L'Bie

Friday 13th May is my B-day. Be kind please?

nothing. Nada, bokkerol. It steals too much time and the quality of the stuff going around is rubbish anyway. I will rather read a book or even better play some board games with my family.

Archimedes said he could move the earth had he a long enough lever. Different wheel sizes apply different lever ratios. The pivot is the axle with the one lever making the distance between the pivot and the effective brakepad average. The other lever is the distance between the tire surface where it is in contact with mother earth. Should you use the same rotor sizes on the 26er and the 29er, you will notice the 26er has a ratio closer to 1:1 than the 29er. If you want the same power, you have to get a bigger rotor. That's is assuming all other factors like dirt, air, alignemt etc. is sorted.

My Garmin Edge 500 lasted the entire Trans Baviaans and it had 11% remaining by the time I downloaded the trip. Race Time almost 17 hours. My lights were an Extreme 1200 and I used it on low only. In the total darkness of the TB low beam offered more than enough light to travel as fast as I wanted to and trust me that speeds from the last CP to the finish were FAST. By the end of it all my main light indicator still showed more than 80% reserve (if the color coding of the lights is to be believed). If the other Hubbers believe the Power monkey is the answer, use it for the GPS only. Running your light on low should get you through the night, provided the batteries are in good order.

To the clever Hubbers out there. During the Trans Baviaans, both my thumbs and my big toes started to grow numb and it got worse as we progressed. Its now a little more than a week and I still have the tingling sensation and very sensitive wrists. I am used to three hour plus rides and sensations like these are new to me. Does anyone have a clue to what the possible reason for this sudden symptoms? Thanks

My thumbs, my big toes are still feeling like it was treated by the dentist. The thumbs are getting a little better now but the other attachments..... Very little feeling

On rollers in the lapa But it is the exception. I prefer to actually cycle outdoors.

I have bought my 1st DS and I now realise I have been stubborn at my own disadvantage. What a sweet ride. Still standard, but by next weekend, she will receive a set of X0 brakes, drivetrain and my old Sella saddle

It is after all just a Korean Garmin

Many of us has flown before. Some landings are tougher than others. What makes these landings difficult, is the position of the pilot in relation to his landing gear. He needs to judge his height visually and he needs to keep one eye trained to the elevation so he can make an educated estimate on when it is time to feather the approach, making your live as a passenger as comfortable as possible. Pilots take pride in their jobs and good landings are amongst the items important for them (at least the ones I know). If the pilot has to rely on a barometric pressure sensor calibrated for zero in Durban, how is he going to get usable information on his approach to OR Tambo at a elevated 1685m.

Nasa uses GPS but the US Air-Force manages and controls it. Ask them about the accuracy of their missiles. Barometer comes from planes and pilots reset before take-off and they will adjust as necessary with information from airports in the vicinity. We don't see much of pilot operating anymore, because 9/11 changed all that, but pilots still fly the same way as before and the flight instruments allow for it. it is an acknowledgement if the factors I suggested.

I am ranting quite a bit here, but it is one of my pet topics. Sorry! I still believe his GPS device is not set correctly for the purpose of cycling. I use a simple Edge500 and mine tracks all those very same tracks he rode exactly. The Edge is a cycling specific GPS and I don't need to tell it at what point or at what frequency it needs to plot a waypoint (a route is just a bunch of waypoints strung together) and it may be his ultimate problem. Mine has recorded tracks in the bundus where it was almost impossible to see the footpath on Google earth. The only place where I found my Edge to stray from the truth was underneath overhead high voltage lines.

