widget

I concur with the "waste of time" sentiment. As someone said, its just a few shops looking to dump old stock they cant normally sell or increase their sales of tubes for a day. I dont even bother stopping. .............and while I am on the issue, I think the venue (SCC) sucks as well, traffic is incredible on a normal day, this just makes it 10 x worse, parking is difficult and payable, even if you are only there for 10 minutes, and coming from Fourways its at least a 45 - 60 minutes commute each way - I feel sorry for those in say the Vaal triangle, its what, a 200 / 220 km round trip - you almost need to take a day off work.!

Personally, I think the guy has a right to be miffed, when I buy something, I expect it to be right for the job, its not as if they (the LBS) didnt know what tube to use, they just didnt care or pay sufficient attention to what they sold him. I could be cynical and say, "they maybe didnt have the right tube in stock, so just sold him the incorrect tube, hoping he would forget about it, or they could sort out the issues later". I also think its a poor show to NOT show him how to use the pump, everybody is always on a mission to say, "go to your LBS they will give you the right advise", well they didnt and now everyone defends them - he may as well just have bought on-line and saved himself 20%.!!

Some interesting comments, although I get the feeling most are just aimed at getting some free gels. Somebody else said it, "DONT GIVE YOUR PRODUCT AWAY" make people pay for their goods, offer incentives, offer discounts, offer specials etc, but dont give it away free. This never works, believe me.! Personally, I think its about "time in the market" I have seen WASP but never bought it, I think I got a packet at an expo once and there may have been one inside, but I cant remember. Ever since I ran my first Comrades I have used GU, and I will probably never change, Why, well its been around as long as I have been running and cycling, it has a history I can relate to, its like an old friend, sure its more expensive but I dont mind, I see it as value, so maybe you are rushing things a bit, let your product grow in a sustained fashion and slowly gain market share and wider appeal. As the chains are telling you, "when people ask for it they will stock it" - people only ask for old tried and tested products, you just need to be visible and your market will grow over time until "people are asking for it". If you say your growth is 25% thats pretty good, few business models could ever hope for that kind of growth, if they get 10% they go "WOW" we grew well.!

Why dont you just buy them on line, CYCLE SPORT has them all online and if you keep tabs on the site you sometimes get specials, or two for one etc. I used to buy them all as well, but to be honest I seldom watch them and I really have to be bored stiff to pull one out and watch it. Now I only buy them if I was impressed by a certain race, but I am a serious Giro fan and the 04, 05, 06 and 07 Giro were all good, well worth keeping for your kids, but I wont be buying the 2008 edition. As for the TDF, I stopped buying them in 2005 after Ullrich stopped riding, nobody has grabbed my interest as a "personality" since then. widget2008-10-27 04:51:41

- Yeah, shucks,Sorry man, I missed that part of the report, I shall edit it in later.!! widget2008-10-21 02:33:54

Hmm, Oneway, I am almost 100% sure the cyclists were active Greenpeace members doing their bit to save the rain forests and the polar ice cap, they were riding in single file, stopping at lights, putting a foot down at stop streets, waving to motorists, giving way to traffic and handing sweets to street urchins when this murderous hag in a mobile, polluting lethal weapon, with scant regard for the energy crisis and the Saudi economy decided it was a good day to provoke a few innocent, bunny hugging cyclists to the point of no return. After tolerating this brutish behaviour for what seemed like hours and in the interests of the safety of cyclists the world over they took matters into their own hands and removed the cars keys leaving her stranded. Of course its matters not a zot that there were two males and she was a female relatively unable to defend herself. Who knew huh.!?

well' date=' as a cyclist there isn't much that you can do. But to disable the car. And that means taking the keys. Ya, its not right, at least they didn't beat her up with hocky sticks or stabbed her with knives. Oh, wait, another thread here... BMW driver Bl*&(&ksems another with a sword... Thats all frustrations building up ... because of the lack of the authorisites to deal with idiots on the roads. As long as they (Metro) can dish out R200 fines for you driving 1km/h over the speed limit, they're happy, and the roads are safe, nobody's killed, everythings running smooth in SA![/quote'] Why do you want to do that cervelo?, what can be so bad you need to harass a woman like that? Dos it make you more of a man? Do you feel tough and invincible? Do you go home and brag to your mates about how you taught that defenseless woman a lesson.? The point I am making is, what were they hoping to get out of this? To me, its brutish and arrogant and it shows a lack of class and upbringing. Understand, I am not picking on you, I understand where you are coming from, but tell me honestly, "Would you stoop to such behaviour?" I doubt it very much, so what were they hoping to achieve.? As for the Metro police, well, its another point, speed limits are there for a reason like anything else, but we in SA dont feel the need to be regulated, we like "flying by the seat of our pants", we like the fact that the law here is a bit "bendable", so we speed, we drive recklessly, we misbehave, we jump lights, we swear, we show the finger...................and when we are regulated, .................well, folks, thats just not on.! widget2008-10-20 08:33:25

Yup, I am.! Forget trying to hide behind the law, this, folks is not Canada, if you are dead, who is right and who is wrong makes no differance to you. Treat others as YOU expect to be treated, forget the law and stupid meaningless twaddle like who passes where and how, think of how the OTHER person feels, be accomodating, unless you put food on the table with your cycling and been late to work means you loose financially a few extra stops and arriving a few minutes later makes no differance. BUT above all, think how you would feel if this was YOUR Wife / Girlfriend / Sister - would you like some ruffian treating her this way?? - No, then, remember Respect starts with you.! widget2008-10-20 08:08:03

The fact is nobody knows what makes normal respectable law abiding citizens who hold down respectable jobs and are responsible and dedicated family men behave like lunatics when they get behind the steering wheel of a motorcar. Its beyond me. Not quite the same thing KonaFan and you know it.! How many motorists will ride a woman off the road, harass her and remove her keys. Not too many. At least I have never heard of it. How many motorists will intentionally stop at a light and kick a dent into a fellow motorists door, jump back into the car and disappear. Not that popular an activity, believe me.! There is a differance between driving a car in a reckless fashion on a highway and misbehaving, and physically harassing woman as these cyclists did. ...........but hey, see it as you like.!

