The_Break

These pics from Germany? I recognize the Red Bull frame.

Life insurance or bike insurance? Life, medical, bike, permanent disability and if you live you may even be able to get sued by the driver for damaging his car being on the freeway. Same if you get a head injury whilst not wearing a helmet. No payout. But most guys who do these kind of things don't have the brains to think that far so no need for a helmet or life insurance.

For 10k you can get a pretty decent 2nd hand bike if you are a bit patient and search around. Go to all the bike shops that sell 2nd hand abd do some negotiating. Maybe take a friend with who knows his stuff. Else new, I know there are a lot of guys here on the HUB that will have a lot to offer. From a shop I would think the best value for money at the moment will be a Raleigh. Bear in mind that an entry level helmet and shoes is going to cost about 1k. I would suggest these kind of items you try and buy at places like Chris Wiilemse, Cajees or Solomons as that will save you a whack. You can try on at your LBS and order online if you really have to. Just don't let them know that's what your doing. Chain reaction cycles is the cheapest place if you want to import that I know off. Otherwise I can offer you a Raleigh RC9000 with campagnola record, chorus, centuar mix with nucleon wheel. 6-7 years old, but I haven't ridden it since 2006 as I bought my Cervelo then. It is currently in PE and have been fully serviced. R8500 and it is yours so that you can still get your shoes and helmet. I wanted R9500 up till now. It has a new Columbus Fork on it, saddle is new and the hubs have just been serviced with new bearings. The handle bar is a ITM wingshaped bar and the seat post is full carbon aero. Shifters are Record. It needs a chain of which it can be record/chorus or veloce 10spd. Toilet roll and holder not included. Otherwise good luck on saving up and give me a shout if you are interested.

This is what a good mealplan did for me. Helped wonders with climbing, but not for decending.

Its on nearly all food packaging. Fruit and other things you can find on the web' date=' just search for "caloric value of food groups". I would seriously recommend the R600-800 buck visit to a nutritionist who has a good track record with athletes (preferably professional athletes) as they will give you a diet that is actually suited to sports people. Most nutritionisits outside of the sporting arena have very little "begrip" as to just how much an athlete on a better than average level needs to eat. They just look at your weight, apply a sliding scale and print out a generic diet. My last one gave me the exact same meal plan she gave to my mother who is unfortunately not well as she has sever arthritis. I ate as much as she did and would have lost 3kg per week on her diet. Let's just say I received my money back within one day of getting my diet even after I had given her my powertap kCal values for the past 3 months. I didn't even eat enough to do my rides.[/quote'] do you know of a good nutritionist in Stellenbosch area. Marilette Malherbe, 082 954 3024. She is brilliant and works with a number of Pros from all different sports. She rides herself. Tell her Doug said to give her a call and she will sort you out with a great cycling program. She really makes it specific to you. It is not generic at all.

Its on nearly all food packaging. Fruit and other things you can find on the web, just search for "caloric value of food groups". I would seriously recommend the R600-800 buck visit to a nutritionist who has a good track record with athletes (preferably professional athletes) as they will give you a diet that is actually suited to sports people. Most nutritionisits outside of the sporting arena have very little "begrip" as to just how much an athlete on a better than average level needs to eat. They just look at your weight, apply a sliding scale and print out a generic diet. My last one gave me the exact same meal plan she gave to my mother who is unfortunately not well as she has sever arthritis. I ate as much as she did and would have lost 3kg per week on her diet. Let's just say I received my money back within one day of getting my diet even after I had given her my powertap kCal values for the past 3 months. I didn't even eat enough to do my rides.

ok cool. Just out of interest what is you length and weight. Geez!!! How much coffee do you drink????

I am 71kg and consume 3100kCal per day when I am riding 3-4 hours a day including 3 hard sessions and a race, with a weight loss of about 500g per week so your figures don't look abnormal.

What is the speed limit on that particular section? 120km/h. If so, then it is definitely a freeway. Lower may still be up for debate.

complete and utter Bullsh*t I tend to agree just in a more friendly manner. Your wheel take up a lot of the "stomping"/side to side flex, however when you constrain the frame at the rear axle, all of your flex is now in the frame. Creek, creek, creek. And if you get it wrong and something happens with crabon then you will wangt to eat rice crispies, snap, crackle pop!!!!

An ex colleauge of mine had a nice saying, he said: An accident is when a meteorite comes from out of space and hits your house, or when a rock falls of a mouuntain onto a car. When someone hits a cyclist or another car or goes of the road it is not an accident it is a crash brought on by some kind of negligence such as poor driving, going faster than the speed limit, not obeying the rules, not mantaining your car correctly, not paying attention. Rather funny because he used to get so angry when the guys in the workshop would say something was damaged and it was just an accident. He told them outright they were negligent!

Reason I only ride aluminium on indoor trainers is that aluminium has a uniform (in all directions) strength/stiffness whilst carbon fibre is normally designed to have strength/stiffness in certain direction depending on the lay-up. For me that means if it goes wrong on the trainer you may end up damaging the carbon. With an alu bike I am not too concerned about this. However, aluminium is not very good when it comes to fatigue stress, that means if you ride on an indoor trainer do not flex the bike from side to side as you would when climbing a steep hill. Rather keep it fluid and ride seated at high power. Personally I use a set of rollers with resistance and can do sessions at 400W comfortably. I have even taken then over 500W seated to see what happens. It is around 500W that things start to get a bit rocky as you are moving at about 60-70km relative to the rollers and that is an awefully narrow "band of road" you are try to stay on.

