Scooter69

This is sad news. Unfortunately theft is perceived as an officially condoned and acceptable activity in South Africa. Even Jan van Riebeek complained in his diaries about theft. Unfortunately very little can be done about it.

True, true.

Condolences to the injured. I am glad that the Lady was helped out, kudo's to those who helped. It is a sad reflection on South African society when a/hls take advantage of a situation like this. Motor car drivers do this all the time.

WARNING. To those of you that think pepper spray is a magic silver bullet, It is very far from being this, there is a substantial percentage of the population that is only minimally affected by pepper spray. Pepper spray should only be used as a distracting agent, hopefully giving you time to deploy more effective means of personal defense, or to make "gat skoon". Stay alert.

It does not appeal to me. It does look radical, but will it work properly ?. To me it appears very flimsy, and being made out of plastic I don't think it will stand up to normal use for very long. Probably will cost a bomb as well. As a design concept it is radical and the designer certainly thinks "outside the box". But I dunno.

Unfortunately we live in a country where the law favours the criminal---There is no getting away from this unpalatable fact. BUT we as a nation have become soft and readily intimidated by authority. There are still a very few Police officers around that care, but they are also intimidated from higher up, and cannot perform their job adequately. Each crime is unique and requires rapid assesment by the victim, this is almost beyond the ability of most people. BUT, there is universal maxim that always applies:- "THE BEST FORM OF SELF DEFENCE IS ATTACK" I concede that this is not always possible of even feasable in any given situation. As long as the South African Law remains as is we are screwed people. I will fight back whenever I can, you should do the same. The Late Great Jeff Cooper, as always had it right. Jeff's summarised "Principles of Personal Defence" are: ALERTNESS. DECISIVENESS. AGGRESSIVENESS. SPEED. COOLNESS. RUTHLESSNESS. SURPRISE. Sorry for the long post, but I had to get this off my chest. FIGHT BACK PEOPLE.

A most interesting and informative thread. Many thanks for all the contributions.

This mindset in South Africa ?. Not at all likely. Even if our bike lanes are expanded it is more than likely that the cyclists will sooner or later have to pay toll charges. Then there will be the twerps in their motor cars that will think that the bicycle lanes have been specially built for their sole use. But we surely can dream can't we ?.

Thanks for the replies. I want to mount the sensor on the left fork because mounting it on the right fork just looks wrong to my eyes, I know that this is subjective, but that is just me LOL. I raised this question because someone, somewhere must have already tried this, and I just hate to have to re-do any job LOL. I have "V" brakes installed so mounting on the left fork is a non-issue LOL. Once again thanks for all the help. Cheers.

Hello All, I have a Sigma BC 1009 STS wireless computer. Can I install the sensor unit upside down ?. I want to install the sensor unit on the left hand fork tube, but this will mean that the sensor unit will have to be installed upside down to prevent the sensor from being pulled into the spokes should it become displaced. Will the sensor unit still be able to "talk" to the computer unit if I do this. I want to do this for aesthetic reasons only. Please advise. Thank you.

For laughs here is another bike that I saved from the scrap heap. It is an American made Raleigh childs bike. No "before" pics, but it was in a terrible state when found http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/TarsTarkas44/Bicycle/DSCF0077_zps95bfe326.jpg http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/TarsTarkas44/Bicycle/DSCF0079_zpsb4df5ec7.jpg

Thanks for the reply.Now the next problem is to actually FIND an 8 speed freewheel in South Africa LOL.

I have a set of Shimano ST-EF51 brake levers/gear shifters that are 3 x 8 speed. Can I use these levers/shifters for a 2 chainring in the front and a 7 speed freewheel in back, or is the "pull" incompatible. Both chainrings and freewheel are Shimano road components. Front chainrings are 52 and 39. Rear freewheel is 14 to 28 7 speed. Distance from centre of bottom bracket to centre of freewheel is about 405 millimetres. I do not yet have a front deraileur, still looking for one. The rear deraileur is a Shimano Tourney. I would really like to make use of these levers/shifters as they are just lying around at the moment. Will this combination work. your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Cyclists really have the death wish when riding on the roads. I have nearly taken out three cyclists in the last two days while driving on the road. In all cases it was the cyclists that were at fault, (two MTB riders and one roadie). Road rules do not seem to apply to cyclists, the trouble is that the cyclists will ALWAYS come off second best if there is an accident. Then the motorist will be blamed for everything. Is the average cyclist a retard ?.

For those of you who have strong arms. Look up "Atlatl" on Youtube. The Atlatl gives more power than the bow.

The bowstring slapping against the bow holding arm is an ancient problem in archery.Make yourself a "bracer" and strap or tie it to your bow holding arm, this will prevent the discomfort.A bracer is easily made from just about any material you would care to use.Hope this helps.Enjoy your new pastime.

Another recent aquisition. http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/TarsTarkas44/Knives/DSCF0028.jpg http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/TarsTarkas44/Knives/DSCF0031.jpg http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s397/TarsTarkas44/Knives/DSCF0032.jpg

I don't think that this idea will work in the present day South Africa, it will be unenforceable.

I used to shoot a traditional recurve bow, (no sights), all accessories and arrows were self made. I stopped because of a serious shoulder injury. I now shoot traditional black powder firearms, most accessories are also self made. Both activities are highly addictive and satisfying. The black powder shooters are an extremely friendly and helpful crowd. Both activities can become very expensive though, the price of black powder has gone through the roof,and one uses a lot of it. If you can, just do it, you WILL enjoy it.

This is why I do not ride a plastic bike.

Lovely.I have also been looking for something like this for a while now.Congratulations.

This is a bad scene. Typical of the present day South Africa though. Government denial at every turn,(there is no crime Sarah, it is all those racists trying to undermine our excellent "government"). Police too scared or incompetent to do their jobs,criminals know this and take full advantage of this fact. The Public that has become blase about crime. So now what ??. I hope the victim recoveres without too much damage to his body.

No Linux users here ?????? lol

I agree, the cost of bikes is insanely high. I also believe that prices are artificially kept high by the manufacturers. Looking at the engineering going into a bike, I submit that a bike built to acceptably high standards SHOULD cost WELL below R15000-00, this excludes the hand built specials that are overpriced anyway. I believe that the ultralight bikes are a fad, the ordinary riders like you and I cannot benefit THAT much from using an ultralight, an ultralight is plenty good for the ego though. Fashionable bike clothes are also a bit of an overkill in my opinion. As far as regarding a price of R30k as being reasonable, heh heh heh, I am afraid that I cannot agree on this one.

Very nice.