HammerHed

I just mount my speed sensor on the front fork facing forward, not the most aerodynamic place but this ensures it works all the time. I did experiment some years ago with mounting it on the seat stay but it was nowhere near as reliable as on the front fork so I live with the aerodynamic compromise. The cadence sensor I mount on the seat tube opposite the front derailleur, this gives no problems at all as far as signal goes. Edman, did you try it on the seat stay? Might be closer to the bars.

If the signal does not work from the rear wheel side of the bike to the watch on the handlebar, you can move the terminator pin in the IC board to the other position, this will allow a greater signal strength and should then reach the watch on the handlebars.

Yes, it has a battery. You can change it by taking the unit off the bike and looking at the mounting point underneath where it fits on the bike. There are 2 small screws there, unscrew these and the unit comes apart into 2 parts. Slide the Integrated Circuit card out of the casing and you will see the battery in the IC. It looks like a camera/watch battery you can get from most camera shops. Be careful putting the battery back so that you do not damage the clip that holds the battery in place as this can cause hassles if the battery comes loose it will stop working.

Sram MTB derailleurs are 1:1, which makes for much less tinkering with the gear.

Specialized!

Wow that looks like an awesome ride, beautiful scenery. Pity you have to ride it at night and miss all of that. I would love to do that ride but it must be seriously hardcore in one go.

I went to the talk by Joe Friel at Cyclelab on Saturday promoting his new SA Training Bible coaching company. It was very interesting, and he comes across as a nice, genuine guy that is prepared to share his knowledge. I have used his Training Bible for some time and it is very informative. Glad to see that he enjoyed his ride.

Bad luck mate, these kind of things usually only happen once because you learn from them and take a spare next time that works. I looked at my spare tube that has been in my saddlebag for the last year the other day before the Forest 2 Falls MTB Marathon, and thank God I did, because it had many holes in it from chafing on the saddle bag. I have since put my spare in a plastic bag inside my saddle bag, might help with the chafing.

Ride your MTB, I got great singletrack on the pavements around my area, I got 3 nice routes from my house 22, 32 and 45km all on pavement, singletrack and a little road hopping. A lot safer then hitting the road at that time. Also a lot warmer than road bike in winter as the airflow is not as fast on an MTB.

SlowJoe, just get up later, I go out at around 9am and its not so cold then if you dress OK. But I hit the gym and run/row/circuit and then try and ride 2 a week in winter.

Hey Baltazar, I read your ost very funny, and guess what I found some SCHERIPROCT OINMENT in my medicine chest. I wonder what that was doing there. Oh well it is a relief

I have been chafed after riding for the last few months but goes away after a day or so, but I last rode on Saturday and Sunday, so suspect it has literally grown into something else. Man I am going to hit the shower now and apply whatever I can lay my hands on. Getting more itchy the more I talk about it.

Thanks guys, lots of ideas here to try. Tea tree oil sounds like a plan. Tx mrmed.

Does the chamois cream come out easily after a wash? I get the image in my mind of having permanently greasy chamois after applying cream to it once.

My shorts are both about a year old, but done quite a few k's. Maybe time to upgrade again, jeez they both cost me about R650 each not cheap to replace every year.

Tx fiasm, will do.

I have been getting chafed by my Specialized and Cape Strom lycra shorts after a ride, both are good quality chamois, this has become a rash which won't go away. Is this now a fungal thing or what, anyone had a similar experience? How do I get rid of it. Sounds gross, but it only hurts after a shower and is a slight discomfort.

I have been getting chafed by my Specialized and Cape Strom lycra shorts after a ride, both are good quality chamois, this has become a rash which won't go away. Is this now a fungal thing or what, anyone had a similar experience? How do I get rid of it. Sounds gross, but it only hurts after a shower and is a slight discomfort.

I run my tubed & slimed tyres at 2.1 bar I weigh 80kg and don't get pinch flats or any flats at all. They really grip well at this pressure, and also roll faster off road with this low pressure.

I service at home now, bought a workshop stand and necessary tools and find it is more reliable. How many times have you had your bike serviced for a race and found that the day before the race you try the bike out only to find it won't change gears properly or something like that. This has happened to me many times. I got tired of having to fork out cash to some lbs monkey a few times a year, when I can use that money to buy tools and learn to do it myself. I went on a bike mechanics course with Fritz Pienaar Paulshof, a basic course aimed at getting the skills to do running repairs for multi-stage mtb races, and that gave me the confidence to tackle my own bike. So I am not afraid to do any repairs now, and guess what, I don't get any surprises the day of the race because I know that the service has been done right.

I have never had a problem, but have you noticed the ChampionChip chip holder is made of Plastic and it sits sandwiched between the QR nut and the fork, the plastic gets squashed and makes it difficult to set the right tension on the QR lever. You end up setting it a lot looser than you would normally because you feel like you are going to break the chip holder. I have been quite nervous after doing this and after reading this article am definitely not going to use the plastic ChampionChip holder. It just feels a lot more dangerous now. We should talk to ChampionChip about it before someone gets hurt. The WinningTime one is metal so no problem.

I have always had good service from them as well.

I ride a hard-tail so the second half was a lot more rough on the rocky bits and the grass stumps, I really noticed the soft-tails pull away from me on those sections.