Polo

We used to take old tyres, cut off the wire bead and put it inside the new tyre. The ultimate tyre liner, but more comfortable than permatubes. It was virtually impossible to get a puncture. Not the lightest option though...

Cool pick! Why is it that a helicopter always makes things look more intense? This would just be a picture of 2 guys cycling on a random dirt road, but add a helicopter hovering and bam! I reckon I'm just going to photoshop helicopters into all me funride picks. Imagine a standard funride prick, but with an Apache gunship hovering behind you, maybe some explosions - awesome!

We had our own unauthorised "downhill" races at Zevenwacht growing up in the mid nineties. No suspension, no disc brakes, no helmets (not much to protect when you're 15 years old!). The one guy had a "Marvel" with click shifters and 18 gears - the rest of us were on Nishiki's (think that was the name) and various other Dion specials. Don't think i'd be able to go faster today with 30 gears and full suspension. Then again, 3 of us ended up at the doctors for stitches or a fractured elbow in my case. Of course sworn to silence because we werent supposed to be there in the first place! Good times!

Why not go for this: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/t6-xml-t6-3-mode-1200-lumen-white-led-bike-light-with-battery-pack-set-94182?utm_source=dx&utm_medium=edm&utm_campaign=20120203s&r=90000319 Similar to a 808 for R400 (inc VAT). Ive been using using a 808 for 2 years and it works fine. If something goes wrong there is a guy in Stellenbosch, Hannes Zietsman, who has all the spares for these like lights. He is on TheHub.

Unless you plan on winning the TK (or any other marathon type event for that matter) I don't see why you would want to punish yourself by spending in excess of 10 hours on a hard tail. My one team mate in the TB used a hard tail in 2010 and a soft tail in 2011. He reckons there's no way that the weight saving can ever make up for the difference in comfort.

I have to drive to Boschendal from town tomorrow morning to pick up a f**cking race number, so add 80 bucks in petrol the race entry. Pretty negative about this race at the moment..

So I bought a pair of Specialized S-Works road shoes from the www.thesportsbasement.co.za last week for R1499. Pretty good price I thought. When the shoes arrived they were a number too small (I chose a 46 instead of 47). I emailed them and got a response to send the shoes back and that they'd send me a bigger size and pay for the shipping of the second pair. Yesterday morning the new pair of shoes arrived at my office, free of charge! The site is really worth checking out - they don't have a lot of stock yet, but the stuff they have is very well priced.

How's the response been in terms of entries so far? Trying to get a team together, but don't want to do it if there's only going to be a couple of other teams.

The best advice I never got is to spend R200 more initially and buy a bib instead of normal cycling shorts. The first time you put it on you might look like Borat to yourself in the mirror, but you get used to it. There's nothing worse than cycling shorts pulling down and shirt riding up, exposing a nice piece of back/crack! And the padding never stays where it is intended and needed....

I reckon most guys who committed to doing the Epic has bought their entries. I would love to do it, but its too late to start training now and still get to Epic levelr of fitness. I reckon if you train and have to balls to hold out to the last week you'll get an entry for next to nothing.

Change the heading to +-300% increase, because that is the actual increase. Pretty sad though, was really looking forward to doing this next year - now I'm so sure anymore. If they want to charge "real" stage race prices they need to include the accommodation, as the overnight stay is a big part of stage racing - camaraderie and all of that.

You guys are obviously not omni-turners. I think Derrick Zoolander suffered from the same debilitating condition.

I've been using this little gps for about 6 months now. Bought it from the suppliers in Taiwan, thought it might be worthwhile to import them as a cheaper option to Garmin etc., but I paid about R800 including shipping, VAT and customs, so not really worthwhile trying to resell them. The unit is quite small and yellow bits are rubber, seems good quality. Its completely waterproof (used it in pouring rain, no problems) and the battery lasts forever (did the Transbaviaans in 15 hours, had to the back light on for about 6 hours and it lasted the entire race). Just plug it into your computer to download and recharge, fairly user-friendly. Only downside really is that it doesn't have the option to include a HR or Cadence sensor, so you will have to import the .gpx file into another program to combine it with HR data from different source.

My forerunner's strap broke earlier this year. Took it Garmin in Muizenburg and they replaced it in 5 minutes, no questions asked, free of charge. Great service

Which canals are you talking about? Isn't that like swimming in the harbour, wading through diesel slicks?

I'm really tempted to go for this deal. Does anyone use the Drift X170 at the moment? I know its not HD, but how does it compare to the GoPro? The way I see it: Pro's Nifty remote control, so you can switch it on on the fly (have you noticed how GoPro clips always start with a guy's face in the top right hand corner checking to see if its on) Price Screen on device to preview immediately Cons AA batteries (what is the battery life while recording?) No indicator to tell whether its on or off on the remote control Not HD

I didn't want to be the first to post the observation!

I've got 3 x 10 XT on my bike and I must say I'm not impressed at all. The granny gear is not easier (bigger) than 3x9 and the big blade is so small that you struggle to keep up on flats. Furthermore the chains required for 10 speed seems very fragile (broke mine after a couple of rides ) and was told by the LBS I need to start budgeting to replace the drivetrain - after 6 months!! My previous bike had X9 drivetrain and it lasted forever with very little maintenance. I havent tried the 2x10 configuration, but seriously considering it when replacing my current crankset.

Half the thread below the article on Bikeradar is about whether it is morally acceptable to buy a bike that gets manufactured in a 3rd world country, because the workers don't receive a living wage. Nothing to do with whether a Tallboy is a good bike (which it is!) or not...

Jeez that thread went south quickly! Ironic that we are discussing the bike in the 'third world'!

I would say SRAM X5 is on the same level as Deore. Can't really comment on the XTR and X0 stuff, but from my experience I prefer X9 to XT. When XT is nice and clean and lubed it works perfectly, much smoother than SRAM, but as soon as you add a bit of mud and water the SRAM stills functions the way it should, the XT not so much...

I normally aim to be in the first 1/4 of the field in any race I do (doesn't always materialize though...). Putting down a time based on distance is very subjective - it could by muddy, windy, etc. but its always the same for everyone. I reckon one long ride (4 hours +) over the weekend and one or two shorter rides (90 min) or a couple of spinning classes during the week should be sufficient.

We cycled through the Baviaans 2 weeks ago, did the first 160km of the race. There's a couple a of badly rutted sections at the bottom of MAC, but nothing too hectic on a MTB. The biggest problem is the water crossings. Every little ditch in the road has water flowing through it. Probably about 10 to 15 water crossings, varying from 30cm deep streams to one thats close to a meter deep in some sections and stretches for about 200m. I tried to ride through some of the deeper ones, but my gears and chain did not like that at all. I reckon its probably best to carry your bike, because your feet are getting wet regardless. Hopefully the water levels are lower in the actual race. Bottom line, be prepared for wet feet and carry some Squirt in your Camelback. Cant wait!

Im interested to know what the coverage is like on the 8ta data network. Their voice network uses Vodacom towers where 8ta does not have towers yet, but in the press release they said they will not be using Vodacom towers to support data services (too expensive for them to pay VC). Has anyone traveled around with one of these?

That was my reply to my teammates as well, slap on a couple of panniers or a backpack and make it a self-supported 230km ride. They came back with replies like "why stop there, how about hooking up a rubber duck for the river crossings".