EdoardoBianchi

Dude, WTF? Looks super-painful! Good luck with sleeping on your side... PS: Sorry I made it sound like we're going to race this morning, didn't mean for you to go this this extreme to avoid the pain!

Mtb or road? Discs? Carbon pads? If all else fails, try some grease...(kidding, naturally)

Yep, when you own Campag you gotta put in the hours at the office to afford replacements. Not that it's required often, but when it is the shop owners smile all the way to the bank. Oh, and a general disinterest in BigH's general movements...

Alida, take The Crow up on his offer: I've been a roadie all my life, bought an Mtb, loved it to bits (literally) but find myself more on the road than on the mtb. I won't be able to sell either, regardless of how little I use it. Also, you don't need a fancy mtb to truly enjoy being offroad...but it helps (apparently)

At the Sheraton in Lagos, but you'll have to buy BigH a cup 'o Joe...

Racer X, here's one for you: Can you fit blue fur to the dash of a DB9? Colour of the vehicle is light metallic blue, interior trim is cream.

Madness, given the excellent (though longer) alternative routes.

Hot stuff! Just remember to tighten those seat bolts...

Looks nice. What wheels are those?

And I thought this is about Big H returning to SA...

I'm betting 22 pages this year...

If all else fails, I'll take her off your hands for R4,500 no papers required. Good luck with the battle!

Respect.

Awesome! Looks like a circa 1994 machine? If it's a 65cm I'll bet my bottom dollar it the race-winning Indurain's Elite cages - nice touch!

Faaaaaark Racman! I nearly wet myself seeing those pics of the TurboMatic 2. The textured leather, the black and yellow rear covers (faux carbon in the days not even F1 cars used carbon!) CycleNut: I want to see the recipient of the project bike on a podium. Soon! EdoardoBianchi2008-01-17 11:24:52

Lovely piece, the Seinfield one you posted Hotstuff. The problem with being proud of being white is that you are by implication proud of what your forefathers have done (ah, Apartheid again). Somehow, those professing black conciousness/proudness/etc is bestowed with an almost angelic association with all that is good of the black past: being oppressed, achieving emancipation, etc. All noble and most inspiring causes. However, it also renders a moral highground in that no other "proudness" could be as noble or worthy of pride. Especially not pride that is borne by the latest generation of the past oppressors. Unfortunately "There is no courage without fear. There is no hero without a foe." We're pretty much on the shortest end of the stick here...

Glad you're ok, Gerrit. Alert the Pawn shops in the area (are there any?) and monitor Junkmail over the next couple of weeks... Bastids

Used to be one up from Altus. Stills close to or at the bottom of the Shimano foodchain and hardly ever used as a complete group with cranks/brakes/etc being dropped in favour of cheap[er] Eastern offerings. Solid enough if you're not going to race on it. Should be ok for round-the-corner-to-the-shop-trips.

I got mine from Cycletech in Kyalami

Poker, is that really you upper limit or are you bluffing? [EB leaves] I'm of the opinion that an uncomfortable shoe that fits in your budget causes more pain than explaining a "budgetary indiscretion" to the missus. Unfortunately, what works for one guy's feet might not for another, but as a general guideline Sidi's are deemed particularly prone to causing hot feet due to a narrower design. I've settled on Specialized carbons and find them ultra-comfortable. They're also relatively light, not too expensive (approx. R2k) and score about 8/10 in the style dept. EdoardoBianchi2008-01-15 23:44:03

Nice 1st post, Gee. I won't be able to offer much advice on any of the above, but my guess is that each of these will have a crowd that swears by it. Generally: Buy the best frame you can get, even if it means sacrificing on component quality - you can sort this out through upgrades. Other than that the question is: "Which would get you to throw a leg over [the bike] most often?". Luckily, arriving at this answer involves lots of visits to bike shops and many opportunities to rethink your true upper limit on the budget. Good luck!

Yeah, I'm waiting for Tractor pulling to feature in the Olympics...or wait, there'll be a "World" Champs first. Only in the states of course Mampara, you're watching Tractor Pullin'? You sound like the kind of guy who enjoys Jerry Springer

I like the way in which even a serious economic discussion can make its way into the realm that is "Campy vs Shimano". Some brilliant insights though!

Is it possible to set the way average cadence is calculated in the Protrain 5 s/w? I'm getting values in the range of 70 - 76 as a result of freewheeling etc. I've taken the data to Excel and applied some filter/pivoting, but this is not the most elegant way of doing it. Cheers EB