MintSauce

I've never seen lugs like that on a Colnago. Really something special. Lovely!

Only too happy to pay the increased fees. And really looking forward to the new trails! And I still boycot Tokai for the very reason they don't contribute any of the income from cycling into the trail network that is built & maintained & funded by cyclists.

Regarding someone's comments of how their new carbon bike compared to their old DHC, you have to keep in mind how 'normal' steel has progressed and improved over the years. I've never ridden a carbon road bike, not even around the parking lot. My first road bike about 4-5 years ago was an 80's Bianchi. I thought it was awesome, until I stumbled upon a similar age Colnago Master Olympic. I could not believe the difference it made in feel and response. The Bianchi felt like a complete piece of ****....heavy and dead and unresponsive. The Colnago was ever so slightly to big, so when the opportunity arose, I switched to a late 90's (possibly 1999-2000 model) Eddy Merckx. This honestly blew the Colnago out the water. Early in 2014, I decided to fulfil a dream and ordered a new road bike from Dave Mercer. I realise some people might think this is one of those instances where the new bike you've just bought is obviously the greatest thing ever. I assure you this is not the case. The Eddy Merckx was still built up when I got my Mercer and I was able to ride them back to back. Admittedly, it is hard to compare apples with apples in this instance since I went from Campy 10 speed, ali bars, ali rims with 23c tyres to Shimano Di2, carbon bars, carbon fork, carbon rims and 25c tyres, but the difference in comfort, response and feel are VAST! We're not even talking about fit yet, which is probably the most notable factor. Most importantly, is the simply unbeatable experience of buying something that is, in ever possible way, made to measure and specified exactly as you want it. When I look at my bike, I think to myself, that is the MOST BEAUTIFUL bike in the world. And of course, to me it would be, because I 'made' (read:specified) it myself according to my personal tastes and then Dave (who happens to be a good friend) built it with LOVE. Yes, I said it. I have never met a guy as passionate and LOVING about bicycles. I promise you, it will be the greatest buying experience of your life! If you want more info, you can read the piece I wrote for Dave's blog: http://mercerbikes.co.za/the-kenny-story/

You are a very, very lucky man, indeed! Somecs are some of the most beautiful of the Italian classics!

A beaten up Cinelli is still worth a few grand. I'd be all over that. But then I'm someone who is not afraid to pay a market related price for something special.

You don't just "make some cosmetic changes" to a carbon design. Even the slightest mm change in one area, will require and entirely new mould. Last time I spoke to a local SA bike 'maker' they were paying in the region of ZAR 500k per mould. So, you'd be daft to pay 500k and not make a frame your own. Might as well just get an off-the-shelf design then if you want to copy. That's probably what Raleigh did here. The fact is, this Raleigh looks similar to the Momsen and they both look similar to a host of designs that have been around for ages. Nothing new here. The better performing designs are the ones where great attention was paid to the details ie exact position of pivots, carbon layup, geometry and so on.

Great bike. Rode the prototype several times. Compared to their 29ers (FS, HT and carbon HT) this one just plays a bit more. Lovely. Extremely tempted by the steel version: http://www.silverbacklab.com/bike/mountain/silverback-segma-279/

Not sure how a thread like this doesn't have a mention of Jared at BMC...? https://twitter.com/BMC_CapeTown

Ja, thanks. Got a fright when I found it. The scary part is that this particular engineering shop has been around forever and has a very good reputation.

Hardly ridden. Really. I'm practically a roadie now, remember! It is for sale if you're interested, Stevie. 180mm steerer...once I cut it back down to size cleanly.

That's what I though as well. They probably didn't remove enough material from the 2 components to be able to 'fill' the joint with the weld and removed most of the weld when machining it down to size.

There are a multitude of things in the world that are joined with welds that could threaten people's lives if they broke. If it wasn't safe, it wouldn't be considered an acceptable form of manufacturing. For some reason, this one failed. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. It means someone should/could identify what went wrong here so as to ensure it doesn't get repeated next time.

