Originally Posted by
HankSc0rpi0
Nah the mechanic is a bit agricultural, very moody and generally customers hate him. The owner is different, a big KMC fan, swears Shimano hubs have crap seals and their chains are pants, loves Enve everything and is a big Canyon hater (understandably as he loses business to them). They are all big cycling enthusiasts though and they have a nice little leisure club and all of them race.
The fact is though if you tighten the front axle a little tighter than usual the disc will rub very slightly when the pads are new as tolerances are so tight between the pads and discs when new. My last topstone was exactly the same or I just have superhearing and it's the same with this one. Just an observation.
Gravel not really taken off in Ireland yet. We don't have many gravel roads per say, no fireroads even. Just the odd badly maintained b-road with potholes for bonus points and plenty of dirt track roads and if you look for shortcuts you will find back roads that suit gravel bikes. But tarmac (smooth and rough) makes up 80-90% roads here unless you go out of your way.
Thinking about those King Cage Iris cages. Really look nice and I think perhaps Cannondale were promoting them last year on the Topstone. Have read mostly positive reviews but also the odd negative comment about podium bottles not sitting properly in them.
1. The notion that there is something wrong with Shimano chains, especially that they are prone to breaking, is just nonsense.
2. The torque spec for thru axles is very high – usually 15Nm. Please make sure you didn't UNDERtighten what the mechanic had done properly. I've seen people back off the tightness of a thru axle to fix a rubbing rotor, only to have the axle itself come loose. Get the torque spec correct, and then re-center the caliper on the rotor.
3. I've got half a dozen hydraulic brake bikes, and the "tolerance" for the gap between rotor and pad is no different when the pads are new than when they are worn. The nature of hydraulic calipers is that they auto-adjust to keep the same gap. So if it's rubbing to start, then the caliper is not centered properly on the rotor (see 2).