Martin PJ

It's a personal thing. I can't ride my 50 mm Campags in the wind, it's the front wheel. My son has 60 mm chinese tubbies. Doesn't have any problems. I am a lot shorter than him, so I guess that is a factor. Personally I'd buy the 50 mm and keep a spare normal front wheel if the race is very windy.

Got a local guy in Durban who does it, charges about R800 a bike. I have had two bikes done, it comes out perfect.

I like the bike. I have two Cannondale frames which I am going to restore soon. I am probably going to powder coat them, then put decals and spray a clear coat over the decals. I also have the decals, bought them off Ebay some time ago. Pretty much want to make them look original.

Is this for road or MTB.

The outer sleeve wears, cable doesn't track properly inside. When I change the sleeve, also put new cable. Normally wait until shifting is not great. Rear is maybe twice a year on mtb, once a year on road bike. Front one a bit less.

In some areas, grease or oil just attracts dirt, I don't grease cables, just change them often.

Oh well, I always wondered what would happen if we had to race up Field's Hill, now I get to find out.

If the sticker is small and modest, why not. They come off easily enough.

Originally I commented that you can use 11 speed SRAM shifter with 11 speed Shimano Derailleur. The post above was referring to 11 speed MTB only. I never commented on cassettes.

The 9 speed derailleur doesn't move the right distance with the 10 speed shifter. The MTB 10 and 9 speed shifter cable pulls are too different. Using your ten speed on a 7 speed, was this a road bike and Shimano. Road 10 and 9 and not different cable pulls.

It won't work.

To clarify, this is not the cassette, but the shifter, so it means you can mix and match shifters with derailleurs (Shimano / SRAM MTB). I also noticed that the 10 speed Shimano derailleur works on the 11 speed cassette when matched with 11 speed shifter. The only thing to worry about when using 10 speed Shimano MTB is the capacity of the derailleur, many of them can only cope with 36 teeth maximum on the cassette.

Don't know if it helps but the 11 speed SRAM works with 11 speed Shimano MTB, used it for years.

Clean it with some petrol.

Don't know much about pull ratio, thought that was just for shifters and rear derailleurs, I have bought two old pairs of Dura Ace and one old pair Ultegra brakes on the Bikehub, they look pretty new on the bike. Were R600 to R800 a pair, can't remember exactly. If you pull hard, the bike stops quickly.

I had a Fuji with Tektro brakes, even with Dura Ace pads the brakes were very poor. Changed to 105 and problem solved. You can pick up older Ultegra or Dura Ace (10 years plus) on bikehub, they normally in very good condition. Even 105 tends to rust a bit in places.

Rode two Sani's (normal) alongside ebikes, they didn't get in the way. Must say they don't seem to do very well in these long races. Can't see how ebike would make non stop Sani without carrying many spare batteries.

Use Arborio or Basmasti rice, don't wash it before you cook it.

I did say 44 mm in the first post.

Here's the tapered fork in the straight steerer frame.

I recently bought a tapered to straight adapter so I could fit a tapered fork to a straight frame - bought headset from Aliexpress. It will fit a 44 mm internal diameter straight steerer frame. It raises the front about 10 mm. The attached pic is what I bought.

Can try a 29er fork. Some say it may work.

Prices of new bikes skyrocketed the past year, supply of new bikes is very limited. I have been shopping for one for a while, it's economics.

I have an XT derailleur like this. Whatsapp me if you want pics. Based in Durban.

Get a road bike and a decent front light. Maintenance is a lot less, you can ride 4 to 5 hours, be home by 10 am. Great prep for the long MTB races. An Aluminium bike with 105 or Ultegra is fine. Doesn't matter the age of the bike, as long as the condition is good. Judge condition by looking at shifters and rear derailleur, these take a hammering on road bikes.