joevan

Hijack on Johan, your description of shimming the seat with a beer can reminded me of this: Adjusting a bicycle seat The seat (aka saddle) on your bicycle is responsible for carrying your weight and allowing your legs to concentrate on propelling you onward. This seemingly innocuous piece of equipment can make or break your bicycling experience as it can cause you great pain & agony in your nether regions, knees and legs and even impotence, gentlemen, if adjusted improperly. Your cycling efficiency can also go to poo if that seat ain't right. By and large, most stock bicycle seats are pieces of sh*t. If the simple guidelines below don't soothe your backside and help you from losing that lovin' feeling, replace it. Remember, though - you want to put the pressure on the sit bones in your ass, not the soft tissue such as the taint. Skip the one with Sooper X-Tra Thick Padding and give the Funny Anotomical Seat With The Split Down The Center a try. To Adjust Your Bicycle Seat You Will Need: one 6mm Allen wrench one 4mm Allen wrench one framing level rags or newspaper (trade show t-shirts work great) some variety of pumice soap (like Lava or Fast Orange) Vaseline or anti-seize compound (optional) one six-pack of your favorite beer (not optional) your bicycle helmet (not optional) Aight, now that you've got all the sh*t, head out onto the front porch. Crack open a brew. Take a few puffs off your favorite substance to smoke if you're so inclined. Put on a Bad Religion CD. Relax. Now then, the seat on a bicycle has four degrees of freedom. We shall gently adjust these into line one by one. First, the angle of the seat shall be adjusted. Basically, you want it to be roughly parallel to the ground, aka "level". Stand the bicycle upright and take a gander at the seat from the side. Check it with the framing level. If you have one of the fancy seats with a drop or cutout for your taint, lay a book across the seat. i prefer using my prob/stat book, since i haven't found any other use for it yet. Loosen the seat clamp binding bolt with the 6mm Allen wrench, adjust to level up the seat. Snugly tighten the binding bolt. While you are dealing with the seat clamp, you might as well adjust the fore-to-aft position of the seat. This one is fairly easy to do. Sit on the seat and with the pedals horizonal, sit on the seat. When it is adjusted properly, your kneecap should be directly over the pedal spindle (axle) of the forward pedal. Adjust and torque the poop out of the bolt. Not so much you strip the threads, Hercules. Drink some more beer. The seat angle adjustment has a great deal with how your nether regions will feel on a ride. Some people prefer a slight upward or backward tilt. Level is the best place to start and will be most comfortable for most people. The fore-to-aft position (in conjunction with the height adjustment, below) helps with making sure you get maximum efficency and protect your knees from nasty grindy sounds. Now then, adjusting the seat height. Loosen the seatpost collar binding bolt with the 4mm Allen wrench (or just loosen the quick release lever) and remove the seatpost. That's right, grab the seat and take that entire f**ker out. You will notice what a tight fit the seatpost has in the seatpost tube and how gritty it feels coming out. Wipe the seatpost clean with the rag or newspaper. NOW IS TIME TO GET DIRTY (so drink the rest of that beer and have another smoke before proceeding). With the vaseline or astroglide anti-sieze compound, grease up the bottom quarter of the seatpost. Spread it around if you're so inclined. Reinsert the seatpost into the seat tube and put the seat back to its previous height. Tighten up the seatpost binding bolt. Go wash your hands, you filthy pervert. Get another beer and continue. To find out what the proper seat height is for you, sit on the bike seat while remaining stationary (having a wall or couch or friend nearby is helpful). Try to wear the shoes and funny bike shorts you'll be wearing when riding the most. Put the heel of one foot on the center of a pedal and rotate it backward to the bottom of it's excursion. When the seat height is adjusted properly, your leg will be straight when your heel is on the center of the pedal. Got it? Good. Adjust the seat up and/or down until this is the case. Torque the poop out of this bolt as well. Some of you may be thinking "But jbo, this seat seems awfully goddamn high! I can't touch the ground while on the seat." There is a reason for that, Gentle Reader. It's because you're not supposed to be able to touch the ground while on the seat. If you have adjusted the seat height as described above, you will get the maximum pedaling efficency when the ball of your foot is on the center of the pedal. This also helps your knees. Pay attention to them; They will tell you if the seat needs to move up or down. If your knees hurt in the front, raise the seat. If your knees hurt in the back, lower the seat. If your lower back hurts, find a member of the appropriate sex to rub it. By this point, you should be about halfway through your six pack. If not, play catch up. NOW, son! One last thing to check - the seat alignment. Sight down the seat, in line with the back wheel. Would a line drawn through the fore-aft axis of the bicycle also be coplanar with the seat down its respective axis? If not, just bang on the seat from the side with the palm of your hand until it is. Don't bother with loosening the seatpost collar binding bolt. Time for the moment of truth - finish the beer you're currently drinking, put on your helmet and take it for a test ride. Some fine-tuning and tweaking may be necessary, but you should be very close to the optimum seat position for your unique body geometry and bicycle. Go hit the streets. Ride to work. Ride to the store. Ride to your friends' houses. Ride to school. Ride Out There and Back. Ride Ride Ride. Now please realize that your mileage may vary. Albert Herring promises me that all his seatpost binding bolts are a whole millimeter larger than what i specified here. i would speak of a vast left-wing conspiracy headed up by the British, but instead i'm going to get another beer. Hijack off

