David Marshall

In my business I use electrical components, tools and motor parts. My experience with these has led me to steer clear of Chinese wherever possible. I am sure that there are many good lines originating there, I just have not had good experiences.

There seems to be little demand for road bikes at the moment and there are deals to be had. Solomon's had some awsome prices on their winter sale. ( 2011 Madone 5.9 for 25 000, hub prices 19000 to 29000. Full Ultegra Fuji for 9000 and more. Even at these prices they did not fly out of the store. Sportsmans Warehouse had some entry level Avalanch bikes with 9 speed sora's eventually marked down to 2999. I haven't seen many older 8 speeds advertised for less on the hub.

I suggest leaving some spacers (about 5 to 10mm)above the stem clamp section an all forks. If you later want to replace the stem or headset the stack height will not be limiting. Also if you sell the bike to some long john he will have some room to move. I have a bike with about 5mm vacant space in the stem clamp and I think about it often - especially going down Hekpoort at 80kmph. I would also like to know the maximum safe limit.

Check out Solomon's winter sale. Some good deals

Chains, petrol - I don't trust anyone - especially mechanics/manufacturers/engineers. Had a job with the old Hyundai in the warranties dept. When the first bakkies rolled off the line they forgot to tell the bloke sticking the "use unleaded only" stickers on the inside of the fuel cover to take the day off. Not pretty in a deisel. As for JB splitting hairs and chain link(s?) I agree with him. You can't stretch a chain - but you can make it longer by wear on the roller pins. Of all the bikes I've worked on I recon at least a third have come in with incorrectly sized chains fitted. I always check a chain for wear and length.

I bought a set of 105 wheels from CWC awhile back. I urgently needed wheels for a race and did not have time to get some made up. As Edman suggests I would prefer 32 spokes and these would not have been my first choice but I must say I have been really impressed. After 6 months of 300km a week they still true and stiff and I still haven't got round to building my new ones yet. I do only weigh 70kg so I can't say how they would cope with more weight.

Their agent in SA (although I have no idea if they stock the spokes) DDP TECH UNIT 3A FAIRLANDIA, 186 SMIT STREET, FAIRLANDS JOHANNESBURG, 2030, SouthAfrica dtsupport@mweb.co.za

If the front derailer is slightly too high on the downtube it can also contribute to the problem. Although not complicated, I find the FD more difficult to set properly than the rear. I will gladly assist if you need. Based near Fourways. 072 222 7185

Can't agree. I will drive a long way to get good bearings for any application before I use Chinese. Same goes for tools and just about everything else.

I've done it by using the fitting which used to attach where the down tube shifters on older road bikes were. Was a hell of a job 'though. The fitting normally bolts through the downtube and on the old bikes there was a square "nut" welded to the frame on each side to stop the cable torque turning the whole thing. I only used one side so I cut a small square piece of aliminum which I unsuccessfully tried to chemically weld with epoxies and superglues before finally tapping the tube and using 4 small grub screws to attach it. I then pop rivited the fitting on. Worked well but as I said was one hell of a job. I really underestimated the force generated in the cable when shifting.

It will work in most cases. I did once have problems on a road bike with an FSA crank with 9 speed rings and a 10 speed chain. Managed to get the chain to skate on the small ring when shifting to the small ring while in a high gear at the back. As Tankman says the differences are so small that a minor tweak can solve the compatibility issues. In my case a different brand of chain sorted it out.

Bad news! I ride that road almost every day and often alone. Hope your client recovers soon.

Entries close tomorrow so I expect the numbers will improve. As for the cost I can't see it costing much less. What does it cost to get paramedic coverage for four days? The Parys tour is in the same ballpark.

X2

Is it only for full racing licenced riders this year?

Solomon's have it in stock. I think it goes for around R200 plus. Well worth it.

Was also confused - emailed the organisers and it seems everyone is riding in age groups. No open seeded.

Service costs are a touchy subject because people have widely differing expectations. I charge a base R320 excluding parts (and excl. forks and suspension service on a MTB). For a bike with predominantly sealed bearings, which don't need replacing, I will drop to as low as R200. I no longer offer a minor service as I still have to clean the bikes and parts and often end up spending considerable time sorting out minor issues. To do a full service on a road bike takes me about as long as a service on my bakkie. (The bike parts are a lot more difficult to get hold of 'though). Based on this I don't think the general LBS charges are excessive. The jury is still out on the cable housing. My feeling is that housing related shift problems are a result of worn/dirty inner tubing and I would rather use good (Shimano level) housing at about R25/m and dump it at the first sign of trouble than to debate whether to clean and reuse the top end stuff. But the customer is king so I am flexible.

I came down (rain and slippery) in my 2wd bakkie on 20 Dec last year. Morning temp was 4.5 deg C(December?) and the wind howling. Had some white knuckle moments but it was not too bad. Would have felt safer on a MTB though! There is space to allow vehicles to pass on the bends but I saw very little traffic anyway. The altitude (for me) was a killer though, after three days up there I had to go onto cortisone to sort out my inflamed lungs.

I reckon it's worth getting a professional bike set up where the person is competent enough to insert cleat wedges or shoe supports as well as bike fit.

Ride Mag (April/May 2011) has an interesting article on glycaemic index. Worth a read in above context.

I don't think that it is worth the effort. There seems to be no market for Hybrids and you can pick them up for around a grand second hand. Even new I've seen them discounted from list of about R4000 to R2000.

That is not lekker at all!

It's always difficult to reconstruct after the event, especially if you wern't on the bike at the time. This is the sequence of events. 1) I serviced the mtb and during the service inserted the speed link in the chain. After the first ride the owner complained that the link had failed (broken or come off I don't know). He said that this had happened as he put on power at the begining of a climb. Made no mention of any problem that could have caused this but did not want the speed link replaced. So I pinned the chain and sent him on his way. 2) He brought the bike back the following weekend with the chain twisted but not broken. The inner arm of the RD had cracked right through. He said that the chain had come off. I repaired the obvious damage and and only managed to pick up the chain suck after riding the bike for about 10km. Replaced the small chain ring and now it's fine.

The links will also be the first part of the chain to fail if there is some other problem. I've had one break with chain suck issues on the chainring on a friends bike. Replaced it with a pin and then replaced the RD, chain and chainring the following weekend. Expensive lesson.