Jump to content

Andymann

Members
  • Posts

    2265
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Andymann

  1. Andymann

    Formula 1...

    Talking of Jos Verstappen, I quite enjoy the Eddie Jordan and DC podcasts - a bit different, and not completely F1 related. In the one episode, Eddie Jordan mentions that he believes Max's talent didn't come from Jos, but from his Mom, Sophie. In fact, Eddie Jordan reckons that the fasted Verstappen out there is neither Max or Jos, but Sophie who should have and would have been very competitive in F1. Interesting.
  2. Andymann

    Formula 1...

    Wow no wonder Jos is a bit grumpy. And I guess we know now who also leaked the messages. But yup - how stupid can Horner be if those messages are genuine - why would you get involved in something like that when you are happily married. Unless he isn't.....
  3. So last year my Wife made it into the last 10 of the Zwift Academy Tri and we were pretty sure she stood a good shot of making it into the team based on what we thought were what they were looking for - everyday people who were good enough to race in KONA but had never had the opportunity to be coached correctly. The final ladies that were selected were all semi-pro, were all already sponsored and I think if I recall 2 had already raced at KONA and won their Age groups. What they weren't were amateurs that had never been offered an opportunity. ZA is marketed as an avenue for everyday people who are good enough to make it to a pro team, but really everyday people don't stand a chance - I think they know from the start who they want. ZA Tri was cancelled for this year, and I see the ZA Run team was also not announced.
  4. I've met Maddie a few times - my Wife used to coach her during her Triathlon days and we were all in Avilles together for Duathlon. She's really cool and I hope it works out for her. My gut feeling tells me though that the Team is looking for decent all-rounders and not specialists so I don't know if she's what they want.
  5. And to be fair - those that know their bikes, a Hyosung GT650R is at best a spirited commuter bike. It's hardly a bike that only comes alive at 180kph.
  6. A couple of years back I hit a car on my Motorbike on the way to work - the cars were stopped at a red light and I was filtering slowly down the right when the guy decided to do a U-turn. I hit him and broke my ankle. I claimed from the RAF and eventually it went to court where I was awarded only a percentage of what my lawyer claimed - the Judge was quite firm and said to me that some of the blame was on me because even though what the car had done was wrong, and filtering is legal in SA, I had put myself at risk by doing it. It was quite an eye-opener for me because in my mind I was doing nothing wrong - but in the eyes of the law I was putting myself at risk by riding a motorbike in that position. So yup - I agree. My gut feeling would be that if this went to court and assuming no-one was drunk, the blame would be apportioned to both parties for putting themselves at risk for doing what they were doing. Sometimes the law is like a Doberman's left leg - it's neither fair, or right.
  7. As someone who restores old motorbikes with unobtanium parts I have had a few springs made at Weblor Springs in Edenvale. Even a few custom springs where I crudely bent a piece of wire and asked them to replicate it. It might be too small for them, of if it isn't, you might need to accept that you will need to order a minimum of 20 possibly, but If it was me, I would take a drive out to them with the sample and see what they say. STARCO springs is another one you might try - they made us a clock spring for one of our old Drilling machines here and it was perfect.
  8. We've been experimenting with them. On the long training rides (3hrs+) I find they work really well. The Apple and Cinnamon one is really nice. I also grab one for a 10am snack especially if I have done an early morning session
  9. Been wanting to post these for a while. I accidentally dropped the 660 when I was taking off the rear wheel (Rookie mistake I know!) and broke the plastics on the RHS which were the only undamaged ones. The LHS ones were broken and badly repaired when I bought it so I was on the cusp of ordering a new set of reproduction plastics from Aus when I thought to just try Custom Creations here in Krugersdrop. What a brilliant job they did. For reference, the tank is still original, They somehow managed to touch up the OEM stickers and repair the damage to a point where you really cant tell they have been repaired. Super impressed with them!
