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Legally, its not your fault if SOMEONE else drives under the influence and in doing so causes an accident. As long as YOU were sober your insurer has an obligation to pay damages under these circumstances. I cant imagine any insurer will argue this point - its a loosing battle. ...........but Yes, as has been mentioned, an insurer has an obligation to put you back into the same position you were before the accident. The insurer also has an obligation to ensure the repair is safe and in line with manufacturers specs, (ie) if it can be proven a dented frame could not be corrected without damaging the integrity of the material, the insurer is obliged to replace the frame - they cannot repair something to sub standard specifications (ie) only cosmetically - if there is underlying structural damage.

Sorry mate -

I dont think there is any moaning here - there is a lot of "highlighting of issues" which I think is good. To coin a phrase from Harmony"s chief executive - "Every business entity needs a host of grumpy old men, who seldom smile, ask a lot of pertinant questions and scrutinise every decision - it keeps us on our toes.!" So in my opinion - "go ahead look for fault", its the only way things improve.! widget2007-09-03 03:25:41

This will (maybe) be my 9th Argus, but to be honest, not sure I am gonna bother.! Will see how I feel in Jan - and believe me, there WILL still be available space - always is.!

Depends on what you mean by "over-rated" - personally I think its a better, slicker race than the Argus, which is in my opinion IS "heavily over-rated." If I had to make a choice between the two, it would be the 94.7 without a doubt. I think you will enjoy it, its definately worth doing once or twice - cant see the altitude effecting you that much. Soooooooooo, are we gonna see you there.........?

Weeell BBi, thats not entirely true and although it was a fact of life in China some years back, its changed recently, and actually its not an issue anymore. Of course, there will always be small sweat shops, but thats true of almost all countries, look at Mexico,Vietnam,Thailand etc they are all accused of the same thing - but as the multinationals increase their production output in China, they bring with them Western labour laws, and, Chinese companies hoping to land these lucritive contracts have to abide by these stipulations, of course old habits are hard to break and every now and again one hears of atrocious labour conditions, but today, China has a growing Unionised labour force and all the major companies abide by acceptable labour laws. So things are changing, but the chinese work ethic is hard for western cultures who like "free time" to come to terms with. The differance is really just cost of labour and the work ethic.widget2007-08-31 09:29:59

As a rule of thumb, consider anything thats made locally to be protected by an Import tariff (duty) - of course there are exceptions, so if you are unsure enquire at any Freight importer (ie) Fedex. Clothing is a major industry in SA employing thousands of over paid, under productive workers, so to protect their jobs from better manufactured, cheaper Chinese produced clothing lines, there is a significant tariff, AS you no doubt found out. Shoes, (believe it or not) are also manufactured locally, so have a tariff, although its not so bad today, 8 years ago one needed an import permit (which was very difficult to get) to import shoes into SA. Generally tariff protection is applied for by an industry in trouble (probably all SA clothing industries fall into this group) as it was with shoes, people were importing branded shoes and selling them on the street corner via hawkers, this impacted heavily on tradional shoe sales and they applied for permit protection, and got it for a few years (5 if I recall correctly.)

Its not a womans only issue regarding prize money - there are also some races where the vets (sometimes 40 upwards but mostly 50 upwards)get no prize money either. I agree, there is no doubt Woman should get equal prize money to the men, and from what I understand here Miss Van Wyk was rather voiceferous about it - GOOD for her, she shows she has backbone - its about time someone made their voice heard, sadly it seems chauvinism is alive and well in the CSA.

I dont think you can blame the customer, he generally buys in good faith and expects the dealer to have the appropriate experience and technical expertise conmensurate with his prime business undertaking which is selling and servicing bicycles. If someone buys a bicycle from a sweet store, well Yes "let the buyer beware" but buying a branded product from a known distributor authorised store should have the same peace of mind (irrespective of the fact that the dealer may be a discounter or not). If a customer cant get peace of mind buying from an authorised dealer, where on earth will they be comfortable.?

I think its symtomatic of all small and / or young industries Hendrik, bigger or more mature industries are able to better invest in training and staff education and are able to stock bigger ranges of products. I also think the public need to educate themselves a bit on their intended purchases before going shopping and have a basic idea of what you are looking for, just relying on a salesman as your sole form of decision will usually result in a poor purchase decision, as (and quite understandably) they will usually have their own agenda. I chuckle about it now, but some years ago I had a professional fitting done at a very well known shop, they told me my saddle was inappropriate and I should buy this one - I said okay and it was fitted. A year or so later I had another fitting done at the same shop, just a differant person, and guess what, he told me my saddle was inappropriate and I should buy another one he reccommended - but this time I didnt bite, - I dont mind, I understand he probably has targets and he also needs to live, but a case of "let the buyer beware" I guess.

Yes, very good, I had a good chuckle scotty.

None to soon in my opinion.! Been unable to find a sponsor is just a by - product of the teams "suspicious" history, and Contador been linked (rightly or wrongly) to "Puerto" would have chased any possible future sponsor into the hills. Winning races is not a garurantee of sponsorship, the team was managed poorly, they made unpopular decisions (Basso), they were unpopular with other leading teams (they were about to be voted out of the Pro tour team comittee) , and they were arrogant in their management style believing they could bulldoze "their way" and "their opinions" onto other teams and race organisors, and they were even disliked by many of the riders (Voigt been very vocal about some of their decisions) In my opinion they also paid the media "to talk the team up" - certainly the two Ps never found fault with any of the teams poor decisions (even the Basso signing) which was odd. With a license becoming available, Barloworld must stand a chance, but to me they are just another European team, - I would hazard, if they stay in the sport, the only thing South African in two or three years will be the history. widget2007-08-11 02:33:19

Yes, medical aids are in essence "insurance" and have various clauses and limitations, usually to the insurers advantage. As most folk dont read the small print but just sign on the dotted line and feel protected, it can come as a shock when making a claim, to find that you are in fact not covered!. As in any contract, get explanations on the exclusions, if necessary go so far as to have an attorney / specialist read over it and advise. It sounds like overkill now, but on the day you need to claim, you will be overjoyed you did.