If I read this right, cyclists sharing a lane with Busses and I assume Taxi's, I'll wait and see?????? Sounds dangerous to me!!joevan2008-07-28 10:43:14

Another idea, not sure if it will work for you, is to buy a set of triple road cranks. I have this setup on MTB and road bike, and the spindles on the bottom brackets match. Set up the MTB with the triple road cranks and as suggested earlier fit narrower slicks, amazing how much difference tyres make if you are using your MTB for road racing as well. You will lose out slightly on the lower gears as the road cranks are not as small as the MTB cranks, but if you have the usual 11/32 rear cassette, this should'nt be too painfull on the off road hills. My setup is MTB 42/34/24 with 11/32 cassette Road 52/39/30 with 11/28 cassette Both 9spd cassettes. Deralliers will need adjustment but should be OK

SeanMort, what area of CT are you in? In the Northern Suburbs area, try City Cycling Club. Saturdays 07:00 Meduim and long ride 50k - 80k Sundays 07:00 approx 80k plus generally some MTB plans Ride from Edgemead. http://www.citycyclingclub.org/

Yep Aedon, have told him to keep an eye out at the local Cash Crusaders. Although ID is requested, I doubt if it is always demanded.

Not Guilty KonaFan! First thing I do with a new bike is some photos, and record the serial number. As you said not many people do bother with this until it's tooo late. Unfortunately my mate is one of them!!

Sad part is that my mate has no pics of the bike, and he never recorded the serial number. But it's a very distinctive frame and design, even re-sprayed, he would recognise it. I think right now he is taking pictures of his other bikes and recording the serial numbers!!!

Good mate of mine in Bothasig Cape Town had his garage broken into on Sunday night and his Orbea full suspension MTB stolen. They left the road bike, so it sounds like a ride away job Unfortunately no pics of the bike, but it was a blue frame with distinctive square shaped chainstay in an orange color. SRAM Groupset, with twist grip shifters. Very few of these around, in fact his is the only one I've seen, so if you see one in the CT area, please PM me

My Grandson has a magnetic attraction to thorns in the tyres. I agree, don't leave them in. What I normally do is pull out the thorn, and hold my finger over the hole for a few seconds until the sealant does it's job. That way you lose far less sealant. With him I have had up to twenty sealant plugged holes before having to think about replacing the tube.joevan2008-06-16 07:48:55

DunMan also got the Z80, also love it. How come you got Tiagra groupset, they came standard with Tiagra triple crank front, and Shimano105 rear. If you got Tiagra both ends, someone ripped you off!!

Graham, I'm in!! How about dragging our local councillor along as well, he's had a long rest after his last safe cycling day in our area??? Joe

I agree with Skye, let's put this topic to bed. Everybody is entitled to thier opinion, but some insensititive opinions are best left unsaid!! Condolences to One Time and his family!!! joevan2008-05-22 09:31:27

And that says it all!! Criminals have no respect for Police any more, and even if they get caught, the law is heavily in thier favour so they will be back on the street in no time!!

