Sean Badenhorst

Have you ever ridden an Elite Raleigh, Chunky?

Two posts about the TB route, but only one bottle cage... I don't give a bike a second look unless it can carry two bottles.

Originally posted by Williehond Sean, Sastre rides with Q-rings. Won a stage, and if you haven't noticed: he's in yellow!!! That's the kind of proof I need! Now, the question is, when I buy them, do they come with the two Schleck brothers?

Okay, now that I refresh, I see it's Mike Tarr. Another non-athletic veteran sports journo who really should know better than to be surprised by doping in professional sport. Golf and cricket get him excited. Says it all...

fandacious, who wrote this?

As far as I know Raleigh sell complete bikes, not just the framesets. How do you compare a full bike with just a frameset?

How many tubes are there on the frame of a bike? How can you possibly make every frame that different from another? Ride more, worry less...

Originally posted by Sean Badenhorst If they are that good, why don't all the pros use them? Originally posted by GoLefty!! Youtalking about those guys who ase their career on some previousrider right down to copying the riding style, lifestyle and cheating style of previous rider...? You talking about those guys who find it hard to embrace anythong they have not tried before... Oh well, Hincapie is using some really weird looking oval rin and there are quite a few riders on the Q-ring in this years tour. Any of them won a stage, or featured in a Jersey battle? If they're really that good, I'll buy them. Honestly.

Originally posted by GoLefty!! yes i watched the highlights of the race and saw the last bit where they entered the finish straight. It happens as Crazy German describes. The sprint starts in the middle of the road, Sauser snaps to the right forcing Paulissen with him. they don't actually touch and it appears that SAuser loses the back wheel and falls on top of Paulissen. Hence the decision to remove Sauser from the top step of the podium was the correct one. It's hard sometimes to do or see the right thing when emotion clouds your vision. Sauser was a little too desparate for this win and that made him take his actions a step too far. I'm sure after he reviews the video he will see what he did wrong. the appeal was thrown out too. The full lenght highlights now sems to have been removed from YouTube (that copyright thing again) Okay, let's see: they don't actually touch and it appears that SAuser loses the back wheel and falls on top of Paulissen. Huh? Have you ever been in a sprint before? How does one 'lose the back wheel and fall'? I'm sure after he reviews the video he will see what he did wrong. Ummm, Sauser was the one that put the video in the public domain and encouraged people to watch it! It's hard sometimes to do or see the right thing when emotion clouds your vision. This from someone that lurks behind the Hub name of GoLefty? I have no emotional attachment to either of these riders and actually respected them both equally until this incident. I also don't own a Specialized or a Cannondale...

Originally posted by linnega I do however, agree about the P's. I tuned into Eurosport on my PC and watched the pictures on the TV yesterday. Kelly is definitely more insightful. If you can understand what he's saying! I spent a day with him at his house in 1998 and eventually just nodded and smiled instead of saying 'pardon'. Solid chap. Tough as nails!

shebeen, I was going to just leave this where it is, but here are some facts which I just need to share. This was not written a week ago. Went onto iafrica.com now and found this column with this dateline: Death of Le Tour? Article By: Dan Nicholl Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:46The Tour a damp squib a week ago? Evans coasting into Paris in Yellow? Last Thursday, this was how the GC looked at the top: General classification after stage 11 1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 46.42.13 2 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 0.01 3 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 0.38 4 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 0.46 5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0.57 6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.28 7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 1.56 8 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 2.10 9 Riccardo Ricc? (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 2.29 10 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 2.32 Agree with you on the drug thing and the Barloworld expectations. I think Dan writes well, but he needs to research his facts better, even in opinionated humour pieces which he's so prolific at. I also think that someone who says... I?ve watched all of 20 minutes of this year?s race, along with collected snatches from news bulletins and highlights packages. ...isn't qualified to offer condemnation on the world's biggest annual sports event. It's like me writing about the death of The British Open cos I watched the highlights of Round 1 and noticed Tiger wasn't playing... Oh, and that sbs.com.au forum piece, not Dan's writing, too much cycling knowledge evident. Hope this doesn't diminish your love of Dan's writing or interest in Le Tour. I'm really just pointing out the facts. Sean Badenhorst2008-07-24 06:06:06

Great idea Token Freak. Don't forget to get extra funding for distribution, marketing, advertising, sponsorship etc. Oh and expect to handle warranties and it's probably a good idea now to start building relationships with bike shops so that you can actually show these frames to the public, or just go the fly-by-night route and share a stand with another fly-by-nighter at the Argus Expo... Easier said than done, hey?