Of course it can. Triangulation it not only applicable to a flat surface. There are approximately 32 satellites revolving around earth forming part of the GPS network. If your device can see more than three of those satellites, you will have signals coming in from different elevations. See this as round spheres interlocking each other. When you are not in the centre of these interlocking spheres you have triangulation in the X, Y and Z axis. Its all maths and the accuracy of the GPS on the street is also maths. They can do it. They just won't allow it. Ask yourself if it was not possible, how do cruise missiles hit a target several hundred miles beyond direct control. That target does not have to be on sea level. It could be anywhere. The missile needs to know that. With regard to barometer resetting. Its totally immaterial if you go for a ride in clear weather at a certain atmospheric pressure. During your ride, the weather changes for and a storm develops. That is normally associated with a lower barometric pressure. You saw the storm and made it home at a time when the barometric measurement will be lower from what it was at your departure. Using barometric measurement will place you at an altitude higher than when you left. Recal is not going to cater for that.

When I bought my Edge500 a couple of years ago, it advertised its ability to measure elevation using better than aircraft barometric sensors. I often go out for long rides often resulting in barometric changes in the area from where I departed. Elevation at start and at end of exercise at the exact point never agreed. I did some research and wrote a letter to Garmin asking why triangulation is rejected as a means to calculate the elevation. The typical error shouldn't be more than the 10 meters that the devise promise and since the errors I encountered were often much larger than the 10 meters, it seems like the more accurate method. Remember GPS needs only 3 satellites to determine a position, but if you check your device you will find 11 or 12 at any time within range. The more satellites it sees, the more accurate the positioning should be. 12 is plenty. Garmin came back with an answer about the atmosphere, clouds etc. can stuff the triangulation up!? Really! In the most horrible weather my position recorded even shows what side of the road I was using! And if the error is less than the 10 meters accuracy, It would at least still put me above sea level when I am cycling in the mountains of Madagascar. In short, Remember that GPS we know is run by the American Air-force. They allow us to use GPS, but with a forced error so that the evil baddies can not use their own technology against them. And before you start flaming the Americans, the Russians also has a system and they follow exactly the same protocols. In the East there are developments, but they do not have enough satellites up and running yet.

I worked three years in Madagascar and modern cycling spares are scarce. I used the ghetto method throughout because the one thing available aplenty was tubes. Never had punctures and the locals used to stare at me ploughing through scrub and bushes without getting flats. Having said that, there is one thing to consider. Gorilla tape (insulation, vulcanizing, Stans) is much easier to work with. When done right you can re-seat the tire with a hand pump. No need for compressors or other large air pressure goodies. Although the Ghetto method remains the cheapest it is a real bastard to work with. Both methods is better than the old conventional tubes, but tubeless tires do contribute to a worry free ride.

I am a Capy working in Jo'burg at the moment and I practically live out of my car. Focus 29er with the rear seats folded flat is second nature to me, but I admit that I have to take off both wheels. Its a bit of a schlep, but its way more secure than any rack. I also think its acts as an deterrent for thieves would loose too much time assembling for a fast get-away. B.T.W. When you choose to use a bike rack, just check the carrying specifications of the towbar or bootlid. I know a lot has been said on the topic, but I have had a rather nasty experience and the ultimate conclusion was that with leverage a 10Kg bike can easily overcome the load spec of the towbar/bootlid. 3 Bikes just becomes 3 times worse. If you didn't have any nasties yet, count yourself lucky.

One thing to remember. Towbars have a weight restriction and whatever method you use, the lever action of the bike(s) multiply the actual force on the towbar. You mention gravel roads. Think carefully. I had an factory fitted towbar bend so far down that the bottom scraped on the tar when the car went through the bumps road in Namibia. That's when I was told about the actual limitations of the towbars. I don't think this is generally known, but I am certain it differs from model to model and brand to brand. Why don't you try a cheap blanket in the back of your car. Pack the bike on top of that. The bike remains as clean as when you put it in the car, the blanket keeps the interior of the car clean, its easily removable and you have no worries about your car's paint. BTW. If you drive your car on gravel, why fuss over a bit of paint damage when the rest of the car receives a dusty pounding? Just wondering.

