TomR

I got mine from Grant at Sprocket and Jack. He will have a solution for you.

What crankset are you using?

I hope it’s a great trip Brian! I’ve taken my bike with me to Europe a few times. It’s pretty straight forward if you know and follow the airline baggage rules. The biggest issues I’ve had are my CO2 canisters.. Don’t travel with them in your bike bag, but I’ve found traveling with them in my toiletries bag with my checked luggage hasn’t raised a concern. On a trip last year, I had to deflate my tyres at the airport. That was a mission. Carrying a roll of tape with you is also good advice. Bags and boxes are known to tear. I’ve seen a traveler at ORT being forced to open his bike box, and not being able to close it because no one had tape for him. That looked stressful. Have a great trip!

I did a 1x conversion on Ultegra 8000 a little while ago. I thought it worked really well. The bike shifts and rides well. I’ve used a Wolftooth chainring, and run a 11-40 XTR cassette with a GRX rear derailleur. Those Csixx 1x chainrings also look great. It they were an option I would have chosen that instead.

I’ve had three surgeries; laminectomy, microdiscectomy, and finally a prosthetic disc replacement surgery. I didn’t have the option for a passive treatment as my disc had ruptured and not just herniated. If the passive route is an option, I would suggest that you exhaust it.. My first surgery was at 23. My last surgery was at 27. I have been living with the prosthetic disc for 10 years now. I have been able to live a very active and normal life. I’d consider myself a strong cyclist, and a pretty good golfer. I run occasionally, but this depends on how the back feels, and running only started again a couple of years ago. In my opinion the most important aspect of these kinds of surgeries is the rehab and discipline. It’s a tough road, but not too scary if you do all the right things. Last thought… I was advised to seek multiple opinions and be very wary of a surgeon that wants to fuse the spine. I feel that I got lucky finding the surgeon that was offering the prosthetic disc replacement surgery. It gave me my physical life back.

That definitely looks like a short cage. I was an early adopter of the Force1 groupset and had a similar issue with the rear derailleur working with the cassette that I wanted. It’s quite easy just to change the cage. I used an XX1 derailleur cage to extend the range on my Force derailleur. I believe any Sram 11 speed MTB derailleur cage should work. These cages aren’t too hard to come by and you’d be able to convert from a short cage to long cage.

It was delivered to my door. No SAPO. Just to clarify, I used the Standard Shipping option, and it cost 5 pounds.

I have used Chain Reaction quite a bit in the past. Their delivery service has ranged from being awesome to totally *** over the years. I have just recently completed an order/delivery process. The order was for a few small parts, and I selected the 'free delivery' option. It was shipped using Skynet, and took about 14 days to get to me. It was by far my best experience with Skynet. The communication from Chain Reaction and Skynet was good, and the package was fully traceable. I believe the more expensive shipping options are being delivered using DHL.

https://www.canyon.com/en-za/factory-outlet/category.html#category=road-bikes&id=25793 Same bike, different colour (maybe different frame size) retailing at $ 1400. Some serious deals on the canyon website..

Thanks John. Your videos look awesome. Looking forward to getting down to that part of the country.

I'm really looking forward to this event. A little terrified of the distance and climbing involved, but can't wait. I have a CX bike (Santa Cruz Stigmata), but think I'll be using my SC Highball hardtail. I have heard that the surface of the Swartberg Pass is quite loose and rocky at the moment. Can anyone confirm this?