JXV

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They give out a nice topo map of the trails if you ask for one....nice 'cos it allows you to mix and match

Great fun. The trails are well maintained....perhaps excessively marked in places. Great riding and nice places to stay nearby. The cost of a day's riding is a bit eye-watering but still worth more than 1 visit

Went riding there this am to help search. Met a runner who said he was found. I dont know any details

if the disc itself is bent then this does not help. As soon as the disc run-out exceeds the spacing available between the retracted pads it will rub somewhere no matter how you align the caliper.

Easy to overdo things with shifting spanners....fingers less likely to overdo it....is why I use fingers. Both methods work. Be careful either way. Good luck

have you checked alignment of pads to disc...both in the direction of rotor movement and vertically. If not aligned you lose some braking power in warping the rotor to fit between the misaligned pads. The Shimano mounting system cannot compensate for mounting posts that are not exactly parallel to the disc plane. The cone washers on some Avid brakes do allow proper alignment but they also move and require more regular adjustment in my experience. Have not tried the cone washers on Shimano brakes yet. Park Tools makes an alignment tool that can be used to grind the posts parallel.....dunno if any lbs uses this. Also it is made for alu. Would not want to try grinding a carbon frame. Rear brakes also more difficult to bleed due to high/low points in the hose route and longer hose. Try taking caliper and hose off the bike and hang vertically to bleed. Give us more detail: 1 is the brake lever spongy? 2 does it gradually collapse to the bar when holding at constant effort? 3 Is the lever stiff but the rotor still slides thru easily? 4 is the lever travel and free-stroke correctly adjusted? 5 have u checked disc thickness the same at inner and outer edge of the active braking area?

He he he.......that would be for when you factor in the effect of spoke stress and tyre deformation.....and gradual accumulation of heat in the pads....way beyond me.

Droo. I am an engineer. Robrider has it correct whether he is an engineer or not....sound reasoning and more succintly put than I can do it. Ground friction and some of the other arguments are side issues. Force applied by brake pads is converted to a perpendicular frictional force that decelerates the bike and rider. Work done in slowing down = friction force x distance that the rotor moves through the pads. The bigger wheel turns slower at same speed so it needs a bigger rotor in order to move the same distance through the pads and absorb the same kinetic energy in the same overall distance travelled over the ground.

Yes you are quite correct. Clean grease is better than dirty grease if the bearing is still good. But the real point that some of us have been arguing - till blue in the face - is that it is not worthwhile. Think about it: 1) regreased good bearing still won't last as long as a new one 2) time required to remove, strip, clean, regrease, re-assemble and refit is more than just replacing with a fresh bearing 3) more waste to be disposed of - waste solvents, old grease and rags/paper towel 4) more regular removal and refitting of bearings will increase wear and tear on the interference fit of the bearing sockets in your expensive hub / frame components. Neither camp is right or wrong, you can choose either path and adjust yourself to the consequences. I'm happy for all those who want to regrease their bearings regularly but they still have not been able to convince me to change from the fit-n-forget policy that I prefer to follow. B)

Running 203 front and 180 rears on latest XT calipers on my SC LTc 29er. The brakes are savagely good. Better than older XT 180F / 160R on my old 26er. I liked the post about the poor quality brake hose.. The hoses are a component we don't often consider. Any hose expansion under presure could dramatically reduce braking force at the caliper. Had this on a 4x4 once.....

Simple physics...to get same braking force with same finger effort on same brake lever/caliper on a 29er wheel compared to 26 you need proportionally bigger rotors. A 180 will give a fraction more braking on 29er than 160 on 26....in theory. If you upsized rotors for your 29er and braking is worse then something else is wrong. Align disc to calipers, deglaze and bleed PROPERLY....the whole system.

Bactroban is brilliant.

