porky

Hmm, I always say, "Anyone (person or Company) can have an issue, its how the issue gets RESOLVED that is the deciding factor. Usually, the straight forward truth is all thats required.

Just watch your license fees work for you!

I think it will just add value to your shop and people can be sure that they get qualified work for their R500+. http://www.bikeschool.com/ Yes, I agree, I wonder how many bike mechanics here can repair / rebuild / weld / braze a frame. Anyone can learn to set the gears, but rebuilding a frame, wheel etc is where the "quality" differance will come into play.

Personally, I dont believe the sponsor has anything to do with it at this stage. Its a bit like saying, - Call Toyota and complain, because theres a convoy of idiots, all driving Corolla"s crawling at 40kms in the fast lane of the N3 and holding up the traffic.! Would it not be best to lay blame where it belongs - On the cyclists themselves and the club chairman. My feeling is, send a strongly worded e-mail / letter to the club chairman explaining the situation and suggesting he diciplines his members. Make a note in finalization to say that should he choose to do nothing, you will take the matter to the media, the local traffic dept and as a last resort "then" to the sponsors.

I dont know, Gianni, Kiwi, EVERYBODY says that until the worst happens to them. Then "O boy" they just want to sue, and wheres the nearest court. Know any good lawyers, this happened to me, sloppy, repair job, salesman didnt tell me this could happen if I twisted it like that and I fell and broke a leg, - GET ME AN ATTORNEY!! I think there needs to be accountability down the supply chain. If theres no accountability there will be sloppy service and poor workmanship, simply because they know they cant be held to task. An instruction manual is not good enough, the retailer really has the final responsibility to make customers aware of potential dangers. Riding a bicycle can be dangerous, so I dont see any problem in the retailer saying, Okay, before you leave the shop, this is how you change a wheel, If you dont fasten the skewer this is what CAN happen. This is your front brake, this is the rear, this lever is for the front and this one for the rear derailuer Your tyre pressure is "xyz". Please check your bike to see if the seat post and the bars are secure. When you buy a tube make sure its a long stem valve cos you got deep section rims. Now do a little lap down the road and see if its all okay. - Okay, are you happy?, Please just sign here that you understand the basics of how things work. Whats wrong with that.? I wouldnt be offended, actually I would feel a lot happier that I left with a basic knowledge of the bike. Every shop I have ever been to is so busy trying to sell you a set up and move your seat .05 mm up or down, they forget that some people may not even know the basics. The very basic, basics.!! porky2008-05-19 11:32:27

It always amazes me the length people will go to try and disprove something. Why? Most non-believers have a very firm grasp of religion because they spend an inordinate amount of time trying to disprove it. You question faith, but you took a huge leap of faith when you went to bed last night, because in your heart, you believed you would wake up this morning, you didnt know,.... you just took it for granted, you had faith.! When I marvel at the miracle of life, the wonder of birth, when I hold a new born baby in my arms, when I see a mothers love for her infant, when I hear the tinkle of a childs laughter, when I sit alone at night and listen to the rolling thunder, when I feel the sun on my face and the warm sand beneath my feet, when I awake at night and look out at the glittering stars, when I watch the ocean and the birds flying eastward,....... I lift my eyes, and I see the face of my God.!! Thats all I need to believe. porky2008-05-11 02:24:54

ChrisH, you have a right to what you believe, I will never try and change you and I will never bother getting worked up about posts, which in reality, go against everything I believe in.I have stronger faith than that. Any verse can be convoluted and twisted to suit a particular purpose, its not difficult but who cares, for those of us with faith, it irrelevant, we all have a right to believe what we like because its a God given gift and its called "Free Will." However explain this away - you will know the setting - Christ said to Thomas "You believe, because you have seen, Blessed are those who believe, but have NOT seen.!

Dang, and I MISSED the post.!

Quie impressive from an inventors point of view, but I dont think Harley, Honda and the like are having sleepless nights just yet.!

