Mr Mulebar

X1800, can't beat SWISS reliability and as they are made up of stock wheel components spares and servicing can be done by almost anyone!

OK, SHIMANO and SRAM road components are not interchangeable at all apart from chains and cassettes. As for Dura Ace 7800 - 7900, apart from cranks, cassette and chain, nothing is backwards compatible ie 7800 and 7900 don't mix, officially you can use the 7800 FD with 7900 but it is not recommended as shifting will not be as precise. I personally still use 7800 and to be honest apart from the awesome brakes 7900 offers no real performance improvements, you only gain carbon bling and some weight saving. As for crash proof got sideswiped by a car and allstill working a OK

I guess time will tell

replaced with what? Alot of shops will fit Giant cables and housing which is crap. Agreed, cheap cables are a no no if you are a proper cyclist, whether you run continuous cables or not cheap cables will give problems. Fit genuine SHIMANO or other quality cables. Personally I have always fitted XTR cable sets and have never had a problem with shifting, except where the bike got that clogged with mud that the d?railleur couldn't move nor the wheels

Define screwed up?

Biggest single improvement you can make in aerodynamics is your position on the bike.

Crank arm scuffing is not a problem unique to SHIMANO! Anyone with any kind of experience should tell you this. Scuffing is 90% caused by the way you setup and ride your bike. I've done over 4000km's on my XTR equipped bike including the Cape Epic and the cranks are still in excellent condition as far as polished surface goes. Check you pedal/cleat setup or have some vinyl stickers cut to protect the arms.

Not that up to date on Polar anymore, but the CS200CAD is a good unit, for what you seem to do. The CS400 is more expensive because it uses new WIND transmitter, which is more reliable , apparently.

Use to buy only Polar HRM's till I got given a Forunner 305. I now also have a Edge 705. Garmin rules!

Cant comment on the bolts, but make sure that the width of the braking surface match up with the width of the pads! Not too much of an issue if the braking surface is wider than the pad, but the other way round is a big no!

Personally I've been using the Parktool CC2 chain checker for the last 4 years, and have never had issues with skipping chains when replacing the chain as indicated. If you are going to insist on measuring chains you should use a vernier caliper as a ruler is definitely not accurate enough for what is being measured.

Good Idea!!

SKS Rennkompressor or Airbase PRO,both are superb!

I think the best course of action is to buy a bike/frame that is made to run full cable outers and be done with it!

Agreed, but seeing it's a cycling forum I thought I wouldn't open that can of worms!

Riding on SA roads in low light conditions without lights is dumb enough, without a helmet is just plain STUPID!! Not to mention against the law!

The servowave levers do not exert that much more pressure than a standard SHIMANO brake lever, their main function is to increase the initial amount of piston movement relative to lever movement so that you get quicker pad contact. Hope that makes sense. As for mixing various brands of lever with caliper, not advised as the piston are all different so will not work together properly.

Hi Johan, Before slating someones experience and advice perhaps you should ascertain what there experience is? As to your comments about dust vs mud, both are equally evil! And having finished the Epic using a XTR cable set without any shifting issues, secondly if running full outer cables was the solution to sticky cables why are there only a handfull of bike manufacturers that build frames that allow for that?

Speaking from experience, the general policies on warranty is that any modification to the frame will void the warranty. Just run a sealed cable set or get some SHIMANO sealed ends, I've been running them now for 6 years and have never had a problem with dirt ingress in my cables even in UK conditions.Mr Mulebar2009-06-24 00:43:09