bruce

Last year Marco van Biljoen arrived at a race and declared that Blood Hound Gang "Burn Motherf****r Burn" should be the official team song. Two of us crashed that day so we scrapped the song!

Metallica - Cyanide Motley Crue - This ain't a love song.

Because I personally don't wish to support grey importers. I believe in the long term it is damaging.

I see there are quite a few responses to my post, so let me try to cover them all. Firstly, I was speaking in general terms about the practice of grey and/or parallel imports. That is not an endorsement of poor service. Poor service is not acceptable be it from an official supplier or a parallel importer. In this situation I would chose an alternate product - one that is officially represented, and comes with good service. Service and support forms a big part of product selection for me, brand name is somewhat secondary. Secondly, I'm a bit puzzled about the idea that this represents antiquated business practice. Having parts on hand, and trained service staff is antiquated? How so?? I have personally seen Gary Lee from Just Fun Cycling, hand deliver 2 Bontrager spokes to WestRand Cycles because a customer broke some spokes. Thirdly, there are many ways that a parallel import can be made, at cheaper prices than official imports. Take the concept of OEM for example. E.G Raleigh make a deal with Zipp to sell bikes with 404's on them. Because of the volumes, Zipp gives the wheels to Raleigh at a very good price. A certain team buys lots of Raleigh bikes, but is sponsored by Shimano so have to ride Shimano wheels. Zipps are removed from the bikes and sold at a price that is significantly below market price - local Zipp agent suffers the loss of many sales, but then has to support these wheels when brought in 'under warranty' because he would rather support the wheel than give his product a bad name. Anyway, this is my opinion. Being an importer of a specialist product, I have a bit of understanding as to what it takes to create a market presence and penetration. I also don't bribe police officers because it is 'cheaper' than paying the fine, or throw paraffin down the drain because that small quantity won't make a difference. Everybody makes their own decisions in life.

Just had a chat to Ali, she is in transit to amashova so won't be able to respond to PM's until Monday. She had good news in that Ben's damaged eye is responding to light. This means that he may not need a prosthesis, so hold thumbs!

At the risk of making myself very unpopular with you lot, I personally am opposed to parallel imports, grey imports, or whatever you want to call them. Generally, acquiring the distribution rights for a product in a territory requires significant investment. The product manufacturer would often require the following: - specific training of the distributors staff - be it sales or technical training. This is funded by the distributor. - Marketing and sales investments. Advertising the product etc to create brand awareness and market penetration. - Significant investment is stock and spare parts to ensure the availability of the product. - Support for warranty replacements, etc. So, along comes a guy who hasn't had to fund any of the above. Buys the product through a parallel channels and significantly under-prices the official distributor. As a consumer, that's great! You get your cool product at a much cheaper rate. Unfortunately that parallel importer has no liability to the product manufacturer. Doesn't really care if the product's good name get's tarnished because he may not honour the manufacturers warranties, carry the appropriate spare parts etc. If the product's names get's trashed, next week he'll be selling some other product, no skin off his nose, but he'll leverage the financial commitment that the official distributor has make in sales and marketing - for free. As consumers you lot all pat yourselves on the back and congratulate yourselves on fighting the good fight. But then you complain as soon as a certain part isn't immediately available. Well, why should the distributors fund a stock room full of spare parts when everybody is just going to by the stuff online anyway? Why should they pay to have their staff trained on the product? I'm sure you guys will flame me plenty, but I really think there is another side to this story!

i thought he was cleared of this? and also, all the bloem lab found was dope. I can buy an over the counter test for that @ the pharmacy. it doesnt sound like the lab tested for EPO... Positive tests that received a lot of attention the past year were those of 16-year-old cyclist Michael van Staden who used EPO and soccer player Moeneeb Josephs.

I know they have a lab in bloem, but im not sure about the ability to test for EPO. have any SA cyclists ever been caught? what about other sports? would be interesting to find out... Michael van Staden not ring a bell then?? http://www.news24.com/News24/Sport/More_Sport/0,,2-9-32_1815970,00.html

Maybe someone on The Hub from a legal background can set up a trust account for Ben. Posting his personal bank details on the Internet is quite risky.

Ben will need a prosthesis etc etc, probably going to be quite a financial burden - maybe a fund can be set up through CycleEvents for people to donate some money?

I was at the lab when it happened, I still get shivers just thinking about it. Ben was in good spirits yesterday afternoon, but I think the last 24 hours were quite critical to save the other eye. Apparently when you damage an eye like that, the body shuts down the whole lot and you can lose the other eye as well, so you have to get treatment very quickly!

From what I understand he was pulling a cable tie tight with a pair of pliers or something. The cable tie broke and the pliers went into his eye! Andrew made sure he got the best medical attention, he was taken to Fourways Life hospital. Apparently there is a risk of the other eye being affected, so hopefully the damage is limited to one eye. Ben is a great guy, really hope that he is okay!!

Thanks, yes I did win a membership on Supercycling last night Now I only need to win a helmet and cycling glasses, then I would have won a complete cycling kit. Some time ago I won a Silverback road bike in the Bicycling mag for letter of the month, then I won a pair of Shimano cycling shoes for the Reader2Reader tip of the month. Now it is the membership and cycling kit! I am a bit of a competition freak, and cannot resist entering competitions, because if you do not enter, you cannot win anything. I did win ?R8500 in the lotto once, but the big one still eludes me. I have been on TV game shows (Noot vir Noot, Flinkdink, Blitsvinnig, Doen met 'n Miljoen, Sporting Chance, Goue Kennis spel etc) about 8 times by now. I have won amongst others a Weber Kettle braai at the lucky draw at a race, I have won a TV, video machines, kitchen appliances, cash, electrical powertools such as an angle grinder, drill etc. I will keep on entering hoping for a big one such as a car, lotto jackpot, overseas vacation etc. Have you ever won a set of Campy Brake Blocks

Simon from Rudy Project showed me them yesterday, VERY nice!! Apparently they brought in 10 pairs - Cyclelab Centurion have a couple of pairs if I'm not mistaken. bruce2008-10-08 11:34:49

Only lady to make the split at Dome2Dome in the SuperSeries. Second best lady from S.A. at Worlds - both of them very much tough courses!

Why is that the better proposal? Guess what the result would be from the lab of the athlete's choice! Because it cuts out the argument that the labs are biased! And if a lab changes a result because it is the athletes choice, that just proves the labs are not unbiased doesn't it?

If I were Lance I also wouldn't let them retest. Where have those samples been, how have they been stored. One of the better proposals I've heard is that 3 samples should be taken. The third sample should be stored and tested at a laboratory of the athletes choice.