Witkop

Better question If you can do a MTB cross country lap race (8 laps) at fountains, on your road bike? What would your time be if you used your 26" hard tail? Same engine, same intensity?

To try compare the effort of cycling a mountain bike to that of a road bike has a large number of variables such as: terrian weight rolling resistance of tyres gearing opportunity for drafting rider position wrt wind resistance ext. In fact there are so many variables which cannot be logically isolated (within good reason, as no mtbker would willing cycle on tar for instance) that such comparisons are senseless and plain stupid. Which probably why roadies have such a infatuation on trying to make such calculations. THe best solution is to take your road bike to groenkloof or tokia and ride some single track.........

it is a raleigh though

web address?

THe governmenst push to 9 provinces only and then various sub provinces or regions is not only for cycling, but also in all other sports. It is an attempt to neaten up the administration, as each province is allocated a sport budget and each metro has a diferent budget ext. In order to allow for the allocation of these budgets at the various levels of government, the sport boundaries have to be aligned to the government boundaries. THe Gauteng province, for instance will not give either GNC or CGC cycling a cent as neither organisation represents the entire cycling population of Gauteng. THe metro of tswane may give GNC some money, but there is a small problem on the issue of the name of the union. Government's stance is that no compliance to governance guidleines equals no release of funds to sport bodies. And CSA is responsible for governance issues for cycling..........

Democary, voting, rights, oh my oh my. I suppose that is why the UN needs reform as well. Lest get some things sort out. A club is an organisation that is formed by a number of like minded individuals. For it to be constituted it needs a constitution and a committee of at least three (Chair treasurer and secretary). The purpose of any club is to maximize benefits for its members. It does this by providing services for its members and developing some form of income stream. A union or federation is created to regulate and co-ordinate the activities of clubs, to ensure that within a set geographic territory (normally a province) things are done in a standardised way and that clubs who claim to be cycling based implement UCI/CSA rules. Also the events calander is co-ordinated to ensure no clash of events and a provincial championship and cup type events are organised in the unions name for development purposes. As the union is built out of the clubs, the clubs have the say on the union (if it was an "individual" voting system then the union would only be just another Super club). Now the diference between a union and a club is a union = regulatory body and club = execution body. CSA is the governance body. What makes these distinctions very difficult for many people is that not many people actually ever get exposed to corporate governance or the regulatory/ management level in their lives. (Many remain very successful entrepineers in companies that don't justify middle and top management). When these people bring their can do attitude into the sport, instead of making their clubs successful they aim at the top. Here they destroy the regulatory and governance framework wherein clubs should work by their eager beaver make it happen behaviour (which works at the execution level only) Sooner or later unions land up organising fun rides, tours ext, where this should be done by the clubs. Lucky GNC operates very well as a co-ordinating body between clubs and clubs are more than just the representitives of their riders but also major organisers of races and activities in the province.

This Andrew is a very interesting and important point. I think the answer will lie in the "union" or federations constiution and rules. If the union has been created to co-ordinate the member clubs activities then each constituting member deserves equal representation. ie one club one vote. Remember a union is only responsible and accountable to its constituent members (ie the clubs) and not individual riders. However, if the union is there to represent the interest of individual riders then there is no need for clubs at all (except to represent a grouping of individual riders in a voting block). This approach is largely un workable as not all cyclists who join the union join a club, and not all riders that join a club want to join a union. Based on these two contrary view about the role of clubs and unions there could be a very lively debate on the responsibilities of individual riders, the role of clubs, the constituents of unions, the mnadate and responsibilities of CSA ext. However, these subtleties are lost as soon as people wish to ride rough shod over others, as might will in these people's eyes always be right.

a business is not a democracy. When people demanded that cycling be ran like a business it was inevitable that those with money would force those without money out of the administration. Remember business is about providing as little value for as much profit as possible, where as administration (especially non profit) is about maximizing value for as little input. The reason temporary licences fees sit at R35 an event and licence cost R450 is because there are people still willing to pay this for an ever reducing level of service. Lets get the businessmen out of the administration of sport..........

use riser bars or lift the handlebars a bit, so as to reduce the resure on the hands. Shorten the stem as well, will improve bike handling.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/ www.konaworld.com

take beers for after the ride.

here is what they will ask: how close to the valve was the blow out? if it is directly over the valve, then the next question will be: have you ever inflated the tyre with a CO2 Bomb? If the answer is yes, then they tell you that tyre was compromised by the cold air.......

you can always ask your GF to kiss it better?

