Martin PJ

I have a Rapide dropper with similar looking external damage, it's not the same as fork stanchion wear for the Rapide. This damage is cosmetic in the case of the Rapide post. There is a cartridge inside which can be replaced. Also other parts that wear out which can be replaced in a service kit. Unfortunately, my model doesn't have a service kit, repairing the external stanchion is not going to fix it.

Been down the road of anodizing again, did not work. I had a company in Durban anodize the stanchions after sanding smooth the damage. Despite following normal anodizing process, the coating looked great, but could come off with rubbing of finger nail. With another fork I had, took it to Cyclelab, they ordered new stanchion and steer tube - cost a bit, about half the price of a new fork, but basically fork good as new. Very happy with the results. I have another older fork which a mate of mine is going to try repair. He wants to press out the stanchion and push in a new one. Will see how that goes.

Pros warm up for races on Tacx rollers. I think they work for most. You do need to extend them a bit. Pretty noisy though, so better to get a cheap road bike if you want to ride rollers.

There's a guy in Durban that does bikes and pretty much anything. Done a few bikes for me. The frames come out perfect. The coating is very strong. This is a recent example. If you highlight the parts you don't want powder coated, for example BB threads, headset area, those can be covered.

Aliexpress sell super light tubes. About R200 each. I bought two, going to try them as spares. They look a bit thin.

It's not the calipers, even Shimano Sora are pretty good. I had problems once with Tektro on a new road bike, not stopping properly. Tried everything, nothing worked. Eventually changed to 105 calipers, problem solved.

If I have derailleur setting problems, first thing is change cables and housings. This eliminates most things. Front derailleur housings should be changed every couple of years, back once a year or more. They rust, even when standing still, this causes problems. If this doesn't work, try find a video on Youtube where someone sets up the derailleur, similar model. Sometimes it doesn't work exactly the way you think it obviously should work.

Maybe change front cable sleeve. Could be damaged somewhere, or not properly installed.

My experience is that bike sellers often take a chance and put slightly worn tires on a bike that is otherwise fine (happened to me twice lately). I shrugged it off and bought new tires for the two bikes. But honestly a leaky plug in an MTB tire would be pretty low in my list of concerns, just plug it again and carry on.

Also had issues with certain Maxxis that I couldn't sort out, new tires.

The Maxxis Ikon, Rekon and Crossmarx tires are rated to 4.1 bar and the Vittoria Barzo to 4 bar. Just checked mine now.

The tire is probably not seated properly. It can form a good seal, but still not pop all the way up onto the rim. There are some tricks recommended to try help, like wiping some sealant on the inside rim in the place it is not popping out to try get it to slide up more. I normally pump the tire up to more than 3 bar and it seems to work. I noticed once after I cleaned the inside of a tire of old slime too aggressively, the tire would never seat properly. I think I damaged the tire.

Buy a cheap voltmeter and check the voltage when new. I noticed once the battery drops below 2.9 volts, doesn't work anymore. Heart rate straps also get faulty. When you are not using the strap, disconnect the one terminal, I think that makes the battery last longer.

I rode a pair of these for a while, the spokes rust. Also the wheels are heavy for the look (although the wheels look light), between 1800 g and 1900 g for a set. The spokes break if you ride a lot of speed bumps. The year was about 2005. I ending up respoking my wheel twice, once for rust and once as many spokes where breaking. You could probably respoke them with any j-bend spokes. Have to use the same spoke nipples as they are bigger size. I wouldn't pay much for them. If I owned them, would probably fix them up and ride them.

Have always used Triptych. My only advice is that before you get a quote, get the item dimensions packed as small as possible. For bicycles the cost is very much dependent on size of the box.

That's it. Yes.

In 2016 a cyclist killed two attackers near Giba Gorge mtb park.

I carry a monkey fist weapon which I bought from aliexpress.com. I have since learnt how to make them. It looks like a big key ring, so if you decide not to fight it is likely the attacker won't know what it is. Cost to make is about R50, 3cm iron ball and 4 m of paracord.

Good advice about the 34 upfront and 28 at the back. I have a bike for my wife like this, this gear ratio works very well. Something to consider if you go bigger than 28 at the back, a 9 speed MTB derailleur will work 10 speed on road bike. You would need to extend the chain a bit, then you can go up to 36 teeth at the back. I have this setup on a road bike with 1x10. The rear derailleur is XT 9 speed. The derailleur extenders also work very well to convert a road derailleur to handle bigger cogs at the bag, I have used them for this purpose with great success.

You can size up a bit, or down by adjusting stem length and saddle length. I bought a Large / Medium and managed to make it fit medium in front or XL in front, depending on the stem and seat post height used. I would be worried about an XS on a small frame (e.g. if you bought Large / Small or Medium / Small). Ideally you should check first. Before I bought my tandem I asked the seller to take many measurements of various parts of the frame, compare with existing bikes to ensure that the sizing would work.

Are you planning to buy road or MTB tandem?

Big jug of tap water and some glasses, would rather leave a generous tip that pay for water.

For this reason I prefer a coffee stop where you can each buy your stuff before you sit down. Much better. In our group we had many experiences where everyone chips in and we end up tipping R200 on a R300 bill for coffees. I then expect great service the next few times, but didn't happen.

I use any duct tape, cheaper the better. Don't believe insulation tape adds any value. Once I put the tape on I run a tire lever along the bead on both edges to make sure the tape is plush against the rim.

Lol. Yes to everything you wrote. Also more likely to have bad wipeouts because of power of bike and lack of skill. The oldest rider was pretty banged up at the end on his ebike. Hero that he is. I can see what the organisers are trying to achieve with the ebikes, giving less capable people the chance to take part. However, we are talking about ebike tourism here. The bikes are too powerful, riders too unfit. Something that takes away from my achievement in riding Sani.