Budget conscious newbie buying a Raleigh MTB from Makro

[shaper]

Thanks all, really looking forward to upping my skills and getting some kilometers under my belt. Feel free to sticky or reference my thread to other newbies that might consider giving Makro specials a go

Told you that the fair might be a good option. Congrats on the new steed and enjoy ... Welcome to the sport!

[cpelser]

Congrats on the bike.

 

If all goes well I'll pick up A 2014 Silverback Sola 1 tonight for R10k, less than 10km on the clock and tubeless conversion etc done..

 

That's a lot of bike you bought for the money there

[CraigCCW]

Congrats on the bike.

 

If all goes well I'll pick up A 2014 Silverback Sola 1 tonight for R10k, less than 10km on the clock and tubeless conversion etc done..

 

That's a lot of bike you bought for the money there

 

Good luck, I have a Sola 1 and really love it, it is alot of bike for the money, and really light.

[BLADE_RSA]

5 months and 20 rides later (according to Endomundo history) and I'm still a very happy camper.

 

Bike has gone in for it's first service and I shall be picking her up tomorrow in time for the weekend's riding.

 

The more bikes I've seen since starting this adventure, the more I realise what a steal this bike was. And the more riding I do, the happier I am that I'm not on that Makro special!

 

1 tiny complaint though, is that I've been missing 2 gears on the back 10 tooth casette since the get-go. I had put this down to some initial set-up issue and wondered if it wasn't perhaps a mismatch in parts. A friend help me fiddle and I ended up at least having the middle 8 gears as opposed to the extreme granny or speed gears.

 

As it turns out, I was right about the mismatch in the end and the SLX derailleur on my bike isn't exactly matched to the LX shifters... I could go on a splurb about how I found out about indexing and how it differs ever so slightly for different sized rear cassettes and how you need to ensure that your shifter indexing matches your derailleur indexing and so forth if you buying parts/built up bikes... but it's much easier to just say "it seemed like a good enough excuse to upgrade to an XT derailler whilst it is in for the service."

 

After all, if XT is good enough for the Cape Epic riders (mal ouens) then it should last me *forever* (read as *until I can buy that Black n Red Santa Cruz or Spez Works of my dreams*)

 

Can't wait to have another 6 whole gears in my range!

[popcorn_skollie]

5 months and 20 rides later (according to Endomundo history) and I'm still a very happy camper.

 

Bike has gone in for it's first service and I shall be picking her up tomorrow in time for the weekend's riding.

 

The more bikes I've seen since starting this adventure, the more I realise what a steal this bike was. And the more riding I do, the happier I am that I'm not on that Makro special!

 

1 tiny complaint though, is that I've been missing 2 gears on the back 10 tooth casette since the get-go. I had put this down to some initial set-up issue and wondered if it wasn't perhaps a mismatch in parts. A friend help me fiddle and I ended up at least having the middle 8 gears as opposed to the extreme granny or speed gears.

 

As it turns out, I was right about the mismatch in the end and the SLX derailleur on my bike isn't exactly matched to the LX shifters... I could go on a splurb about how I found out about indexing and how it differs ever so slightly for different sized rear cassettes and how you need to ensure that your shifter indexing matches your derailleur indexing and so forth if you buying parts/built up bikes... but it's much easier to just say "it seemed like a good enough excuse to upgrade to an XT derailler whilst it is in for the service."

 

After all, if XT is good enough for the Cape Epic riders (mal ouens) then it should last me *forever* (read as *until I can buy that Black n Red Santa Cruz or Spez Works of my dreams*)

 

Can't wait to have another 6 whole gears in my range!

I actually don't understand why you deore shifters aren't working with the slx rear derailleur. They are both shimano. so they have the same ratios. I've had and many people have had parts mixed up before. Hell most bikes come like that off the floor these days. You sure you don't just need new cables? Maybe your chain is streched? cassette okay? no bent teeth or anything?

[niterider]

I'd be more inclined to replace the shifter than the rear derailleur.

 

But before you do that - how many cogs do you have at the back? And if you remove your rear wheel and do some shifting, how many clicks from one end all the way to the other? 

[JXV]

5 months and 20 rides later (according to Endomundo history) and I'm still a very happy camper.

 

Bike has gone in for it's first service and I shall be picking her up tomorrow in time for the weekend's riding.

 

The more bikes I've seen since starting this adventure, the more I realise what a steal this bike was. And the more riding I do, the happier I am that I'm not on that Makro special!

 

1 tiny complaint though, is that I've been missing 2 gears on the back 10 tooth casette since the get-go. I had put this down to some initial set-up issue and wondered if it wasn't perhaps a mismatch in parts. A friend help me fiddle and I ended up at least having the middle 8 gears as opposed to the extreme granny or speed gears.

 

As it turns out, I was right about the mismatch in the end and the SLX derailleur on my bike isn't exactly matched to the LX shifters... I could go on a splurb about how I found out about indexing and how it differs ever so slightly for different sized rear cassettes and how you need to ensure that your shifter indexing matches your derailleur indexing and so forth if you buying parts/built up bikes... but it's much easier to just say "it seemed like a good enough excuse to upgrade to an XT derailler whilst it is in for the service."

 

After all, if XT is good enough for the Cape Epic riders (mal ouens) then it should last me *forever* (read as *until I can buy that Black n Red Santa Cruz or Spez Works of my dreams*)

 

Can't wait to have another 6 whole gears in my range!

