MORNE

I see those ‘spaceships’ behind the boerwors gordyn every now and then. Guess the relative safe, open, rolling hills make for good riding on those things. Theres also that stretch between blouberg and melkbos with the relatively wide cycle lane….you’ll almost always go warp speed to melkbos and then ride into a 60kph south easter on your way back haha. Good way to test your aero-ness?😅

Upgradetittus is an itchy disease. Best short term relief is to scratch vigorously, everywhere, even where it doesn't itch.

A different problem….watch their minds melt when you tell them you have fully custom bikes built from scratch that you wont find in a cookie cutter bike catalogue🤣 “yes but is it a trek or a giant or a specialised?” Also, the amount of people who hear ‘scott’ when i say ‘cotic’ haha. Shows how conditioned we are i guess.

I’ll agree that 12spd hyperglide + SLX on my hardtail makes the full Gx axs with xx1 chain on my enduro bike feel like cheap chinese groupset lol. BUT, I also broke that slx chain at the skills park with less than 500km on it which was mildly annoying🤷🏻‍♂️.

Not that it really matters anyway, since it’s a different mech to the one in question, but If it wasn't clear….It does 11-46 without a link. It does 11-51 with a link. There was some redundancy in my system at least that meant i worked out just fine. same with old 11speed m8000 XT long cage mechs. Everything you read will tell you it wont do 42/11-46. Not only did it, it did it on a 105 road shifter using a wolftooth Tanpan on the stock derrailleur link😅. Doing what the box says is boring…live a little haha.

I dont know…Shimano are always conservative with their gear range on rear mechs. If it says max 30T, as @RobertWhiteheadstated, winding on some b-screw will do the trick on 32T imo. Hell a GRX 11speed medium cage rear mech is listed as 42T max and it eats up 46T without effort on my bike…51T with a goatlink installed. Edit: but I agree, if you had medium, let them get a medium. You didn't ask for a hack job, doesn't matter if it might work or not.

Hahaha. For reals though, i find it easier to alight it with the wheel out, the fork placed in a wide ish tile grout line that keeps it sort of in place, stand in front of bike facing saddle, then align. but yes, that eliminates all the fun headsets and attack position bits so where’s the fun in that? Something ive also done with qr forks is do the above…but put a wooden dowel close to size through the dropouts to give you a nicer reference line to measure against. edit: Should work on a TA fork if a dowel can pass through both ends. Get like a 900mm one.

Im really bad with this, because i see it as a challenge to figure it out haha. That being said, if it’s an expensive part or the consequences are high….i do the walk of shame or buy the right tool. But it’s hard to wait…especially 9pm at night in a badly lit garage 😂

Colloquially referred to by internet forums as Shigura’s. Yes it’s a thing and those who know, know apparently.

I buy shimano stuff from merlin all the time. They don't geoblock. There are certain items they dont ship..like Renthal bars for some weird reason. But i built a whole bike out of shimano parts off merlin before lol. Check you cart one item at a time. Sometimes they end up saying they cant ship if the shipment gets too big. Like you cant ship 2 wheelsets and a groupset propably. UPS Shipping is free around 6-8k i think, so if thats the case just do seperate orders. Remember that you are limited to 3 x orders a year at a total of R50k on your ID number (without import code) before SARS asks questions. Although I have pushed it to 4 once (still under 50k) once without issue. Those are just what the rules say. If they are being enforced is another thing, but SARS is a pretty well run state entity so i wouldnt take too many chances lol.

Duties 0% on parts but you’ll pay 15% local vat and around 10% handeling/admin subcharge. I just usually for a ballpark figure work on whatever you pay without shipping +25%. so if you pay R10000 for sonething oversees, expect to be R12500 all in once its in your hands

Orrrr….10 orangoutangs less than recommended…dont take wheels off, dont put crank on floor, dont buy rubber matt. Dont herniate your spleen. Wax on, wax off😅. (ps, it is not lost on me that you guys have to get creative all day long taking off silly sram cranks, amongst other things, from ham fisted customers’ bikes😁)

Related to this….using a torque wrench religiously for a few years builds muscle memory. I’m pretty confident now with what 2Nm, 5Nm, 8Nm, 14Nm, 40Nm feels like by hand in the specific places on my bikes. the one i NEVER do to recommended settings is SRAM’s absolute horse crap crank extraction bolt. If you do those up to the recommended settings and leave it on there for long enough you basically need a leverarm long enough to lift the planet to undo it. So i get mine tight…and then some…and leave it. Never had an issue before and never en up swearing, breaking knuckes etc when the time comes to loosen it. Shimano’s crank mounting method = superior.