I must be on a bad luck streak. Been using Joe's and it works very well with thorns. That is if you don't take them out. But keeping on riding sometimes remove the thorn anyway, so I have ended with flats luckily with a garage closeby. I cycle through the port and this being a heavy industrial area, you'll be amazed the the stuff you collect from the roads. Once a small steel drilling spiral cut a neat circular hole (2mm) that Joe's just refused to seal. I have to top up frequently and I can never ride without a pump and the sad thing is that I am cycling in the city!

In my past I used to cycle on the Namaqualand west coast. The cobras used to lie on the edge where the tar and the sand met until I came past battling against the wind. Normally the pace wasn't much to talk about and the noise of the wind in one's ears is quite deafening after a while. You want to see a sprint against the wind when one of those beauties suddenly raise their sleek heads hissingly in my direction. I still get the goosebumps!!

Does anyone out there know if ambient temperature effect they way the sealants perform? I have ahd my fair share of punctures, but a higher than normal rate in the near past and I have had quite an amount of sealant piss out of the puncture without really sealling. Its usually just devil thorns that come out while I am riding but I had to re-invlate twice on a shortich 18Km last night. Do I expect too much?

Boom!

I would like to quote a responce to Floyd's admission on another page to you. Yeah, I know it has been disscussed at length, but it looks like a curveball. A possible SLAMMING curveball. Only time will tell if the legal authorities in Califrnia will take this one on. "Newsflash: Floyd Landis has confessed to doping during his professional cycling career in an e-mail to USA Cycling chief executive officer Steve Johnson. The e-mail, which was sent to Johnson on April 30, details Landis? history with doping, starting from his first experience with testosterone in 2002 through to 2006 when he won the Tour de France, before abnormalities from a test on stage 17 saw him stripped of the title years later. Previous denials. The incredible claims of his doping follow a four year period during which Landis heatedly denied allegations of doping during the 2006 Tour de France, when a urine sample showed the rider had an unusually high testosterone to epitestosterone ratio. Landis appealed against the findings from his A and B samples, at which point USA Cycling transferred Landis? case to the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Why now? Hmmmm. First, I think he believes that the statute of limitations has run on any possible perjury charge. (4 years ? see discussion below); and then there is the impact saying it now to garner the most publicity. That is, good ol? Floyd waits until just before the Tour de France, while the Giro d?Italia and the Tour of California are running to release his mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. It gives him the most press, and places him back in the limelight. What a sad sack, ?cause he wrong on both counts. This confession won?t advance his career, if that?s what you call it, one inch. Questions class? I call on the person from the peanut gallery wearing the faded U.S. Postal jersey, yeah you with the upraised arm? What?s your question? What about all that testimony that he gave under oath, where he denied doping. Was he being untruthful then, or is he telling the truth now? To answer your question, we must all realize that these outlandish claims follow a four-year period during which Landis passionately denied allegations of doping during the 2006 Tour de France, when a urine sample showed he had an unusually high testosterone to epitestosterone ratio. Landis appealed against the findings from his A and B samples, at which point USA Cycling transferred Landis? case to the United States Anti-Doping Agency. The claim was heard in California. The case is the first ever public hearing by the USADA - something Landis himself insisted on after a ground-swell of support in the US - and was held at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California. In fact, Landis' lawyer called the case brought by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) an 'utter disaster' and disputed the credibility of a lab test conducted in Paris after his 2006 victory, which showed that he had taken testosterone. Lying then, or lying now. So how are we to react now that good ol? Floyd is taking the position he was doping? Hmmm. . . I was lying then, I ain?t lying now. I was a doper, using everything I could get my hands on to improve my performance. Sorry. Uh, . . . sorry! What!? WHAT! Back on earth in California, we have a jury instruction that states: ?if you decide that a witness deliberately testified untruthfully about something important, you may choose not to believe anything that witness said.? (See CACI 5003.) This man testified under oath, that?s under penalty of perjury folks, that he did not use performance enhancing drugs. Confessions are good for the soul, but why did he make it public rather than tell it to a priest or minister. I wonder if he realizes that admitting he lied under oath is a righteous admission of perjury. The DA doesn?t even have to prove a case. The admission is not hearsay because it is an admission against his penal interest. The DA simply files his case, and puts in the admission like a dollar in a change machine. Confession in, felony conviction out. Gulp, a felony in California. Uh oh. Uh, where is the next train to Clarksville. What is perjury in California, you ask? California Penal Code Section 118 states the following: ?(a) Every person who, having taken an oath that he or she will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly before any competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any of the cases in which the oath may by law of the State of California be administered, willfully and contrary to the oath, states as true any material matter which he or she knows to be false, and every person who testifies, declares, deposes, or certifies under penalty of perjury in any of the cases in which the testimony, declarations, depositions, or certification is permitted by law of the State of California under penalty of perjury and willfully states as true any material matter which he or she knows to be false, is guilty of perjury.? Perjury is a felony in California. That is, under Penal Code section 126, ?Perjury is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three or four years.? 2 to 4 years! Holy crap, Landis landed deep in it this time! Why, California law? Why am I citing California law to you nattering nabobs? Because the 10-day arbitration on Floyds drug charges was held at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and, thus, the perjury occurred in California. This means California law applies to the case. Remember this, Landis, who testified in his own case, repeatedly denied taking steroids, saying he would not feel any joy in winning if he had cheated. Thus, on Tuesday, May 15, 2007, and Saturday May 19, 2007, he testified in an admittedly false manner. Oh, and did you hear Floyd mention the statute of limitations? Well, he was really referring to his own statute of limitations on perjury, which he believes is 4 years. So, by his lights, he can now say that he was lying under oath and cannot be prosecuted. Assuming the perjury occurred on May 15, 2006, that means the statute ran on May 15, 2010. Ha, Ha, Ha. Right? You ain?t laughing. Right? Wrong, Floyd. Statute of Limitations with a twist. Prosecution for an offense of perjury in California must be commenced within four years after commission of the offense. (See Penal Code ? 801.) However, the twist, the rub, the surprise in the package is that statute of limitations for perjury (Penal Code section 118) is FOUR years from DISCOVERY of the offense. (Penal Code sections 801.5, 803©(2).) Discovery in this case would be the date of the confession, a couple of days ago. Good old Floyd waited four years to throw his little bomb in a crowed room only to find that it bounced right back at him. Floyd, say it ain?t so, say you ain?t that stupid. - Cicconi -"

