KDEE

Im mildly curious as to why so many bikes I see have what looks like a tyre tube wrapped around the chainstay and not a R30 BBB or similar chainstay protector? Cant be the price so am i missing something here...? I have always used the BBB or similar protectors over the years and wonder now if I am missing out on some bike fashion secret KDEE2008-11-04 09:55:22

In line with whats being spoken about here... 3 years ago, my beloved old school Cro Mo Diamond Back Mtb was stolen from my garage.... 6 months later I was driving down Beyers Naude on my way to work.... And lo and behold, your avg gardener chappie comes walking up the hill pushing my beloved Diamond Back.... To cut a looooooooooong story short, he told the police he bought it from some chap on the side of the road.. This after I chased him a bit and had to hold him down until the police got there.. Still had my spds on the bike which was a bit of a giveaway to the police... Nevertheless, i got the bike back and as the chap was employed by a business in the area, we gave him the benefit of the doubt... My current tactic is keep and eye out and actively engage in conversation with people who look out of place on high end bicycles.. I offer to buy them at low money ( R500 ) with the plan of posting them up on the hub so that perhaps the original owner might spot it and I can give it back. Done it 3 times now and havent had any luck as yet... The first two werent that high end close up... but the 3 rd was a rather nice Scott Mtb with some decent goodies on it, Cane Creek Bar ends, Xt bits( spotted in Melville ). Chap told me his boss gave it too him and he couldnt sell it... I couldnt push the issue too far as I was attracting a crowd... But in none of the 3 cases was the chap offended and in fact seemed fairly pleased that I might want to buy the bike that they were on! KDEE2008-11-04 08:26:56

And what does it cost the Lbs salesman to just ask, especially when selling a new bike and spares, if the customer is comfortable with handling those same spares.. Its farkin lazy to just assume that all customers are world experts pompers...

Am a Ferrari fan and cannot stand Hamilton as a person. But last night he showed serious maturity on those last laps.. Would have been so easy for him to go ballistic when Vettel passed him. And thats the diff from most of this season and certainly last season.. Now if he could just keep his mouth shut for 5 minutes Thug said it best, both Massa and Hamilton deserved the WC, only one can win though.. Next year, slicks, stored energy, pass button, Alonso back on form.. whoo hoo, cant wait.. 5 months way too long to wait though!

HR, Im with you on that one, find myself forgetting all the time to tell my wife how the gears work etc, presuming because it comes automatically to me, so it is for everyone else. Backwards to what you said, but many salesmen dont ask if advice is needed unless the customer asks... In Agteros case, I think he has a valid point.. He buys a bicycle and asks for a tube and a pump to go along with it... pump was correct for tube/valve on bike. Spare tube was not.. Did he have not a right to assume that the Lbs would supply the correct tube.... In the particular situation, probably never crossed his mind. When I buy a new car, i dont check if the spare is correct for the car, I assume it is.... Sh*t, better go and check the wifes car now

Uh uh......... jy is verkeerd Velo, I had to drill my Alex rims on the Gary Fisher to change from Presta to Schrader. See how easy it is to get it wrong Velo.. I know you posted that you stand corrected, but seeing as Agteros is presumably new to Mtb, he can be forgiven perhaps for being so cross with his Lbs.. Putting a Presta Valve into a schrader valve hole is going to rip the valve apart and ruin ones day rather quickly..

Jeez, Im amazed at the reactions here.. Buy a bike, a pump, a tube at the same time.... serious let down to find out middle of a race that you have the wrong tube.. I doubt whether he would have got going with a presta valve tube if the rim was a shraeder.. surely the valve hole in the rim will be too big?.. Why in this case does the Lbs assume the rider knows about double headed pumps... sounds like it was set to schraeder and hence wouldnt work on presta... Back to the wrong tube scenario... Think the judgement is a bit harsh here from many.. Salesman deserves a slap to the side of the head for not going through all the features, spares extra with the sale of a new bike..

Jabu, the ever smiling, helpful chap... Called him Gibson for 4 months and he didnt say a word, just kept smiling... Its no wonder that he sells a lot of bikes

Excellent, looks very, very good in the photos..

Bump, Racing this Saturday the 25th and next Saturday the 1st. I wont be there this Saturday, but we will be racing next Saturday. Please come and say hello!

