Croglet

I've been taking my bike to CycleTech in Kyalami for years (very good btw), I've never heard of "Kayalami Pro Cycles" before. I've also never seen it spelt "Kayalami" before, as on their website.

Wait, what?? You're not talking about a road bike are you? I thought I was doing quite well 😕 I'm currently on about 10500km and I doubt my cassette will take a new chain after this one. Almost at the point of recycling chains and riding the whole thing into oblivion until it implodes. I'm on my 7th atm, careful about swapping them out at 0.5%. Chains and Cassette are GX and I started with the steel chainring in the OP, 9000km later I'm onto an aluminium one.

Thanks, think I may have tracked a 32T down on the classifieds 👍 Awesome! That's what I thought the new Sram X-sync 2's were - aluminium with steel teeth. It's all a bit confusing, Sram has 3 or 4 different chainrings all called 'x-sync 2'. One of which is steel and the others aren't. I have no idea what makes the new aluminium ones different to the older ones, aside from the cost. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Very interesting. So it's not just my imagination then. I thought there would be loads of riders who would opt for the cheaper, longer lasting option over something a bit lighter and triple the price but apparently we don't get that option anymore. 😕 It's not just about the chainring itself. Every worn out part of the drivetrain obviously wears out every other part so your faster wearing chainring starts wearing out your expensive cassettes and chains. Maybe I'm overthinking it and just being overly Scottish but 8k for a new GX drivetrain isn't nothing.

Hi, I have a SRAM GX 1x12 drivetrain and it's almost worn out, again 😢 The last time I replaced it I used one of these steel chainrings but I can't seem to find them anywhere now. Anyone know where they're available in SA? I know they're "old" and a couple grams heavier but well worth it imo. A lot more affordable than the new aluminium chainrings and bulletproof. Surely I can't be the only guy who still uses them to milk as much mileage as possible out of a new drivetrain?

Problem solved. 🙌😅 It was a combination of issues. The pin was almost worn all the way through so I MacGyver'ed a new one into the top lever. There was some play between the groove plate and the bottom lever that it's attached to so a new torx screw solved that and the back of the lever was just touching part of the brake lever bracket in the lockout position so I gave them a bit more space. Thanks for the help and suggestions, much appreciated. 👍

Appreciate the responses 👍 I'm pretty sure it's not the cables. If anything they would have been stretched and loosened over time but I have turned the barrel adjusters clockwise and loosened the grub screws on the fork/shock so there isn't much tension on them at all. I also don't think the lever is bent. No recent crashes and I think the lever is aluminum (?) so it would probably just snap before bending anyway. I could see how a worn out pin groove would make the pin fail to stay seated in the lockout position but at the moment it seems as though the pin doesn't quite make it round that last notch in the groove to engage in the lockout position at all. These levers have probably done upwards of 18k km so I'm guessing something has just worn out but I'm not sure what. As I mentioned the original pin broke off, was replaced and I've just DIY'ed another one on but it hasn't solved the issue. There's surprisingly little info online about this problem and I'm sure there must be loads of people who have had the same issue. 🤷‍♂️

Hopefully someone has had the same issue and can make sense of my technical babble... My Twin Loc has 3 settings. It works fine on the first setting (middle) but the lever won't engage in the lockout position. It feels like it just barely doesn't have enough travel to get to the last setting although I've loosened both the cables to it doesn't seem to be tension that's causing the issue. I had a similar issue a while back and my LBS managed to DIY a new 2mm pin onto the top release lever which seats into a 3 tiered groove holding the levers in place in each setting. That pin seems to have worn almost all the way through so I made another one which, from what I can tell, is straight and fits the way it is supposed to into the groove however this did not solve the problem. The pin just barely won't catch the last corner of the groove. Any suggestions other than 3k for new levers?

Fair point but isn't that what the half marathon is for? I certainly wouldn't consider myself a hardcore mtb guy. I rarely do races and MM has always been a big challenge for me, but that was the point. I considered it a bit different and a bit more of a feather in the cap to finish than most of the other races out there. If it comes down to a poll or whatever the organizers feel will make them the most money that's fair enough, it's their event. I was just curious (and a bit disappointed too if I'm honest).

I've ridden a couple of Monsters which I've enjoyed but found to very challenging. Seems to have always had a reputation of being a tough race. This year looks a bit different though. 🤷‍♂️ The route used to be about 71km, with 1600m elevation and the Monster climb was 400m+ of climbing. This year it's only 62km, 1180m elevation and the Monster climb is just over 200m. I'm sure it will still be a good ride, especially if you haven't done one before, but why fiddle with the winning formula?

Yup, I've done that before 🤦‍♂️ Mauled a brand new tire in one road trip, but that lesson was learnt and I did not make the same mistake with this one. 😁

Just been to speak to the guys at Cycle Lab... He reckons it's fairly common with Maxxis tires (Crossmarks in particular) when you're sealing them with Stans which delaminates some layers of rubber. He said the tire would have been covered by the warranty if it's less than a year old and had been sealed with Joes, but they won't replace them if you're using Stans. Didn't mention other brands. I usually use Enduro or Dr. Sludge with no issues but I think the place that recently serviced my bike probably did use Stans. He also said that I could poke it with a blade and let it seal up and it should be fine, which I did and it looks okay although I have noticed quite a few very small spots of moisture all around the tire which can only be sealant and probably means that it's on its way out. There were few comments about the tire looking a bit knackered - looking back through my records I see that I bought the tire from Cycle Lab 10 months ago, so not sitting in the sun at the shop, and it has about 3500km on it now, mostly trails and a bit of road. That might explain it? Bike isn't exposed to the sun when not in use. It's 29". I'll probably ride this one a bit more but I ended up buying another Rekon while I was there. Never had issues with the first few I had and I find them to be really good front tires, although I will have to remember to ask the LBS not to put Stans in it when I get a service. Anyways, thanks for the comments and suggestions, much appreciated 👍

I usually just use Enduro or Dr Sludge but the sealant in there atm is whatever the LBS put in when I had a service a few weeks ago, so most likely Stans I guess.

Sup Bikehub, I noticed a bubble on my front tire after a ride today. The tire is a Maxxis Rekon, tubeless at about 20psi. Any ideas how that happened? Certainly not normal wear and I've never seen it before on other tires. Must have happened quite suddenly too. I couldn't find much online but I did see a few comments saying that it's no big deal, stick a pin in it and it's good to go. Is that good advice, especially considering it's on the front? 🤔 It's not the end of the world if I have to ditch it but I'm not going to toss it if I don't have to since it's only a few months old and these tires seem to be hard to find.

Think I've answered my own question. One is steel the other is cold forged aluminium which is slightly lighter but also slightly less durable. Really not the end of the world.