The_Break

If you are serious, get yourself a coach or two to take a look at what you are doing currently and have been doing the past few years. If they see potential to make major changes to help then consider paying for coaching. Asking around here will only leave you with more information and confusion which could hurt your cycing short term. Possibly long term. You need to make a structured, well informed plan of how to increase your power. Such a plan covers a time span of at least a year if you want to make a big difference to your cycling.

Polish Personal Trainer Zuzana

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Order them on the net if you can? Shoe factories use generic moulds that float around there factory in order to shape the shoe. This means that if you fit a Shimano say the M075 and it is a 44, you can order any other Shimano in 44 and it will fit. This is how I buy my shoes when I cannot find what I want at the LBS. Fit there and order online. Also a lot cheaper!

I do not think it is dodgy at all. I do this more often than not when in solo breaks or at the front of a small break. Obviously it cannot be on a slippery wet section of untapped bar, but otherwise it is fine. The trick to keeping your handlebars steady when you only have one hand on the bar is to control your stomach muscle correctly. You will know you are able to do this when you can brake slightly with only one hand on the bars. Practice this with one hand slightly loosened but around the bar and gently squeeze the brakes. You will see what I mean by stomach muscle control when you do this. The advice about taking youur weight slowly off the bars is all part of this. You dont want weight on one hand that will push the bars skew and taking up the wieght is done with your stomach and back. Oh, and the main reason you would want to do this is purely for aerodynamic reasons. It makes a big difference to your speed. Similar to putting aero bars on.

Surely you go into the drops on steep decents for safety?

Or you can spend R15000 on a nice 2 week holiday to Mozambique and pick up a top of the line, Pro-Tour ready bike for R5000 from one of the locals. Disclaimer: Please note that the bike will probably be stolen.

BUMP

Does anyone know the import duties on cellphones and electronic equipment?

mine loads faster now. But maybe thats because I am in the USA. Fast here!

Thanks to everyone who has been sending orders through. So far the response is good. Just an update on shipping times in general. Most items take a maximum of 5 days to reach me. Those are item coming from other side US (California, Washington State). So with the 6-8 days USPS is giving me shipping is expected to take 3 weeks in general. You can request faster shipping, but please state the requested shipping time on your request for quotation. Happy shopping!The_Break2010-05-12 10:27:07

There is more info on how this will work on page 1. Have a read and if you need anything let me know. I could imagine al arge pile of parcels stacked up around my post box with just the little red triangle sticking out and my pitbull (wish i had one) sitting next to it.The_Break2010-05-12 10:26:24

I plan to ship using a tracking code and insurance so if it does never arrive we at least have recourse. But yeah, I have also never had problems with USPS. It is about 15% of the shipping cost of any other courier I can find here. I think the big companies like CRC ship so mcuh they get hugely discounted rates.

Doug has very clearly explained how it would work on page 2 of this thread. The answers to your questions are there. I looked on Jenson and the $61 brakes I believe you are referring to are mechanical (cable actuated)' date=' not hydraulic brakes, if that makes any difference to you. I have a set of almost new (were on a barely ridden wife's bike) set of Shimano Deore hydraulic brakes I will sell if you are interested. They are just like these - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=38418. Let me know if you are interested. Sorry for the hijack, Doug[/quote'] No problem. So far the response is overwhelming so I have lots to do already. Good luck on the sale.

Good morning!!! Time for me to go to bed. Happy shopping BUMP.

...The_Break2010-05-12 10:22:20

... The_Break2010-05-12 10:21:51

Must tell you this one. So I sell my Opel Astra 2001 1.6 16V CS with book value of R49000. Come to US and after a bit of a struggle to get insurance and organize to be able to buy and register get a 2001 Volvo S60 fully loaded for less than the book value of my Astra. You won't believe how cheap things are here. If cars were not left hand drive I woudl ship those back to SA.

i had to laugh at that one though!

No specific websites. If you have an item and you want to see if I can get it cheaper for you send me your request. Bike stuff, electronic stuff, games, toys, cameras, whatever, just give me a shout. I will also look at websites, but I think it would be easier for you just to order from them if you find. I offer the service mainly for the items you cannot find or for sites that do not ship to SA. Or that ship but for some rediculous Fedex or UPS fee.

It is all a conspiracy. It is the way to fire a cyclist who makes the team look too good.

Hi Everyone I am in the USA for 6 months. If there is anything anyone would like from here I will be able to order it and send it to you. Prices are crazy cheap on lots of good here so PM what you would want anything and I will get you a price. I will then ship it to you within 2-3 weeks. You pay they import duties and taxes though. I will included shipping in the price. This is how it works. You tell me what you want, I find it and give you a quote price. The price will not be a price you see on a website. You can use this as a reference though. I will search many resources. It may be you find an item cheaper somewhere else. If you like my price you order and deposit my quoted price into my SA bank account and when the money clears I ship the item from here using US Postal services to you. You pay any duties, etc that are due in SA. You will be responsible for working out what these are. If you want speed services ask me and I can get you a price on that too, but I have seen they are really pricy to SA. I am obviously making a profit so please dont ask me if you can use me as a shipping address for sites such as E-bay, etc. I will not deal with any such sites or receive any items at my address for you. We do this all above board and we do not try and cheat taxes, etc by pretening these are presents or anything as such. We go by the book. I also do not want to piss any of the local importers off even though we run a free trade system in South Africa. If you can get it cheaper by ordering directly please do. I am targeting items that do not ship to SA (however I also understand that we get ripped off so PM me any requests you have). I will also send you the receipt (IF I am able to get seperate ones for mutiple item orders) so that you have access to a warranty and where applicable I will have the guys make the receipt out in your name. The price on the receipt I get will obviously be lower than what you paid due to shipping, forex, my profit and anything else that may come up. If you like the price I quote you and order dont complain afterward. My mark up will not be a lot. That is business. You are paying for a service. Happy searching! DougThe_Break2010-05-12 10:20:36

Take a gun with you and put a bullet into their heads next time!!!!!!!!!

Bike size is where it all starts. Can give you a few reasons why going too big is bad for your cycling: Firstly, if you set up too large you will be stretched out and may end up with many different types of injuries including knee, lower back. Secondly, if you try and overcome this by fitting a shorter stem you bike may handle poorly. Turst me on this one. Not going to explain it here as some people just dont/wont understand or agree. Thirdly if you try and lower the seat you may never get a good racing aero position as your handle bar cannot be lowered as much as your seat can. Fourthly, it will just look stupid to be on an oversized bike. Also, I can imagine it will be difficult to resell an XL as the market is limited in that size. Rather pay the extra cash and get the new bike which will fit correctly and you can be sure it is in tip tip warranty condition.

I would definitely suggest 2nd hand as buying a new entry-just over entry level bike is not going to get you as competitive as a new entry level one. Depending on where you are have a look at 2nd hand bike shops and in the classifieds. As a start, look for at least 105 or Ultegra as the cheaper Sora and Tiagra are not great and don't last as long. There is nothing wrong with an aluminium frame, carbon is just talked about a lot as nearly all the top end bikes are made of carbon due to the material allowing for very, very light builds. You get a number of alu bikes that are actually better than many carbon bikes of "poorer" carbon brands. Take the Cervelo Soloist Team for instance. Check web for info. Kicks many, many carbon bikes asses. Take a mate with you who knows abut bikes and get him to check it out. The most important thing is to make sure the bike you buy is the correct size, dont compromise on size just because it is a good deal. Too big or small a bike, even be it one size up or down will not only give you poorer performance but could also result in other problems such as injuries and poor handling depending on what you do to make it fit you. Stick to the correct size for you body.