Just sold my tandem. But it seems that there's consensus on the Q-rings making a noticeable difference on the tandem over a single bike. Johan, assume there's a scientific reason for this?

shebeen, an allround knowledge in whose opinion? Yours? First rule of journalism: get the facts right, otherwise stick to fictional humour. And have you actually watched this year's Tour? Seven different wearers of the Yellow Jersey and less than three minutes separating the top 5 with four stages to go. How can you say that's not captivating? Sean Badenhorst2008-07-24 02:32:18

Porky, France is the most visited country in the world in both 2006 and 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism#cite_note-10. I'd say Le Tour plays a big part in that success. Just watching the visuals on TV makes me want to visit France. It's not like the spectators on the mountain stages just stroll down the road to watch, there's significant effort, planning and costs involved in just getting to a spot on a big climb to watch. I'd say that's a passionate fan and not an incidental spectator.

If they are that good, why don't all the pros use them?

No dig felt, PPWTF. Yes, self-policing is a whole new challenge.

Basil Cohen will be able to give plenty of insight in this topic, as will Gotty Hansen. I have Basil's contact details if anyone wants them. Gotty shouldn't be that hard to track down.

They're just adding some smoke. Don't want the dopers to know exactly what they're doing now do they, especially with the Olympics just three weeks away. Bottom line. It's easy to change the molecular structure of a banned substance by adding just one hydrogen molecule. The testing systems are designed to look for a specific molecular structure and that is why the PED suppliers need to be kept in the dark as to which molecular structures are being tested for. Still, the only way to clean up the sport properly is to get the cyclists themselves to police it.

Actually, EPO is a red blood cell booster, which is mainly used by those who suffer from anaemia (a naturally low red blood cell count). Our bodies produce EPO on their own, but those that are anaemic don't produce enough, hence the need for the synthetic EPO. A test for synthetic EPO was only finalised in 2000, throwing a cloud of suspicion on many, many endurance sport feats in the 80s and 90s, including marathon running (especially ultra marathons) and of course cross-country skiing and cycling.

Nothing like not really knowing the facts to create a story to mislead the misled even further. And the last time Armstrong a.k.a Average Joe's blue-eyed, goody-goody cycling hero, rode the Tour was in 2005. Get over him. Sheryl Crowe did. And to find a sport that's 'fundamentally rotten', look a little further than the only one that's actually trying really hard to clean itself up. Golf writers should stick to writing about golf, which is a game, not a sport...

My mistake. The riders behind JL definitely took a wider line, but JL took the same line as Popovych who led into the corner. Just much faster!

Saw the start of the sprint where Sauser moves across. Hardly sudden or dangerous and quite common in finishline sprints. I still can't believe they ruled that 'Sauser had sprinted in an unauthorized manner'.

Make sure you take at least three pairs, make sure they are all bib-shorts and make sure they all fit you properly. Most international brands are good, but local brands, if they're newish should do the trick. Bonus tip! Take a second (different make) saddle. Using a different saddle can change the pressure points should you have issues. Both bib-shorts and saddles are usually quite personal in terms of what works for you. Make sure you're accustomed to both during your training rides. Make sure your partner does the same. No use being prepared and then hearing constant whining for eight or nine days (and nights!).

Yes! Basil Cohen (Deale & Huth) told me he used to get the names of the bikes eg Zini, Le Turbo from a hairdresser chap he knew. I went from the Peugeot to an Alpina which had Columbus SL or SLX tubing. Bought the Alpina second hand from Crispin Brien for R3000. Crispin was in the Alpina racing team in 1988. It was a bright orange and white bike and I thought it was the most lovely thing in the whole world... Turns out it was only the most lovely thing in my world.