Paul Ruinaard

Get yourself an airtank pump - best device i have owned in years. Super simple. Avoids what i did when trying to do this with a compressor and exploded a tyre full of latex whilst i was bendin over the wheel. The bang made the neighbours dogs bark, my wife came from upstairs to see what the noise was, and I had an outline of myself on the wall in latex. Loked like something out of a bukkake movie (NSFW dont google it)

Hmm I do know what NPS score is and have in fact worked for an organistaion with an NPS of 92 for a period of 6 years so be careful about your assumptions. I will back out now as clearly you have a way that your approach wil improve the NPS however I am at a loss as to how the initial post you made would do that.

Hey @Mo79 - you with your 10 posts (at least on this profile). You have the audacity to speak about community as if you are entitled by your 10 post membership and using the classifieds as your marketplace, to talk about community which you by implication have actually contributed nothing other than criticism and are unwilling to pay small fees to allow the whole thing to thrive? Why must you be allowed all of a sudden for some reason to access the community built up by these guys over 20 years? These guys built this and funded it out of their pockets in their spare time. Now you need special dispensation. What are you doing to contribute and grow this? Community by definition is constructed from the people in it. Ubuntu - I am a person because you are a person. What have you given to this forum? More like taken I would say . Thats all you have done , and are astounded when you rhetoric around needing to be treated differently isnt well received? Go read up about community. You seem to think you have a claim on the term for some reason and that we must repsct your claim. Ek kan nie ..... Or is this one of your aliases? Used to avoid the rules.

In which universe is life fair or business fair mate? Lets start there. No one including the whole universe and everyone in it ever made any covenant that things should be fair. IMO you sound like the sort of whiny Gen Z who believes that there are prizes for coming 20th in the class and is struggling with working out why the world is not according to how you were told it is when you were given particpation prizes. Life is certainly not fair. Maybe a spoon of cement after your epic vloer moer and a HTFU top cap for your stem would be what you need as medicine

Hmm - businesses have costs. So does the Bikehub. If you want charity go to the food queue at the church and get the handouts there . Thats what charity is. This site is not a charity so why do you wnat to take the crust from the mouth of the people who are making the rain and justify why its yours and you need help. In what universe is that justifiable and how do you get off pointing out others are offending? throw everyone under the bus? I supose as a kid you never learnt that when you outed your siblings you got punished as well. TBH no wonder you are struggling - you dont understand the first thing about how community works. Let alone business.

I think if I had the time I would happily do the wrenching on my normal bikes, and i have, in that I built many a road bike from bits I collected. But at a point in the new regime of bikes with in frame cable routings etc it has got ahead of my abilities and patience. In fact some of the bike shops I have used would have maintained that I reached that point long ago when i have arrived with my partial DIY project and been hoping they can salvage my cock ups. There is a cerain saisfaction in bringing a project bike to life, but the final tuning, truing and adjusting I would take to the shops. I wouldn't consider myself a technical guru but I know my way around bikes however BB sizes and standards, headsets etc just start getitng in to an arcane area. Suspension services as well. Best left to the experts. Wheel building is another one - its truly a black art and done correctly by an expert its a world of difference. You dont expect the large chain shops like you get in the big cities or the specialist shops with single brand franchises to be interetsed in your project bikes built out of spares you had lying around and needing machined adapters to get your non standard items to fit. You may see it as fun but for them the costs are higher than the returns they get so often they are helping you because you are a good customer and they hope your next big upgrades will go through them. But their formula is not designed to do this so their staff arent really going to be interetsed or equipped to deal with your requests and therefore arent really going to pay it the attention it would require to address your unique technical challenges. Go to a specialist or boutique shop as mentioned. And be willing to pay for their knowledge. We all seem to fancy ourselves as experts in bike maintenance because we ride over weekends but truth be told I have quickly run in to my limits and also BEEN THE CAUSE of many of the technical cock ups I have needed fixed by someone with the right tools and the KNOWLEdge OF HOW TO USE THEM. Caps intended.