  10. Talking of SA Champs, I see Maddie Le Roux is down to race the Ladies Elite race. She is one of the finalists for the Ladies Zwift Academy Team - I'll be holding thumbs - My Wife used to coach her when she was a Junior Triathlete and she was with the team when we went to World Duathlon champs in Spain - the same year that Emma Pallant and Richard Murray won the Elite race. She's really chilled - nice and grounded so I hope she does well.
  11. Yup - and she's full of praise for South Africa - loves it here. I even think she tried to change Federations so she could try and represent RSA in Triathlon but sadly that didn't work out.
  12. The VMC does a calendar every year where they ask members to sponsor a page and in return you get a picture of your bike on a month. I had pics taken and last year I thought what the hell let me submit to Bikebound https://www.bikebound.com/2024/01/10/velocette-scrambler/
  13. I came across a Facebook memory a while back when I still had my Triumph Bonneville where I was debating the fact that when driving past the local University on the Triumph, there was a very fine line separating Cool Guy riding a retro bike and Old guy riding past on some old bike.... Sadly I think on that day I was the latter
  14. You cant carry your dog on an XT250.....
  15. Actually the AG200 is way better - but it has a stigma attached that it's a farm bike. Same engine, same dodgy suspension but just a much better package
  16. Having said that - if you can take a TW200 across 5 miles of hell you can probably take anything!
  17. I was part of the S10 test team when we were busy evaluating it before the SA launch. We had a KTM, a Triumph, a GS and the S10. This is what we found - The KTM was the best off-road - like a big MX bike but it wasn't great on-road The GS was excellent as a big Adventure tourer but wasn't as good as the KTM off road. The S10 was kind of in-between - it was better than the GS off-road, but not as good as the KTM, but not as good as the GS on-road but way better than the KTM. The problem was the Triumph which was just a better all-rounder than everything everywhere - luckily in 2010 Triumphs were not that popular. The Japanese could not understand why South Africans would want to take an S10 on anything other than maybe a dirt road - and even that was a shock for them! I wouldn't completely ignore an S10 - they are incredibly reliable so you won't have issues and they can be had now for good money - but I wouldn't want to take one too far off a gravel road! Just my 5c!
  18. So after being a pure Cyclist in the 2000's I met my Wife who is a Triathlete (and Coach). So I started running. Running became Duathlon and for the next 15 years, we supported each other - I trained Running and Cycling with her for Kona, and she did running and cycling with me for World Duathlon champs. In Oct 2021 she took over the Swim School at the VA in Parkview so I started a small swim - 200m. That progressed over the next two years to a few sprint Triathlons, a Standard and in December last year we entered for 70.3 Lapu-Lapu in the Philippines as the first major event where we will both be competing together. And a little holiday afterwards! 95 days to go!
  19. https://www.cycleworld.com/2020-kawasaki-ninja-zx-25r-first-look/ Those frames look very very similar. I wonder how long it will be before some mad Asian dude shoehorns the 400 engine into his ZX25 frame......
  20. Who would like to guess what stupid and costly thing I managed to do this weekend.......
  21. So at the risk of sounding like a stuck record, back in the 80's and 90's they were very accurate - but funny enough, they used to be different as you moved from Natal to the FS and then Gauteng. And telephone poles used to be very accurate too - across all provinces. But you never needed to rely on them because all the roads had clearly visible km stones. Now not so much - very few district roads still have km stones and if they do, they are hidden with long grass. Even in the Western Cape! The big problem we have now unfortunately, is that its very easy to quickly check your speed on a phone or a Garmin - yes, it's not only in Zwift where people do electronic doping!
