When to replace a bike chain, before it eats your cassette
A chain does not stretch, it wears, and the growth is a tenth of a millimetre a link — invisible, and expensive if you miss it. How to...
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From the workshop
News & advice
Straight answers about bikes, brakes and kit — written in the shop in Hout Bay, with the numbers checked against what the manufacturers actually publish.
Kids' bike sizes: measure the child, don't count the birthdays
Children's bikes are sized by wheel, not frame — 12in to 24in. Avalanche's own fitting chart sizes by height in centimetres and has no age column at all,...
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Bike chain lube: wet, dry or wax — and why Cape Town needs two
Shimano say climate decides which lube you run, and Cape Town is two climates six months apart. What is actually in a wet, dry and wax bottle, which...
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Clipless pedals: SPD or SPD-SL, and which to buy
SPD is Shimano's off-road system, SPD-SL is the road one — and the cleats come in the box either way. What Shimano publishes about float, release angle and...
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Bike frame size: why one brand needs three different charts
Orbea sizes its mountain bikes S–XL, its road bikes 47–60 and its gravel bikes XS–XXL. Same company, three systems — and on the mountain bikes the height bands...
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Mountain bike tyre pressure: why nobody can give you one number
Schwalbe and Continental both refuse to publish a single figure, and they are right to. What the sidewall range actually means, what you trade at each end of...
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Disc brake pads: which ones fit — and resin or metal?
Your caliper decides the shape — the compound is the bit you choose. SRAM's and Shimano's own fitment charts, wear limits and bed-in procedure, and what actually suits...
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Orbea Oiz M10 vs M30: what R54,000 actually buys you
Both bikes use the same OMR carbon frame and the same 120 mm of travel. So the R54,000 between them is entirely components — here's where it goes,...
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