Audible Anarchy

on monday morning i had a bit of an altercation with a blind taxi driver and was forced to try bunnyhop a rather large concrete block on my road bike in order to avoid being run over... long story short, i clipped the back wheel and dented it . im riding jock this weekend and only have the one set of wheels. Mavic ksyriums (the older 2007 model with the 24 spoke rear) - i took the wheel to shop A who immediately looked at it and told me it was toast and i would need to buy a new one (unfortunately not an option) so i figured let me try organise a new rim and do a rebuild b4 the weekend after running round like a madman and phoning half of jhb's bike shops, it turns out it will take 3-4 weeks for a new rim to arrive - BUT only available in 20 spoke. aaargh!!! once i got the bad news, i went to see shop B where i met a really nice bike mechanic who told me shop A was on crack and he would be able to "panelbeat" it back into shape for me - so 2 hours later @ the cost of an eagerly handed out tip for said mechanic i now have the rim bent back into shape and rolling true. however - we couldnt get the braking strip 100% and it now has a nice dip in it... When i took it out for about 50 kms this morn it felt ok. wheel rolls good as ever, but when i brake i get this stuttering coming through the frame. not bad braking from higher speeds, but much worse from say 20km/h down. so... wise gurus of the hub... do you think its a good idea for me to tackle the race with these wheels? is it going to destroy my brake pads? damage my frame(carbon)? ive been braving the early morning cold around 12 hours a week all winter and will be suitably peeved if i cant make the ride...

while i feel your pain re: costs involved in cycling as a student, and thats its tough to afford all the race fees ,petrol etc... i agree 100% with the other posts that if you love it enough, you will make a plan! you dont have to race every weekend - also you can save that R300 by spending one night less at the pub!

hence the query on the forum... to find out why everyone wants carbon rims as an upgrade looks like the general consensus is for my budget at under 10k - something like the cosmics with the alu brake surface is the way to go. what about going alu deep sections at a similar weight? also carbon vs alu hubs?

had a look at the mavic site - theyre all around the same weight as my ksyriums, and theyre only the equipes.(i think its only the ultimates that are sub 1.5kg?) i guess aside from the aero factor - it would only be worth the buy if you were going with hardcore 10k+ wheelsets, so you could shave off at least 500g. carbon wheels sure do look awesome though , hahaha

well the ksyriums weigh around 1700g (2011) - how much do the cosmics weigh? (ive always been a mavic fan,had heliums for years too). another query - how do carbon wheels feel compared to alu? once i started riding a carbon framei noticed a hell of a difference ... i guess what im asking is, why would i want to buy carbon wheels aside from weight? i understand the benefit of aero rims as ive had deep section rigida wheels in the past i used for racing on my old 7 speed back in the day. sounds lie the swissstops are mean! i hate my shimano brake pads.

id liek to keep my ksyriums as training wheels? are the pads i currently use for them different? can i use the "carbon wheel" pads for normal alu style rims as well?

as little as possible hahah! def less than 10k are the bits the brake pads run on made of carbon too? do i need to change my brakepads if i use carbon wheels? what are some of the more midrange brands i should look at? they have to be strong!

sounds like thats a plan i reckon. what is the average speed? what group do you ride with? will i need a towrope? hahaha

Im looking at getting a pair of deep section carbon wheels as an upgrade / for racing / longer rides. i currently ride mavic ksyrium clinchers with a 10 speed shimano cassette - and know nothing about carbon wheels? what sort of price range should i look at? what hubs? tubular vs clincher? gosh so many options and prices i dont know where to start! any advice?

i had an accident in 2004 with a truck, so i stopped road cycling and racing for a long time,just sticking to messing about on the mtb, ive been back on the road bike now for 6 months. my last one on 2004 was a 2h40. i ride on average 10-14 hrs a week. erm, results so far this year - i did a 40 at tarlton, aswell as a 70 at the vaal where i placed top 25, and then the fountains stpry last week where i came 90th. what sort of goal time should i be looking at for 94.7? im sure the route has gotten a lil harder over the years?