I think you need to build a relationship with a shop and then set your expectations. Josh @cyclists workshop knew i wanted it a certain way and always would call and check with me. I miss him down her in Paarl but you do need to be consistent.

Hell lots of analysis in there your questions. there are some sites you can read and look at to get answers. Have a look at DC Rainmaker and some of the bike radar reviews - they go deep down the rabbit holes as well wrt trainers, platforms etc and what each excels at, so they have done a lot of the work for you. WR Trainers. TBH the kick Core+ Zwift cog is a brilliant deal especially if you add the bike to it. Simplifies a whole raft of things around connectivity and the like wrt dedicated trainers etc. the wifi connection makes a big difference. I bought the dedicated Zwift bike about 6 months before they announced it and would happily have taken this option over the Kickr bike. WR the platforms I haven't messed much with the other training platforms like Rouvy and Trainer Road etc so cannot add too much insight to them but I am happy with Zwift. When I started it was streets ahead and its gamification and constant upgrades bring a whole new level to it - also the racing if you want to go deep down the hole. IMO there are more people on Zwift. Also google Zwiftinsider and read there wrt a lot of the questions you are asking. The Zwift ecosystem is a whole world on its own and really immersive - from a quick hour spin to a structured program for specific goals it's just getting deeper and better and its continually updated.

Stans Darts are expensive but work well on road tubeless. I have used Dynaplug but the little brass bit has dropped off inside the rim making an awful noise. Dont skimp on quality sealant.

Maybe its how you are thinking about the problem. I am I suppose a pragmatist. If something is dangerous and you continue to do it chances are that you will have an accident. This is not really up for debate. Mitigation aka rear flashing lights and video, is always good but its never a guarantee. To give context, on the other topic on the bikehub this morning is someone who was killed on Cedar Road at Steyn City over the weekend in Jhb. I lived there for 17 years and have ridden up and down Cedar road hundreds of times on the way to and from the cradle. In case you dont know it , its very wide there - 3 lanes. So not a narrow section of road and therefore you arent being squeezed by traffic. I stopped riding there from my home 4 km up the road in Craigavon when the primary route to Diepsloot was closed (owing to a road never being completed and mutiple contract frauds), taxis formed convoys on saturday and sunday mornings and went down the road at 100 kmh (similar what they do on the N2) and ignored traffic lights. Nothing like 8 taxis going through a red traffic lihgt at 100 kmh in convoy to make you wake up. It happened repeatedly. I got the clear impression they did not really care how many cyclists they killed and in fact may have been malevolent towards me on my expensive bike when they were ferrying people to work and a little bit of deliberate clipping etc was always part of the game. Make the cyclist know who really is the boss. I am not sure about you but I wasnt going to try and take a video and upload it to the commnity forum and compain, also as the taxis were owned by the police. Much simpler to put the bike on the rack and drive to the cradle safely. The taxis didnt stop their shenanigans - AFAIK it probably still happens at 6 am on saturday and Sunday. Thats what you are up against. These people have zero regard for our life and your rights. So do the police and the goverment. Given this is the sort of situation you are busy trying to address, albeit a lot worse in Jhb, my suggestion is simply that those that run away live to fight another day. Up to you mate but i couldnt ask for a more immediate example of what i was trying to say to you than the other string. My question is one of preservation and not rights: Are you not concerned that one of those near misses you are having becomes something more concrete, not a miss, and then you may have much more immediate consequences if not be fatal. Your video evidence of the person who killed you may result in a prosecution but will not bring you back to life nor undo your injuries.

So sad to hear. As someone who livedin Craigavon till recently and who has ridden up and down Cedar many hundreds of times, it is always frightening to hear that on an otherwise safe suburban street this can happen. My condolences to the people and their families.

