jacostrydom

STFU = Oh be quiet SWAMBO = She Who Always Must Be Obeyed

Anybody got a GPS recording of the route?

It doesn't HAVE to be full moon. But I would like to join if it is on a Fri or Sat eve. Will have to talk SWAMBO in to join me. I would not want to drag the tandem up breeds nek on my own.

I have a set of 2.25" non UST on the tandem (they normally are 2.1") and I converted them to tubeless. 1000 (oops) km's later they still seem fine. No problems. jacostrydom2009-02-27 08:11:55

Yes I am also missing those countless emails telling me the hubbers are not working, but chatting away in cyberspace

The red taillight clamp worked for me and I now mount it standard, needed or not.

One broken collarbone later after a front Bontrager delaminated (done about 500km) down a nice 60km/h downhill on Sani2C non stop I would not touch them again. Went back to Crossmarks and now run a set of 2.25 crossmarks on my MTB tandem without any hassels. I have had some boubles forming on crosmarks at the back, but that was after more than 2000 km on the back. I have a policy now of always running the newest tyre front ant moving the front tyre to the back. My Epic partner is using the geax 2.2 (not sure of the type of geax) without any problems. Mat and Andrew rode a set of geax on the 2008 freedom challenge and they had no issues.

As a afterthougt. You can alsoplay with your cable tension. I O W. you put your shifter in the most relaxed position, pull your deraileur to the gear you want and tighten the cable. Then limit the other way with the limit screw (H). the best way will depend on your deraileur type (Top normal or bottom normal) and what gear you choose at the back. (Middle, higher end or lower end)

See how far you can get by limiting your front and rear deraileurs with th L & H limit screw. I am sure you will be able to limit the front to the middle ring and the back to very few options.

In Pretoria I get them (20" with presta) from bruce reynecke in lynnwood road.

"Highest readings were obtained on the backstraight before the bottom bend. " I would be carefull with straight away accepting this as your new max. Physical influences that I have picked up is wind flapping your shirt against the strap, as well as vibration from corrugations in the road. Both of these tend to make my HR go where I know it cannot go.

Why's that? I would think the rear takes more of a beating? A front tyre going flat on a long fast downhill will most likely cost you a broken collarbone or a broken something. A back tyre going flat is not a crises. On a rocky long downhill you will lose your rim from all the knocks it will take, but you should remain in control. SO ALLWAYS KEEP THE FRONT TYRE IMPECKABLE.

NEVER compromise your front tire quality I would put a new one on the front and use the current front on the back.

Did the freedom challenge this year on a pair. Front still looks new after 2300 km and back is good for lots of training still. IMO the best tyre on the market. Broke a collar bone when a new Bontrager front tyre delaminated and went flat suddenly @ 60km/h. Back bontrager didnt last 1500 km.

2 Epics and a freedom challenge later I use a mix of anatomic (with the gray/Silver name - train on green anatomics) and castelli. Did the freedom challenge alternating between two bibs (22 days) 1 anatomic and 1 castelli - never had a saddle sore. I do not use cream but might apply a bit of fissan paste on the spot if I feel a bit of chafing. Maybe I am just a hardegat boertjie jacostrydom2008-07-26 00:52:26

Correct. I see Rabtron now has the female part in stock (the part normally in the computer where your USB cable plug in) Then you don't have to cut the cable. I used an old motherboard extension USB card and hacksawed one of the female plugs out. This left a nice piece of board to glue the 7805 to.

[quote name=sampie Can you maybe give more info on this' date=' ... Thank you[/quote] Connect your battery to the left 2 legs and your output goes to the garmin. see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_signalling

I think we are busy with a hujack, but I will report back on this tread wrt the light (built mainly on your recipe mountain lion) and how it performed. taking a waypoint is one thing, finding it on the 1:50000 map is another. I made a full set of 1:50000 maps and will mainly use those to navigate. Originally planned to race it, but I broke my colarbone in Sani2C nonstop 6 weeks ago and will now be happy to survive it. Thanks for the good wishes - I am gonna need it all.

I had a look at the mintyboost gadget. Would have built it but struggled to get hold of all the parts. Rabtron doent stock the specific parts he is using, and time is running out, so I opted for the simpler solution. 6xAA batteries regulated through a 7805 chip and with two cable options, small Nokia charger for the N95 and mini USB for the garmin. I get 2 and a half cellphone charges from this and with 3G switched off my N95 wil take beautifull photos for 2-3 days between charges. The Edge 305 will run for 27 hours with GPS switched off, and since I cannot record the complete route in any case and no waypoints can be preloaded (no GPS assitance allowed in the race) I use the garmin for heartrate and the cadence/wheel sensor for distance markers to follow the map and narrative. So, we will see... Looking forward to the adveture of a lifetime!

A privilege (spelling?) indeed BL. With lights like yours maybe you will have the factory up and running in no time and you can write a race like this off to marketing. Although I think out on your own inbetween willowmore and prince albert somewhere in the Karoo 02h00 in the morning at -2C even a kerocene lamp will be amazingly bright! Will report back on my experience and my light's performance in July sometime when i get back.

Must agree Shimano 520 or 540 is a super entrylevel. I did my tour through time, cranck bro's eggbeaters and I am back on 540s. I even ride 520s on my roadbike (maybe that is why Mr Mclean always just manages to beat me)

Battery life will have to be seen - 8 AA everedy pushing out 350 mA - should last quite long - hope it will get me to the next 2 litre box. I have not done the sums but 8 neveredies start off with 12 V I need 6-7V to light up the LEDs, should get most of the batteries life on bright, then I can switch to 1 LED, only need 3.5 volts, by then the batteries should be so flat they will start to go soft The race starts 16 June (Monday) www.freedomchallenge.org.za

Brightness? - On bright I use 2 Lucen 1W LED - do not know the bin so I would guess 160 lumens MAX The mount is a Aluminium flatbar, bent and two holes drilled and "clamped" in the bottom of the stem / handlebar interface (clamp) 2 holes and 2 x m4 nuts and bolts secure it very solidly. Battery pack is velcro strapped to the bottom. I starp my Garmin mount with cableties to the top of the light and can just see it over my map board. The freedom challenge is at least a three week trek and is unsupported appart from a 2 litre container every 120 odd Km. So battery charging is not really a option for a big part of the race, and since it is non stop quite a bit of night riding is done during the three weeks. so AA batteries is place in each container and used to drive the light, charge cellphone (camera, notes, emergency) and garmin (edge 305, no throw away battery option). A few AAA batteries for the Petzl also (needed for map reading in the dark)

2k2 single turn - gives me a full range from off to full blast (close to 1000mA) I have calibrated it and put marks on my light every 200 mA 1 LED is about full brightness at 300mA 2 at 700mA