Longbarn Killer

www.swiftcarbon.com Their contacts are on the website.

Cyclists are the only type of people that don't notice sexy women. They are always too busy looking at the bikes. Didn't I mention it was a Dogma?

This has been brought up before, but I'm going to mention it again. There seems to be a bit of a trend in PE at the moment. It was even mentioned in Bicycling magazine (or was it Ride). Cyclists riding in the dark without rear lights. I see it almost every day as I leave for work in the dark. They have massive flood lights on the front, but nothing on the rear. This morning, whilst commuting to work in the pitch dark, I was over taken by a young lady on a Dogma (at least it looked like one, but couldn’t see too well in the dark). She had a floodlight on the front of her bike, but absolutely nothing on the rear. If anybody knows her (there can’t be too many Dogma owners in PE), please tell her to cough up R100 or so and get a tail light. It is for her safety. I know of somebody who was training early on a Saturday morning, without lights and was hit by a car. It was not very pleasant.

A massive thread all about Junior A and not one single response from him.

Same thing happened to Ronel Van Wyk a few years back. She was quite clearly the best and had won SAs on a similar course shortly before. She was also overlooked for the world champs

Scott normally makes their new ranges public on 1 September. Hopefully the guys at Probike bring in a larger range of Foils. We only get two here in SA, but there is probably 8 or so in the range.

SA has a huge market for "Racing/upmarket" bikes. I was told by the manager of one of SA's biggest bike distributors, that SA is the world's largest consumer of 29ers. The problem is that everybody wants a piece of that pie. There are already too many bike shops around and every second cycling enthusiast is trying to create his own brand. If it really is your passion, then go for it. But to make any sort of decent living you are going to have to create something different. Something that other bike shops don't have, something that will attract the customers to you. That is not going to be easy. I suggest, go and study, maybe even run your own bike business from home, buying, selling second hand stuff to make some pocket money and to gain a bit of insight into the industry.

What on earth are these?

The same Monre from Algoa Toyota?

My logic is that you are paying 30% of the retail cost, meaning there is already a portion built into the price that goes to the shop. I might be mistaken though. I wrecked my Bell in an accident and the bike shop told me that I would get a discount on a new helmet equal to 70% of the retail price of the same helmet that I wrecked. I, unfortunately, was unable to make use of the discount as my puppy got hold of the broken helmet and chewed it to pieces. There is no way Bell would have believed that I had a crash with it.

Cannondale is imported by Omnico............you won't get better after sales service anywhere.

The 10speed is, surprisingly, narrower than the 9 speed.

Do the cyclists and the teams give the ASO a share of their sponsorships, endorsements etc? A sponsor is likely to pay so much more to a team that gets international exposure on the Tdf. A rider who wins the Tdf will get huge endorsements from his personal sponsores for this. Does he share this with the ASO?

The M7 comes with a belt clip. I strap the belt clip to the bars with a velcro strap and it works perfectly. Not sure if it would withstand the rigors of off road though. From what I could see, the handlebar mount for these lights don't fit oversize bars. If this is an issue, just make sure before you buy. I could be wrong though.

I have a friend who often cycles in the dark at the crack of dawn. He refuses to ride with lights because he rekons the criminals wait in the bush and look out for the lights of cyclists and then jump them. Personally, i think you have more chance of being killed by a car than being attacked for your bike.

Tried that, just doesn't open up at work. I suspect there is something or other that the website needs to open up and that something or other is not on my work laptop (not sure of terminology, don't know much about computers). Anyway, I have seen the website on my own laptop.

Or people that register with the Hub to sell one item and then disappear into thin air and never answer your questions. I belong to a similar forum for radio control cars. On this site, you have to make a certain number of postings before you can advertise.

Check out www.ecmtb.co.za

Tongue in cheek..............no offence intended. It was worded in the same way a brochure is worded.............

I heard a rumour that Action Cycles are going to close and metaphorpasize into a Cycle Lab at a new premises. Any truth to this rumour.

There are plenty of good used bikes out there and you can save quite a few bucks, however, I prefer going the new route.

GT roadbikes are nice bikes, but for some reason don't have the same reputation as their mtbs. The road bikes aren't as popular and don't sell the way the mtb versions do. You can't go wrong with them and their importers (Omnico) are renowned for excellent after sales service Here are other options that I have seen recently. For R1 000 more, you can get an Axis AR10 with much better components (full Ultegra) and much better wheels than the GT. Another R1 000 will get you a Silverback Space 2, which has an awesome frame and full Ultegra. I was in Solomons in Lynwood (Pretoria) and they were selling full carbon Bianchi's with Campagnolo Centaur (the carbon version) for R16 999. If it were my money, I would go the Bianchi route. If your aim is to complete Ironman, maybe you could consider a "comfort" type of bike. These bikes have a much more relaxed riding position, which is perfect for the 7 or 8 hours you will spend on the bike leg. Some bike shops have discounted last year's Scott CR1's at R13 000 odd. Omnico were advertising Schwinn Peleton 8 for R14 000. The bikes are new, but are 2009 unsold stock. They also offer the 10% worth of accessories and are the same importers as the GT brand. www.obike.co.za

Solomons in Pretoria are selling the Fuji Roubaix with very similar spec for R9 999.00, which is a pretty good price.

Anything part that starts with the series number of 5 is 105 spec. So, those br561 are 105 anyway.

Sora will not break, it will last you as long as any other groupset and will do what you need it to do. Where Sora falls short vs 105 is in the shift quality. You can literally feel the difference. Sora is hard and clunky and battles to shift under a load(such as climbing) whereas 105 is so much smoother and silky and quicker. For your budget, you will pick up a Tiagra specced bike or for a few hundred bucks more, a 105 bike.