Vleuelmoer

Well that's settled then I would still advise people new to the sport to wear them with caution though...

Maybe it's different for us on the road? The things I say is what I've experienced; I may be wrong. Maybe some other people have different experiences, but more than half of the people that have needed a spanking due to doing silly things have been people wearing earphones in the bunch. It also took me a while to adjust to the music - now it's fine but looking back I realise that it impaired my response time a bit. With time you do compensate for "restricted" hearing by being more observant (I have experienced that too) - but it might be a bit much for an inexperienced rider. If your kids were to ask you for an MP3 player so they could cycle around with it on their way to school - would you get them one? (OK well, maybe I'm NOT making my point by asking this supposedly rhetorical question!)

Some people have their music so loud that even I can hear it when I get near to them. At a very loud volume there is no way you can hear things around you happen, or focus on traffic noises - that makes it "dangerous". Not everybody likes training their eardrums (i.e. listen to LOUD music), but for those who do, I would regard it as dangerous - also for people who do not have road experience and go around riding unthinking; I think we've all realised that you need some "street smarts" in order to survive out there, and dulling one of your five senses might not be the wisest thing to do if you're just starting at the sport, so I advise my friends who are just starting out to hold off the MP3's for a while - and to start wearing a helmet and put flashing lights on the bike! In my experience most of the time, ppl who wear earphones in the bunch at funrides usually stuff around and don't indicate, don't hear what's going on, and guys end up having to think for them.

Depends on how loud you have it... It can take the "dullness" out of slogrides, and you can actually plan your music to pace you up hills, intervals or breakaways (a bit more fun than watching speed, cadence and HR). It is a-social though, especially on group rides where you should have conversation to make up for the quietness. Wearing it during funrides is actually quite dangerous - they should ban them there. There were tons of guys in the Argus wearing earphones and I wonder how they were planning to react to people trying to shout warnings...

Seconded. What a stupid thing to do at a race this size!

It's not just in cricket that things have had to firm up a bit just to protect players from each other. Sad really don't you think?

Goodness! I'm sure it would have done something to a helmet, should you have had one on!

Pulling your leg But yes - it is their choice and I also made the decision to donn the helmet every time I go out. The importance of a helmet was affirmed last weekend when I cracked my Bell coming off the bike doing Ou Kaapse weg. I'm even more passionate about the topic now!!!

I passed a group of pro's (Barloworld' date=' KM, etc) out doing some base mileage this morning and none of them had helmets on but they all greeted me. I also passed at least three other fun riders with all the latest bikes and kit, including fancy helmets and despite my greeting them they didn't even acknowledge my exisitence. [/quote'] Were you by chance helmetless? In that case, what happened makes sense!

Usually, if they behave nicely, I wave, smile and give them a thumbs-up... Actually, I do that to motorists too...

I feel your pain! A bus hit me head-on when he cut a corner in 1993. Flattened my bike, broke my right leg just above the ankle. The doctors had a lot of fun trying to get my leg straight after that! (re-broke it three times before settling for the pin option) Could only get back on the bike by 1995 but by then the passion for it pretty much passed (plus my mom tried to bribe me into not riding by teaching me to drive) Have lodged 2 other complaints with them since then, in both cases the driver was NEGLIGENT or running red lights !!!! It probably was not nice shouting po*ph*l to the driver as I overtook him a bit later (he had to stop at the next robot anyway). G/A have been good in getting back to me saying the drivers were being disciplined etc, etc. When reporting these guys, it helps to have: time of incident exact location bus number or bus registration number Happy hunting , if there's a public outcry then they're bound to do something!

Hmm. After my fall on Sunday I'm not sure how the legs will respond (still quite stiff and the neck is killing me!) and I have to go to work (usually start 7:30-ish). Was planning to go spinning at 5:15. Maybe next time, I'm keen to meet some hubbers irl, will keep the eyes peeled for more such get-togethers, I'm always keen for an early ride during the week!

Six is a bit late? How long do you think the ride will take?

Hey MW. Using the front break when doing about 54kph to stop quickly does not come to mind as the most natural thing to do... Especially not since I have had the front wheel behave quite badly when trying to break hard in very much the same conditions... I put my weight back, tried to cut down speed with the rear break by using it firmly in short bursts - like ABS... I did decelerate but not slowly enough to my liking. Tried to stop faster by using the front breaks as well (softly but solidly) at which time I started to panic and slammed on the back break (front break still firmly in place, but not locking). Back wheel locked but I was too busy trying to stay on the bike to release it. (the wheel was not flat) Looking back, I maybe should have just released it all and tried to let the bike correct itself but I can do with some input... Or I should have just sat up on the downhill to start with. I'm pretty nervous on the downhills and would easily do the 70-75 km/h now and then but yesterday there was debris in the road, lots of traffic and a pesky little cross-wind. All making me more nervous. What the back wheel did just before I lost control at about 54 km/h felt exactly like about a year ago going down Tiekiedraai at 70 km/h and hit a stone with my back wheel (valve popped and I lost control but managed to come to a standstil safely). I'm baffled as to why this happened !?! I bought new wheels specifically because I thought my WH-R540's had something to do with it... So the problem can only be myself - or the bike? (I'd think it's probably something stupid I did) Should this question move to the tech thread?