Martin PJ

How do our okes dope and go over to Europe and don't beat everyone? Our big races still dominated by foreign riders. The Russians had a state sponsored program, and they won a bit, but certainly not dominating anything.

Off road I think you should ride at the lowest pressure that does not damage the rim, you will feel it bottoming out now and then, if pressures are too low. Depending how you ride. If you think 1.6 / 1.3 is fine, then its fine.

Put the maximum tire pressure on the tire wall for slicks. I ride 4 to 5 bar in slicks I use, I am 70 kgs.

There is a measured risk buying on the hub or any other on line platform, a chance you could be conned. This is something with many Internet transactions, risk versus reward. We weigh up the risk versus reward alternatives based on our experiences and research, make a choice to buy or not to buy. I think there is a higher risk with higher value transactions, also the fakes and con artists are getting better. So far my experiences on the hub have been very positive. Ultimately the reputation of the seller does provide the purchaser with some comfort. This is the foundation of the on line platforms like ebay and aliexpress, and the like. You can see how long the person has been a member and the feedback from other members. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, not an exact science, but pretty good.

I can see how you got to 4 832 posts.

If I sold someone a fake on the hub, I would refund them.

100 %, if these chaps set out to make a proper fake, you won't be able to tell the difference. Look at the reputation of the seller, ask yourself "Would they refund me in 6 months time if this turned out to be fake?".

Mine have one fat spoke on each wheel opposite the valve. Also if you spin the front wheel, it will spin for ages.

At race like Sani2C you can use this, average speeds are pretty high so when you hit a rock or something you definitely bottom out, even at 1.8 / 2 bar. I would like to run 1.4 bar at races and not bottom out on rocks. I would ride 1 bar if I could.

I am thinking to drill another valve hole in the 29er rim, put 700c road bike tire and tube on 29er. Then put standard tubeless with sealant on top of that on the 29er rim. The MTB tire you pump up first, then the road tube and tire.

There are some plastic bushes inside that will need to be replaced a few times a year. So I think the service kits for this are important. The seat post is very easy to service. Takes about five minutes to give everything a clean and oil. I love my dropper post and has made huge difference to my riding.

My sons and I have been doing a study of MTB tire pressure for his school project with lots of different trials - tar, dirt road, bumpy technical stuff. Collecting lots of data with different bikes and tire pressures. Interesting all tire pressures result in very similar times for timed runs in the trials, within the error margin of the tests which is about 5 %. The main thing that differs is the handling and grip. On tar the MTB tires have better handling and grip with higher pressures (2.5 to 3 bar). Off road is it is the reverse, less pressure has better handling, grip and braking until the tire feels squishy, which is a subjective thing. We experienced tire and rim damage when pressures were too low in the tests (1 bar). So my opinion is that an off roader should ride with the lowest pressure that does not allow damage to your rim or tire in the style that you ride. For me this is 1.5 bar, front and back on tubeless (70 kgs). For tires with tubes, the tube is more easily damaged than the tire, so tubes I would ride at 2 bar at least for my weight. Maybe even more. If you are running such low pressures, make sure you check your tire before each ride and finger tighten the valve as tight as you can. 1.5 bar could easily end up as 1 bar, if this valve is a little leaky because of sealant being stuck in the valve. This would ruin your ride for sure with a burped tire or rim damage.

I buy a lot of stuff on line, basically do not buy shoes or clothes. It is pretty much 100 % import duty (give or take). With other things it is about 16 % for bike stuff. Somehow most of the stuff I buy from China does not attract a duty, except if it is pricey, like wheels or carbon frame.

I would not ride this tyre, and I repair pretty much everything.

I have all three, I prefer rollers, then IDT, then spinner. Time passes quicker on rollers and feels more realistic as the bike moves around like on the road. Rollers and IDT are better for interval sessions than spinner. If you get a spinner the flywheel needs to be as heavy as possible 20 kgs plus, or it doesn't spin properly. Biggest problem with rollers is that everything gets numb (hands, butt etc.) after a while, so I need to take a break after 30 minutes, walk around for a while. With the IDT and spinner you can shift your weight around without having to worry about balance, so the numbness is a lot better. Try and borrow a roller from someone and use it a couple of times, you will soon know if you like it.

The wandering is not that bad, I was deliberately steering the bike around. The rollers are easy to ride with the MTB. With the flexibility in the plastic roller, the speeds are very low. In this video I was about 10 km/h. So if you fall off, you stop immediately. Having the wall next to you is also a big help. I tried with the road bike and it was very hard to ride, the rollers must be perfectly round, which my ones are not round as the wood end fittings which were holding the bearings were not turned on a lathe.

http://youtu.be/VpIpXX4v2Tc

Gave some instructions to my ballie, he made them. They are not too bad. The rollers must be as stiff as possible, plastic gutter pipes are too flexible without reinforcing. I reinforced them by cutting a slightly shorter length of similar 80 mm pipe lengthwise, then pushing it into the center of the tubes, did this with two sections of pipe. It stiffened the tube greatly. The belt can be made of a holdfast style strap that can be sewn in a loop. It needs pretty big guides either side of the belt to make sure it doesn't come off. Also the MTB is much easier to ride than the road bike. Especially if the rollers are not perfectly round. I will post a video tonight. Cost was R300, I got bearings for free and the plastic guttering for free, so basically the wood and screws.

Interesting topic. The heat affects me badly in races too. The colder it is, the better I go. Much of my training is early morning, train through the winter and hardly ever train in the heat. So this is probably a big contributing factor. In the heat I loose a lot of weight in sweat - 4 to 5 kgs and I only weight 70 kgs, so it is not a lack of sweating that is the problem.

I had this problem with a seatpost, then I noticed the seat post is clamping against itself and not the bike. It is a quick release and I tightened it more with an alan key. Basically need a smaller seat clamp. There is no gap in the seat clamp bolt when it is tightened.

What he said.

Look for "Microshift Shifters" on Ebay. Shimano compatible, 8, 9 and 10 Speed.

Check out http://www.bestderailleurstore.com , can someone buy something from these guys and let me know if the stuff arrives? Google Microshift derailleurs, the brand is legit.

Good price there on SRAM red 2013, R5999. I paid about R20K for mine.

My vote is for long rides, they make you lose weight. Being lighter helps more than intervals.