This 1.5m road useage by cyclists and the road traffic laws have been debated to death here. Makes no differance. The fact is nobody knows what makes normal respectable law abiding citizens who hold down respectable jobs and are responsible and dedicated family men behave like lunatics when they get on a bicycle. Its beyond me. widget2008-10-20 04:59:39

I sort of just skipped through all this, 22 odd pages is more than I can bear to read, but I cant see the issue, ..................if the serial numbers are just stuck on, who is to say, I cant remove them?? After all, are they not my wheels?? .............and if I want to resell them AFTER I have taken the stickers off,well, why can I not do that?? Sounds like theres more to it than just a sticker.

Bruce, your points are only relevant in a perfect society where there is a contented and happy supply chain from manufacturer to customer. As soon as there is a break in one part of the chain, the whole thing falls into disarray. Now the break can be for many reasons, cost, availability,competition etc , but in my experience the man in the street is of key importance, as soon as he feels he is been taken advantage of, he shops around, and a new market and supply chain is created for the product, be it a parallel importer or via the internet. From here its a downhill spiral, loss of business by the agent, means he needs to margin more, he becomes a more difficult supplier regarding warranty,stock and spares availability, he becomes less inclined to "see the other side" and the more difficult he becomes, the less business he gets, customers preferring to shop where the deal is sweeter and the supplier behaves as if he wants your business. To be honest, in small economies like SA - This business model is doomed to failure, I cant think of one sole distributor in SA, in any retail industry, who is NOT competing with a parallel importer and the internet. Distributors in the cycling business are stuck in the old school mentality, competition is never going to go away, it will only get stronger, rather improve your business model here to ensure your supply chain is good enough to keep the customer from going to the opposition in the first place.

Its more about "EXPECTATION" I think, Goody bags are an old institution at many "like" events and people have got to expect it as a token of appreciation, a sort of "thank you for entering and supporting" which is fine, however over the last few years goody bags have deteriorated to such an extent that in my opinion they are not worth the effort anymore , however the EXPECTATION still remains. My feeling is, if you are going to give one, make it worth while, otherwise dont bother, and make it known ahead of time NO GOODY BAG - no expectation, no disappointment.

Yup, theres nothing like "hindsight" is there.!

No, I would not think so Scotty, it wouldnt be worth the risk. The whole thing sounds a bit "suspect" to me, nothing like a bit of gossip to get the pot stirring I think.

I am wondering on what grounds they could confiscate the wheels.? If they are imported legally (even if they are grey) and all taxes / Vat requirements etc are paid, they are the property of CWC, nobody can confiscate them. If they are counterfeit Mavic products, then thats another thing all together.

Quite right JL.! Nobody knows the future, probably why its called "the future". Actually, the rand fell to R14.00 to the dollar in 2000 /2001 and recovered within 6 months to R7.00 and witihin another 6 months to R6.00. Theres nothing we can do about it, so just get on with it, if it costs more now, well, it costs more, but personally I would say, instead of wasting money on bling bike parts, invest it in some Blue chip shares NOW, I cant remember seeing some of them so low. When that bike you really didnt need is long worn out and forgotton in the garage, the money in the market will be doubled.

Yes, bad area to ride, I think. I obviously wasnt there Mighty Spoke, but my feeling is, as you say it got out of control. This usually happens when there are a lot of people around, mainly due to ego and the safety of the "pack", - people on their own seldom drop to this level as they are not in the position to prove themselves in front of others, and alone, they are vulnerable, - one of the very reasons why crowds go quickly out of control, but small gatherings seldom do, there is a "proper" name for it, but it eludes me now. Well, I never "loved" the route, but it looks like I wont be popping in to the circus coffee shop much, as I wont be on this route much now.

I am just wondering what anybody got out of this? Viloence begets violence, what the pedestrians did was wrong, but what the cyclists did was equally wrong, it was no more than "revenge"..... but then, 100 cyclists and 4 pedestrians,.............Hmmm, I guess they felt their lives were in mortal danger.! WW, I would not have thought you would have approved of such revenge tactics?

..........I have a few pairs of those ADDIS sunglasses which you can fit the lens into (for reading etc) - dont know their name - but anyway, the one set of lenses that I drive with started peeling, it was almost like a film coming off the lens, they were at least two or three years old so a week or two ago I stopped at a shop in NorthGate and bought a new pair of lenses. I showed the guy there my old ones, he said it was strange and maybe he could show the rep and took my number. I said "Keep them, I cant use them like that, - forgot about it and left. This morning I get an SMS from the rep to say, theres a Complimentary new pair of lenses at the shop for me. Cool Hey.! widget2008-10-04 01:39:47

I dont know or care really, but theres lots of reasons sponsors leave a campaign, maybe it just ran its course and they will move onto other campaigns, maybe they felt there was not sufficient exposure for cost and theres more cost effective ways of getting their message out, maybe they had personality / Business clashes that couldnt be resolved, whatever it was it wasnt because the MD "felt like a new Merc" as you put it - these decisions are usually carefully thought about and pre calculated, and seldom decided overnight. Personally, I think USN has better options for advertising.

I think Mr Le Blanc has been around long enough to know exactly why LA wants to "put on his shorts and jersey" again, and its got nothing to do with Cancer.

I think he has been "smoking his socks".! Gos against all conventional wisdom.