Brighter-Lights

If you're serious enough a mountain biker to ride the Epic, you should at least be able to adjust/setup the gears, change the crank/cassette, take your bike apart, service your fork... I can't see why anyone would need a mechanic if they are just a little bit interested in the mechanics of their bike... How hard can it be to take a few tools with? Cassette tool, External BB tool, Spoke wrench, Cable cutter, Allen key set, With just this you can take almost everything apart... Add a few extra tools and I can do a fork overhaul in 30 minutes... But you really should overhaul your fork before the race...

Intervals + Train Longer. I usually cramp when riding flat out too long... K2C 2008 I pushed so hard to stay up front and did so much damage that with 20km to go I cramped so badly that I could hardly move... I've never cramped like that before and had sore legs 4 days after the event... it looked like my legs were deforming themselves... I could'nt sit or stand or move... 3 months of longer rides and a few hard races later, I did the Mondi MTB... Again, I had to ride above my limits to stay with the leaders on the first steep climb... 40km into the race I started getting hints of slight cramping (not painfull cramping) and eased off slightly... because of the training before I could deal with the lactate better and rode through it... In the end I came 4th... 6 mins behind Max Knox (considering I was riding a full suspension with hydration pack) and ahead of a few other pro's. That day my statistics were: Total Ascent: 1805m TRP DST 89.7km Time: 3:39:16 AVG HR 180 Time above 180: 64% KCAL 4444 Max SPD 63km/h I rode so hard because most of the race I could see Shan Wilson ahead of me and Mr. Augustyn and the Anderson Transport guys were behind me and I was fearing for life that their train would catch me... (I was riding alone) Killed myself to impress my sponsor at the time... But what I'm trying to illustrate is that after long rides (was preparing for 24hrs Omni-Motion) I was able to deal with riding anearobicly much longer than previously and even when I started cramping early on, I was able to get rid of the waste effeciently and could maintain reasonable power after that. My long rides were around 5 hours average @ +- 75 to 90% with short (2 to 5 min) intervals of near 100% during these long rides... Start by drinking enough water + electrolytes, then gradually do more anearobic work to condition your body for those conditions... soon you'll be cramping less and less... and remember that those harder efforts will require more recovery time into your programme... Brighter-Lights2009-03-31 02:41:27

Buyer Seller ratings can become quite complicated... On eBay for example, the seller won't leave you feedback immediately after fast payment... because they first wait for YOUR feedback and then decide what their feedback is going to be... ie.. you pay instantly via PayPal and deserve positive feedback... seller doesn't pack your item well and it arrives damaged... you complain and don't get response... you leave negative feedback for the seller... next the seller replies with negative feedbak to you... damaging your reputation... So eBay changed it... sellers can't leave negative feedback to buyers who payed fast... Lots to think about when implementing a rating system... I think a seller should at least make his details available to the buyer before concluding the deal...

On cranks I'll go with Ano but powdercoating will work too... the best finishes I've seen are some guy selling ceramic coated XTR cranks on ebay. Just... most shops can't do hard anodizing... very easy to do type II ano but it's just as hard as the ano already on the crank and will scuff too...

Type II (normal + coloured) ano scratches much easier than SOME powdercoats... colored ano is quite soft - hear the crunching sound (like salt crystals breaking) when scratching it... it scratches even easier with a matt finish... I've had 2 frames powdercoated and the finish, silver vein, (see pics) is exceptionally hard and requires real effort to scratch with a knife... and almost impossible to damage with car keys... HA III is the best choice but can't be coloured... Hard Ano normally is green-grey to dark grey. Silver Vein finish powdercoating cost me R135 per frame incl. the sandblasting. It added 90 to 120g per frame... (so not much heavier than the 80g of paint that was removed. Close up of similar silver vein powdercoat finish : http://www.wildwesthardware.com/hinges/Door_pulls_9_sivler_vein+pair.jpg http://www.sharpcustomcoatings.com/images/img00005-20081222-2017.jpg http://www.kartraiser.com/KRSVa.jpg Coated Raleigh RM7... coating is darker after 3 years but still fine!

