Swift01

Just be careful and I have heard this from quite a few people and seen 2 dented rims. The AC rims are very soft. Rather mate the AC hubs with the ZTR Alpine or Crest or even the podium's. just my 2c worth

Always best to save weight on the rim than the centre of the wheel for better acceleration, but hey if they are shimano xt or xtr hubs I would keep the rim and get some hope pro 2's so you won't spent your life always servicing the shimano hub. Man those things can leak. May be one day they will come with sealed bearings and decent seals :-)

Speaking of broken chains. It is becoming very common practice for people to ride long races or stage races with no tools or idea how to fix a broken chain. On the sani my dad stopped to ask a guy if he had a chain link as the guy had broken his chain. Naturally he said no. So my dad gave him one, to whch the reply was I don't have tools or know what to do. Not that it really matters too much but it cost us 15 min in time which would have placed us well in the B batch and not just in the C batch. I would have done the same as my dad, stopped and helped the guy no matter what, and have done so on many occasions, I just can't believe how un prepared people go into races. I have taught my GF how to do chains, punctures etc on many occasions. Granted she never has to actually do it (well maintained bike by me ha ha) so she does forget. At least she carries all the tools, although this didn't help last year where she had all the tools but had forgotten. 5 guys later (and an hour) someone finally stopped who knew what to do. Took him 5 min. Just a thought..........5c worth

If I am not mistaken you can go in and edit the details yourself by logging in. I remember changing the details myself then emailing. Is there a cut off time for substitutions? I have not checked.

I am with cyclesure since about 2003 and had quite a few claims over the years from theft to accidents. Everytime I have given them a details description etc and they have paid out quickly. (even a medical bill once for stitches) When I have had an accident I have just taken the bike into the shop and let them handle the case. Recently I have broken 2 carbon cranks and they have paid both out. All of this was before the latest change of under writing companies. As for the theft, I did email them when they changed their policy about theft. They were saying there was a lot of claims that had been lodged where people's bike were stolen while their garage doors were open etc. I confirmed with them that i didn't need an alarm system in my garage or house as long as there was forced entry to the garage. It also does not need to be locked up in the garage as long as their is visible forced entry to the garage. Saying all that I am now thinking of creating a way to lock the bikes in the garage. The questions comes when there is at least 4 bikes in my garage at any given time that need to stand some where and now may need to be locked up.......... As far as the evaluation of the bike goes, my main racing bike was stock standard. Any upgrades I have done to it have not actually changed the value, they have been replaced as they wear out, so once a year I get a quoted from the dealer. They other 2 bikes that are insured I just dropped them off at a bike shop and had them valued as they were non standard bikes. Each component was written down. If I make any changes I inform the insurance company with a photograph of the bike and the part, and state if the value of the bike has changed or not. They seem happy with that I and always ask for confirmation. I do the same with my household good. I took photo's of everything, made a powerpoint and sent it to them. A friend had a problem where she could not produce prrof of purchase and she had bough the items many years before. She gave them photo's of proof and they were happy......

I used the web site for substitution and it worked perfectly. I also used the site to add the shuttle service last week and it worked perfectly. As for seeding, I would imagine it's like always you ride the first day and get seeded the 2nd day. I also think they take last years results for the first day which means as I have made a substitution this year Iwill be starting at the back with my dad.... Watch out for the flying Scotsmen.....I hope he keeps up cause I am not going to save him any beers at the end if he lags behind ha ha :-)

Ha Ha seems she had eaten that one, but the Hammer juice that was still left in the bladder (Naughty girl didn't finish her juice) was smelling pretty nice when I opened it.

Hi, Well don't know if it was hubber, a cyclist or someone from the garage, but we went back to the garage on Sunday morning and the camelbak had been handed into the shop. Nothing had been touched, still had the glasses and everything. Nice to know there is still honest people out there Thanx :-)

Hi, The GF left her Blue CamelBak on the ground at Breedts Nek Garage on Sat 9th April. If by some chance someone found it could you contact me. There couls even be 1 peanut butter and jam sandwich still nin the top pouch if your hungry Thanx Gordon

Just be careful with Sludge. Some of them have amonia and ask Mackie how well it works with Mavic rims. Ate a hole around the valve. I even think the yellow bottle says something on it about amonia..... Must say I laughed when I read the story. My brother in law always wants to pump the tire up to max. The one day he was holding the wheel while I was pumping the tire up, and he kept telling me I should carry on, until the tire burst off the rim right by his face. Lucky it missed me but he was covers all over his face/hair chest.... I couldn't stop laughing but I don't think he heard me as his ears were ringing so bad from the bang......