I would agree. However i cannot but ask whether it would not be in anyones best interest to avoid situations which could potentially result in near misses altogether i.e. dont ride that route. IN the eternal war between 2 ton cars and 7kg bikes there is no way you will come off better. First principle of safety is to avoid dangerous situations? Or am i misisng something? Unfortunately there have been many times I have stopped riding routes as they became too dangerous. With the police being basiclaly non fucntional in South Africa you may be wasting your energy.

I must admit i have been following this race and have been thoroughly enjoying it. I reckon this one is going to explode as well next year and have tons of foreign interest. There is something about the Karoo riding that is completely unique and as per the Epic the weather always throws a curve ball in to it. Well done to kevin on putting it all together. Many ideas may be borrowed but it takes big kahunas to glue it all together and put this on. Thats what I admire. Kevin Vermaak if you are listening to us or reading the comments you need to do it over a full moon week in the karoo and include a night stage with full moon in it - especially on 31st October. I have always wanted to do a night ride on a full moon night in the middle of the Karoo or a desert when one of those blood red moons rises over the horizon. Throw in a couple of tokoloshies and headless horseman or two and you may inspire some personal bests in the backmarkers....

bottom right in blue show all participants

you can expand the categories and then there is the whole list - i saw tat as well

You are not a big guy nor are you unable to put out power at those weights and FTP, not sure of your age but i would assume you arent in the older generation but TBH adding a couple of teeth on to the top by buying a bigger cassette will likely help you, Thats the simplest and cheapest way of finding out. If you are getting dropped on the climbs then a lighter gear may work for you at the top. What everyone is pointing out is that groupsets have limits or guidelines depending on the length of the cage. However I will tell you these can be pushed. Not always recommended as it can screw up shifting but it can work. I ran 34 and 36 clusters on a nomral 1 speed DI2 Ultegra derailleur and just was careful about shifting. It was outside of the guidelines wrt the total number of teeeth top to bottom but it worked and i had a bail out gear at the top to spin. if you want speed and are worried aout spinning out a compact crank is probably not for you as you lose the sheer speed a 53/11 or 12 can offer if if you can grind it. If you are a spinner then compacts can be okay but the cadence will always be high You also need to listen to the advice on trainng i.e. train your weakness - if you are a big gear masher and can learn to spin then you will be faster overall. remember everyone is loking for a solution thta is easy to achieve - training is. hard, as is losing weight. Nobody likes high cadence workouts i can assure you and if you are a big gear grinder you hate them even more. You can probably mess around a bit with clusters (which is cheaper) and alter your trainng to address your weak spot IMO.

There is definitely a thriving trade in stolen/boosted Garmin watches. Just have a look on FB marketplace. Someone fences them to a guy it owuld seem to get some cash and then he trades in them. I found a set of Swarovski binoculars for R 10k in Hermanus which is an unbelievable price. When i wanted ot meet to see them physically they were sold to another person who prepaid cash. Now i am on his list of people he sends bargains to on Whatsapp. So i get the "specials". Very interesting. Where there is a demand there will be a supply.

I see websites with 10 000 euro prices on them

any progress on anyone bringing a pinion drive bike in to SA?

Hey Dave. Like the bicycle - buy the motorbike. I just did for a Triumph 900, very happy. Off FB Marketplace. Got a 2021 with tons of extras second hand. At my age, time and experiences are more valuable than the money in the bank i realised after some perosnal events. At least that is my theory and i am sticking to it. I rode it back from Montagu via Barrydale down the N2 and then back towards the Franschoek pass in September - it was sublime to say the least. You cant buy that experience. One of the podcasts I was listening to basically pointed out that after a certain age time left is finite and your enjoyment of the time available in good health is more valuable to you than the assets. And experiences compound. It basically says rather go on the holiday or buy the bike when you are 60 than when you are 80 because you get the compounding and at least you can enjoy the memory . You realise your health is finite and probably wil run out before your wallet, if you have some plans in place. For me a wake up call was when my brother died recently at 67 after a long struggle with advanced Parkinsons (blessing in disguise) with a sizable chunk of change in the bank. He could have had a much better life if before he got really ill he spent some of his money on enjoying himself. I think i had to take that lesson on board. Currently drooling over the 1200 Scrambler at the moment which i nealry purchased instead of the Tiger Pro. Always loved the Triumph triple. Katoom have issues with their chocolate cams of late so scared of them. What happened ot the motorbike thread? You realise we are all addicted to the sensation of being on two wheels so many cyclists enjoy motorbikes.

