Longbarn Killer

JJ Cycling are the official importers of Campag. Give them a shout, you can get their details here: www.jjcycling.co.za. If a lever does cost R1 000, then check out www.cwcyles.co.za, they were selling Chorus 10 speed for R999.

Jan Begemann did most of Raleigh's most recent offerings. Victor Momsen left Raleigh some years back to set up Two Wheel Trading. They import a range of niech market bikes.

I would not buy a blank, no name frame from some guy in China. No matter how good or how bad they are, can you trust it? You say they offer a warranty, your question should be; will they honour it? There is someone here on the Hub who was complaining about the fact that his Chinese imported no-name brand frame cracked after a few weeks of use and he had no means of exchanging it. If you really want one, there are 2 Hubbers that I know of that sell these frames. There is a lot less risk buying from somebody that can be trusted. The one guy is called Apricot Jam and the other guy's name is CCD. If you are buying your friend's bike, just make sure it is the right size for you. Size is the most important factor when buying a bike.

You can't just change the bars, you will have to change the stem (normally shorter on a TT bike) and even worse, the shifters too. Then there is the setting of the gears each time etc, etc. I still maintain that a road bike is the way to go.

T T bikes only offer one advantage and that is aerodynamics. The aerodynamics of the bike itself is minimal, but most of the aero advantage comes from the rider. The bike forces you to lie in an uncomfortable position in order to get this aero advantage. Your body (especially your back and neck) takes major strain if you are sitting in the aero position for hours on end Further to this, the aerodynamics only offer an advantage at higher speed, so if you are a normal Joe Soap that slogs it out to finish the event, the benefits of a T T bike are minimal. Whats more, T T bikes can only be used in non drafting events. They are not allowed in draft legal events or normal road race events. Non drafting events are far and few between, most triathlon events now days are draft legal, meaning a T T bike will not be allowed. In short, unless you are one of the following, I would suggest a normal road bike. 1. A well honed, professional athlete who needs every advantage possible and whose body is conditioned to the discomforts of a T T bike. 2. You already have a road bike and think it would be nice to have a T T bike as well (I fall into this category). 3. You are rich and can afford to have T T bike that can only be used for 1 or 2 events a year. 4. You only plan to do non drafting events and you think a T T bike will look cool.

I've had 2 bad accidents, both I landed on the tar, on my back, with my head wip lashing on to the ground. My helmet, on both occasions, shattered at the back, but my head remained intact. I would not be here today, if it were not for a helmet. I believe that there should be a law forcing people to wear helmets, especially children, whose parents seem to ignor their safety.

Good Service????? He sold you something that he had in stock, a normal sale, in the normal course of business.

Should read Killer Longbarn...........if you cycle in PE, you will know the Longbarn circuit and the short, but steep Longbarn climb.

Is the Raleigh brand in SA finally dead? http://www.probike.co.za/blogs/brandon/probike-and-raleigh-part-ways

Check out the Raleigh Nomad 10, it will fit in your budget. The 2012 are coming out next month, so you may get a 2011 model even cheaper. Both Ride Magazine and Bicycling rated it very highly especially in the value for money department.

The Scott, it looks nicer and comes with fantastic after sales service (imported by Probike).

It is an industry norm that most manufacturers launch their new products on 1 September. That means most bike shops will be offering lots of specials on their outgoing 2011 models to make space for the 2012 models. For R5 000 your friend may be able to get a brand new Tiagra specced bike. He must shop around a bit from shop to shop. The cheaper, but good quality brands to check for are Silverback, Merida and Raleigh. There are some great bikes going second hand at some really good prices, but there is also junk going that is over priced. If you know what you are looking for, then second hand is the way to go.

You get frames made in China and you get frames made in China. You would be very naive to think that because good quality brands like Specialized and KHS are made in China, that all frames made in China are of a good quality. There can be a huge difference in quality between two brands from the same factory. Go and buy a Cadbury chocolate and then go and buy a Coti chocolate and tell me if they are the same quality. Both are made in South Africa. Castaway, I'm not saying that the frames that you are going to be selling are bad quality, because I know nothing of the brand you are bringing in. I'm just trying to illustate a point.

A work colleague is in the market for an off road caravan. He found one on some website for R120 000, the seller had posted some pictures of the caravan. This was, according to my colleague, a reasonable price. He came accross the exact same pictures of a caravan on Gumtree that was for sale and the selling price was R43 000. The only difference in the pictures was that the one showing the number plate was not on Gumtree. He emailed the seller, who claimed to have immigrated to the UK. The seller on Gumtree claimed that the caravan could not be viewed, however, upon payment of R43 000 it would be delivered to him. This d*is on Gumtree obviously took the photos of a caravan from another site and then tried to shaft any potential buyer.

500g for a helmet. We are talking bicycle helmets here and not those steel things we had to wear in the "skietgat" in the army. I have never had the need to weigh a bike helmet, but I bet that there won't be more than 100g between a heavy one and a super light one. When I started cycling I wore a makro helmet that cost R65.00, I shortly upgraded to a decent Bell. The Bell is far more comfortable, but I never noticed any weight difference

'cmon..............how much weight difference is there between the lightest helmet (not helmut) and the heviest helmet? Will that weight difference really effect your performance? Will you even feel that weight difference on your head? Buy a helmet that gives you the most protection and forget about weight.

People buy second hand for one reason only and that is to get a bargain. I wish sellers would realise that. No-one will pay R18 000 for a 2nd hand bike when you can get it new for R19 000.00.

check www.obike.co.za They are the official importers for GT, they have some massive bargains on their bikes. You choose the one you want and they will send it to your bike shop in Durban

Jan Ulrich. He is proof that even us fatties can compete at the top level.

Eugene never said that you need a certain brand, the original post asked about a particular brand. Eugene merely stated that if Volcan was good enough for 2 top riders, then they are good enough for everybody else. Top riders will win on anything, but we all have a choice of which brand we like and if the author of this post wants a Volcan, he can buy one.

When Microsoft and later MTN won everything in sight on their Raleighs, everybody did buy Raleighs. The only reason people stopped buying Raleighs is because Probike thought they were clever and started increasing their profit margins to the point that Raleighs were just plain expensive. Even though they realised their mistake and dropped the prices, the reputation of being godd quality at good prices was gone. Maybe they need to sponsor another pro team and try to get some of that reputation back. That is unlikely though, it seems that Probike is putting all their effort into Scott now that Scott seems to have some sort of ownership of Probike.

Did anybody catch the ALpen Tour on Supercycling last week. What amazed me was that the majority of the riders (probably 90% or more) were riding on 26inch Hardtails. Has the 29er craze not hit Europe or do their pros know something that ours don't? You could count on your one hand the number of full suspension and/or 29ers that were there.

What about the guy that has just coughed up R2 900 for a stem. Surely a bike with an expensive stem like that must be faster than a bike with R250 stem.

I have heard from numerous sources (a few of them on the Hub) that Trek's aftersales service in SA is absolutely shocking. I've only heard good things about ASG (the Pinarello importers)

I can't view the video, but there are certain things that should never be carbon fibre and a chain is one of them.