Yes indeed it is! I have had the same experience with my XT setup from day one and to be honnest' date=' I'll rather go back to the old crisp LX if i still had it. I am sick of the excuses the lbs(3 different ones) dig out if they're unable to fix the problem. So, I am saving for my SRAM kit. [/quote'] I doubt you're being honest. Do you really think the reason you cannot get your gears to work properly is 'cause they're Shimano? If those bike shops can't fix XT, they sure as hell cannot fix SRAM - the pinciples are exactly the same. Go figure out how to tune gears.It has been discussed on the forum and I tried everything. I am not the dumbest when it comes to mechanicals, but this one just irks me. All my other kit is Shimano and it works like a dream. Why wouldn't I like it. I don't like it because I spend good money one something that the older lesser spec was doing better. So to sum it up then; XT Shaddow line 2008. Bought new with bike - erratic shifting new cluster - erratic shifting changed the chain and the cluster - erratic shifting. new cables with sleeves - no change. erratic means it might perform perfect going up but not down. Make the adjustments for perfect shifting down and it won't go up. Some days it will work fine and other days it just refuse to co-operate. This is true for both on the road or on a stand. Present status is that I had spend enough money on this problem. it is getting binned - finnish and klaar!

Yes indeed it is! I have had the same experience with my XT setup from day one and to be honnest, I'll rather go back to the old crisp LX if i still had it. I am sick of the excuses the lbs(3 different ones) dig out if they're unable to fix the problem. So, I am saving for my SRAM kit.

Hey Frail, Spoke to you at the Police bakkie yesterday. How is that wound on your shin. Can you still ride? And I forgot to ask, but did you get the registration?