No. Few weeks you say? Maybe wait a few more before you make any conclusions, but hopefully the breakages stopped because you had a good wheel builder look at your wheels.

Oh boy, can't wait till I live in the 1st world where we don't have to put up with any of the small minded people in this country. They will only wake up when it is too late for them. I would kind of like it to see some bikers take out some of the idiots who make us ALL look bad. Pull them over and beat them with a few chains. I wonder if cyclesure will cover a fight???

You are so right here, it is our pride that makes us go shouting our mouth off. I have a huge problem with this as I am a very verbal person and have come across the wrong people a few times. Worst was a guy who actually lived in our neighbourhood. Now one would think upper class people would be pretty decent however this day I realized something profound. Anyway, story goes, I came to a stop street and stopped, this guy comes from behind me a simply keeps going, right past me. Now considering that we had the stop street put up about 12 years when one of our friends was run over and killed some meters away, I got pissed off and so hooted at the guy. He slammed brakes, reversed and we had a very verbal discussion. In any case, I cooled off and thought next time I saw him I would just chat to the guy and say no hard feelings, but please man, you have to realize why the stop is there and that there are kids and dogs in the neighbourhood. Next day I am outside under my car changing my fuel filter, this guy drives past, stops, reverses and threatens to kill me. And you could see in the guys face he seemed serious. Luckily I decided to just go back under my car and keep working which really pissed him off, but he wheel spun away. Doing some asking around, I later found out that this guy had actually killed someone before. He used to be a bouncer and shot someone at one of the local pubs. But it was not related to his job and the no knows why he did not go to jail because the circumstances where a bit shacky. Anyways, it just goes to show, that one day you may just come across the wrong person, at the wrong time and unlike many of us, they are willing to go much further than we are to make sure they keep their pride and prove their point.

I think we need to redefine wheelsucker. A wheelsucker is a person that rides the entire race at the back or in the pack and never makes an attempt to work or break away. They simply sit and wait for the sprint. A non-wheel sucker is someone who plays some sort of a role during a race that serves the goal of reducing the size of the bunch or improving the overall speed and time. So guys who pace along the flats, climbers who try and break away (because for sure the flats will come where they will have to work very hard to stay away will come) are not wheel suckers. The only time I see a sprinter as a non-wheel sucker, is when he is part of a team that is required by their sponsor to win for either a title or money. Otherwise in the lower ranks, a guy who sits entire race and then sprints is no more than a wheelsitter. Without a bunch a sprinter would be nothing. Without a sprinter, a bunch would still be a bunch with an exciting finish.

Except they are in Italy and US.

Will you expect your team to be based in Boksburg or will you have riders from around the country?

I have heard from the guys anything from a couple of grand up to R35000 for the top guys in the country who regularly deliver the goods. If you are starting out you will probably get a few k, literally 3-5, but that is about food, rent and medical aid. If you are serious about riding pro, best bet is to head to Europe or the US and give it a shot there. But, then you need to hit the ground running and get stuck in. Not easy, I raced in Germany for 3 months and it is hard. Culturaly and socially. Belgium is probably the best place to start out as there are plenty of guys from US, Aus, NZ and other English speaking countries. But be warned, you need to learn how to rides crits, take corners like very few South Africans know how and enjoy the feeling of cobble stones. US will be better if you are a roadie and want longer races. Not that many in Europe in the entry level pro teams and feeder groups.

Hi Agree with pedals. Take pedals off, clean and grease them. Then tighten them using an allen key, but do not use force simply apply between your thumb and first 2 fingers. It is enough. Not sure if you have removed pedals before, but they have different threads. Easiest to remember is if you put crank with pedal you are loosening with pedal at 60'clock, then you put an allen key in so that it points toward the rear of your bike. Then put you foot on it and press down till it releaes. This work for both sides. It could also be that the person who fitted your chain put the pin in on the incorrect side if you are using Shimano. Check the broken/dark pin and see if it protrudes to the bike side or to the outside. If it is on the outside check if it is not touching the front derailler as it passes. Also check all the other links if something is not possibly loose or broken as this will also produce the sound. Please note: Chain pin and link problems only make a souund about every 2-2.5 turns of the pedal stroke, crank/pedals problems will do it every turn. Then there is also the slight chance that your crank is hitting the front derailler cable every time you pedal through. May just be slightly when you stand due to just enough flex. Then there is always the possibility it couldl be your cleats. Check boltls are tightened to correct torque and that they are clean of dust and tiny stones if you have plastic ones. Anyway, just the major causes here for interest to everyone for future.

well, it seems we agree on more than most then. Put it down to language and term usage. Since I bought my new bikes I have never had it again. Decend like I bomb luckily.

I hate to be a pedant on this one' date=' but the word is BRAKING or BRAKE. Nothing is breaking until he falls. Are you German? This is true, but for a completely different reason. Brake callipers that arent' centred pulls wheels to one side as you point out, but this is bad for the spokes in that they tend to go loose from this movement. The wheel bends at the brakes only and the bottom tracks in its original position. It is tempting to assume that the rim shooting back to its non-bending position induces a sort of wave in the wheel that then transfers to the frame, but the fact that shimmy starts without braking too, makes this theory unlikely. Here I agree with you. It is an experience that can put you off riding a bike. The good news is that you can practice to instinctively counter the onset of shimmy. You should routinely induce shimmy so that you can get used to it. I agree on speed wobble induction, it is a great way to learn and can be done at lower speeds.