mountain_lion

You confusing me with somebody else? mountain_lion is a laid back mountain biker (and mountaineer) who only ventures on to the tar occasionally (e.g. world fun ride champs). I have actually just acquired a new road bike after not owning a road bike for more than 10 years. I have fitted a compact crank and a 25-12 cassette. (wanted the 25-11, but LBS says they can't find in Tiagra, which is standard on the bike). And just to make double sure that BigBen will never join me on a ride, I fitted SPD pedals so that I can use my mountain bike shoes and will wear my camelback!

I am 1.7m short also with shorter legs and consider myself a "fun rider". On the road I use 172.5mm cranks. For real riding (MTB ) I use 175mm cranks.

Thanks for the replies guys. Seems that there is not much difference between the 2 crank sets; comes down to personal preference. This is actually for a new bike, which comes standard with full Tiagra, but I want the compact crank which seems to be out of stock at present, except in 175 mm crank length and according to The Dr. 172.5 mm will suit me best (not even sure if you get Tiagra in 172.5 mm - website only lists 170 & 175). I am a short heavy "fun rider". So LBS will be fitting the Truvativ Elita (availablecompact for the same price instead. Just hope I don't run into the same problems as Anthony...

Oh, forgot to ask, why is it "nicer" than Tiagra?

Thanks Muds It is the external bearing one. All these road parts are confusing to a mountain biker who has never been on a road bike for more than 10 years!

I enquired about a Shimano Tiagra compact crank set from my LBS. They did not have stock and the agents don't know when they will have stock again. LBS is offering a Truvativ Elita crank set as an equivalent alternative. Anybody used this crank set? Any good? Is this equivalent to Shimano Tiagra?

Glad that you found the immediate cause of your problem. Good idea to go for a setup. In my opinion cleat setup is more of a personal preference thing. However correct bike setup is of utmost importance, i.e. saddle height & position, drop from seat to bars and reach from saddle to bars etc. The key is to start with the correct frame size. Most important of all, enjoy the riding!

Ah! remembered at last: Morton's neuroma; knew it was somewhere in my head... more info see: http://www.footphysicians.com/footankleinfo/mortons-neuroma.htm

Too narrow shoes are not the only cause of "hot foot syndrome" (can't remember the correct name now), but narrow shoes will make it worse. Correct insoles might help and depending on your specific problem a metatarsal button on the insole could be the solution. Specialized make cycling specific insoles, but you need to know what problem you need to correct before you buy. Some suggestions here: http://www.roadbikerider.com/articles.htm#How%20to%20Solve%20Painful%20Hot%20Foot Try searching the Hub too, I am sure this has been discussed before. mountain_lion2009-02-05 06:14:41

http://sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html

Olympic shoes are also good value. I have the Adventure which is not as stiff as some of the others but is very comfortable to walk in and provide reasonable grip on rocks.

One for the wheel gurus... What would cause a rim to crack next to the eyelets as shown in the photos below? Obvious cracks at 3 eyelets and more that seem to be starting. It is an Alex Rim R390 (road bike front). I don't know much about the history of this wheel. Apparently it is about 2 years old. No noticeable signs of impact damage to the wheel. mountain_lion2009-08-30 12:12:26

Try here: http://www.bikefitting.com/English/Frame.aspx (or Google for others). 54cm ~= medium MTB, but both sound on the large side for someone 1.74m tall... Torso and top tube length should also be considered and might be the deciding factor for between small & medium.

I submit my track data to Track4Africa (T4A) who then add it to their maps. Been doing this for years. Most of Jonkershoek on T4A is my recordings. See http://www.tracks4africa.co.za T4A Maps are compatible with Garmin Mapping type GPS receivers. The T4A maps are cheap and you only need to buy the sections you want, e.g. Western & Northern Cape is R110. The T4A data is also available as a layer on Google Earth (but not updated as often as their GPS maps). <shamless plug> If you want to add topographic data to T4A (or any other Garmin GPS map), have a look at AfricaTopo. http://madmappers.com/AfricaTopo I needed topo maps for my mountaineering trips a few years ago, but there was nothing available for SA at the time, so I did my own... AfricaTopo is transparent so that you can overlay it onto any other map on the GPS screen. The free demos include Jonkershoek. </plug>

I have also got a set. Better than the "cheap Chinese" sets, but not in the same league as Park and other top brands. I think it is fine for home use.

Trek 730 Multi-track hybrid (1997) Full chromoly!

Edman: Great minds... Another option is to convert (GPSBabel etc) your data to OziExplorer track format (.plt) and use Trackan, also free. http://people.ksp.sk/~tino/gps/help.html

Have you tried SportTracks? http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks Much better than Garmin Training Center... Garmin GPS 12 is an old model; not sure if SportTracks will support it directly, but you can import .gpx files. mountain_lion2008-11-17 13:42:09

I use the Olympic Adveture shoes http://www.omnico.co.za/olympic.php /www.omnico.co.za/conrad/olympic/images/adventure.jpg They have laces plus a velcro strap. Never had any problems with them, wet or dry. Comfortable and easy to walk in. Reasonable grippy soles too. I have rock hopped across many streams with bike over the shoulder. No problem. I have SPD pedals on my hybrid (which is my road bike) too, so I use them on the road as well (If you are not racing for top spot, you do not need road specific shoes). I experience hot feet once towards the end of a 88km road ride a year ago, but I think this has more to do with my feet that the shoe. Improvised a "metatarsal button" from cardboard cut outs attached to the insole. Problem solved.

Easy. There was no marshal between the timing mats and the start line. I went over the mats with L group, although I have a K seeding. K was still standing in front of us waiting to be set off. Nothing would have stopped me from merging with the K group and scoring the time between the start of K & L groups. I wanted to ride one group down, hoping it would help me not to be dropped on the first hill like last year. Did not work.

Perhaps your SPAM filter blocked the mail?? Try emailing the developers: saws [at] futureforesight.com They used to be very responsive, but that was when only a few people were using the new site and their forum was not that busy. Give it a try, you never know. I see the negative comments are flooding in now... These guys seem to know what they are doing. Just unfortunate that the design they are implementing is so graphic intense, compromising functionality in the process. I do like some of the features though, like the Google Earth part. They should have saved all the graphical overlays for the Google Earth interface and left the rest as normal text tables.

From what I read on the weathersa forum the old site and specifically the radar images might not be available for much longer...

I don't like all the new eye candy of the new site either. Performance is however very good compared to the previous Java version. The loss of the synoptic chart and radar images is a major step backwards. I agreed with another poster voicing his opinion on the useless eye-candy on their forum, but our posts disappeared... I am also trying accuweather.com at present. Integrates nicely with Firefox using the Forecastfox add-on.

Try here for some guidance: http://www.bikefitting.com