Paul Ruinaard

Hmm - i have always been concerned about water and batteries and it is a really cool bike that goes great when it does. Its the wife's TBH but the failures have been binary i,e, working, then not working. Simply put. I know electronics and when they pop they pop. When i googled the symptoms they were well known and documented. What concerned me was speaking to the shop owners who traded in second hand they are now stepping away from ebikes because if they fail they are very costly to repair.

Not my bike but the Specialized Turbo Levo i bought for my wife second hand but i got the original invoices. So far i have had a battery repaired under warranty - first month after i got it (warranty offered from bike shop where i got it) and then the motor failed completely Dec 2019 whilst away on a trip (replaced under warranty after much to and fro and then in Dec 2020 hey presto the battery goes completely faulty after working the weekend before, No explanations. So Specialized locally say we will give you a battery at a lower price R 10k vs R 18500 new, but we will call you when we have stock. Thanks. That was December and i am still waiting. Eventually i found a second hand battery at bike market for R14500 and bought that because Specialized locally have not come through with spares. And they arent likely to cause the chip shortages and demand for ebikes mean they would rather sell new bikes than replace old things under warranty. And they dont seem to care much about that attitude. Thing is an ebike without a motor or a battery is the cycling equivalent of a potplant. Having spoken to the shops who were trading in them most of the guys who were selling second had ebikes have stopped because of all the failures. Be careful of these things - when they work they are sublime but if you get them second hand the warranty is void and they cost a lot more to fix if they fail as they are modular. Not like a normal bike. And Specialized after sales service on old ebikes sucks. Not interested, couldn't care, too many people looking for new bikes because of Covid so they will supply that market rather than try and fix the ones out there. I have been a huge Specialized fan since forever but TBH this experience has made me rethink that. Although i see every bike shop doing the same in the boom times.

always fascinated by hem. We have golden orb spiders in the garden sometimes. hugely strong web.

You can go extreme on this or you can also just buy the old style Park Tool torque wrench with the deflection gauge. Pointer attached to a scale. Worked for me for a long time. I think i got it from Cyclelab. They have lots of tools.

Hmm IMO the Hub and its ethic will die if this happens and i will probably go along with it. Whilst i get the off topic piece the amount of good that has been done far outweighs the wankers that cant express themselves without resorting to threats. I dont have time to name all the threads i have seen or taken part in that are non cycling related and have been useful and almost inspirational. This is the sense of community you have. If you kill this you will become another classifieds site with no soul. My 2 cents worth

Jeez you are determined. We used to skim the heads of our 50's by using waterpaper and glass to get some extra compression. Boer maak n plan. Not sure what effect it had but hey we were always looking for a bit extra in terms of horsepower...

So i have my accommodation booked as per usual. I think irrespective of what happens wrt the race if they decide not to run it on the actual race day, there are going to eb a lot of people down there on bikes who will ride it anyway in some way shape or form whether individual or on club rides. So its going to be an interesting time and very busy over that weekend irrespective. mainly the hard core enthusiasts but it will be a bit mental if they dont run the event and everyone tries to do their own version of the race on the day..... Also looking at flights - the only people flying out of Lanseria to CTN are Safair. It's a bit bizarre at the moment to fly - but it's all coming back slowly. Hopefully the others will open up n time - Mango, Kulula etc. Also looks like the numbers in CTN are starting to increase again looking at the number of positive cases. Going in to Sea Point late on a Friday evening was very different from the last time i was there at the CTCT when it was hectically busy. What a difference 7 months can make. Sea point and surrounds were very quiet. It is scary how much they relied on international traffic.

20 year old Record on my Colnago shifts in one solid clunk. But hubs that sound like a swarm of bees make me happy, especially on a long downhill on a Saturday morning ride down the fist big descent

IMO still the best trail i have ever ridden. And i have ridden some....

