robbybzgo

If we think about this carefully. What is the major reason why cyclists are hit while driving in the road: 1) Taxi drivers usually don't own the taxi they drive. They have a quota set by the owners of how much money they wants in their pocket each day. Therefore the driver drives at top speed where possible to drop off his load of passengers and return to the rank as soon as possible to repeat the process. Drivers will also try and overtake other taxis on longer routes to get to pick up more passengers en route. 2) Drivers tend to lose focus on the road with cell phones, children in the car disturbing them, fiddling with the music or infotainment set up in the car or just generally losing focus on the road. (I can always remember an argument I had with an ex-girlfriend, while driving my car, who demanded that I look at her while we were arguing) She didn't last long. 3) Alcohol, drugs and late night party people who have hardly any control over their vehicles and wouldn't have the ability to swerve or miss a bunch of cyclist. This can also be due to the usual high speed they are travelling at. 4) SAPS and Metro Police used to work eight hour shifts - now they work twelve hour shifts. When I brought this up with a Brigadier he said that the Trade Unions would never go back to 8 hr shifts. The main reason is that when you work a 12 hour shift you get a longer time period off. In my opinion, no policeman/woman can be effective over a 12 hour period and that's why you see them strolling around shopping centres and goofing off. Another memory is seeing a metro police Hi-ace full of members (10-12) parked off near a bank at around 9:30 am. They were waiting for over half an hour for this single member to complete his banking requirements. I'm unsure how many other banks they stopped off as to allow other members to get their business done and possibly draw cash for lunch. An entire load of constables sitting around doing nothing for an hour or two before they are dropped off in their separate area. The reason why there is increased crime levels an hour before the 6 am/pm shift change time is because the police have already left their posts to return to their HQ. 5) Monkey SEE Monkey DO, is an old expression, an idiom describing the act of imitating someone else’s actions, behavior, or habits without understanding the reasoning behind them, often resulting in mindless copying or repeating actions simply by observing them, regardless of whether those actions are wise or foolish. Often the thought behind this is: If they can do it, so can I. My conclusion: if we don't have effect policing and there isn't effective enforcement then we will never solve this problem. We've got to start reeling in the bad habits but officers on the beat don't like to be effective and stand out, making their underperforming colleagues look bad. As a kid in Westville I remember a traffic officer with the surname of Burns. He was all over the place all the time. You'd be guaranteed to see him three or four time a day patrolling around just on his own, a single officer. He'd visit school yards and check on bike licences. He ran a tight ship and everyone towed the line. (Oh, the good old days)

I used to use all the well known tabs like Allergex etc for a (household) dust allergy (rhinitis - dripping nose) but nothing seemed to nip it in the bud. Chemist advised taking FEXO 120. Works very well and is non drowsy. Dymista nasal spray also helps in severe cases but is expensive! Hope this helps...

A wonderful outcome for what was a betrayal of your kindness to allow those children to borrow your bikes. Unfortunately life doesn't always reward kindness, but in your case it, your bikes were returned due to your insightful idea to pass the message on to some people in Alex who did the right thing and managed to return your bikes. A rare occurrence but one that does indicate hope that there are some honest folk in this country.

Morning, can I suggest that you drop the term "vintage" from your title and add "for a good cause". Secondly, theft will be a problem as was found out on renting out bicycles on Durban's beachfront (Skateboard Park). Despite some people lodging their ID books as security, if these persons have no fixed addresses, it was impossible to track the stolen bikes. Even with tracking devices, management decided that it was too dangerous to personally go and attempt to recover their bikes from certain areas. You have a noble cause and I wish you every success in it's implementation.

Well done Bud. As they say: " One door slams shut and another one opens... You just had to find it...and you did! Well done, enjoy the bike to its maximum. A great result.

Can you explain more of the problem. Is he achieving King of the Mountain (KOM's) for many segments and they aren't believing him (or what?) ? Often they will seek heart rate info/ cadence and or power readings from on bike sensors to prove the results. Give us some more details...

Kudos to Ma & Pa..💪🏻👍🏻 Yes, saddle would be too high. Also consider blood flow to your nether regions. A bad saddle could constrict flow and give you a very numbing experience. A simple way around this is to stand and peddle for 10-20 seconds every 5 mins. If this is the case then another/new saddle with a concave section to facilitate better blood flow would be a good idea. A saddle tilted too high up in the front would also give a constrictive effect.

Firstly consider genetics - what you inherited from ma and pa could well determine your athletic abilities. Getting going again at 50 means a lot of time to be spent in the saddle before, not only just getting fit but adjusting your body to an new (maybe extreme) exercise regime that it is not used to. All strong exercise regimes require a warm up. Also nutrition before exercising is important. To me it doesn't sound like the bike set up in general because the first thing you'll normally feel there is strain/ pain in joints, back, neck, knees, ankles etc. Saddle height is very important to ensure that your hips are not getting involved in the pedalling action. There should be very little to no hip sway when pedalling and this might result in your duckwalk after your ride. I'm no professional but I guess these point might meet with some resonance with your riding experiences so far?

Suggest you just ignore them.

Hi Nicolene, don't be confused. It takes a long time to become au fair with the complicated line up of bikes available. And yes, heavy bikes aren't great when you're a lightweight. I've bought a number of bikes in the last few years and I far prefer my lightweight carbon bikes. It's actually amazing how much weight you can drop by just changing your seatpost and handlebars to carbon (as well as giving more comfort). Unfortunately bikes have become so expensive in the post-covid era. So glad that I invested pre-covid where bargains were much more plentiful. Don't rush, speak to lots of cyclists about their bikes, join a local cycling club and ask lots of questions, ask to have a spin on someone's bike to suss it out and then when you're ready you'll hopefully make the right decision. Don't delay in selling an old bike because they don't appreciate.

