Thanks for all the advice about tilt. I generally ride with a bit of a down tilt, as I dont mind the pressure on my arms until I have been there for more than an hour or two. I will, however start experimenting with tilt. It might be worth trying all the way both ways, heading back to the middle. I think the seat stem has a fair number of locking slots on the adjustment.

Jeremyz, I have been riding here since July last year. I have a fairly brutal method, I just pour bottled WD40 on the chain. I do this at least every time the chain is well soaked with water and grit.

There are street sweepers here, in the hundreds, dressed in orange, using long brooms made of plants. It is a little incongrous at times. They keep it very clean of bits and pieces. Using standard tyres I have had only one puncture in over 4000k of riding. But these guys dont remove the grit the comes from everywhere. So far I have replaced the rear derailleur when I bent it in a crash. The rest is original. It doesnt change as smoothly as it did

I am planning on doing something about this when I get to 5000km

z