I run xx1 chains on all my bikes now, even the ones with shimano drivetrains on them. They just last to infinity and are super strong one thing to note though is that shimano 12 speed chains are only compatible with Shimano 12 speed drivetrains due to that new hyperglide + feature. They are also directional, as in they only go on one way around. The shifting under load with that feature is nice though, but not a dealbreaker for the longer chain life with the sram chains.

That suck to hear. Recently put in another order with Merlin and saw they swapped over to UPS from dhl express so was a bit apprehensive having gotten used to dhl express efficiency and not having to speak to people/doing customs and everything via the app. But the UPS came just as fast…2 days, but they still called me for ID number and email adress for invoice which is lame - because if you miss the call you stall the process by at least a day

Is it a visible wobble in the disc when you turn/look at it on a stand or are you sure you arent just feeling that subtle ‘grrrrrrr’ of the pads against the holes in the disc when you apply them? It is more pronounced on rotors with huge cutouts. Recently had someone ask me this again as they came from rim brakes, and the sensation of the pads wearing against the slotted rotors when applied was a odd feeling to them lol. I feel it more on Shimano brakes/rotors and organic pads than say my formula curas with metalics on my mtbs. edit: the top one will be more pronounced than the bottom one in my experience as an example. Anyway, might not even be that but just another thing to consider just in case😅

R200 is worth a try before dropping R10k minumum? Also, OP, if your xtr is mint and 12 speed i’ll swop you for my gx axs. I hate mine. Haha😅

Assuming they replaced the cable and housing, and also aligned everything like you said they did, and then hopefully did their duty and took 2 seconds to make sure the indexing is right, 12 speed? - check the clutch. Maybe it needs a clean and lube. google how to. but take that little cover off and clean it/lube it.

read this https://www.bikeradar.com/features/the-ultimate-guide-to-mountain-bike-rear-suspension-systems/

Some hoogies skills park and then some further work avoidance on the way home up that new bit 👀 Locals also catching some rays and obviously couldn’t care less about a phone in their face…

Was having a look at the ciovita ones when i went to go get my ‘cycling flanel’ from them the other day. They look nice. i don't really like my rangers and prefer to ride without gloves at this stage. My fox ones have admittedly taken a fall or two but have started fraying on the seams around shifting finger…which is annoying. Also, they dont work on touch screens, at least the ones I have, major drawback imo. taking a glove off to check or answer a phone is annoying. The ciovita ones are noted to work with devices.

If you get me to do the rock drop on iron monkey without ded’ing…i’ll buy you a beer? 😅 Some constructive feedback: kind of have to agree with some of the sentiments here. On a big day out like jonkers, It’s hard keeping up with the ebikes going up. Its unavoidable. I guess Its like when i ride with my wife…i get annoyed with how slow we are going haha. So i guess it’s relatable. But still. Maybe something to consider going forward. It makes it feel slightly less accessible.

Nobody here will fall for this so called plonker act of yours mr. Some People here know, and have witnessed you smashing the CTCT on a bmx around 4 hours🤣 wish i was fitter, bit honeslty cant see how i’ll make it past 160 without anal bleeding.

Why sorry? It looks like it is being used, unlike some bikes on here😅

2 months ago i had a stem lying around in my parts bin….there was some dust on it, but no real soil or anything. The garage tends to get s bit humid with the dryer in there and all this rain. Next thing I knew the stem grew some bars, levers and a frame. I came back the next week and it had grown wheels and a groupset too. I have a fully grown Banshee now, kind of annoying i know 🤷🏻‍♂️