Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

Yeah. Good choice. New Deore is a very good crank, much like SLX's older version - Which was a VERY good thing!

Absolutely. Your post just came across as grossly ignorant of the reasons and situations in which people donate clothing. Nobody said anything about the clothing having to be riddled with holes before donating it. It just so happens though, that the vast majority of us would rather not buy 2nd hand clothing. Not to say that we haven't, rather that we'd prefer not to.

Velo, it's the local importers that insist on CWC buying from the local importers. CWC go direct to the supplier, or through other channels.

Ja, that's just sick. I mean, they come into contact with countless ball-sack & crack sessions.

And what's wrong with that? Most of us can afford to buy clothing. If there's something that a charity needs, some people donate clothing that they ordinarily would not wear themselves, either due to loss / gain of weight, or they just don't use them. In addition - would you rather they just stay in the cupboard? Or be sold to a thrift store who are just going to sell them on for a profit? Giving to those more needy than ourselves is not a crime. They are thankful for anything they receive, regardless of age/use/condition. We prefer new kit, because we can afford it. Why shouldn't we pass on the clothing instead of trying to sell it?

ROFL! It was a pretty hard knock, you know. 100kg coming down on your head from a height of 2m doesn't exactly feel the same as landing in a gymnastic pit. And I know how that feels! I'm going to the Lab to get a crash replacement. Will get a slightly more MTB oriented one now, to give more protection at the back.

It's now only one stripe, PorS... So I'm more like a haffajee in a M3.

That's a pretty big leap in terms of assumptions, Eccentric. Agency pricing structures and bulk discounts will negate any sort of "inflation" that might occur as a result of having a 3rd party involved. Yes, margins might be lower than what they're currently getting. But the volumes will be bigger, as a result of getting the south african business which is currently going straight to CRC. This will mean that the overall arrangement is still in our favour. Who knows? Maybe the move to a bigger store was as a direct result of putting this agreement into place. You surely don't believe that the talks only BEGAN at Eurobike?

You raise an interesting point... HT bike is going into the shop to have its squeakiness looked at. I suspect it's a bust BB, as it was creaking like hell when I was applying the power at Nitida on Saturday. But I'm still taking the DH bike. I'll rack up the preload on the rear, and bump up the rebound & compression to help it pop. My mate ill be on the HT, if it's outta the shop by then. Should be out by Friday. Kop is still a bit sore, but at the moment I feel v drowsy and out of sorts. 2nd cup of coffee (and it's STRONG coffee - 2 heaped teaspoons of Jacobs Kronung per cup) and I'm yet to wake up fully. Neck is still stiff, and the back is compensating for that. In short - I'm still stuffed, but the headache is mostly gone. For now...

I wouldn't think so.. I reckon they'd just redivert to a back-end CWC website, and ship the stuff there as soon as you put your location as South Africa. All items would include the cost of VAT (or maybe not even) and the purchase order would be sent through to CWC as well as CRC so that it could be tracked efficiently. Not that difficult, in all honesty.

With agent pricing structures, definitely. Bulk discounts will enable CWC to price the same as CRC, and will enable them to continue with the same profit margins, or maybe SLIGHTLY reduced margins. However, I'm sure they deal with CRC quite proliferately at the moment, so this relationship would just be the formalization of a pre-existing business channel.

Manchillz - were you at Nitida on Saturday arvie?

a shpongle

ROFL! It's a great looking bike. Those Tweet rims are the bizz! He just needs to put one last finishing touch on it though - his Limited Edition Barbie's Playhouse seatpost clamp!

Cool. Whenever, Cap. You still need to get your jump on though, remember!

I like it. It would open up s far easier channel for local purchases, and will enable us to use a local point of contact for CRC as well. In addition, we'll be supporting a south African business, which is, in my mind, a good thing. As to the guys who say it will be more expensive than ordering direct - nonsense. CRC will no doubt enter into a n agency-type charging structure with CWC, enabling them to get orders at a discount to what we would be charged as consumers. In addition, bulk discounts on shipping costs - the price per kilo / cubic metre decreases as you go higher. Therefore, the price that they would charge us should be more or less equal, if not cheaper, than the equivalent landed cost that the consumer would be charged when ordering direct from CRC. As for an extra day for ordering from CWC - nonsense. You hear stories of guys in Stutterheim who receive shipments by the next business day. And Stutterheim isn't exactly a business centre, now is it? Even if there were a 1 day lag time for ordering through CWC... I'd glsdly take that on in return for a local point of contact, a local business and somewhere where you can take your items back to personally without having to ship them back to CRC... Bring it on, Chris Jr!

So - shall we say a morning session at Delvera, followed by some munchies and then a Nitida session in the afternoon?

For sure, bro... Nothing stopping you! Flats - there are a few choices, but unfortunately cheap = crap unless you're prepared to replace the set screws or pins. For example - both Capricorn and I have the stock Giant / mosh bikes flat pedals, which are *** out the box and won't even let a pair of 510's grip them. I'm replacing the set screws on them this week for longer versions, which should fix the kakness. Those flats go for around R 200. But you can get ones that are much better, for not much more. Go to Revolution and see what they have there. If memory serves, they have about 2 other options at the moment, but you know the guys there - they're happy to help and will order anything you need.... Insofar as full face helmets go, I'm afraid that there's no cheap & easy route for this. I just hit a helluva luck with mine! Try Olympic, or failing that I saw CWC online had a special on a 661 full face helmet which I seem to recall was a pretty good deal locally. Yes we do!!!! You need to come down here more often to check it out!

Yeah. Get a full face. For sure...

I'm takin my 180mm DH bike... Awesome.

Full face - from CWC. It was their last one, and on clearance sale. Bargain at R 250! Gonna respray it the same colour as my whip though. Withba few accents as well. XC lid - Olympic at a very good price

Absolutely... The only thing that would have been wrong with having a shock with a shorter stroke is that the total travel of the bike itself would have been less than intended, nothing else (unless the max size was diff to that which was specified, which is the case here)

Chubba - it's like a juiced p bmx track. But as far as I know, it's littered with different levels of jumps and drops, with something for every skill level. You'll see me on the fire roads on my tricycle...

Awesome. Chubba should be along for the ride (har har) as well as a mate of mine. I'm bringing the GT.

To confirm Wes's statements... While i was riding his bike, the pedals were clipping the starting ramp's ramp at the top, on s bike with the same size cranks as mine, the same size pedals as mine and with a helluva high air setting for my weight. I would be surprised to see if I had even made it sag to 15%, let alone 20%. The bike itself has a much higher bb than mine (floor to bb measurement) and yet my pedals were clear of the starting gate even at 6 o clock. I would imagine that the extra 10mm on shock length would make a huge difference in not only performance, but clearance as well.