porky

I can promise you Porky that all these replies that has hit the press as releases were carefully written and edited by their lawyers. As far as I remember all the persona involved were lauded as heroes of cycling at the end of the original discussion. No doubt Big H, No Doubt, but I dont think the Competition Commission is going to be scared by the replies, they will quitely continue to gather evidence and build a case, I think the chickens will soon be flying home to roost.! I wonder what the sponsors of these cyclists think about this furore, been in the news for all the wrong reasons is not a great way of building a brand.? porky2009-03-15 11:29:49

Currancy never devalues overnight, it usually takes a few months, there are also tools in place for importers to hedge against currancy fluctuations like "Buying Forward Cover" at the banks, so to say its ALL DUE TO THE CURRANCY DEVALUATION is just plain Bulls**t and insults our intellegence as educated consumers. Generally Importers take advantage of these tools to AVERAGE out their imported costs to avoid massive price hikes all at once (if they dont they are fools and in the business of "playing the money market" and not the "sales of bicycle product market" ) - over the last 8 months the currancy has devalued by roughly 35 -40%, international manufacturers have also had price increases, but these are usually in line with international trends at around 10% so an increase of 100% is certainly not justified if everybody took their usual cut - somebody here is profiteering OR WAS PLAYING THE CURRANCY MARKET AND GOT CAUGHT WITH THEIR PANTS DOWN, either way, put a bit extra in and go buy a Garmin, a Polar or another product where the importers are keeping costs down (Garmin prices have increased but only in line with general conditions of market, which shows an importer using the tools available to limit increases) and put your cash with suppliers who care about YOU.! porky2009-03-15 11:22:28

Perfectly correct.You could have included an attorney as well Go Lefty, just to ensure things were nice and "OPEN." ..............but NO, to me it seems this was nothing but a clandistine meeting of certain stakeholders trying to increase their profitability, cut certain (discounting) retailers out of the supply chain with wholesalers and fix prices to eliminate the risk of the customer shopping around and them loosing the sale, ........ALL THIS is at the expense of the consumer, the independant retailers who prefer to run their business ethically from behind the counter and the smaller operators who have no real muscle with the importers. That IS anti competitive, no matter what spin you may try and put on it. ................Oh, and by the way boys, check your minutes of the meeting for accuracy before you leave, seems the secretary just conjured up his/her own "inaccurate" version of events here.?? Strange, ...................I wonder why they would do that.? ...........Sorry, you wont get a scrap of sympathy from me.! porky2009-03-15 04:48:31

There is no sympathy from me for either of these stakeholders, when you run a business you need to know what you can and cant do, dont cry here that you were unaware you should not have these meetings. In my opinion the INTENTION was to fix prices, thats sufficient incentive for me stay out of their stores. .............and let me have another little rant here, I am quite sure all these fellas are nice guys, WHO CARES,............this is not about personalities, its about business ethics, or in this case Lack of them.!porky2009-03-14 14:27:57

What nonsense - there may be no present "price collusion / fixing" but it was not for "WANT" of trying by these stake holders. The very fact they never got it right was due to major players like Cajees and others who will never participate in this kind of scheme, simply because they prefer to be in their shops looking after business than getting involved in anti competitive behaviour. The fact remains they got caught with their fingers in the cookie jar (attempting to fix prices) - now the spin doctors are out and trying to put a respectable face on it - actually judging by some of the posts here, they appear to be succeeding.! Personally, I see their attitude towards the consumer in the same light as I see SAA - anti competitive and lacking in business ethics - I will never set foot in any of these shops again and I wouldnt blink an eye if they both closed. porky2009-03-14 14:08:39

Hmmmmm, Scotty, just watch your license money WORK FOR YOU.!

The WT chips were rubbish anyway, two of mine have fallen out of the holder and got lost, my wife has lost one and my mate one, so out of three people we have paid WT R200.00 for replacements which should never have fallen out in the first place.! Great business. I have had my Champion Chip for donkeys years, I run with it, cycle with it and its perfect. !!