They sell 200 000 mouties and 200 Treks because anyone with some logic would rather spend that money on something that's worth it... They're making them more expensive because they're selling less because less people can afford them... With that price tag, maybe next year they gonna sell 100 at R180 000... who knows... But even if you put the Trek next to the Kawa, I'll buy the Kawa if I had the money... simply because I get a lot more for the same price... actually... you can't even compare them... there's a lot more high tech stuff on the Kawa... at least high tech enough to make it hit 100km/h in less than 3 seconds... You can't really take the US retail and add Vat + Duties to that... the importers get those bikes for less 50%, or even less... Still, regardless of numbers sold... the Trek is still just a frame with other people's components fitted to it...

Johan, I think it's a good idea. Amount of effort needed will be determined by the amount of intricate detail... some face plates have lots of detail, seems like the outer parts will be easily polished. Can brush plate surfaces without submersion in a tank. Let me know if you need help, I do 24K gold plating. Topic: Did you manage to try out the Caustic Soda/ Drain Cleaner? With some parts I had to leave the part in the solution much longer to get all the anno off. With others a lot less time... I did the re-anodizing at home with battery acid and power supply...

Nice examples in the link above... Some examples of my own restoration work... In most cases corrosion is removed via abrasives until fine grade (or untill marks removed) Then polished (buff, flex shaft/dremel, mini wool buffs, impregnated rubber wheels etc.) and then gold or silver plated... Alu polishes a lot harder than Bronze but with the right buffing compound it's not that hard... http://www.jgerber.com/otto-link.htm http://www.jgerber.com/serviced/lelandais_super/index.htm http://www.jgerber.com/serviced/link_hole/index.htm http://www.jgerber.com/serviced/link_master/index.htm Good luck! Easiest still would be to just get it hard anodized.. they'll remove existing anodizing and do the magic... I've also seen very pretty examples of ceramic coating on cranks on eBay...

Dont waste your time sanding off anodizing... will take forever and make marks... Just take it to an anodising shop and let them hard anodize it... OR... Use some drain cleaner in water and submerge the anodized sections in a bucket with drain cleaner/water... it will take 5 to 15 minutes to completely dissolve the anodizing and will leave you with a pretty bright and clean alu finish... when the water/drain cleaner mix is right... the arms will start fizzing after a few seconds... I use about half a cup drain cleaner per 2 litres water... If you leave the arms in the drain cleaner too long, it will start etching the arms and give a matt finish... The initial appearance will be grey like... but just rinse in water for bright silver/clean alu look... I use drain cleaner to clean alu before anodizing and it works perfectly... NB.... be careful... add little amounts drain cleaner to water at a time while stirring... wear goggles and old clothes + rubber gloves... will dissolve your fingernails without gloves... ask me... anything the drain cleaner drips on will be dissolved in time...

Thanx a lot... I'm coming up on the 4th of April till the 15th... Will be away for Easter weekend... Will def do Groenkloof and contact some of you guys for a ride when I'm there... Thanx! Jo

Visiting Centurion for 2 weeks and need to maintain training... From what I read here with regards to attacks etc. I don't feel very safe... Is it possible at all to do 80 to 120km MTB rides, starting from Centurion... Will be riding alone during day... Give me some tips on where to ride... any gravel roads to Hartbeespoort dam direction? Would it be taking a big chance to ride alone? Or should I just ride around the block for 5 or 6 hours? Where do you guys ride? Here I'm used to be able to ride 100s of km gravel in almost any direction I want to...

I'll contact First Accent... thing is.. I didn't get a slip at the shop I bought it at... Cyclo Pro BBB bibs in shops in PE... cost R600 First Accent was a great bib besides for my stitching problem... Payed R480

What is the amount of light that YOU think is enough for night racing... ie... what lights are you using and why do you like them or why don't you like them?

My First Accent bib's stitching started tearing loose after only 2 months of use... highly disappointed... My BBBs are still fine, with the No Fear's stitching coming loose now, after 3 years of use... After 22+ hours in the saddle in 24hrs solo, my BBBs so far the best bib I've used... I didn't have a scaff mark or nothing... I rode a whole 24hr solo with one bib and did'nt have a hint of a mark the next day... on a SLR 135 saddle...

So where can 'the minutes' be read?

TT's worked well for me as training tyres... Especially because it feels like you're riding on a carpet at lowish pressure... so they make you strong and they last long... but they're terribly slow as a race tire... Lots of wind and rolling resistance... Fast race tires for me is Kenda Small Block 8, WTB Vulpine, Specialized Fast Trak dual compound, anthing which is semi slick like... A couple of years ago (not so long) TT's were under R250 for UST and R180 for foldable and were very good value for money considering how many KM's I got out of them...