Your older Deore LX shifters are likely to be 9 speed. Looking at your pics the cassette seems to 9spd as well but you have a 10 spd SLX derailleur. This should work. Upgrading the 10 speed SLX rear derailleur to XT will not help as they are practically identical with only minor diffs.

Check how many clicks you get on the rear shifter...should be 8 clicks for 9 positions.

The solution might be to change rear derailleur to an older 9 speed type....LX or XT.

Since your brakes are integral with those shifters it will be expensive to upgrade shifters and gears to match the 10 spd SLX RD.

Edited April 2, 2015 by JXV

[Allrounder]

a couple of years back the reliable raleigh that sold the millions that you are referring to, withdraw from south africa.

 

After that the import brand name "raleigh"  was sold to "keep in a dry cool place" "made in china" company. 

 

Ralleighs have been imported since under the name Axis. 

[SteveJhb]

a couple of years back the reliable raleigh that sold the millions that you are referring to, withdraw from south africa.

 

After that the import brand name "raleigh"  was sold to "keep in a dry cool place" "made in china" company. 

 

Ralleighs have been imported since under the name Axis. 

I did not know this.... Very interesting information!

[JPBosman]

Your older Deore LX shifters are likely to be 9 speed. Looking at your pics the cassette seems to 9spd as well but you have a 10 spd SLX derailleur. This should work. Upgrading the 10 speed SLX rear derailleur to XT will not help as they are practically identical with only minor diffs.

Check how many clicks you get on the rear shifter...should be 8 clicks for 9 positions.

The solution might be to change rear derailleur to an older 9 speed type....LX or XT.

Since your brakes are integral with those shifters it will be expensive to upgrade shifters and gears to match the 10 spd SLX RD.

The shifters are 9 speed and the problem with the gears is due to the setup.  Those shifters used a rapid rise rear derailleur that is at rests on the lowest gear.  The slx derailleur starts at the highest gear but should also work with a good setup.

[BLADE_RSA]

Shifters were giving me 9 clicks but the Slx derailleur was only giving me 7 shifts.

 

With the XT derailleur on I've got all 9 at the back now (27 gears yay!). I do think it may have been an older type XT being 9 speed and all.

 

Smooth as butter and shifting with just my index finger. Well worth the R1200 spent (ok, so a bit more cos I got a new chain and few other bits and bobs with the service) and yes, much cheaper than changing the other parts since my brakes and shifters are integrated - plus, I like them that way.

 

I do think I had some cable stretch on the front cos the front is also shifting much better since the service but the back was definitely an indexing issue.

 

*edited after double checking the number of gears on the cassette*

Edited April 6, 2015 by BLADE_RSA

[niterider]

Well worth the R1200 spent (ok, so a bit more cos I got a new chain and few other bits and bobs with the service) and yes, much cheaper than changing the other parts since my brakes and shifters are integrated - plus, I like them that way.

 

R1200? Gasp. Your next lesson in bike budget management - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nz/en/shimano-xt-m772-shadow-9-speed-rear-mech/rp-prod20700

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

R1200? Gasp. Your next lesson in bike budget management - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nz/en/shimano-xt-m772-shadow-9-speed-rear-mech/rp-prod20700

That's also a lot for a local option... but then the service cost and chain etc was included in the R 1,200 so it's not that bad once those items are considered. 

[CAAD4]

5 months and 20 rides later (according to Endomundo history) and I'm still a very happy camper.

 

Bike has gone in for it's first service and I shall be picking her up tomorrow in time for the weekend's riding.

 

The more bikes I've seen since starting this adventure, the more I realise what a steal this bike was. And the more riding I do, the happier I am that I'm not on that Makro special!

 

1 tiny complaint though, is that I've been missing 2 gears on the back 10 tooth casette since the get-go. I had put this down to some initial set-up issue and wondered if it wasn't perhaps a mismatch in parts. A friend help me fiddle and I ended up at least having the middle 8 gears as opposed to the extreme granny or speed gears.

 

As it turns out, I was right about the mismatch in the end and the SLX derailleur on my bike isn't exactly matched to the LX shifters... I could go on a splurb about how I found out about indexing and how it differs ever so slightly for different sized rear cassettes and how you need to ensure that your shifter indexing matches your derailleur indexing and so forth if you buying parts/built up bikes... but it's much easier to just say "it seemed like a good enough excuse to upgrade to an XT derailler whilst it is in for the service."

 

After all, if XT is good enough for the Cape Epic riders (mal ouens) then it should last me *forever* (read as *until I can buy that Black n Red Santa Cruz or Spez Works of my dreams*)

 

Can't wait to have another 6 whole gears in my range!

 

Stop dreaming about Spaz and you will fit in well here..... Just saying...

[BLADE_RSA]

Stop dreaming about Spaz and you will fit in well here..... Just saying...

LOL, yeah I saw the Spaz hater thread after I posted this... oh well.

 

As long as it comes in black and red, the name don't matter too much to me

[BLADE_RSA]

Update: 12 months and +/-60 rides later I've since bought a Merida Matts 60 from a mate who was immigrating... and also it was Red and Black so I couldn't resist.

 

The Silverback went to my wife who is getting into it nicely with about 6 rides under her belt already.

 

And after about 2-3 months on the Matts I found a dual sus in the classifieds for a great price... 2013 Merida 120 (Also Red and Black of course).

 

The Hardtail Merida was sold to a friend's father to afford the trade up.

 

I'm not sad about having bought 3 bikes to date and the reason for this post is to advise that you can work your way up to a great bike if you are patient, budget about R600 a month in savings and look out for good 2nd hand deals.