The_Break

Does anyone have any experience with accuracy issues with the Tacx Flow Ergo trainer? My friend and I did a power test using a his Tacx Flow yesterday morning and the figures came out rather higher than I expected. Higher than figures on lab grade equipment I tested on last year when I was fitter and stronger than I am now. So my question is, are there any setup or calibration issues that could have led to the figures being out? We did a basic test starting at 180W and increased the wattage by 30W every 2min30 until exhaustion or cadence below 80RPM.

Wow this is coming from a long time ago. Yes, I think we can run a course, but it will have to be early next year. I have two interested people in the Cape Town area. Anyone else interested? I will set a price once I have more interest as it will bring the price down. Please note that the course material will cover Shimano groupset, but you will learn what is needed to apply it to other makes so long as you get hold of the user manuals from SRAM and Campy.

I last wore a watch in the 1990s. Who needs one with cellphones these days.

On the line? That is weird. When did they put them in. I left in July.

Hi Hugh/Denise The pavement does vary quite a bit throughout the course. The first 15km is very good pavement that is pretty smooth, with no potholes. This is also mostly a very gradual climb to the highest point in the race. The road then becomes relatively rough for the next 20km or so to the turnaround point and then to the first right turn, the kind of pavement that you will struggle to walk on with bare feet if you are a softy. None the less it is in good condition with no potholes. Once you have turned right, left and right again the road starts to get slightly worse, with a good few bumps, but I would not say it is the kind you would typically get snake bites on. None-the-less, sticking to the centre od the road should avoid any problems. The road then improves, but back to a rough surface for the last 20km. We raced for years on those roads and I can only remember 2-3 flats during racing, so no it is not that bad. I would not suggest going as far as riding gatorskins. They are slow tyres in any case. Seems if you have raced in Kona you are concerned about time, therefore defintely ride nice fast race tubbies and I would suggest you pump them to about 8.5-9 bar. Not harder cause the rough surface will put unneeded stress on your body. I think the time saved on riding a nice fast tyre will far outway the possible (but unlikely) time lost on a puncture repair. I would not waste time with slime. Cause any glass out on the course will be inside the yellow line and no amount of slime will help glass. There are a few hard bumpy parts that may however launch a bottle from a rear seat mounted hydration system so I would suggest you purchase nice tight bottle cages with bottles to suit a tight fit. There is however plenty of water along the course. Bit hint: Ride on the yellow painted line - the paint fills in most of the cavities and makes for a slightly faster ride. Old TT trick of mine. Go check out google maps and go to street view and fly through course. If IM doesn;t provide map I will be glad to let you know street names. I will try and mark up a map by hand and maybe you can go check the course out before. Hope this helps?

I lived in PE my whole life and would love to give you any information you need. I am currently living in Cape Town, but can tell you much of what you want to know, specifically about the course, condition, etc. I come from a Tri background. I spent last season in the USA and was very welcomed there by the locals who helped me out greatly in getting hooked up with a contract so I would love to be able to give something back. Let me know!

Front or rear? It was probably your wheel that was clamped in scew like I suggested. But would be an interesting test to put the old tyre back and see if it really was the tyre.

Soy protein from the health isle at Pick n Pay, frozen yoghurt, pudding spoon of peanut butter, cashew nuts, pudding spoon or two of choc nesquick. Will do the same trick as the expensive shakes and you can be sure there are no "hidden banned" substances in it as some of the products on our shelves do.

Have you ever actually ridden a bike? Side winds make your front wheel turn and then the wheel comes back on its own. If it happens at the right frequency it feels like a spped wobble. And please don't tell me you have never felt the difference between a twitchy bike (short wheel base) and a slow handling bike (longer wheel base).

Did you change anything on the bike recently? Was there a side wind? Is your wheel seated properly in the dropouts, check both front and rear?

Give CWC a call. I believe they bring Mavic in and would love to show the "official" agents what service is about. Mmmmm reminds me of a story with a bloody good ending a few years back. Haha

Did you whack him? Or why is ther eroad rage in the subject?

Where they all in the same place? Come guys, you can't just whack a tyre based on some bad luck or bad tyre changing habits. Today's tyres are all pretty much the same when it comes to puncture protection. You can puncture a gatorskin just as many times. It comes down to keeping your eyes on the road to avoid glass and other objects, making sure your tyre pressure is correct and following the proper procedure for changing a flat out. Generally if you follow that you must be really really unlucky to flat on any tyre. It is rather difficult to actually press an object through a 3mm thick piece of rubber whether it has kevlar or not.

I found the opposite with the Rubino Pros. They are a long lasting tyre which are meant more for training when compared to the GP4000 and GP4000S which are more racing tyres. I rode two sets of the tyres with no punctures and they lasted ages. If you can get your hands on them or even the Conti GP that would be a well priced tyre. If however you really want some GP4000S tyres I can offer them to you for R900 a set including shipping.

Just to say a big thanks to the guys at CWCycles for the breath of fresh air they have brought to the South African cycling market. Besides the great pricing, there service and internal systems are 1st world. Bought a pair of Rudy's online on Saturday mid day. Before i knew it on Monday they had already delivered them to my place of work. A lot gong on behind the scenes to make that all happen. Well done guys and thanks again for what you have brought to your customers in SA!

BUMP

But just think of the consequences of putting all those Chinese children out of work.

Lets get more interesting info here instead of trying to argue the point.

Hey mate, how many springbok jerseys do you own?

Make sure you drink loads of water cause your kidneys are going to be very busy processing all the end products.

EBAY!!!!!!

As a sideline comment, I managed to get hold of a genuine team issued speedsuit from one of the UCI Pro Tour riders. I can fully understand why someone would want to pay for the real item even be it at R2000 (I got mine for R500 so don't shoot me), it is amazing quality like no other you will find in any of our shops unless you are buying castelli or assos. So to all the guys buying the real stuff and supporting the Pro teams by putting back money to increase there budgets and help them keep on the Pro scene, well done! I fully support wearing supporters kit for this very reason. Everyone against wearing supporters kit must look in the mirror next time you don your springbok jersey on a friday or to a match. Don't be a hippocrit!

I disagree, although not 100% moral, legally you can only stop people from manufacturing, distributing, selling fake products in SA if those products are officially registered as a trademark, etc under South African law. Otherwise you have no leg to stand on. Similar with patenting, unless you register patents in each country you want to protect your IP in you cannot claim priority rights. I doubt many of the official kit suppliers have done that in SA. P.S. I do not support illegal activity such a piracy and the selling of pirated goods, but the buzz word being illegal. I also do not think it is 100% moral to sell fake kit.

Then there is the question: Does the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) have trademark, IP, etc on his product and if he does, does he specifically have it in South Africa. If not, it is not illegal to make, sell, distribute the products in South Africa. For it to be illegal he needs to have filed IP, trademark applications sucessfully in SA. And then he needs to ask himself the question, is the few rand he is getting/losing for the 100 or so guys who will buy this kit in SA worth the R300--R5000 / hour that he will pay a patent attorney to procecute? I think not, in actual fact that is probably the exact reason that Chinese goods will keep on the market and in all fairness, if it is not "illegal" in SA and China then there they are not doing anything wrong. Doesn't mean it is ethical though, but poor ethics are not going to win a case in court.