I have over 100 eBay deals with 100% feedback from about 70 unique users since 2001... With private sales, you gotta make sure the guy is real. Never had a problem with buying from shops. Once even bought a Sid fork from Turkey... If I want something and it's cheaper overseas, I sometimes go to my bikeshop and tell them what I'm looking for and what I can get it at... Quite often they will discount the price to within a few 100 rand and then they still get the business (even at reduced markup) and I don't have to wait... win win situation... I always recommend them where ever I go and they get more customers...

By the time it's 3 months from TB, I'm already in good shape from a good base and nearing race phase. I include lots of high intensity workouts / shorter all out effort races (40 to 60km) 2 months before, I do 4 weekends of back to back 110km (1600m vertical) offroad rides with a 5kg backpack.... my fav training rides of the year... all alone, unsupported, carrying clothes, food and everything for the 2 rides on me... 2 weeks before taper slightly... Have ridden with much slower partners the last 2 times so I looked at TB as a fun ride. Training will be a bit different with a fast partner. My experience is that if you're in good form from frequint racing earlier in the year, you don't have to do mega miles to be ready...As long as you keep fighting and stay around LT you'll be fine... In 2005 we came 10th in 11:55 (after waiting lots for our one team member and eventualy disqualified for leaving him behind) This was only 8 months after I started riding MTB and I've hardly done 3x 90km rides leading to the event, but lots of XC races... Training has become more structured with long term goals. Try to work out some program where you gradually build and increase intensity leading to the event and then taper for a 2 weeks to be totally fresh on the day... Brighter-Lights2009-03-09 05:41:37

No I'm not... because to me it appears that their pockets got lined along the way... so they did it for themselves... It's nothing new... athlete becomes pro -> pro becomes famous -> retires -> starts clubs, shops, organise events -> donate to charities/development -> wins public trust -> makes big bucks (more traffic at their events and shops because public favours them from the name they made - hulle moet seker goeie mense wees want hulle gee geld vir liefdadigheid en vir ontwikkeling van die sport ens.) Nobody does anything for free, especially on such a large scale... unless of course there's a reward... But this is off topic... Someone said you're not forced to buy at the overpriced shop... but where are you supposed to buy if the main suppliers fix prices and all shops are overpriced... Just my experience. I stay with my point about overseas pricing. I'm also a small scale importer of electronics parts and and musical instrument acc. I can still sell / manufacture-sell at competitive prices comparing to average global prices...

So what did AM and FP do for the sport?

It's very simple... In October/November 2008 the Rand lost about 30 to 40% of it's value... next thing 2009 prices goes up by 60% to 80%. Suddenly, there's a massisve increase in prices in bike shops and everybody 'blames' it on the weak Rand and material and supplier cost... while overseas prices stay the same... (All this time I've been monitoring prices on my fav online shops) The irony is that AMClean says they got together to blah blah and get in line with overseas trends... I've seen no major price increases anywhere overseas... I've been suspecting something fishy for a while now... The sudden price increases for 2009 just didn't make sense... How's it possible that buying from a country where everything already is on the expensive side, (UK for example) could still be cheaper than buying at your LBS...? (After VAT, Shipping and Duties...) (Talking ChainReactionCycles, JensonUSA, Comobike and eBay etc.) Hope the 'real' truth comes out and they they don't get a way to hide the truth... I want them to burn and everybody else who's been ripping me/us off... no mercy...

My local shop, Penford Cycles, is a very small shop in Uitenhage. Lots of PE people come here because their prices are the best and the service is good and personalized. I support these guys because they are not rolling in money, they give me good deals and I sometimes rather pay a little extra to have something immediately, instead of saving R200 and wait for 2 weeks when importing... My problem is with shops charging R200 or R300 more for the same thing at this small shop who's got almost as many overheads and a lot less customers/traffic. I remember when a Crossmark was R350 at Penford and R550 in PE...One shop marked their Crossmarks R550 and not long after that everybody followed... I just don't like to be ripped off... And my local shop has always tried to better prices when I made them aware about something I'm looking to buy from overseas... and many times they got the business... 'And what these guy's did for the sport.... blah blah blah... they knew pretty well that they were doing it for themselves long term... ' Nobody does that much for free... Brighter-Lights2009-03-06 02:00:04