Old School Rookie

Toerfiets! Fantastiese nuus. Wens jul alle sterkte. Dink daar goeie mark. Ek’t ñ paar harige stories van trips in Oos Europa en Turkye en hoe om dit op ñ budget te doen. Sien uit na die 1ste uitgawe.

To the OP. I tried my luck with a reputable leatherworks in Snorcity recently. My daughter would have done better with a piece of cow hide, pair of scissors and a pot of glue. I'll be shipping my saddle of to Velobrien rather. Thanks for the info Iwan and company.

Recently did the same for the same purpose. Some advice. If the bike included a rear derailleur, leave it on to use as chain guide if you want to try out a couple of ratios 1st. Doing this will avoid having to mess around with the chain length while experimenting. You probably need to fit a chain tensioner on that frame in any case, so if you don't have an old derailleur you can fit this so long. Ride ur regular route and experiment with different gears. However. Keep the following in mind to skip the teething lessons I had to learn. You can probably use any of the front chain rings. At the back you probably gonna end up using ss specific gears, as you might lose some chain wrap using a tensioner, slipage on regular gears might be an issue. SS specific gears have longer teeth and thus provides better grip. They are however pretty limited in size, i think around 14 smallest up to 20 odd. I therefore decided to use a 53 ring up front with a 18 at the back. This provides a 1/3 ratio which seems to be pretty much the baseline. Om my 15km return route i encounter a 3km hill ranging from 5 to 7 %. With these gears I make to the top with considerable effort, which is the whole idea for me as the bike needs to get my lazy bones stronger. The SS purists will give the best advice etc. I endeavored to keep the project cheap and simple using whatever i had on hand. Outlay that you might expect can include: I use a standard 9spd chain which is pretty cheap. (Half link chains an option and might exclude the use of a tensioner. I wont go that way as I'd prefer not messing with a just too tight chain that could hurt the wheel hub) Rear SS kit cost around R200. Simple tensioner like a On One Doofus R200 from Rapide. (They are noisy though and I will try a more expensive gusset type when i get round to it) You might need shorter chain bolts up front. R100 should do for a set. Except for further SS pimping purposes you shouldn't need much more than that to get the wheels turning. I turned and old GT road bike into a SS and dropped more than 1.6kg on its original weight. Quite a sweet deal considering the expense. Also keep this weight loss in mind when U experiment with the gears, I makes a helluva diffs up the hills. Enjoy it!

Jan's the only one fully kitted. The others forgot to pack their palm protectors.

Have some other fancy pancy bikes, but when there's heavy hauling to be done, there can be only one!

Also considered selling my road bike as I hardly use it - max twice a year for the odd race. All other riding on the mtb's - plenty safer etc. Thus I am 99% mountain biker, but nothing as exiting as the dynamics of a road race! PeterF's is good advice. I prepped my road bike for a possible sale and took it for the first ride in months......instantly realised that I'm not prepared to part with it and kept it.

15. How to manually lap? Please go to Training> To plan> Lap> Manual Lap, then press 'Record' key to start and press 'back' key to manually lap. Found this on the Brytonsports site under FAQ's - hidden at the bottom. Does not appear to be available while already recording a trip but hope it helps. Another function that might help to evaluate certain segments of your ride once home on the pc, is to expand you trip detail by clicking on the "full screen" tab, top right of the profile. Then click and drag on a segment of the ride to get the data for that portion only on the top right of screen.

Dislocated shoulder in serious climbing accident 12 years ago. Plenty time in sling followed by physio. Two years later same shoulder in skiing fall. Same action sorted it out. Since then keeping the surrounding muscles tight seems to keep all in place and no further hassles. In fact, have better flex in that shoulder. Do suggest you have scan thought to make sure tendons etc still intact. But keeping it in sling for a while followed by physio works wonders. I'd need some serious conviction before doing any op. All the best with recovery!

My two cents worth. I have the Bryton 50. Great for cycling, user friendly while on the bike, beauts and realistic training programs etc. Only aspect I'm not too impressed with is the mapping page - looks like something out of a Jules Verne novel and is not as userfriendly as even old generation Garmins I've used. Do not think it's dual purpose i.e. the missus can nav to the shops etc....it is not designed for vehicle use, except in emergencies. The PC interface is very comprehensive but not as userfriendly as one would expect. Spares and exstra cadence and mounting units are readily available. If you shop around you can find a full package (cadence and heart rate monitor included) for R3000. Which is very well priced for SA.

No....I think that was more a case of....if you leave a horse in it's stable for too long then you cant expect it to be in top form when you eventually throw a saddle on.

My quick and cheap DIY solution might give you some additional ideas. All required is some roofing timber and screws. Yes you need a bit of space but even the smallest kids can get their bikes out without much hassle. By turning the handle bars 45 degrees you save a stack of space and getting bikes in or out still easy and no banging the neighbouring bike. For some reason I just dont like the idea of hanging a bike by it's rim, and this pretty much covers that.

I under-estimated the race myself, but the sandy bits, especially on the second lap after being churned up by the rest of the field, quickly put that ill conceived notion to bed. None the less: Well organized, nice vibe, excellent marking and marshalling and decent ample water points. Expecting of marshals to advise you what any little trip computer or the rest of the competitors can do is perhaps a bit harsh. It was advertised as a two lap marathon. Distance worked out to around 87km. Yes the fresh single track after the sand went on forever. Maybe a bit tough on the bum but a nice flowing single track gets my vote anytime. The last section was blissful single track connected by short bits of dirt road…..10km? I think not. Anyways, personally I did the event for training purposes and to get out where the weather is always a bit warmer this time of year. It sure served its purpose and then some. My mental prep will be a bit better next time, but I’ll be back.

I've had my Reverb now for just under a year. Was good to go out the box, and had no need to fiddle with it yet. I weigh in at just under 90kg and it's fitted to a hardtail, so it takes quite a beating - touch wood, still going like new.

Hedianga Farm is a cool spot with great potential that will only develop if supported by MTB's. Been there a couple of times, still limited trails available but they constantly busy improving current and laying out new trails. Even as it stands now, it provides a great sting to the plot route around Bronberg, and at R10 a pop it’s a worthwhile investment. Leon’s trail is a rough figure of eight route of 4.1km from start back to start – mostly single track. Very gnarly still, but guaranteed to keep your heart pumping. Plenty other single tracks around worth exploring that can be developed into some radical trails. The trails are still pretty much omni-directional, and shared with trail runners, hikers and horse riders. So take care and please be considerate to other users should they be encountered on the odd occasion. The suggestion to develop single direction pure MTB trails have been passed, and should be on the cards if Hedianga's serious about MTB development. Gabriel is a nice guy and the place has a hearty atmosphere - Let's support them and forward positive criticism. Hedianga can become a great addition to places like Groenkloof, etc. They also have Face Book page: "Hedianga Farm" where info are posted on a regular basis.