Tks for the heads up on the SC torque spec. 18Nm is a bit much for M8, especially if not steel. It still helps to have a "feel" for the different sizes. Have sheared a few bolts in my time

Awesome trip to do with a bunch of mates. If you can organise before hand with ferries for the crossings it helps. After you cross the Bashee and get to the bar in The Haven you will see all the pics of the giant Zambezis that were caught there

Sitting back and enjoying my popcorn.....B)B)B) I could understand the fuss if we were all replacing bearings on our bikes weekly and looking for a better way...but we're not. Those who want to drown their bearing in grease.....cool, go for it. 1 bb, 1 front axle, 2 rear axles, several pivot bearings, a few eggbeater bearings and no headset replacements in 11 years of cycling with no repacking of bearings except the Shimano cones. My fit-and-forget philosophy works for me. I go riding with all the free time it gives me.

Rode my Maverick ML7.2 since 2003, averaging 2000km a year. Front wheel bearings replaced for the 1st time early this year. I never serviced them in all that time. The XT ball and cone bearings in my rear hub needed more regular attention. The suspension pivot bearings have now been replaced about 3 times. They wear faster, I'm guessing because higher impact loads and only part rotation. The point I am making is that the standard fit-and-forget cartridge bearings are so cheap and last so well that IMO it is not worth taking the trouble to interfere with them....but nothing stopping you if you choose to...

The nicest way to do it imo. Did it like this with some friends about 8 years back. The route is not all beach riding but choose a time of year when weather is stable and ideally you want spring low tides between about 7am and 11 am. Because it will not be an organised event you are unlikely to find ferries at all the river crossings so you will have to swim some of them. The Bashee being the scariest iirc. Time the crossing to coincide with the tide change or incoming tide. Take a length of nylon washing line for towing ur bike and some drysacks to keep essentials dry (e.g. phones, gps cameras). I would advise to use an old hardtail if you have one, fit biggish tires (2.3 or wider) and then check that the bike floats. Strip and rebuild the whole bike with marine grease beforehand, then again when you get home to clean all the salt out. Advisable to have a driver that can transport your stuff between your overnight venues. Enjoy

+1 the Specialized advice. I used a Spez Avatar gel for quite few years. On my new bike I bought a Phenom Comp Gel. It is MUCH harder but strangely enough, even more comfortable on longer rides than the Avatar. Also a bit lighter. The Spez saddles are available in different widths, hence the need to get measured.

Bend it straight with ur fingers taking care not to cut yourself on the sharp edges

Price depends a lot on the build and whether you choose carbon wheelset or not. There is also choice of Alu or carbon frames for many models. That said I have not yet seen one I would call "cheap"

Looked at rims and hubs in lbs today. Weighed on scale there is less than 10g diff between Hope pro2 and DT Swiss 350...both quite OK hubs. Beware hubs with alloy freewheel bodies....cassettes eat these over time and some brands more than others. Do your research

Inclined to agree with Wyatt here. If you are very careful not to nick the seal lip or bend the moulded-in metal backing plate then yes you pop the seals off, clean, repack and replace the seals. However in practice, for a working mechie, the time taken to do all that costs more than putting a new unit in because these bearings are mostly quite cheap. Less comebacks too. If you repack a bearing that has even the slightest bit of play when clean....then it will not last as long as a new one. If you are a home mechie with free time on your hands then go for it. In my experience by the time I can feel play in a bearing on my bike it will be worse after I clean and repack it. Rather just put new. Preventive repacking of bearibg that is still running OK introduces risk of seal damage and ingress of dirt. Run them till they die and put new ones

Why you disagree Wyatt? What I wrote has always worked for me

Freezer trick should work but as soon as you take that bearing out the freezer moisture from the air is going to condense on it and you will now have water in your pressfit housing. Water steel and alu/carbon in contact with each other is a recipe for corrosion. Rust takes up more space than the steel it is made from -you can work out the consequences. In a dry climate the freezer trick may be OK but here in KZN I rather use grease and careful press technique