Awesome, I am sure I will be around one day and I can see how it works. I'll even bring some old spokes for you to munch up

Can't really help, but I do have a set of 2003 Ritchey OCR wheels on my training bike and I have just serviced the Freewheel for the 2nd time in their life. It still has the original sealed bearings in as well and they are spinning nicely. So if that has anything to go by about Ritchey wheels, they should last.

It's the XT wheels that come as one package. Something like a model M775 hubs. Awesome wheels just bad seals. Suppose I am just used to having sealed bearings that don't require too much maintenance.

While your at it can I send my GF's hubs around.... Damn XT hubs the worst ever for water. They should put a warning label on them when you buy their wheels. Please service once a month or every time you go through lots of water (which these days is often). One day they will put decent seals in. As you can tell I have to clean those hubs out tonight. Been 3 weeks and 2 rides in the mud/water :-(

You should be leading the pack not sitting in the middle of it Not sure it should have been as loud as it was before but going to complete silence does indicate way too much greese. There should at least be some sound.

Personally I prefer the stealth mode when riding but my Hope pro 2 hub with normal amount of greese let's the whole world know I have pushed my bike out the garage to go for a ride. As far as I know it should not damage anything in the hub and over time it will "dry up" and become your normal noise heard from 100m away. As for a safety aspect they would only hear your hub if you were free wheeling, if you were pedaling (like you should be to over take) they won't hear your hub. :-)

I heard Mackie uses that greese for all sorts of lubing :-D

I see jcmeyer15 has not replied in a long time. Wonder if the problem has been solved after all the advice.

Hi, I have used both the stans and the Joes. I found after 3 months my stans was like water, and didn't work when I actually needed it. Previously I have been using Joes and never once had a problem. Seems the rear wheel I put stans in I had to change 2 weeks ago after it would not seal a punture. Now the front wheel has started going flat if left over night yet there does not seem to be any wet marks where it is leaking. I suspect the Stans has gone to water and no longer works. I will be using Joes again. With Joes I was leaving the tires for 6 months plus and no problems. Just my observations......

Sounds like things are getting complicated. For sure Tubeless is the way to go. Even if the conversion almost weighs the same, you will save loads of time in races where people get lots of punctures. I rode through a patch of thorns and just pulled them out. Didn't need to bomb the tire. The GF went through the same patch (well didn't quite make it) she had 13 punctures. What a pain those devil throns can be..... There is loads of ways to convert. The lightest is rim tape like the one No Tubes uses on their rims or the effettocaffe tubeless tape. these are the lightest options. remember you will still have to buy the valve... Example of this is: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=49694 Another type of tubeless kit is one similar to the DT Swiss one (which can be used on various other makes of rims). This one has a double sided tape and then you put the rubber rim strip on. Also very light solution. Example of this is: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=10515 I would not recommend using the Stans or no tubes Rubber strips that look like an old tube. Firstly they are heavy and also if you don't get it correctly sitting on the rim you end up with some of the "tube" showing between the rim and the tire. Example of this is: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=38842 Tires are a whole different ball game. Very much a personal thing what type of tread you like, and what type of riding you intend to use. I know the Conti Mountain kings work well in KZN area but are not as great in the loose gravel stuff up in JHB. Hope this helps. If not phone a friend :-) I know Mackie on the hub loves fiddling with bikes as much as he likes drinking beer. He is also known to go to Holla a few times so I am sure you can ask him some advice.

Only one complaint, who brings you back on single track on the same route the other longer distance is trying to ride out on???? Not their brightest moment. Awesome fun (ok some moments during the event I was questioning it) I may just try another one.

No big stuff like u guys but did the xterra. (the full guys I did the lite) my first tri bash, seems I survived, interesting looked like I was the only person with a case of beers in the cooler box??? Nothing like a cold few after....... 1:56 not too bad

Did the lite first atempt who swam who did doggy paddle ha ha

Get a Merida with SRAM Cables or bent derailer could be the first thing to look at. One other thing could be the Freewheel slipping. I had a bike where obnly under certain situations woulf the freewheel start to slip (normally under heavy load but not all the time). The difference with that is you don't hear the gears slipping you just sudden loose power like a snapped chain... My bet is the cable or bent hanger. Another thing to check is yor chain length. If you made it too long then there is not enough tension on the chain and it can slip.

Cyclist Workshop Sundowner JHB....... Can't beat Joshua for service Johan Bornman of Yellow Saddle