Funny thing is that is just what the On-one inbed 456 (ti) has been able to do, and the singular is in the same stable. Obviously neither bike will weigh in against a carbon XC machine, but for most of the mid pack these bikes get you to the finish OKAY. (on a lighter note, most company pool cars can compete in the Dakar, commute to work and back comfortably, and race on the track against F1 cars, or at least the way they are driven by the employees......)

It is a start, sooner or later one of them will realise that it is easier to cycle a lighter bike (ie without the battery), and then he/she will buy his own super light XC mountain bike. THe electric part is a gimmick to persuade the lard officers to get on the bike in the first place. Baby steps.

Okay, lets run through it Cotic, On-one and Singular are very popular with the single speed fraternity. Each has an almost cult following. THey are specialist bikes made of steel and titanium. Each with its own signiture niche (although touring with panniers is possible on an on-one and singular. All are specced for 100-140 mm travel forks for AM and XC as well. Laskey and van Nicholas are high end titanium frame makers who have collaborated with on one and other cottage industry brands to make awesome bikes. THey also make their own bikes. Morewood is THE South African brand focused on DH and AM mostly. Ellsworth is a niche brand that has grown to be the elitist alternative to Merida and trek. Isn't great to know there are bike manufacturers that have departed from the mainstreem, "we make alu and carbon" bikes and are willing to supply us with something innovative, off centre and wonderful?

Versitility would require: ability to ride XC and then AM by adjusting the travel on the fork (ie frame is designed for a travel range from 100-140mm) ability to bolt on panniers and cycle all day on a mountain pass with kit ability to adjust chain length to enable conversion to single speed ability to take the knocks on a rocky decent, but still the agility to manuevre single track. Basically a frame that can be dressed up to do it all. (that is also why steel and titanium are the prefered materials.)

Which is the best all round Mountain bike frame? Considering one frame for multi disciplines,touring, racing, single speed and assuming an adjustable fork like a Roxshock Sektor. Material being either steel or titanium, unless only carbon or alu is available.

I'm in when do we start?

Here is a contribution for sign-up and thinkbike for their safety campaign: My dad cares about his health My dad cares about me My dad cares about the planet http://www.thecity.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/cyclist.jpg My dad did not come home last night http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/bedfordshire/vlib/0.digitised_resources/0.images/potton_gravestone_skull.jpg because, you did not take care..... but then you don't care about yourself but then you don't care about the planet neither Driving recklessly is more than about you.......

pack for a race: pump and plugs. food and water(with some or other suppliment). anything else and you are not racing but riding. On I ride, I may even take a spare tube and tyre levers (maybe), a multitool (for fine tuning) lots of food and water, and money.

www.kevinspraggett.blogspot.com has the same friday girl.... co-incidence?

there is littel correlation between performance and cost of components. Performance comes from passion and training. Components comes from either sponsors or disposable income. A logical jump is that if you are training instead of working to earn an income, you will not be able to purchase nice bling. However, you do get those that prioritise cycling over work, family, possessions and friends.

are there still free entries?

buy new tubes. If you must patch do it after the race at home. Clean the surface. Cover the area of the puncture in tube cement (make sure you cover an area bigger then the patch). Allow the cement to dry (until very tacky). Put the patch over the cement. Put pressure on the patch for about 30 minutes. (use those rusty dumbells hidden behind the door). Peal off the plastic cover from the patch to confirm the whole process has worked. The patch should look as if is melted/ merged with the tube