Minion

But poor attention to detail. 'Gud morning'?

Is this Amazon.com or .co.uk? The UK site had (has?) free shipping to SA on orders over 25GBP. The .com site did remove its PO shipment options in the past.

You can't really get round it if you don't have an overseas address to send them too. You can order most of that stuff off eBay, though.

Only when I've run out of Prepsol.

Nothing much, aside from a bit of friction. The way they're wound means that if you pull on a cable, the strands want to get tighter together. If you push on it carefully, you can actually get the strands to separate (it's much easier to do this with string than wire, though). It also means that if a strand breaks, there's nothing really, aside from its own stiffness, stopping it from unravelling.

Steel looses strength and stiffness with temperature, but it only starts becoming a major problem above 250°C or so. Up to that point, it still retains around 80-90% of its properties. I'm not sure if the brakes could generate enough heat for that. Of course, it might just have been enough to push it over the edge if there was some other defect already there. Heat treating of steel occurs at temperatures above 600°C or so.

Engine oil or a mixture of general purpose household oil (sewing machine oil) and chainsaw oil. I would say it works better than most commercial lubes, but that would start a religious war. For cleaning, I just use car shampoo. Prepsol and Clean Green if I'm cleaning the drive train.

I agree. Don't use your 17" laptop to track your rides. A phone is probably more like using a Swiss Army knife instead of a screwdriver. It's more versatile and will work most of the time, but sometimes you just need a dedicated tool (also, if you treat it too harshly, it will break).

Quite aggressive there? Perhaps he couldn't get access to such a HRM? Just because you can read your phone in direct sunlight, doesn't mean that he can read his. You're coming close to doing what you are accusing others of doing: punting one single solution to the exclusion of all other possibilities.

I use an ANT+ power meter, HR strap and speed sensor on two different profiles. I have done this with an Edge 800, an Ipod Touch (which behaves like an Iphone without GPS in this case) and briefly tested a Sony Xperia Ray. In comparing performance, I've noted the following: ANT+ sensors - these work with the Garmin out of the box. To use them with the Ipod/Iphone you need an extra ANT+ dongle. For other phones, you need a phone with a built-in ANT+ chip, like the Sony Xperia range. Data fields - The Garmin has customisable fields, the phones can also have, but it depends on the app. Bike profiles - this is possible on the phones but, again, it depends on the app. Upload - uploading data from the Garmin requires a computer with internet. Almost all the apps I found could upload to Garmin Connect. Some uploaded to Strava etc. and some also had email and Dropbox options. No app that I found allowed me to upload directly to my PC. Battery - I run out of energy before any of the devices. In the end, I still ride with the Garmin for a number of reasons: I prefer the compact form of the Garmin The touchscreen works with gloves PC upload - none of the Iphone apps I found allowed me to directly upload training files to my PC. They all required me to email the file, or upload it somewhere else. One second recording - very few of the apps allowed me to choose whether this was on or off. Power, cadence, speed readings - not all of the apps worked reliably when taking power and cadence from a power meter and speed from a different source. Some of them gave strange data. Ultimately, the biggest problem I have with the phones is the apps. I couldn't find an app that had all of the features that I want that the Garmin has. A number would come close, but would then leave out one critical feature (most often PC upload) or would have some quirk or bug that annoyed me enough that I didn't want to use it.

Slew... Gotta love(?) English.

The part you're looking for is WH-KX890 for '09-'11 Shamals. The same part is used for all Campag wheels from Zonda up. There's a chance the Fulcrum part RS-013 will also work. Pre-'08 Shamals take WH-KX10 - I believe this is not compatible with SRAM. '12 Shamals take BUU015X. You might also need a lockring. All the info is here: http://www.campagnol.../doccatid_3.jsp

To this I will add R30/hr in petrol. I have now spent 1/3rd of the original purchase price of my car on petrol.

My mountain bike: R458/hr My cheap steel road bike: R33/hr My carbon road bike: R144/hr Most of the above were fun My car: R90/hr - none of them particularly fun

I agree. Then we could also compare it to golf, movies, DSTV, computer games etc.

Sounds like fun.

The individual strands stretch, though. If they didn't stretch, the overall wire wouldn't stretch and return.

Every single strain gauge-based power meter will be affected by temperature because of the way the technology works. Provided you zero beforehand and the PM temperature doesn't vary significantly during the ride, it will not have a significant effect on the power readings.

Although, he was right in the context of 'stretch' meaning something permanent. The incorrect use of the term bugs me, but I get what he was saying. Teflon DOES greatly improve shifting enough to justify the extra cost, MARKETING. Another reason to change cables at the same time as the housing is if the ends become frayed. It's a serious mission to feed a frayed cable end through a housing without causing damage.

Cables do stretch. And then immediately return to their starting length once the load is removed. This isn't what causes the gears to slip. The cables bed in to the housings, and the housings settle in to the stops.

Mine drifted from about -120 to about -380 over the first week of riding. It's now been stable at around -380 for around 8 months. It looks like they need a bit of bedding in over the first couple of rides. Edit: During a ride, the drift is within 20pts or so from start to finish. Most of that seems to occur in the first 15min of riding (possibly acclimatisation).

That came out of nowhere

With sound: The were demonstrating what happens if you apply a vacuum to a tanker and disable all the safety valves.

They used to give out fleeces etc. as part of the goodie bag. I got a folding chair too at the last one I did.

The cliffs are in western Ireland and the local council would prefer that you not ride on them: Council Warns Against Copycat Cycling Stunts At Cliffs Of Moher