbish if you don't know how to dial them in - and there are a lot of variables to control. That said, the GRIP2 VVC system should in theory give more consistent adjustment through the range because of how the mechanism works.

It's a great thing, I'd just be scared of crashing it off...

It might, but it's also about the size of a tablet...

You can show the base map on your screen on the 530 and up, but it's a bit useless cos the screen is too small to really see what's going on. Same goes with the watches. If you're in a bind it may save you, but it's a proper faff.

Was worth a shot, but I understand...

Yup. Heap of customisable fields in there, I've got one for my Fenix that does 8. The 530 supports custom fields, and I doubt you're the first oke in the world that wants this, so someone's most likely done something similar. By data field, they don't mean the metrics - it's how everything's laid out. Otherwise I'll trade you for my 130, which has exactly what you're after...

Pretty sure the IQ store will have a data field that does what you want, may take some digging to find it though.

Haven't ridden one myself, but the feedback I've had from people who have is that it's decent - for the price. Your experience of it will depend entirely on your reference. If you're coming off a Pike, Lyrik, 36 or similar, the small bump will be rubbish. If you're looking for a burly chassis and plushness is third or fourth on your wish list, then it's definitely worth a look.

Using the stand as a dishing tool only works on the P&K Lie stands. On any other stand you'll need a dish stick to get it perfect. Park make mass market bike tools, not precision ones.

We can do it, service parts in stock. PM for details if you'd like to arrange it.

Dayle at Lyne Components has been experimenting with all manner of materials in his printer, he'd probably be able to assist.

Lupine FTW. It'll bankrupt you, but only once. Just wish they were easier to get hold of here. I've tested about 10 different cheaper lights, and the two things that set the expensive ones apart are beam pattern and colour temperature. The budget ones tend to be very focused, which is fine for the road but useless on singletrack unless you've got a head / bar combo. They also tend to be more towards the blue end of the colour spectrum, which isn't nearly as good for visibility but is very good for rated output numbers. I eventually got a Sigma Buster, which I can't fault yet - unfortunately they're no longer available here. 2000lm, about 2 hours on full crank, and a wireless remote (one of those unnecessary things that you'll wonder how you ever did without). If I had to replace it, most likely something from Exposure for local support, or Lupine just because I'd probably never need the support. For a "budget" option, the Ravemen range is really good, although the mounts are a bit ropey - this can be cured with a R 150 Gopro mount though, so it's not a major issue.

Never used him to build a wheel so I couldn't comment - more than one good review on this page though, and he's definitely built more than a few sets.