Pants Boy

It's sad that I just laughed about that, because it's too true.

LOL

Welcome to the clan, PAK. Take it easy for the first week or so, get used to doing two rides a day, and no recovery rides, then start upping the mileage. And don't, for heaven's sake, go skinny dipping with the wife after 12 one night, you may just end up taking the car to work for the next two weeks (doctor's orders lol)

Congrats ...

I'm just wondering aloud here ... who was inconsiderate in this instance? I know where my money is ...

Scout a couple of different routes by car. If it feels 'unsafe' in a car, don't try it by bicycle. Taxis, on the average, are MUCH friendlier to cyclists than motorists. When you stop next to one at a traffic light, make small talk - they drive the same route, day in and day out, mostly at the same times as well. It pays to make buddies along the road

LOL thought I had the Commute challenge in the bag, only to be pipped by David logging his miles late last night If you can wrangle a rand-for-rand discount voucher at a cycle shop, I'll throw in R100 towards the most commuted miles in Feb. IE, get a shop to issue a R200 voucher for R100 Any other takers?

Go Team! LOL. What happened to the rumors of prizes?

Wait what? They have bikes for rent? Malingi?

LOL. I've got a Spalding bike from Makro, and have put in a little over 400km so far this year commuting to work and back. I REALLY want to go do Voriberg and/or XCOSA, but no ways in hell I'm going to use that bike on those trails, it's going to be in pieces in short order. I spent two looong Saturdays getting the bike sorta proper for riding, and it's ok for a commute. The wheels are so out of true it's not even funny, I've trued them thrice now and they still go out a little (after some miles) Lots of creaking all over, BAD brakes (plastic levers all over, waiting for them to break) BUT it has gotten me back on a bike and saving some cash. I put a rand for every kilometer I commute into a savings account, which will go towards a better bike at year-end (hopefully I can pick up something decent, like a Scott Aspect 10 Hybrid at end-of-year-range prices) Yes, the bike's not great, it's heavy, slow, has sucky gear changes, bad brakes etc, but I see it this way - I've got a year(ish) to get fit on a heavy, crap bike before getting myself something a ton better

Update?

Thanks for the update, praying for a speedy and full recovery. Hope he gets a 'slow puncture'

Truth be told, you cannot manufacture a 'decent' (not even good, only acceptable) front shock for that price. The suspension will start sucking soon after you buy it, and thus the bike's a waste of time and money. A spring like the one on the back is also a pain to manufacture PROPERLY, thus you can bet your bottom dollar that this one is not a proper spring (not at that price) Like the good advice between the lines said, rather get a hardtail (front suspension only) for that price range, although it's still 'cheap'. Personally, I'd rather save up and buy new than risk secondhand. But then again, I bought myself a Makro special to commute to work and back (and so far it's holding up fine, but I won't push it) - but I'm saving my petrol money saved for a decent bike at the end of year clearances

Feedback just received from Bombela.To quote: " Blah blah blah forwarded to someone else blah blah"

Thanks TNT, will do that. I've already lodged the complaint to their website, I really hope they do something about it.

I've got a shower at work - wouldn't do the commute if it wasn't for one. The +-13k's is uphill mostly, so sweat is measured in buckets in the morning. You could always look for an alternative - gym / neighbour?

I've been noticing more and more how aggro the Gautrain bus drivers are - yesterday afternoon on my commute home, one tried pushing me off the road (high curb, no cycle path) in Hatfield. Bus number 1012D. This morning bus 1025D came hurtling past me in Brooklyn road, then promptly cut in front of me and slammed on brakes, stopping on the pavement. Both times I was hugging the curb, with loads of space for vehicles to pass. In the past I've also noticed that they drive just as they please (hmmmm .... maybe ex taxi drivers?) but this is getting ridiculous. Every time I've encountered one of these buses during the last week or two there's been an 'incident' What can we do?

'nother things lurnt: *Double up on stuff at the office - ie have a full shower set there (as well as at home), so that you never leave it at home. *When you need to change something (ie old jeans for fresh ones, or towel etc) leave the old one at the office UNTIL you've got the new one there *40 minutes morning and 30 minutes afternoon is not enough to drop weight (sigh) - I'm extending both routes to go at least 60 minutes. *A flashing red light at the back (if you can, more than 1) makes a MASSIVE difference in driver's attitudes towards you. I had one on for the last three commutes, and cars pass me with at least 50cm more clearance than before ... funny, but so far it's held up. Even works on buses :shock horror: *Most people thinks I'm being funny when tell them I bike to work and back. *My commute so far is good for about 130km a week.

That's what I'm thinking as well. I'd much rather support a decent shop than look for a cheaper price. I actually had a chat to a shop yesterday, and the guy told me that they will look at offering something like maintenance / tune-ups for a period (maybe 6 months or a year) - he agrees with me that it is rare for someone to go to a TRUSTED shop for maintenance and NOT spend any other money there. His thinking is that he will get you into HIS shop more often if he 'forces' you to go to him for maintenance. Any other shops that does that? (Sorry guy asked me not to mention his shop name until he comes back with a'firm' deal)

I've been doing a little light reading on overseas forums, and the perception there is that, when you buy a new bike, you don't really look at the price of the bike, but at the added extras - like free fitting and maintenance for a year etc. Is this also common practice in SA?

Spotted you this morning in Duxbury road, Hatfield, with this setup. Looks good (as it was wizzing past me on my el cheapo Spalding bike )

http://www.endomondo.com/profile/3444232

I must say that my routine needs some tweaking So far I've forgotten: belt, jeans, water bottle, lunch. I commuted in with laptop, power supply (half a brick at least) 3 t-shirts, jeans, undies, shoes, socks, water and lunch last week Tuesday. That was pretty silly - I'll scatter the stuff around throughout the week, taking in shirts and jeans, jocks and socks on Tuesday for the next 5 workdays, then I can carry the computer on Monday and Friday. Towels will be on Thursdays ... I've also opened a savings account (with no fees) that I'm calling my bike fund. Every day I commute, I save R25 in fuel. Every day I commute transfer R25 into the account - should be around R6K by end of year, enough (please please please) for a 2012 end-of-line Scott Aspect 10?

Finished first week of commute last week - only 4 days, but 120km's covered. Was sore on Sunday, but fine on Monday up till present. Went a lot faster today than previously, also does anyone else notice how the distance covered stretches from day to day? Started out with a straight 12.18km's, now doing +-15km either way lol. Also finding most Taxi drivers friendly, ALL busses rude a-holes, and just furthering an observation by the broom-driver (my mother in law) - the 'bakkie-brigade' (white males in white 4x4 pickups, normally single cabs) are dolts. They should stick to what they know best - drinking brannas en k-praat.

Tyerone, may I suggest that we go and do a foot / bike recce on Saturday, and plan what needs to be done? We take some candy tape with (that red and white plastic tape that you see at events) and mark which branches needs pruning (I was taught to ALWAYS prune routes, and NEVER cut) and where we could do some erosion control etc - then we can plan on how much work is actually needed, and plan manpower around that? just a suggestion, you know some of my background I'll be happy to assist with planning and subsequent work.