Hmm, G.i.p may have a point. A bike is hugely volumetric (in other words you pay for the size of the parcel and not the actual weight) which means you pay to ship a lot of "air". There are a lot of companies who will do this for you, depending on your time frame Ocean freight will be cheapest but could take 6-8 weeks, if thats too long, you need to airfreight it over. Get a company who will do everything for you, such as clear SA customs and clear customs into the UK as well - you can do it yourself, but its a huge headache. You can save a bit of money by sending the bike airport to airport (ie) you take the bike already packaged to the forwarder here and your daughter fetches it at the forwarders airport office in London - door to door delivery is expensive.! I would suggest calling a big forwarder like UTI FREIGHT FORWARDERS, ZA TRANS (a DIVISION OF BARLOWORLD) EAGLE FREIGHT, or even DHL who can be and usually are a tad more expensive, but they are very quick and do everything, if they cant help, I am fairly sure they will be able to suggest someone who can.

Obviously Patxi has learnt nothing from Landis, how many more times must Landis repeat himself, mixing whiskey and beer will get you nabbed for elevated Testosterone.??!

Aaaargh, get with the programme, what is this "an agony aunts page?" Whats everybody so protective about, go onto any motoring site and see how motorists trash their local service station, the manufacturer and the guy who vacuumed his car, get onto any boating site and see how boaters trash the local shop, manufacturer,engine fitter, whatever, go to a shooting club site and weep, take the time and search out some cycling blogs and then you will know whats "trashing" - this is the 21st century, step up to the plate or fall off - thats life, get used to it.!!! The way some of you carry on one would swear you have cyclelab staff over for dinner and a social drink every friday just cos they serviced your bike well, you PAID for the service, "grow up man", who the hell gives a damn anyway, if you shop there carry on, if you dont, who cares, but lets cut all this self rightous bulls**t - its irritating!! porky2008-05-01 06:32:35

I lived in the USA for a while and cyclists were treated with the utmost respect - I've been part of bunches where traffic were backed for about 500 meters and motorists were patient. Even when we rode single file motorists would not pass unless there was no oncoming traffic - I know we've got a long we to go in this country' date=' but we can all be part of the process, showing more tolerance and use Brakes instead of Hooters. Red light crossing is a sensitive point and big bunches should definately have a Chief in charge that orders everyone to stop. Small bunches can proceed provided it's safe - my 2 cents [/quote'] ...................and why is that??? Ill tell you why..................because cyclists treat the motorist with respect.!! Its very simple, and its a two way street,......... if you jump lights and stop streets, ride all across the road, show the finger, make rude signs, swear, and generally behave as if you own the road.....................you will get NO respect in return. Sadly that how cyclists got a bad name in the FIRST PLACE, and now its up to the cyclists to show they have changed - not the other way round. .....anyway its all been discussed before, there are people here on the board who have openly said they jump lights and stop streets etc and they wont change - so now I ask , why should the motorist??

I just saw another update on his condition now .............. Throughout the night the docs have been keeping a close eye on Timmy. He has been awake a bit, and his short term memory is coming back slowly. Apparently, he kept waking up and asking how he crashed during his ski race, its been six or seven years since his last ski race? This morning he is going to have another neurological exam, followed by another cat scan. Then he is going to have an orthopedic consult regarding his broken clavicle and scapula. His wife Loren and parents Duane and Debbie are with him in the hospital standing by him.

Tour of Georgia, which left Duggan from Slipstream with a serious head injury. This is all that was left of the frame of Corey Colliers? bicycle after a high-speed pileup about 40 miles into Stage 3 of the Tour de Georgia on Wednesday. Colliers, of Health Net-Maxxis, was one of three riders in the crash, on a fast downhill going onto a bridge over the Broad River. Colliers and Ben Day of Toyota-United returned to the peloton, but Timmy Duggan of Slipstream-Chipotle left via ambulance and was hospitalized with what?s been called a ?pretty severe concussion,? as well as a broken clavical and scapula. He?s sedated and in stable condition at a hospital in Athens, Ga. PS - Maybe in hindsight I should have posted it under Internationl cycling, but ............................well you know how it is!! porky2008-04-24 13:01:44

