Bram_on_Madone

No problem I appreciate you are trying to do the right thing and this starts with small things I guess. My original point was that maybe there are bigger things that deserve more attention. As a side comment, I have made a note to drive a little more carefully after seeing that body on the road on the way to the Burger yesterday - it gave me quite a shock! Not sure what happened, but there was a smashed car, what looked like the leftovers of a motorbike and a body covered in black plastic - quite scary. Anyway, safe driving and riding to everybody over the season.

I agree when it comes to the Police and justice system. But I meant it on a social individual level - do you report your friends to the local traffic police every time you see them speeding? If not, you're cutting them some slack.

Do you also post things on the internet everytime a taxi commits a trafic offence? And I assume you always adhere to the speed limits? Bicycles are clean and safe and pose little danger to other road users - they should be sticking to the rules of the road, but cut them a little slack.

Ouch - that's a nasty dent I can't imagine that spoke tension alone would have caused that without an underlying weakness in the carbon. Good lucking fixing it.

They're not designed for cyclists, so they'll never be comfortable for you. They're designed for people that want to get a light work out, whilst sitting complete upright so as not to hinder conversation, etc.

Surely the frame doesn't take more strain on the trainer than from the normal rigours of riding on bumpy roads?

Ask yourself the question - do you ride mainly in the front of the bunch, doing a lot of work and powering along the flats? Or do you sit at the back of the bunch and make the occasional break up a climb (more likely)? If you're the former, get the aero wheels. If you're mainly in the middle of the bunch, the aero wheels mean very little as you're shielded anyway and the lighter EC90's will suit you a lot better.

Agreed. The linear regression model they use, ignores your starting group and is based on normal distribution of time across the starting groups. It is also adjusted for the relative of spread of everybody that did the Argus - this is in truth a "randomness" factor, as it all depends on how many people that rode the last Argus are in any particular race and how they happen to be spread. Last year I did the Burger and the Engen in almost the identical time and the winning time was very close to each other, but I got a much better seeding for the Engen, just because of this randomness factor.

The algorithm is still weird though - I got better indeces for random races I rode last year where I started in M and was pretty unfit than for the Westcoast and Engen races where I came top 10 in my bunch (H). For example, in the Westcoast I got a better time than anybody in the preceding bunch, came 4th in my group (2s off the winner) and still only got an H equivalent index. This means that for some races its effectively impossible to improve your seeding. Fortunately I did decent One Tonner and can move up to F

I have used both the gator skins and GP4000s and definitely prefer the latter. My GP4000s did a lot of good distance without any noticeable damage or cuts as mentioned above, but eventually bit the bullet when I rode over a smashed beer bottle. The Gator skins are definitely a bit tougher, but a lot less stable in fast corners and have a much higher rolling resistance. The roll also sometimes feels unconsistent if you're used to the GP's. The Gator's also definitely show a lot of side wall wear quite quickly, but not sure if this actually weakens the tyre. BTW You can get the Gatorskins for R300 bucks on buycycle.

They offer a convenience service though - import the bikes, hold stock, help you with warranties, etc. and take a slice of profit for it (ok a big slice), but also carry some risk (exchange control, stock loss, etc.). For those that don't mind the hassle themselves (like me) there's the internet and you can do your own thing for a lot less money, but a lot more trouble.

International RRP on Dogma framesets are USD5,500 before any discounts. Even if you don't try too hard, at the current exchange rate, you should be able to land it under R50k, so should be able to come in way under R140k if you build it up.

Atkins was overweight his whole life and struggled with heart complications because of an unbalance diet - protein diets are stupid and dangerous. If you are exercising properly and eating a balanced diet, you'll loose weight. If you want to loose weight faster, eat less, but in the same proportions.

I opened a beer bottle with my medal - didn't quite work in the traditional way, but I went to university and the main thing I learnt was to open a beer bottle with any blunt object

What? Don't you like your saddle? I think its quite lekker...

Thanks for the advice - should practice pedalling faster! At the moment I prefer to churn over the pedals in a high gear rather than spinning. Coming down from the pass in Riebeek Kasteel yesterday we were doing about 72km/h, but I would have loved a little more resistance on my stroke.

I use a "normal" 53/39 crank paired with a 11-25 casette, but on some of the faster flats and downhills (and Killarney) I run out of gears. I had a look on a view websites and there don't seem to be smaller cassettes than 11 - anybody know where you can get a 10 or 9? Would this work? Alternatively, can you get bigger front rings for my crank (I have Ultegra 6700).

B)I know the racing was cancelled last week - anybody know if its on tonight?

Is there Killarney on tonight?

Nobody NEEDS new wheels if they're still rolling, but the fact that you wrote this post, means that you probably WANT new wheels

I was just faced with the same issue and eventually settled on Ultegra. There are a few pro's and cons in both directions and ultimately depends on personal preference. The Force is a bit lighter and apparently shifts quicker. Its noisier and the double tap system is not for everybody. Ultegra shifts a bit smoother and in my mind looks better. Because, it was a bit of a toss up, I eventually made up my mind based on the fact that I currently have the old Ultegra and never had any problems with it.

That differs on how the sponsorship deal is structured and other interests that the frame manufacturer has. For example, Trek will always come with SRAM and Bontrager. In other cases individual sponsorship deals will be signed with the teams by various suppliers. In this case Team Sky has separate deals with Pinarello (for the frames), Shimano (wheels and drivetrain) and SRM (Power meters).

For R5000 you have a lot of options - I just bought a pair of Edge SLR 300's from Shaun231 for about R2,500 that weigh in at 1,460g and are tough enough for training.

Thought you were talking about a bad case of saddle sores, but the word piles is bringing up my lunch now..