ShortLegs

This is a good bike to get a roadie noob going and should provide enough mileage to wet your appetite sufficiently to warrant some decent upgrades My take on some of the equipment supplied as standard (from the pic): Crankset :- I found the chainrings and BB to wear to the point of replacement very quickly, this is likely to be your first required upgrade. Brakes :- from looking at these calipers on a friends bike, they are very flexible and if you're anything but a skinny-malinky you should considering upgrading to 105. Everything else should serve it's intended purpose amicably, so good luck and many trouble free miles with bum on saddle

Cape Town Tuesday, March 18 2008 Current Time : 10:21:05 AM SAST http://weather.24.com/Images/Icons/Forecasts/1.gifLOW 17?C HIGH 30?C Wind Speed6km/hWind DirectionNHumidity50%Dew Point11Comfort Level25?CChance of Rain0% Sunrise6:47AM Sunset7:01PM http://weather.24.com/Images/Icons/Moon/cw_waxing_gibbous.gifMoonrise4:44PMMoonset2:09AM Moon PhaseWaxing Gibbous

And the next time you let Chunky glue your tyres on with pli-bond (or whatever the hell it's called) the kind where you throw away your wheel when the tub is worn All I can add to this debate is personal experience. If you race seriously/semi then my advice is to get a set of tubs with a bomb and some Vittoria flat fix to get you home if you puncture. Bottom line is even if you have a backup vehicle, unless you draft it back to the bunch after changing your wheel, your race is over (hey Nolan). Train on clinchers, the GP4000S are exceptional and the chilli compound will be available across their range of tyres soon . If you need further proof, take your clinchers out for a good hard ride on Saturday and then borrow some tubs and ride the same route on Sunday (don't forget the flat fix/bomb) and you'll be able to give your own informed opinion.ShortLegs2008-03-14 02:53:10

My team mate has red on the new Tarmac SL2 and its the shizz. This is definitely on top of my list of future upgrades.

Me too dammit!!! I'm actually 6'2". I reckon I fell out the height-tree and landed squarely on the ground thus compacting my 6'2" frame ever so slightly

DB, thanks for the updates that was brilliant. So what do we have to do for you to cover the rest of the stages

Rode past what looked like a french development squad (under correction as they were all in blue with what looked like french on their tops) yesterday and they all had helmets on () and seemed friendly enough.

Hi Jt, happy hubbing

I have an ISP as my race bike and my older non-ISP bike as my training/commuting bike (both Giant). The difference between the two is huge since the advances made from the non-ISP to ISP overall are huge in all areas. What I have found is that the ISP bike is a much harsher ride than the other. Both are carbon which does a great job of make the frame stiff while providing some vibration dampening, but the ISP bike transmits a lot more into your backside. As as result a more comfy saddle is a requisite and something like a SLR or Toupe would be unrideable for any extended time or on badly surfaced roads (unless you're a pro with a leather a$$). Also the ISP feel much stiffer when sprinting seated and climbing, but like everything else it'll come down to look/price/opinion.

Fantastic, congrats buddy Hope your 4 months of hard work are rewarded by a great ACT and in turn becomes the catalyst to a life changing experience that hooks you into a healthy "cyclists" way of life. All the best

Shaun le Roux calls me Mr F*&K All Slip Can't think why....

Marius touched on my personal peeve, the finishes for a lot of rides mostly where leagues are concerned are not given enough thought. Fast finishing races where the route is likely to have upwards of 20 riders sprinting for the line should not be siphoned into a single lane from two lanes before the line. This is another big accident waiting to happen and although a lot lower priority to rolling closures, a point I wanted to emphasise none the less.

Hehe, not one of my better rides round Killarney I'll admit . As soon as we started I seemed to be struggling in scratch and it just got progressively worse. What made it worse was that every time I looked at AL, he seemed to be breathing through his nose with a typical poker face (i.e. no pain/min effort). Eventually with about 10mins to go I managed to put myself into the wind and pull a classic Top Gun manoeuvre........ straight out the back. Hopefully the weekends racing goes a little better and next Wed I manage to ave less than 95% max HR for the hour Oh yes, David Garrett (spelling )ShortLegs2008-02-21 09:02:48

I'll be training this afternoon and guess what...... I'll be cross

I have the T-Mobile ISP and although being a confessed Giant fan I don't think the SL2 will offer you much if anything over the Giant. The ISP is superb and except for being a little too stiff (the road vibrations are transferred to your a$$ pronto) there is no faulting it. Resale is a non issue since the 2nd hand bike market is so fantastic regardless of what bike you buy (NOT). The SL2 is a more conventional frame, with a lot less sloping so personal preference on looks will be a deciding factor. It's also predominantly black and while black "was" cool, everyone knows that white is the new black!!! Get a look at both built up with the finishing kit you plan of building it up with and decide from there, at this end of the frame market it comes down to price and looks. Good luck.

Mate of mine just picked up a large size of the black shoes, he's mega chuffed and while there's minimal stock left this is a deal not to be missed.

I'm a little sorry now I missed it, I got all the way to Blouberg Road after riding from work and turned off home. Just didn't feel like riding, not sure if it was the heat or just general nafiness. See you next week though, we'll have to do a hub-lap-of-honour

He might not fit into that old Lanco kit anymore

Hijack: Seeing Marc Wilkinson racing down here and even Terence Short a couple of months ago, this brings back memories of sweating blood with the Benekes and Mitchell et al. more times than I can remember.

Far Kin Fa Nee

Left or right hand Just check for the one with the least amount of hairs growing out the palm

My fave marshall of all time , if only they all were like the Nelster, there would be a whole lot more crashes

I'm sure the twins will be overjoyed to have another playmate.....

It's up http://www.cwcycles.co.za/index.html