I tried to claim for a crack on my Giant carbon XTC frame a couple of years ago. It was a hairline crack on the top of one seat stay that they decided was from an impact (possibly the bicycle pump falling onto the frame). The claim was denied as it wasn't seen as a structural failure due to an imperfect frame so not every claim will be successful!

Is it that 90% of incidents can be prevented? The major problem is, as far as I believe, is that this route is the main route used for all cyclists entering Cape Town city from the North Western suburbs. This being residents and tourists alike. If the city has built a cycle lane it shouldn't go past a dangerous area where muggings are very likely. I think what you mean to say is that we become complacent. We don't all keep uppermost in our minds the dangers that we will likely encounter every minute/hour of the day especially when you've got the wind in your hair, moving at speed on your favourite bike heading for the waterfront and suddenly BANG, you're bleeding on the road fighting off thugs would are quite happy to end your life for the backup cell phone in your pocket. (Or [very tongue in cheek] maybe, we should appeal to the thugs/gang's entrepreneurial spirit and get them to set up a toll booth at the dangerous bridge and for R10 you can proceed safely. A new empowerment project.)

Just one guard on duty with binoculars and a radio on the lookout near the critical area to radio their control room to send a van AND to notify SAPS would make a significant impact. Maybe a siren located nearby (out of easy reach) that is remotely triggered could also serve to scare off would-be attackers and alert cyclists. Maybe your mommy didn't teach you: "if you don't succeed, try and TRY again". Any trial run is better than none at all. (100 guards at 100m intervals for 10km - that's a bit of pie in the sky reasoning?)

A strong road group BIO (Bring it on) are very active in that area and also have a strong MTB group. Pretty much A and B type riders. DM me if you want a contact number...

Just image if 1000 hubbers put in R15 a month into a fund to put a security company on the spot/s patrolling in those problem areas until the situation is resolved. I live in Durbs but I'd contribute...or maybe with every sale in bikehub, R5 is contributed to this fund. (PS: we could apply same for other problem areas countrywide - this could be kinda revolutionary, just like a bicycle wheel..ha ha) (Also posted on the CapeTown dangerous areas post)

Just image if 1000 hubbers put in R15 a month into a fund to put a security company on the spot/s patrolling in those problem areas until the situation is resolved. I live in Durbs but I'd contribute...or maybe with every sale in bikehub, R5 is contributed to this fund. (PS: we could apply same for other problem areas countrywide - this could be kinda revolutionary, just like a bicycle wheel..ha ha)

Their on-line WhatsApp number - suggests that all complaints be logged to this number...

What a beaut! Please don't let this baby be stolen from out of your garage! (Most bikes stolen this way). A SA custom/ superstition is to put you bed on bricks/blocks. Please do this and sleep with your bike under your bed...😅

I've invested in Polar devices that I've been totally happy with. I still use the old V800 watch and it works perfectly. Also have the M460 on bike mount. The H10 is considered the industry standard but problems I've experienced have been minor like low battery, faulty strap (they do eventually crack on the inside), needing to update on cell app and having to change the option on the app to get the H1O to allow two units to read your heart rate simultaneously (eg: when using the rowing machine or smart bike trainer). I did pick up a OH1 unit second hand (on bike hub) and adapted it's strap to hold that unit to the pulse in my wrist and now don't have two units not agreeing to share the H10's output. Although the OH1 unit is slightly slower to react to a change in heart rate they are still very close to each other. I saw a replacement Polar strap at Sportsman's Warehouse (Pavilion - Durban) they other day for R400. Good luck with your choices...

Any chance of test riding the Slash as this will give you chance to then compare the ride to the Pyga when your new wheels arrive. You might save yourself the cost of another bike (but then it's a whole new discussion as to whether you should have an n+1 (second) bike anyway). If the budget allows, a second bike could be an advantage but terrible if you fall in love with one and for whatever reason the second just sits around. To me they seem to be quite similar and I would more understand having two different bikes that offer you two distinctly types/ styles of riding. But this depends on the trails/routes that are accessible to you and what types of riding that you could see yourself doing in the coming years... I hope this has given you some food for thought

Thank you, problem resolved. (I couldn't understand why everytime I went into Forums that I would end up at the first page every time).

I take it that you've searched BikeHub's marketplace if you're also entertaining secondhand or n'used shoes?

Let us know how? Maybe DM?

Another major problem (to cyclists) is that motorists are not on the lookout for cyclists. As motorist interact 99% of the time, on the road, with other vehicles they've lost the mental reminder that there are bicycles on the road. Because bicycles are generally slower, definitely smaller, less visible (black helmet, black bike & black kit), without flashing lights (front and back) then are not seen on an otherwise busy road, especially when motorists are not looking out for them. As a "good" and "respectful" cyclist we generally hug the left side of the road/pavement so to not disturb the flow of faster moving traffic and so motorists have become used to us as just being another annoying obstacle that doesn't appear to have a right to interact with motorised transport. Many roads that we use haven't been designed to accommodate bicycle transport and so we are again seen as an interference in the flow of traffic. Unless there is some kind of campaign to put cyclists back into the minds of motorists then we'll always be seen (not seen) as an annoyance and not as a valid road user that has the same rights as any other vehicle on the road.

So happy...