Congrats on the new Bike, Felt are great bikes. If you are looking to upgrade, look at the wheels first. They are Alex AKX R2, which is the absolute entry level Alex rim. My Felt also came with them, and the first hard braking and slide I had due to an idiot motorist, wiped them out. Rear wheel buckled, and the seam cracked. They are not the best of wheels!! Local LBS had a special on Shimano 105 hubs coupled with Mavic CXP33 rims for R3400.00. Apart from dropping about 400g weight, huge difference in performance.

Try this link http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-IN/bikes/mountain/1476/29864/

Good question, can ADMIN clear this up? How many posts for each ranking???????????

Upgraded from Raleigh to Felt last November. Excellent bikes, you can't go wrong!!

If you've never MTB'd at all, try and borrow a bike first and ride with some mates. It is very different from Road biking!! If the bug bites, which it probably will, go to a good LBS for further advise on bikes. THese days, you can get a good entry level MTB with decent specs for under R8000.00. Don't know where you stay, so can't give advise on which LBS to go to.

Schwinn came out with a seat clamp that a bottle cage could be screwed on, but it's not the best for muddy rides unless you have a rear mudflap as well. Mud comes up off the rear wheel straight onto the bottle. so you get a "organic mix" when you take a sip!!

To be fair, different people experience different service levels at LBS's. At the shop originally named, I have experienced both excellent and poor service. Often it depends on who you are dealing with, some staff take thier job's seriously, and others don't. Now before the comments fly, yes, I agree, management should not allow this to happen. Also the customers approach can often be the trigger to the kind of service received. We as customers need to be more assertive, if you experience bad service, take the issue up there and then. If the management shows no sign of interest in your comments, then tell them clearly that they have lost a customer. Sooner or later, they will either get it right, or they will go out of business!!

Try Meurant at Dirtopia. He will be able to help or advise. Dirtopia Contact Details Trail Centre: ?Tel: 021 884 4752 ?Fax: 021 884 4752 Meurant Botha: ?Tel:083 450 5313 ?email: meurant@dirtopia.co.za Arina Botha: ?Tel:083 284 5932 ?email: arina@dirtopia.co.za

Also had a traffic circle "experience" this weekend. Not too serious, but cost some money on bike repair. Hope Wouter gets well soon. Think we will have to accept that some motorists only recognise vehicles that have a big metal body and four wheels. Can't say how many times I have looked a motorist straight in the eyes, and then when you yell at them, they suddenly are shocked to discover that there is something other than a car in thier way. It's really a sad comment on driver training, and the ease of obtaining a licence!!

Hi Slowpoke, The idiot eventually stopped halfway down the next road. I caught up to him and gave him a good peice of my mind and threatened to drag him down to the nearest Police station. His only comment, "Is it because I'm Black?" Funny, I hadn't made any mention of color!! Almost belted him one then, but decided that it wasn't worth it, he is the type who will rush off and lay an assault charge. Not much faith in the local police anyway from previous experience. Took the wheel to Cycle factory, but it was stuffed, so had to get a new set of wheels. (A present to myself!!) These things happen, and as you say, as long as no-one is badly hurt, that's what counts.

I was there this morning. Told them they may have a new customer soon. Had to get new wheels after my close encounter with a idiot motorist yesterday. Mavic rims, Shimano Dura Ace hubs R3300.00, all set up and ready in less than an hour!! Five stars for service

akshun Great bunch of guys, full service, sales, fitting, workshop etc. Speak to Ian or Kyle Check out thier website http://cyclefactory.co.za/content/view/13/47/ If you are a beginner or a novice, we take special care in not making you feel intimidated when buying a bicycle. Bicycles and all options are explained in friendly, down to earth terms and you are not sold anything that is beyond what you really need. We have beginner?s aluminium mountain bikes for as little as R1400 and top brand road bikes that start at just R3,100, so it is now more affordable than ever to get into cycling. Interestingly enough I also upgraded from a Raleigh RC2000. I went for the Felt Z80 selling at R6200.00. R1000 off the list price, but if you have 8K to spend you can do better. The FELT F85 is about in your price range. This is a compact crankset with 10 speed rear and acceptable components, but they have other models as well.such as the F5, goes for about R10k. This is a carbon frame if you are into that. Also stock other brands so theres a good choice rangejoevan2008-03-21 16:40:49