A company that sticks EXACTLY to the words of the warranty needs to do some customer relationship courses. Warranties like this are written to protect the manufacturer from 2nd source product warranty claims (ie) Topeak dos not manufacture batteries or globes or in this case obviously starters, so they exclude it from their warranty on paper - HOWEVER any manufacturer worth their salt WILL replace these items if faulty (its plain customer service, why must you be out of pocket because you dont know who to call or contact to replace a faulty bulb for instance) they in turn simply claim them back from the second source - it seems like the distributor here is just hiding behind the warranty as they obviously cant or dont know how to fix the issue. Personally I think you have every reason to be disgrunteled, a light that costs 4k is not your average chain store product and you deserve better treatment a better attitude from the ditributor and an offer of an exchange at least.

Sorry But I must have missed the post - What calender?

I'll rent you one of my size 58 or so bikes for about 2000 rand for those 20 days. Alternatives fly BA ticket prices comparable to other but you are allowed one bike+ 23 kg bag and handluggage(only size no weight limit) I flew to SA in sept with my road bike my full suspension MTB and quite some clothes cost he like eur 850 two ways that is. Thats odd, I flew BA in Feb to New York (30kgs allowable weight) and return I was fOUR days in London on business, on departure BA charged me 140 pounds overweight 7 kgs (20 pounds per kilo) they stressed allowable weight was 20 kgs not 23!! - I tried to explain that I was enroute from USA where the weight allowed was 30 kgs etc - not interested - they maintained I broke the journey so was liable for the baggage excess, 140 pounds (approx R2300.00) PLEASE SIR.! Be carefull with overweights, or be prepared to pay.

Hiring anything in Europe is hugely expensive in SA rands. You have to ask yourself what do you want to do with the bike, is it for training or touring or just in case you feel like riding? Personally, when I travel, (which is frequently) I just toss in a pair of running shoes and my Garmin, works just fine for me. Bikes are too big and cumbersome to lug around in busy airports, getting a taxi is going to be a nightmare, small European cars wernt designed for bikes and hotel rooms are so small you can barely fit yourself let alone a bike. My suggestion, leave the bike at home and take your "trainers" quick, light, easy and you can run in any crowded city without problems. porky2008-04-12 08:49:44

Well,..... "thank you" guys.!

...............I was trotting on the opposite side of the road (facing oncoming traffic) as us runners are "wont" to do, it was still quite early about 6.30am or so when ahead I saw a lone cyclist coming towards me, and bearing down on her was a massive truck, one of those double trailer types, it passed here with just a hairs breadth between her and the 36 wheels (although there was absolutely no oncoming traffic) and when it had passed she was in the dirt. She was still upright, and hadnt fallen, but the forces of the truck just blew her right off the road, I trotted over to see if she was okay, and as I got there I could see she was in a terrible state, she had obviously got a tremendous fright and was hyperventilating badly and then she just burst into tears. I didnt really know what to do I must say, so I just rested a hand on her back and tried to calm her down, eventually I asked if I could call someone and she gave me the number of her boyfriend or husband, I dont know, who believe it or not, was off on a testosterone fuelled ride of his own somewhere way down the road. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I called him up said he needs to come back (which took him I would guess at least 8-10 minutes) so thats how far away he was, in his defense he was very thankfull and I said my goodbyes and trotted off. Luckily, nobody got hurt, but I learnt a few things, firstly I doubt the young lady will ever ride again, she got a terrible fright and you dont forget that kind of experience easily, secondly dont leave your wife / girlfriend alone while you go play the wannabee pro, it s not impressing her and it could easily be disasterous, thirdly, be aware of these big trucks, and forthly, I was the only person who stopped to help, WHY IS THAT?? - are we so uncaring of others now, that our own little world is all we live in - thats a terribly unpleasant thought.!