i cant say i didnt click through just to look at the titanium. Read this from the comments:

Reflective 3M strips on rims also work very well. Lights pick them up in low light and they are moving which is also great for visibility.

Triple ply non negotiable. Shaving cream no question there is direct marginal utility in those. 1050 I wnat, 1030 PLus rationalise as my eyesite is getting worse and i need the big screen. Fenix 6 was 7 years old so an 8 was a major step factor improvement. Like I said, I am a poster child for this. Garmin Varia Tail Light for safety. Sworks may be on a frame or two with SRAM AXS on both road and mountain. BTW I must confess to having done the equivalent of this in 2001 when Alan van Heerden still had the Colnago agency in Jhb. I just recently sold the bike actually. He managed to upsell me on to the ultimate bike at the time by using my own technique I learned later - basically telling me it was likely out of my bracket and too much bike for me. I came away with a Carbon C 40 with Campag 10 Speed Record on it and Campag Nucleons - which in the day was the equivalent of todays R 400k Colnago. There was nothing else you could have fitted. I think it cost about R 45k to R 60k back in the day which was a pornographic amount of money for me to blow on a bicycle as my house cost R 420k 3 years before but hey the house was paid for and I was young, dumb, quite fit and wanted it and had hit a streak of good forune so had some cash. So I reckon i can speak from experience on this one. Put it this way, I never went in to the pens at any of the races wanting the guy next to me's bike. I was always the guy with the most expensive weapon in the pack for at least a year or two. There was always respect paid when you arrived on that level of bike - at least until they dropped me on the first big climb. I will say I rode that bike for 15 to 17 years and used to have folks admiring it as it was like a vintage Ferrari of bikes when i took it out many years after i stopped racing seriously. Very nice bike but also very rigid and an out and out racing machine. Which was good at the time,but as i got older it killed me. Let me confess "My name is Paul and i am easily sold to" In my defence sales guys are always the easiest to sell crazy stuff to because they admire the salesman's technique and are dumbfounded when he closes the deal on them.

My 2 cents worth: Actually this topic is applicable to any luxury good. R 400k bikes are the poster child for the underlying affliction that humans labour under in a consumer culture. A Rolex still only tells you the time, Louis Vuitton handbags still are only bags. Diamonds are nothing more than hard stones and have zero to do with love and more to do with industrial aplications where they can be used to cut. Cars - still only good for transport. etc ad infinitum. But I am still a self confessed petrol head, bike geek etc that admires some beautiful cars and loves bike porn and will geek out over technological advances like AI. We are truly not in touch with or aware of our base motivations as a species and would do well to spend some time understanding what actually drives us once certain of our needs are met. Once we have a bike we lust after better bikes and the same for cars, houses, clothes, wives etc. And BTW use cases where said cars or bikes are raced is a completely different thing - at the extreme levels of the performance envelope the lightest and fastest machines do provide advantages and help in beating others. We live vicariously through these sorts of events and see ourcelves in the mould of our heroes. Which brings me back to the Colnago. Its all based on Pogacar's success and how we are all watching him. In some way, shape or form owning that bike brings us at least closer to some form of emulation of his success and we can own a part of the glow or magical events he has created. Same as ow(n)ing the Ferrari or Mclaren or Aston .... if you have the money then who am I to judge you for allowing the dream you have had to be realised. As long as you didnt steal it from Tembisa hospital i am okay with it, but unfortunately in the Saffer sense a large portion of the consumption of these goods is from ill gotten gains. Anyway thanks for reading my ramblings.