I am running Ultra on a Macbook. Compared to HD on the old Macbook pro its not really that wow. It can be noticed in the way the trees and scenery render and the leaves etc but really TBH it's a lot of money for marginal gains as Zwift doesn't render in 4k itself. It's not like a gaming environment. I have a 4k TV running ULtra and it is quite cool but to go full 4K you need a specific graphics cards and then are probably going to have nightmares with support and drivers etc. The 4k screen is the key - if you can't display the graphics i.e. your output is 1080 i.e. HDMI then unless you have a crazy good monitor it wont help. I am also aware Apple 4K TV only renders max in Ultra? Also Aple

I actually spent a lot of time thinking about the question this weekend. Ultimately it is what price is the threshold for you to forego pleasure in the pursuit of material wealth. Young me would have jumped at it. Older me is a different story. Some things dont have a price. Having had my mates around for a braai for the first time this weekend in 6 months and these being the wine drinking guys we have i think re-affirmed that our bonds of friendship are established or assisted by the desire to be convivial as well as enjoy a couple of drinks together. these often lead to much more interesting and often hilarious times. Personally a couple of drinks makes me and life a better place. Cant say its not without its downsides but then a long life is the slowest form of dying , so why not enjoy the trip whilst you can. Having a glass of wine is so intertwined with who i am that i dont really know what i would be without it.

A highly complex question - short answer is that i am a hedonistic creature so don't do denial of anything well. I have stopped drinking mid week for a couple of times now but enjoy a glass after work too much. If the number was that mach then its a huge amount of money but its purely academic to entertain the idea. You could doa. lot with R 10m, but right now i enjoy my wine.

with you brutha.

You sir are a glass snob. I love my Riedel's but cry when they get broken. Have the reds and whites and then i have even got some travel glasses. I have slowly come around to the glass thing but the thing is about 80% of the restaurants are clueless.

Most people don't understand how much difference temperature makes and that room temp is 16 degrees, even cooler for Pinot.

I have a friend with about a thousand bottles. I have about 200 when all the racks are full. The thing is at 1000 bottles your wine goes off faster than what you can drink it at. Seriously. Our SA wines are not that good at being kept any more. Have a HPF Kleinboet 2016 in The glass now as this conversation inspired me. What stemware are you using. I wasn't a believer until i did the Riedel vertical tastings and was dumbfounded. Good glasses make all the difference...

Yep you are up the Hemel and Aarde there. Galpin Peak is lovely. Hamilton Russell was really good but i think its overpriced for what it is now. I have the La Vierge in the rack maybe i should compare the two (it and Highland Road). Its a distinct flavour - very meaty. I skew towards Bordeaux blends - my all time favourites are probably Rust n Vrede as a go to wine when i am looking for a glass of something special. I also love constantia Glen 5.

Keep me informed....

I have never been a massive drinker of Pinot - a good one is spectacular but i mainly drink blends and Cab/Shiraz styles - love a good cab franc etc. I have about 36 bottles of the Highlands Road as a result of their "special" so i am learning to enjoy it.

I would be keen if you have access to some good stuff. I spend and inordinate amount of money on wine so always keen on some good options.

How are you going to differentiate yourself. Most wine of the month strats of good value but ends up mixing in rubbish to start making margins. The other issue i see is hte transport - the couriers aren't coping. Have you got a plan to get deliveries through?

Cool idea. And also maybe to create a reciprocal arrangement - in that if they know MTBers are supporting them they will be willing to open vintages etc to us and the like. There are a lot of wine farms that have trailes and have been very open to us. I am in Jhb so i dont really know them like the Kaapenaars do but its synonymous with Cape Town - the MTB trails on the wine farms.

Good idea for a thread. Ooh Springfield - need to get them to put a sign on the vineyards that i have personally paid for. What specials are out there? Hartenberg had a 15% off. Constantia Glen as well had some good offers. Thing is when the last lockdown was in place i ordered a lot of wine from some sites and estates. Some ran out - Highlands Road had a 2 for 1 special which they couldn't fulfill so they shipped Pino Noir instead. Now its not a bad Pinot Noir but i have a lot of it. Cybercellar - i am still awaiting delivery of some of the stuff i ordered wich disappeared in to Aramex. Eventually cancelled and to their credit they refunded the money but i am now gun shy of specials as the delivery seems to be a nightmare. TBH - will wait until the furore has died down a little and go down the road to Liquor City in Broadacres where they have a good selection. That way i dont wait 3 weeks for it.

Is my memory fading or did we have a long discussion in the past about discs not being necessary on road bikes? COuld be i am picking on the wrong person. But enjoy nice bike.

Tarmac SL7 is now available in the drops store - #justasying....