Welding was done on the outside and then ground/machined down

The star nut was left in it's original position and the engineers turned a solid bar with about a 10mm shoulder that slid into the steerer. I then used an extra long bolt to secure the stem cap. The only thin preventing it from coming off is the zig-zag nature of the crack, as can be seen in the pic. With a bit of force, I'll probably be able to pull it off with my bare hands. Only thing keeping it on was the stem clamp force. I'm pretty sure had the join been below the stem, it would have snapped. Thankfully, that was one specific issue I considered before going ahead. If the join was below the stem I would definitely not have done it. I don't know if it's perhaps the fact a solid bar was joined to a tube that caused the break or perhaps using softer material than the steerer itself. I thought it might be softer material seeing as I've never seen a stem makes such deep marks on a steerer. Although, the marks could have been caused by the movement caused by the crack. No, I don't use a torque wrench, but I'm pretty confident it wasn't over-tightened.

Lengthening a fork steerer is not something that would be considered often, but seeing as the topic has come up from time to time in my 20odd years of riding, I thought I'd share this. About 18 months ago a friend offered me his old suspension fork at a really good price. The only snag was that the steerer was too short for my frame. I asked several experts and all agreed that there was nothing wrong with having the steerer tube lengthened by a reputable engineering shop. I subsequently had about 30mm added and built the bike up and forgot about it. This week I started stripping my bike to sell off the parts and found this... Needless to say I won't be doing that again!

I know he won't miss it! Great build, Iwan.

I haven't had any issues myself. I decided to go for these since I had a look around and couldn't find anyone who'd had any issues. Besides that, my rims are not light, close to 500g, so I convinced myself that at the weight they must be strong. I cannot really comment on braking performance seeing as I cannot compare apples with apples. I went from OLD ali rims with OLD Campy brakes to Ultegra 6800, so my braking performance is actually vastly improved, in both wet and dry conditions. No squeel, except for a very subtle, soft sound that I cannot quite describe. I don't know if this is normal for carbon rims, but it certainly doesn't bother me at all. Not much more to say. I klapped a cateye at pace coming down from Llandudno on Saturday when diving in between cars and those construction signs and I just misjudged it. Not sure where exactly it came from but the bike made a terribly loud creaking sound. I stopped to do a quick check and the rim is still running perfectly true. I'll do a proper inspection this week to make sure everything is good. So ja, I have limited experience so that might not be worth much, but that's been my experience

This is a great product, but not something I'd sign up for necessarily. Nonetheless, it is taking things in the right direction. I feel the same way about the Backtracker. I don't feel it offers enough to convince me to buy. Give me something that warns me about a car that is about to hit me and I'll buy it on the spot. But again, I think it's awesome that these products are being developed and it's just a matter of time until they're integrated into the product I would see enough value in to be willing to purchase.

It's a good thing I looked at this BEFORE eating brunch! I saw the posts on FB but didn't realise just how serious it was. Eish. Get well soon!

I know that rock. Stopped at the top, didn't have the balls to ride it. Unfinished business.

Except for the sheer volume of non-reusable, non-recyclable pods being dumped in landfills the world over. Are there any reusable pods available in SA yet? I see they've become available overseas

I just don't understand how people justify the asking price. You can go ride your bike anywhere in the world for a longer period of time on better trails for less money, all costs included. To each his own, eh!

Ultimately, as mentioned, pedal strikes will happen on any bike. Some more than others. Lower BBs do result in better handling so it's something I'd gladly live with. Best advice is to learn to adapt. If it seems imminent, I ratchet the cranks to clear the rock and avoid the strike. In these instances a rear hub with more engagement points might help. It simply means you'll be off the power for a slightly shorter period before the freewheel reengages. The only options I'm aware of are Industry9 and Chris King. A Chris King hub has 74 engagement points (I9 even more IIRC) whereas on normal hubs 24 is the norm. The only problem is that the hubs in question are rather pricey, but then throwing money at a problem for the hell of it has it's own rewards. To be perfectly honest though, this is more a convenience really because if you cannot ratchet on normal hubs then I doubt you'll magically be able to do it with a hub with more engagement points. All of the above being said, bare in mind that irrespective of bike or equipment you WILL always have pedalstrikes. No amount of technique or eqiupment can prevent them entirely.

Helly Hansen makes some awesome kit. I bought some stuff overseas a few years ago and searched locally for a supplier upon my return. The ONLY thing available at the time was a base layer? Couldn't understand how a company could have such an awesome brand and then not market the crap out of it.

Your point is totally moot considering the fact the driver has admitted brake failure, as pointed out on this thread earlier