myself and a buddy were nearly taken out by a metro cop talking on her cell during warmup now that i think of it... what any vehicles were even doing along that finishing straight in the first place is a mystery? @ falco - - my wife who came with told me about your daughters crash with the metro near the finish line, apparently quite a nasty one.- hope she has a quick recovery!

the foot marshalls - the guys on the bonies were awesome, saved our butts from the monster trucks blowing us around a few times!

ive gone with the dunkeld group quite a few times, nice group - they really helped push me to where i am now.however i reckon i need a little faster though. hence me thinking of joining the engen group or the illovo group (ICG). only prob is to ride to bryanston / illovo to be there by 5am! ouch im aiming for a 2h45 94.7 at the end of the year so need guys that push that sort of pace. to give an idea of my level im at now- i rode the fountains 90+ race on thursday in 2h50 if that helps? @ straycat - when you move to the "hurst" give us a shout! lots of cyclists in the area.

hi andre saturdays and sundays are usually around 2h30 - 3h30 long. dpending on whats happening workwise. i ride with cycle lab 4ways on saturdays mostly, unless i have to work early in which case i train the popular randburg,linden,northcliff, emmerentia,mellville,westcliff,rosebank route. as its close to home. sundays i usually hook up with a local group of guys and distances / routes change quite often, very mixed bunch of guys n girls - sometimes out to the airport, sometimes the west rand - kyalami - depends. as i mentioned in my post, just looking for some guys who also want to push their pace a bit. always looking for more cycling buddies, the more the merrier !

hi all i live in parkhurst jhb and im looking for a group to ride with during the week in order to help push my speed / skill up a notch - essentially looking for a "b group" type pace around 30-35 km/ avg. ive heard through the club about groups of guys who ride from the engen n main rd in bryanston as well as a group that rides from oxford road in illovo . anyone else join on these rides? pls keep in mind i am not looking to get pummeled into the ground by licenced riders who average 37 km/+ - i just feel riding with some new, slightly stronger folks will help push me to the next level? any advice would be much appreciated! Cheers

a good pacey route, pity about the wind though! i loved having the motorcycles alongside helping with the trucks etc... the ONLY problem i had was at the end where the last set of marshalls sent myself and around 6 others who had broken away from our bunch the wrong way! hit the brakes, pull a u turn .. whew they havent caught us yet.... then sprinting down the finishing straight - a bakkie parked in the centre of the inflatable archway right on top of the timing mats? grrrr. those gripes aside, spectrum got the times right for a change and alot of friendly folks around il be back next year for sure!

i recently bought myself a Silverback Monza - full carbon frame, full 105 and Mavic wheels. great value for the money and a fantastic ride although it is my first carbon bike - they are on special at linden cycles in JHB for R13 500 until the end of the month.

I have received the updated results, a big thanks to Gertjie from Spectrum. however... all they have done is reverse all the DQ's resulting from batch starts. so although i am happy my results are now accurate (a top 25 finish). The results now include those that cheated... me thinks the organisers need to double check and see what groups they actually registered the riders in.

agree 100%, cheating means you should be disqualified.end of story. but now in my case i didnt cheat,yet i face the same fate? not cool. two days later and still no reply to my enquiries with Spectrum, the folks at the wilro lions have been pretty helpful tho, so als, we wait and see...

I sent him an email last night, hopefully i get a reply soon...

Hi All im new t the Hub and reckon this is the best way to get some help with my situation. Around 7 years ago i was invlved in an accident whereby a truck knocked me off my bike near hartebeespoort dam. now 6 odd years later i decided to get back on the bike and put my fears to rest! 12 weeks of training and hard work later i decided to enter my first race.. a 41km loop around tarlton which took place yesterday. The race went really well and i ended up riding a time of 01:15:40 for the 41km circuit - understandably i am pretty proud of myself... so now i get back from work yesterday arvie and eagerly download the results to see how i did, only to find that i have been disqualified!!! i was registered to start in the AM group (my number was AM 1556) starting at 08:01 -which i subsequently started and raced with. now the results say i was disqualifed becaus ei was supposed to start later with the BM group? is this a common occurence with Spectrum timed events? i have tried in vain to contact them to get this mess sorted out? from what i can see in the results i should have placed top 25 overall! anyone know who i can contact to try get my result verified? Thanks