Minion

SRAM says grease the splines in their instruction booklet. Campagnolo says degrease square-taper spindles and never grease the bolt. They say apply Loctite 222 thread sealant on the bolt for ultra-torque cranks.

They have a shipping calculator on their site. I think it was around $133 for them to DHL a frame to me last year.

I'll bite. How do you bob your head back and forth?

I think that might be why some would consider it worthwhile to own a set of her pants (not me, note). Didn't someone sell a pair of Madonna's or Britney's (used) panties on eBay for some ridiculous sum a while back?

Bottle cages matched to your bottle. I use Bontrager bottles. They fit perfectly into Bontrager (what a surprise) and Zipp cages. I wanted to get some Look cages but they were about 2mm to short to adequately fit the lip of the bottle.

It's VAT on value + 10%, which works out to 15.4%. They then use a different exchange rate for their calculation (2-3% higher than CRCs), the end result of 17% is about right.

Schaeffler, the manufacturers of Campagnolo CULT ceramic bearings published a white paper with a friction comparison between their ceramic bearings and normal steel bearings. On a crank, it worked out to a saving of something like 0.5W at 100rpm and, so maybe a saving of 1-2W on a wheelset. A major component of the saving was that the material used for the balls and races requires only a light oil lubrication, rather than grease. They also claimed that their ceramic bearings have a greatly improved operating life, compared to normal bearings. The anecdotal evidence I've seen for Campag BB bearings seems to back this up. I'm not sure it makes sense to pay 3x more for a set of bearings to get 1-2W and 1.5x times longer life.

..and when they arrive with the inevitable skidmarks, not only will you be left with an icky pair of used shorts, but your picture of J Lo as a sex goddess will be severely damaged.

I wouldn't donate used shorts to charity.

I've also bought from Capemulti. I was very impressed. Ana responds timeously to emails and I had no issues returning an incorrect product (suppliers fault, supplying an old model).

I've bought shoes before, but they were very good condition and low use. I wouldn't buy shorts - think about it, you're basically buying a set of someone's well-used underwear (and stating 'no skidmarks' in the ad does not instil a lot of confidence). Socks are so cheap anyway, I couldn't think of a reason why you'd need to buy them 2nd-hand.

Or go to Wiggle.co.uk.

I don't know if I'd go that far. It does require some thought, preparation and patience, but it is possible to do a reasonable job the first time around without any practice. Skill would turn a 60min job into a 15min one, though.

Which make and model of tyre is it? You don't actually need amazing sewing skills. Just get yourself a sewing awl (wooden tool in the background). Then you just need a bit of patience. It's even easier if you try to re-use the old holes. There's a leather shop in Cape Town (Woodheads IIRC) that sells them.

In my experience, auto-tune sometimes gives some funny results. It also sometimes takes a while to decide on a wheel size (and takes some pretty weird guesses while doing so). It's generally better to choose the wheel size based on a weight run-out test (get on the bike and measure how far it goes for one wheel revolution). You can also use a program like Sports Tracks that gives both the GPS distance and the wheel sensor difference. It's pretty simple to adjust the wheel circumference until they're the same.

It's interesting that one of the reasons Capitec give for having much lower banking prices is that they do not do any sports sponsorships.

I haven't seen the new ones, but can't you just cable tie it into the holder to make it stop rattling? That's what I did with my yellow one. Racetec have this to say about mounting the chip:

Random thought. Rob, do you remember what happened this time of year 5 years ago? On topic: when I was training hard last year, a typical week at this point would consist of about 60min of core work on Monday, a 90-120min ride with long hill threshold intervals (8min+, usually up Northcliff) on Tuesday, a light 90-120min ride on Wednesday, a 90-120min tempo ride on Thursday and some more core on Friday. The weekend would be one hard 3-4hr ride or race and a light 3-4hr ride. Every 4th week was a lighter week. Closer to the peak of the season, the Tuesday session would be closer to 120min and the intervals would be longer (10+min), but the same relative intensity. The Thursday session became another interval session with 4min VO2max intervals. The weekend rides were at 4hr+.

What time do you start? My usual group has moved it's starting venue a bit too far from my house for me.

Have a look at 'The Cyclist's Training Bible' by Joe Friel.

Photos?

As far as I know, the only way you can fit a 34 (definitely) or a 36 (maybe) on the front is to use a compact.

Sigh, I miss the Far Side.

DIB - Delivered in box?

The moment you tell someone how much your bike costs without them asking you about it. You may have a cheap bike and you want everyone to know how alternative you are by going against the trend; you may have an expensive bike and you want people to know how much cash you have (had?); whatever the reason, as soon as you feel the need to boast to other people, you are a tjop.