I hear you Alida, but thats not the issue.!! The issue is everybody waiting has paid up front for a useless bit of plastic or a photcopy (depending on who you speak to) and personally I want mine - I paid for it and I expect it. It can be likened to walking into Pick & Pay for a TV and they say, "Pay us now, heres a reciept and we will sort of send your TV to a depot closest to you in due course, - you will have to go collect it.."? Oh, and if you maybe feel like watching TV in the interum, cos this can take three months, please take this reciept to any store and you can watch there for free, no problems."! How would you feel about that? Would you buy again from Pick and Pay, I doubt it, but they have competitors and look after their customers, unlike the CSA / MYRACE monopoly.

Haa,Haa, yeah, two EX team dopers nogal.!! I would like to be a fly on the wall when these three stooges get together to chat about "the old times".

Personally I think they should fire the engineer / programmer at MYRACE and hire a high school kid - would be a lot better.!

Point 1) - Increases are a compounding item, it starts at the top and compounds down the line - the LBS is just as at fault as any of the other men before him. In fact in my opinion is more at fault, as he adds probably the least value to the item. Point 2) Thats the first problem. If an Lbs ever wants to be taken seriously they need to start by employing professional people who actually know what they are doing and talking about, not the cheapest labour they can find,dressing them up in a nice shirt and name badge and letting them loose on an unsuspecting public! Point 3)Why not??? I am very happy with the service I recieve from my Motorbike service department, from the company who repaired my scuba regulator, from the organization who set my cars wheel alignment after I klapped a pothole, from the service department of my local refridgeration company................!! - but of course these are all professional people, perhaps the bike industry needs to up its game a bit.! porky2009-02-27 13:40:12

Its a Joke. I applied early Jan, my club verified it a week or so later, whilst I was away this week I recieved a garbled e-mail about BLANK SPACES and I need to add some particulars - WTF.!!!!! This is almost 60 days later.!!!!! Sent a reply to the Support @ etc - still waiting for a reply. Stuff it, I could care less, typical SA operation, take your money and deliver no service. Then have the audacity to expect no body must complain or utter a word.!

Thats very broad based Windbreaker, "inconsiderate" could be not wearing a light or riding 6 abreast, depending on your view. These are my personal two pet hates regarding cyclists, perhaps if everyone posts there personal gripe, it will be more specific. - e)If a motorist has to sit at a red light / stop street, so should the cyclist, it is immaterial if there is oncoming traffic or not. The light is red. Cyclists have this habit of just turning left or slowing down looking for cars and going through - not acceptable, motorists want to see you adhere to the rules too. f)Dont swarm all over intersections forcing your way to the front, friday morning on my way to Hartebeesport at an intersection about 20 cyclists swarmed all over the place. Motorists had to stop and wait for the cyclists to clear and go through, even though they were AHEAD of the cyclists in the que - wait in line like every other road user.!

Oi, if my kid looked like that due to the issues you suggest Pickles, I would be steaming,......... hair would fly and it wouldnt be my own.!! Absolutely no way, I am gonna be objective looking at my kid in that state. I hear you man, I really do.

I will take you up on that bet mate, after a week with my Audi in the Bruma Audi workshops for a water leak, I finally get it back. Now the aircon dosnt work and the coolent caution light stays illuminated. But never fear, I am told "bring it back" - as if my time is not important and I have all the time to run around after them.

Its been out for a few days now, cyclingnews is a bit slow off the bat, the bloggers have been chatting about it for a while - maybe cyclingnews was just waiting for further info. Hense the media in a tiz about Cancellera (who is also recently linked) and his hasty exit from the Tour of California.

Why would you want a boring caffeine strip when you can rather enjoy a coffee in a great setting, with your special other.? Seems a pretty pointless product to me.!

No, not everybody, just re-read my post, A SMALL BUNCH.!! Your negative attitude dos less, if a few cyclists stop at lights here and a few stop there, sooner or later, a few more will do the same, and so on and so on. To me, that means slowly, the message is getting through. Do you think the "big bucks" attitude will work better, I dont, change is slow and it begins with YOU and I. You can have the best most expensive education programme the world can buy, BUT if nobody listens or acts ...................Well, THAT means SQUAT.!! How do you think we got into this situation?? by been responsible and following the rules??? No Sir...............it was by a few ignoring the rules, then a few more, then a few more, then a few more................!! Now we need to reverse it, one step at a time.!