David Marshall

Johan had a Morizumi. I bought a Japanese one (Kowa) about nine years ago and at the time it was around 2/3 the cost of a Phil Wood. As a wheelbuilder it is very nice to have but an expensive toy (as is my P&K Lie truing stand). I had to build 80 wheels to cover the cost. It comes into its own if you repair wheels with odd spokes and cutting if you need urgently or if stocks are short. Supplying shops or retail is a service and there is no money in it. By the time you have cut and rolled 20 spokes, packed them for shipping, delivered to Postnet or organised a courier, invoiced and tracked the payment you may as well not bother. You would never be able to do it with a Hozan. To me that is a tool for one off spokes or a home wheelbuild. Blanks are difficult to get and if you find them you usually have to order a full production run of 1000+ spokes. There are also so many spoke types that you would end up with an enormous amount of stock. I keep bladed straight pull blanks because they are almost impossible to get in the size that you need. For the rest I keep plenty of the commonly used DB spokes and others in 4 to 6 mm jumps so that I can cut and thread if need be. From a building point of view I would recommend a good tension meter before a spoke cutter.

Had a Merida Reacto 4000 disc in the shop recently with a gritty headset. It uses a similar set up with the cables going through the top headset bearing - unbelievably the hydraulic hoses do as well! Needless to say I will quote before doing any bearing replacement. Luckily the grit was external and I could clean up without disconnecting everything.

243, There are so many exactly the same but different! I use 290 because that is what I have for spokes. They also have one for metal to carbon but not available locally as far as I can see.

Agreed, minor damage to a ring can cause chain suck and a disaster.

They are not negatives until you have to replace them. An Octolink BB (if you can find one with the right spindle length) will set you back R800+. Often this will end up in a new crank/BB combination if the rings are at all worn. A threaded headset you will probably have to import at R1000+ (or use a R45 pressed steel Chinese one) and spring forks are considered non serviceable. Damage a shifter or brake and and you will end up replacing them all because "brifters" are scarce. I am not saying that they don't work, it's just what I would point out to any customer of mine that was interested. Hence my suggestion to split the bike from the touring kit and sell separately. Your estimate of 2-2500 for the bike is about right.

That seal needs to fit firmly into the hub body. Best to push it in with the flat of a screwdriver before fitting the cassette onto the free hub. Once the cassette is on it is almost impossible to get it in. Obviously problematic if the free hub comes out while removing the wheel from the bike. Hope this helps.

Two prices for this kind of bike. What it is worth and what you can get. Unfortunately there are some negatives on the bike - Octolink BB, threaded headset, spring fork and brake/shifters combined. To get the best price I would also offer the touring kit and the bike separately. The other alternative is to trade in the N-1 for a N+1.

My choice would be Hartebeeshoek road as No. 1 and then the valley road through Skeerpoort/Hekpoort as second. I must say that one Sunday morning at around 05.30am my son and I rode up to Hartebeeshoek. Was great until some Porsche club arrived to do their 1/4 mile time trials. No road is wide enough to accommodate a bicycle and 200kmh Porsche!

You can ask your shop to get you Enduro, Cane Creek and possibly others. Depending on the one you are looking for you may have to go Chinese or import yourself.

It happens! As above get direct from Pyga Industries in Pietermaritzburg. If it is the hex key hole that is stripped as a temporary fix you can remove the bolt with a bolt extractor and then drill and tap the hole to take a small bolt to refit it.

Chain Wizard in Sunninghill wraps with Armouride. Check out their Facebook page.

Some good advice given here but what is needed is the advice of a professional wheel builder. When a wheel starts to give problems like this you need to take a step back and try to assess exactly what is going on. So the nipples are breaking - not unusual for older aluminium nipples. Which ones? Front? Back? Drive? Non drive? Then check if some of the other nipples are able to turn. While you are about it check that the current spokes are the right length. You can then make a judgement as to whether to replace nipples or spokes and on one side or all. Take another step back. Do the components (spokes, rim and hub) warrant a rebuild? Spokes and labour are a significant cost in a wheel so to put that into a poor rim or hub is not wise. I cringe when I hear things like "to replace some of the spokes that they deem not to be good". To me it suggests that the person doing the "deeming" and the wheel builder are not one and the same. I've been building wheels for a living for 12 years and and I can't tell a good from a bad spoke just by looking at them. I can tell damaged, seized or poor quality spokes and those I replace.

Those nipples will all need to be replaced and possibly the spokes as well if it is not viable to remove the nipples. The person replacing the nipple should have warned you that others would likely go. The corrosion is galvanic caused by the two dissimilar metals (steel and aluminium) and the acid (water/mud/sealant etc). If the damage is limited to one wheel leave the other until it causes problems. Brass nipples will deteriorate in the same way but over a longer time - usually longer than the wheel life - and will tend to crumble rather than seize onto the spokes. If you can remove the nipples you are looking at the cost of a wheelbuild and the nipples (couple of hundred Rand). With a set of spokes it will be well over R1000.

It works. The problem being if you change the wheel to another bike you have to reset the gears and obviously have to adapt any new cassette. A better option is to machine the free hub if there is sufficient "meat" it. Ideally 1.8mm but you can get away with a bit less. If you need a short term solution you can drop one gear off the cassette and ride it as a 10 speed with one redundant click on the shifter.

To me it depends on where and how you plan to ride. If you are on the front a lot or chasing down moves then 50mm are the way to go. If, like me, you are more of a wheel sucker with the odd interval to get back on then 35mm is enough. The more carbon in the wheel the heavier it is. Steady wind is not too much of a problem but gusty conditions can give you some hairy moments.

On the Zitto the top part looks right but the bottom is a R425 bearing and you need a R413. Where are you based?

That is not the right headset. Yours does not need cups as the bearing fits directly into the frame. You need a to get a top part (fully integrated) with a R418 bearing. That is the top bearing and all above it in the diagram. For the lower you just need a R413 bearing and the race marked 7 in the diagram. Headset bearings are a bit of a mine field so I hope this helps.

Looks like you would pull them out with a blind hole bearing puller.

You are welcome to give me a call and check out my facility. Rebuilding is not a cheap option as apart from the labour cost of around R600 per wheel you are also most likely looking at new spokes and nipples (R800 per wheel). So what I am saying is that unless the rims are in excellent condition or something special a total new build may be better. I am based in Kyalami and advice is free.

Having worked for the Yellow Saddler I can quote him pretty well. Something like "Hang yourself from a rafter with a cable and you will notice it does not stretch" [Aside] Please don't mention to him that I build wheels with a spoke tension meter!

"No details of the rules governing the gravel events or which events will be part of the series have yet been revealed." Will my 2003 Raleigh Platinum Breeze commuter qualify?

This is how the South African cycle scene works. Dad has the latest and greatest. Mom and the three kids have old 26ers and Makro specials. All 5 get dropped at once for service. That is how I reach the 80% ratio!????

about 80% of my customers

Check with them if they did service the damper. If they did those symptoms are consistent with insufficient air pressure in the floating piston chamber. The pressure in the Monarch RL needs to be 500 psi (34.4 bar) which you can't reach with a standard shock pump. Most of the other Rockshox models only need 350 psi. If they didn't service the damper then as mentioned above that is where to start.

Just keep it clean. If you shift the chain to the biggest sprocket on the cassette and then shift down without turning the chain you can usually get enough slack on the cable to give it and the guide under the BB a good clean. I wash the juice off after every ride - before it turns to toffee.