  22. At the top of the Rally box you have a scroll of speeds - like the picture below. At 70kph, 1km will take you 51s, 2km 1:43, 3km 2:34 and so on. So you start, get yourself up to what you think is about 70kph and then find the nearest km stone and start timing - don't change your estimated speed. If you find you are riding say at 50s per km then you know you are doing 71 and the next km needs to take you 1:46 - so you are then at 68kph - get on time and use the second stopwatch to time again. If there are no km stones, at 70kph 21 white lines will take you 12.9s - counting white lines is tricky though. And dangerous. Once you get to know the bike you actually can get pretty close - that's why on day 1 I thought I was doing 60kph, couldn't see any km stones, had a solid white line so rode on feel. I was way too slow and lost 96s in 4.4km. Day two I got much better - my total error was 135s - on day one it was 306
  23. Yup - you need to tape up all the instruments - nothing is allowed on the bike that can give you any indication on how fast or how far you have gone. So you have two options for the start of regularity - ride to the the start as quickly as you can, and then leave on time like you suggested, or ride the entire rally as best as you can on time, so that you are always within a few seconds of where you need to be. My Dad was a top rallyist when he was younger - I think he still holds the record for the lowest error in the DJ - thin k it was 98secs over two days if I recall and he taught me a few things - one of them was to try and ride the entire rally on time and then ride the regularity sections exactly on time - the reason being is that sometimes the start of regularity is at an undefined point - like a farm gate or overhead wires. you get to a gate, start and then presto, there is another gate 500m down the road and you are stuffed for that section. Kevin 81 409 -3 3 -77 -62 -53 -53 -15 60 -13 -9 19 18 8 -10 -6 Andy 82 306 -96 1 -25 -8 2 -15 13 -10 -2 24 18 63 -7 -1 21 Have a look above at my Dad's errors and mine - he was 3sec late at Marshall one, 3 sec early at Marshall 2 and then didn't practice what he taught me and raced to the the next start of regularity which just said "Farm Double Gate"- he started at the wrong one and carried the error over to the next 4 marshals - -77, -62, -53, -53 I knew I was badly out right from the start (-96) so I couldn't do that - I rode as best I could and actually got to the right gate only 25s late - then got back on time. -25, -8, 2, -15 So to answer - I prefer to ride the entire Rally as if I am riding regularity - it adds a bit more stress, but chances of cocking up are a lot less! It depends on how good buddies you have! The top guys will not stop - but those riding at the back will just do it for fun - I would have definitely stopped to help my Dad. Last thing - have a look at the top 5 times - Position Name Comp No Day 1 Day 2 Final 1 Gush - Ron & Pam 3 68 71 139 2 Walton - Gavin 52 104 47 151 3 Murphy - Andrew & Annelie 57 106 56 162 4 Ward - Mike & Glenda 83 106 58 164 5 Greyvensteyn - Colin & Megan 80 80 87 167 6 Rupert - Mark 77 72 107 179 7 Metcalf - Harvey & Tess 58 119 61 180 8 Van Blerck - Johann / Craig Molver 103 161 22 183 Johan van Blerk and Craig Molver were only 22secs error on day two - crazy stuff!
  24. Yup - it's a regularity run so you aren't allowed to use any form of speed or distance measuring device - you get a route schedule that is put inside the Rally box and then you are allowed to use stopwatches. On the more modern bikes you need to tape up the clocks. The first pic is the route schedule - the blocks marked in blue are the regularity sections - there you have to ride as accurately as possible - there are marshall points in those areas and they check to see if you are arriving early - (positive) or late (negative) The second pic is of my results on day on - I really screwed up at the first marshal - I was 96 seconds late - still getting used to the bike! It got better as the day went on!
  25. I did get a bit of admin from the older crowd about it not being a real classic etc, etc, but the rules state the bike needs to be older than 26 years and the Tenere is 29 years so it's perfectly fine. There were two guys rallying a 1990's era Toyota Corolla - the original 16v one and no-one was too critical of them so tough - I had fun and I only had to fill it up once!
Settings My Forum Content My Followed Content Forum Settings Ad Messages My Ads My Favourites My Saved Alerts My Pay Deals Help Logout