I think you are mistaking the bearing race cup for the bearing itself. If its a standard 'ahead' style system, take the stem of the fork and the fork should drop right out. Bearings will come out on the fork steerer.. Clean the bearing cup/race thats stays in the frame top and bottom and of course the bearing.. Not the greatest explanation... If you are really not sure what you are doing, take to the lbs, but give it try, its worthwhile and free.. If you are still not sure, look at a few exploded pics of a headset, will make it understandable... If its a integrated headset/ new fangled space titanium effort, then someone else needs to help you as I know nothing! Otherwise where In Gauteng are you? If you are not close to me, then Im sure someone else wont mind giving half an hour to teach you..

We were at Swartkops on Sunday for a trax day to get some laps in preparation for my mates almost finished Lotus 7.. Awesome main straight, long downhill to get some speed up on your bike, very sharp 180 at the bottom of the hill though and then a ugly hard pull all the way up the back straight. Great fun in a sportscar, not convinced that this fatboy would enjoy riding a bike around there though.. Love to come and watch the racing snakes giving it gas.. Btw, for R220 you can do at least 30 laps in your road going car on trax days.... no racing lic required. A good place to show what you think your car can do and of course how good you think you are... Its a flippin lot harder than driving fast on the highway

Well done to CS, SAA.... well what can one say! Hard school fees, but maybe a hard shell bike case is in your future? Thinking about it though, hard shell bike cases are not cheap and how many times a year is the average cyclist going to fly his bike in a year... Maybe an opportunity for an Lbs/hubber to start hiring out hard shell bike cases for round trips....

Hijack on.. Jeez, why this specific word being used to describe people in cars? I have a car, a bicycle and have had many motorcycles.. Most of my mates have motorcycles. None of us use the word 'cagers' to describe drivers in cars.. Its derogatory and condescending... I can see why a Route 66 hippie, smoking dope and living free might use it, but for everyday people? Hijack of..

I havent commented on this thread at all, but must congratulate trapped on his eloquence and restrained use of the english language. Seeing as I live and work in the area, pity I wasnt driving around at the time to help/witness the incident. KDEE2008-10-21 04:20:33

At least they were his words then

mail his producer rather. robbie can't operate his e-mail (not kidding and not being nasty). Hope I havent been fooled all this time then. Have emailed him on a few occasions on certain issues and he has always taken the trouble to reply.. An not just one sentence either..

I ended up almost destroying the old BB trying to get the collar of to get at the BB, so in the end I bought a new one.. At R190.00 it was easier....

But I bet you saved some for later...

DR, I find myself agreeing almost entirely with your post... whilst still agreeing with Bruce... strange as it seems.. I still believe a good distributor should enjoy some privilege for laying out money, being expected to carry spares for 10 yr old parts, sponsorship, etc, etc. Note, I said a good distributor.. Those generally find a good market at the price they charge. Exactly like the Lbs... There will always be consumers who are willing to pay a 'official price' for peace of mind, convenience, back up, etc, etc. And then those who find the price diff to be so large, that they are willing to take the chance, precisely because the large price diff makes it worth the while to have no warranty etc, etc.. And thats great, free market is something I love.. An example of when I would be deeply pissed of as distributor is if I established and unknown brand in this country through advertising, promotions and good service over a number of years... and then someone imported a container load of the smae product and sold it out of his garage.... for example.. The two streams of market will exist side by side though because we have choice, just as you said.. Where I disagree with what has been said before by others, is to expect the official importer to take up warranty issues on behalf of a consumer who owns something that wasn't distributed through his channel.. I like what Hi Fi Corp does and with what CWC it seems does ( own warranty on goods ). If that is made CLEAR to the consumer before purchase, then no worries as its free market and those with service and back up will always succeed. Official or parallel..

Edit. Double Post KDEE2008-10-16 13:33:36

PB, tell me you didnt have a salad for dinner tonight...

Agreed Jules, also think it would be hard ( and not worth it ) to fake Mavic wheels. Police would normally only be involved if it was suspected that something was amiss though. Otherwise it would be a civil matter. The SARS angle is also something that might make sense.. All supposition though, assume CWC know what they are doing..