Hmm, I am sure the issue here refers to Mr Cox, I assume from the posts he was in a State hospital? That said, state hospitals here are really very good, the level of care is excellant, perhaps there are no pretty pictures on the wall and Tvs are in short supply, but the medical care is of the best around, my brother is a doctor and helps out on occassion at some state facilities, so in some cases the very same doctor who would assist you in a private facility is the same one assisting you in a state facility. I am almost sure a private hospital could not have done more for Mr Cox, but I agree, a medical aid is vital in this country, mainly for speedy hospital admissions and treatment, which in many cases can be critical.

Astonishing.! From been touted by all as the "cleanist tour in history" to been proven as one of the "most doped tours in history". I also dont go with this nonsense "the controls are working - we are catching them" - this is just a smoke screen to make us feel all fuzzy and good. In my opinion its the number game - they are catching more - because more are doping.!

The TDF has become a farce this year. .........actually it was a farce last year too, but I had hoped. Contador wins and Liepheimer is promoted onto the podium both by default, and still team "PR" have the nerve to say "they had a great TDF better than we ever imagined!" I stopped watching after the Rasmussen debacle, I dont care anymore. So the latest is Contador is linked to Fuentes ................who cares.!

Rasmussen, in a interview today said "he was not in Italy, but in Mexico." This is obviously in contradiction to Rabobanks press release, which stated they asked him and he admitted he was in Italy. I should imagine its fairly easy to prove, there is always a paper trail, heres a restaurant invoice, a credit card slip, heres my airline ticket, heres my boarding pass, heres the name of the movie I watched and the entry ticket, heres my auto teller card details which show I used it in XYZ country on xyz date etc,etc. If he can produce proof, he has written his own pension cheque as there will be a thousand attornies rushing to defend him, if he cant, well, he has a problem. widget2007-07-26 07:55:21

Its largely to do with the Mr Armstrong / Mr Landis and their ilk insinuating that all french labs hate American riders (or any other nationality rider for that matter) of course, it dosnt help that a lot of folk are just like sponges,.............. and absorb all this baloney and regurgitate it at regular intervals when it suits them. Most of them have no opinion of their own and little interest in forming one in the near future.

Rabobank handeled the Rasmussen issue poorly. They were aware of his missed tests before the tour started, but did nothing. Sacking him now is a bit like closing the door when the horse has already left. We would probably be naive to believe he made an "administrative error", he is an intelligent man and must have known disappearing for a few weeks or months and missing tests would cast a shadow over his legitimacy, but there is still no proof he doped. The "PR" team (and yes I mean PR team) will snatch the Yellow jersey with glee, they know there is no "comment" line on the official page which will list Contodor as the official winner in Paris. Do I believe Rasmussen is clean? Probably not, but that gos for Contodor as well, what I do know is that Rasmussen was strongest in this tour, Rabobank handeled his case very poorly, the stages and times have been manipulated to such a degree, its now almost impossible to declare a fair and rightous winner, frankly I feel that the race should be declared null and void - no official winner this year.!

................heavily anticipated and promoted TDF is almost over and I was wondering what other folk thought of it. Personally, I havent been that impressed, stage 5 was the only one that stands out in my mind as been worthy of watching for 3 or 4 hours. The other stages have been somewhat boring and repetitive and stage 4 has the dubious honour of been one of the slowest in the modern tour. I havent checked, but overall, I think it must be one of the slowest first weeks as well. Perhaps thats a sign that more riders are clean this year and unable to maintain the furious pace of the past.? As far as teams go I have been impressed with Cofidis, they seem to have had a plan and have been chasing it aggressively.Chavanel is a good tour rider and I think he can easily get a top 10 place and keep the Polka dot jersey, especially with the problems in Astana. Quickstep has been trying, but havent quite managed the precision of the old "Fassa Bortolo"team lead out. Bouygues Telecom have (so far) been disappointing, one gets the feeling they have just been dozing in the peleton and waiting for the end. Discovery too, has disappointed me, Popo must be seething, he is a class rider and definate yellow jersey and stage winning material. But he has been relegated to playing second fiddle to Liephiemer, (who has only been in the team a few months - But of course he IS American) which must be a slap in the face for him. (especially after they also appointed Basso over him as well.) Your contracts up this year Popo, scrape these "loosers" off your shoes and go to a team who will appreciate your ability and class.!!! ASTANA, I am sure will welcome you.! Riders that have also impressed me are Chavanel, Cancellara and Hunter who has shown some great spirit. My prediction is that Liephiemer will fade in the mountains, Astana will give up the yellow jersey ambitions and look for stages,Rabobank will chase the Polka dot jersey and stage wins and hope Menchov can ride high in the classification and the Spanish Armada of Caisse D Epargne and CSC will assume the leaders mantle - certainly I think the winner will come from one of those two teams. Agree / disagree - lets hear.

I think he will start, they (Astana) will try and limit his loss now and wait for the rest day to re-think their strategy. Toughness has nothing to do with it, the body will go into a certain amount of shock and prepare to repair itself, this is a physical re-action and Vino will have no control over how his body re-acts, one of the main problems is illness brought on by already low resistance. I am sure he is mentally very focussed and wont just give up, but in the end, one can only go so far.

"AMEN" to that Mallo - this fiasco is an absolute disgracefull show of incompetance and inability to inform in a timeous and consistant manner.