100Tours

Yes, in theory. Aluminium has a finite number of fatigue cycles until it will break (unlike steel or carbon). I'm still riding a 20-year old aluminium cannondale however, and it hasn't shown signs of damage yet. Might happen during my lifetime, might not. I've seen fractured Titanium frames that are only a few years old, but not Aluminium. Alu was the material of choice for h/bars, pedals, and so on for Paris Roubaix up until a few years ago because it is more forgiving than carbon (carbon will kill road buzz, but not corrugations), and it likely represents a lot better value as a gravel bike material at the moment. If you have 50k+ to spend then go Carbon, if you're in the 10-20k ballpark then Aluminium is a really good choice.

True. I'm a snob - I like the hydraulic routing on the ultra levers better 😁

Has happened to me before after a long week riding in wet weather from Knysna to Stellenbosch. The bearing shell being carbon, and the gritty conditions creating a perfect grinding paste. I don't think you can fix it

Agreed - I am a 2-by for gravel guy. Now if there were only 10 speed hydraulic lever options..

My experience was that my first gravel bike (Spesh Diverge 1) was very nice on tar, but not 'gravel' enough for SA. The early bikes were probably more CX than gravel in their concept. Number 1 issue for me is tyre clearance - my personal belief is that only 45 mm is enough, and if you're stuck with a gravel frame that tops out at 38 or 40 then before long you're going to be re-selling. My current steed will take a 50 and I'm very happy with that. less than 45 and you're goinng to ride too hard a pressure and still you risk punctures. The problem is that once you've found the right tyre width now you can't find the appropriate gearing. it doesn't help having MTB tyre clearance if you're stuck with a maximum 42t front ring. There are a special few bikes that get this balance right (Giant Revolt, Canyon Grizl), and the rest are still searching. Shopping for road bikes doesn't have quite the same learning curve.

Alter stems are notoriously brittle. And that's before you've messed with them.

You can ride the National park - just pay entry fee. And if you are on gravel there are some awesome routes around there.

If that's a circa 2016 frame then those are for an external Di2 battery

Anyone other than bike market who rents at the moment? (they are short on stock) I'm looking for a 58cm gravel bike, or perhaps a hardtail if I don't come right on #1.

Much respect for the upgrade project. On the wheels, the rebuild is only justified by wanting those hubs. You should find some cheap and very decent 26 wheel options listed for sale. Rebuild rims and new spokes will come in around R3000 (a guess), so do have a look at the classifieds. You crank options are multitude. There are various external bearings options from Shimano or SRAM that will fit your requirements, so don't feel too tied to the old school bb. Look for a second hand triple and a pair of threaded bearing cups on a MTB standard and that should work, and also gives you a few extra options. I wouldnt go for loose bearings unless the vintage matters. Loctite on your BB has been done before..

I've used Pudo many many times with no issue. If they say the locker was empty then it was empty. Now to figure out where the deal went wrong I guess.

My 'bike of mixed parents' is this one. It's a Ragley 26" Titanium trail hardtail with 700c wheels, gravel fork and an Ultegra 11s drivetrain. Making the 700c wheels fit was the least of the challenges - I have a 45mm gravel tyre in front and a 2.0" 29er on the back (more volume to take extra weight). Wheels are a new age thru axle up front with a flat mount Shimano caliper. The rear runs an old school 135mm QR axle with a Magura brake caliper on an IS mount. I had to carefully cut down the 142mm axle to fit the 135mm dropouts, but this now runs just fine. The resultant chainline was a mess. I've eventually settled on a 119mm square-taper BB to push the crankset out a bit, and I drilled in a pair of rivnuts to mount the FD (plus a spacer to move the FD out ontot he new chainline). The drilling also fixed an issue where the band clamp FD's were interfering with the rear tyre. I used a brass pulley to reverse the FD cable from top pull to bottom pull (at the base of the seat tube). And I put a few more holes in the frame for extra bottle cages.

Happy Christmas. Book now while flights are cheap. 29 March - arrive Oudenaarde and register 30 March - RVV sportif (257km). early morning event buses to Antwerp. sportif back to Oudenaarde. EUR100 entry fee. 31 March - RVV proper. The climbs are all close in to Oudenaarde - drive over to one of the big climbs and enjoy the atmosphere. 1-3 April - do more Belgian cobbled climbs. Stay in Oudenaarde until Wednesday. Drive down to Lille. 4 April - the pros will be doing their Roubaix dry run. Go out and ride the last 40km of the Paris-Roubaix course and see who comes past. 5 April - register in Roubaix. spend some time in the old velodrome, visit the famous showers. take photos. get your bearings for the sportif finish tomorrow. 6 April - Paris Roubaix Sportif (170km). early morning bus to Busigny for the start. 30 sectors and 50km of cobbles gets you home. EUR 80 entry fee. 7 April - Paris Roubaix proper. Drive 170km to Compiegne for the pro start. Relocate to sector 29 (the second one they cross) once the pros are underway. Make sure you are back in the velodrome for the finish. 8 April - head home

Do it! This is an awesome event, and inexpensive. You can easily do it without a tour operator - the organisers will put on buses to get you to the start if you are doing the long route (or to get you home - check website). Also if you stay a week then you can do Paris Roubaix as well. Few thoughts - 1. we usually rent a car. you will want to get out and watch the pros racing the next day, and it helps with ferrying bikes around. 2. take your own snacks. 240km is a long way to go on the mostly pure carbs available at the support stations. 3. beware the Belgian beer. that stuff is strong! 4. Hope for good weather.