Swift01

Awesome race going onto my 3rd year. This time SS bike. Going to test some gearing options out next weekend. Nothing like a new challenge. Lots of ups lots of downs and very little flats :-)

Also using moducare plus. Told the GF it is time for her to change... But will she listen

Mate at work the other day they asked him if they can post his CC to him which they did. He receives it only to find out it is the new absa one with the chip, so he still had to go to a bank to get a pin number....... If only they had explained he could have made one trip just to the bank to collect and get a pin. #sigh I checked FNB's site I can get a Gold Cheque account WITH an Ipad if i wanted and I would still be saving on fee's I pay to Absa.... time for a change me thinks....

Funny this thread started. I just emailed them this morning detailing my banking fees and asked them to give a great explanation why I should not move to FNB for a 1/3 of the price. So far just an automated reply. Already contacted steve and they did reply with a few things, but I have to say when I emailed them again with a few more questions to be clarified suddenly I don't get a response. May be they saw th Scotamsn in me. They want to give me platinum but when i ready the benefits compared to the gold I could not see the R30 a month saving. No point me having Special Lounge treatment at the airport while the GF sits in the cattle tracks. No fun having a beer on your own.....

had similar issues 4 times in 7 months then had a beriglobin injection. Since then the GF has had twice nearly everyone in the office around me has been off work, so far touch wood been 5 months and still going strong no flu

I think the first thing to do if get them to check on stock levels. The 2012 ranges are coming to an end and the 2013 are not all here. I was in solomons and there is no XL momsen Alu bikes left as I over heard him phoning the supplier. I went through the same excercise when my dad was buying a bike. Get all excited do the research only to find out there was no small frames left..

But did the Giant Anthem have big fat tires making it almost a 27.5 the plot thickens

I have no idea but I have had to change my insurance so it now says what bike i have and then says replacement as per importers is the team carbon 29er. Guess i won't be buying another merida again. Trouble is if you accpet a warrenty claim and they give you a 29er then you would have to pay for the wheels and fork to be changed.......... This was just for the Hardtail frames. I would imagine they will still supply the merida duel sus in 26 inch although I am not sure I would want a 99 frame to replace my 96 frame

It is all down to the middle man. I know for a fact I can't replace my 26inch merida carbon hard tail in 2013 range as they said not bringing them into the country. I had to get an insurance quote for my yearly update and that is what the merida agents emailed back, only 29er carbon hardtails bikes. Seems only in SA we are starting to have this problem. I found out that the tires my GF has on they will no longer be bringing the 26inch ones into the country only 29er from now on and they have no 26inch stock left. Damn these middle men they are the ones controlling what size of wheel we use. So for R90 shipping fee I turned to CRC and got the tires I required.............

you just have to email the race office and ask. They will put you on a list or change you there and then. The ones I know that are up for grabs were 2 trail one race (I moved to trail last year to be with my mates that were doing it for the first time).

I have tried using bigger chain rings and a road bike cassette. In the end when i got back onto the racing bike I found I could not get into the groove because the ratio's are different to you can't get into a comfortzone. I also once took off the granny gear so I had a 2x9 (way ahead of the times) I found that better for training than the bigger chainrings. Saying that I just got simpler. Singlespeed............ who needs gears

Well I know there is at least 3 entries spare for those guys on the waiting list to grab..... Time to try other races after 5 sani's

Just a benefit of costs. Good to train with stronger heavier wheels and save those super light not so straong wheels for racing. Just make sure you have the same tires on both as that can really change the feel of the bike.

Just be carefull not to go too hard in the first month and knock the system and catc flu. done that a few times

I emailed Discovery about this issue and their reply was no you can't do it. You have to upload directly from the watch and all manual entries are not accepted. Asked if they will ever support Garmin and I was told to get a polar. I was going to tell them to get with the times, but kept my mouth shut.

Did the ride (red) for the 2nd time. This time on the SS bike need to change the gearing to be harder as I was doing a lot of high cadence. Really enjoy the route (little rough for a hardtail but I am not going to moan). Still coughing dust though... I see there is more route markers from the first time I rode which is great. My only complaint (not that I have fallen there but the GF almost went off the wrong side the first time we did it) is on the Red route after twisty single track in the trees then you do the longish hill climb along the fence then down and branch off right onto the Red route. Ove a little sort of dam wall down the drop off then you go into an eroded gully. In there is a Green bridge/drop off. It comes as a bit of a supprise and if your going a bit too fast and on the right hand side you will miss the green bridge/drop off. May be a marker there would help. The GF wants to ride it but you tend to forget (only ridden twice) what comes up and that drop off is quite a supprise.. Just think it would help the people that are sitting on the fence of their technical abilities a bit.

I suspect that is Stans. The rubber ball sealant (creates rubber balls after a while). I have been using Joes for a long time and seems to last at least 6 months and has no rubber balls. Tried Sludge until my mates Mavic rim got chewed up round the valve by it, tried Stans and back to Joes again. One thing I do if I have to use a bomb when putting a new tire on is Bomb it and straight away let the air out then pump with a foot pump. Otherwaise go to the garage to pump up the first time if the foot pump does nt work. Seems to be working for me.

Every year cyclesure tightens their policies on theft due to dishonest people and the crime in this country, thats why like this last time I updated the policy, locked the bike on the car and sent photo's of the locks and the cable to cyclesure to make sure they were happy with my solution. Sometimes it is hard to lock your bike on the back of a bakkie especially if the hooks in the back can't fit the required size of cable. Thay approved my method.

I have chatted on email to cyclesure on several accasions about theft of bikes etc. I even asked about what happens if one has to go to the toilet like when your waiting in the start chute and your bike is taken while you are at the toilet. Their answer is they won't pay out. I also asked what happens if I was at say Van Gaalens having a coffee after riding and my bike is in the bike racks about 10m away and someone takes it. They said they won't pay out. Basically you have to have it chained at all times is what I get from them. Plus not any old chain you must use their specified chains/locks/cables. Hope you come right. @ Eugene A mate did the same with his one wheel. He only noticed the next day there was not 2 wheels next to his bike in the garage. Got the security guard to search around and he found it 2 houses down. It was against his car and when he drove it into the garage it just rolled down the driveway :-)

Sounds interesting. I assume one needs lights for riding that time of the night?

Ha Ha that woman in the blue shirt behind him near the end looks like she is ready to just give him a klap....

@Wendell how many beer stops are there and how much of a short cut is it? Hills we can use one of the speeds an SS offers. standing or walking so no problem there

@Stretched@Birth I have been known never to leave such places

Apart from what gears (which seems to be sorted) what is everyone wearing, and is there anyone planning to NOT take the short cut and beer stop.....I can see myself loosing a lot of time hanging around that beer stop....

WOW 3 gears I thought there was just Sit and Stand although I had to engage the 3rd option on Sat up the concrete strips due to the chain slipping on the rear sprocket (before i shortened the chain). I still beat all my mates except for 1 and I walked from nearly the bottom..... May be they need to chain to SS Seems you can get a fair pace waking 5.5km/hr