linnega

Sad that bells are seen so negatively. Always better to let people know you are behind them. Just because you ring the bell doesn't mean you are expecting people to dive for cover on the trail/road.

You can use those snap-on pacing charts as an indication of pace, or the watch as a stopwatch only. Honestly, most of the other functions are pretty useless during Comrades especially when "one foot in front of the other" becomes a mantra. The best alternative though would be to borrow a watch with a 12 hour battery for the day.

Very sad news indeed. Barry and I never met face to face, but we had many discussions on this forum, publicly and privately. Condolences to his family. May he rest in peace.

Hey Matt. Glad to see the numbers - do we have any longer standing "Hubbers" with their original username still (vaguely) active in the (bike)hub than me? Just curious.

Awesome guys. Hope Garmin paid a pretty penny for the tech and all the hard work over the past few years.

Give Mountain Splendour a shout (http://www.mountainsplendour.co.za/). They have a decent 10km trail (not awesome, just okay) and bike hire. They may be able to advise of other trail options.

Thanks guys for a great event. Been watching (and riding) the trails as they got built and sorted out over the past few months. A lot of effort from all involved, but I know you guys enjoy the build up as much as the event. End results - fantastic trails. All five were great. Would have preferred stage 3 to include the cliff path rather than rattlesnake, but I know it would have added a lot more pedalling. Other than that all route options were great. The "choose your order" was very beneficial as it meant not having to wait for more than 3 or 4 people before hitting the trail, so we were done by 11h30 without riding hard on any of the hills.

I can't believe there is still so much debate about this (but maybe because I've be saying what has now been proven conclusively for years). The facts are pretty simple: USADA is allowed to sanction a rider based on any form of evidence. Positive tests are most common, but the rules do not restrict judgement to positive tests only and never have. Witness testimony is corraoborated by other witnesses and by payments made and by tests performed. The tests were not procedurally accurate, but there is no reason to question their scientific validity. USADA only has to prove on balance of probabilities, but my personal opinion is that the evidence they have accumulated would hold up against a "beyond reasonable doubt" criteria as the circumstantial evidence is substantially corroborated in multiple ways. The argument about statute of limitations is invalid as it may be set aside in a case where there is evidence that the cyclist attempted to hide doping practices. There is evidence that doping was hidden by avoiding tests, using saline solutions, bullying witnesses, bribing the UCI so statute of limitations does not apply. It is clear to me that Armstrong has resorted to the last chance he has and that is to not contest a battle that he cannot win. That is why we don't have any cross examination. The speeding analogy is also not meaningful. In this case a more realistic analogy is someone that got pinged for reckless driving based on the fact that he overtook a monitored police vehicle that was travelling at 180kph and the GPS readings on the defendant's car showed he travelled the last 3km prior to the incident in under a minute (ie greater than 180kph), and 12 other witnesses and the 3 passengers corroborated that the car was driving excessively fast in the case of the 12 and the 3 passengers confirm the speedometer read 180kph. That would be a similar story to the LA story. A photo of the speeding vehicle would be irrelevant in that case.

Knew there was a good reason to have a read of the Hub today...

I understand that is the opinion you have. However, I can assure you that is by no means general consensus - most customers of any business will happily use forums, twitter, hellopeter etc to resolve grievances. And they should be able to as it gets results for them. This particular case is an excellent example where there is no harm done to either party. The customer gets more than expected and the retailer gets the opportunity to delight his customer and develop another brand ambassador.

If I were Chris snr, I would be pretty happy that the post came through. He did the right thing - made amends and took it off-line for a frank discussion. Perfect opportunity to impress a customer that had not received great service and an opportunity to let everyone else know the way he operates. No problem with either the OP or Chris' response. Little concerned that some feel the need to defend a bike shop to the death despite the complaint being valid and explained in a very rational way. Covie - in this world of online presence and immediate access to an audience, it is irresponsible to think that customers will only talk about you directly to you. If you want to be party to resolving a compliant you need to address the customer where they make the complaint. There is no rule of thumb other than the adage that the customer is always right and deserved to be served.

Doesn't look like there was a problem in any of the pictures. Assume its not too busy a road as there are never any motorised vehicles in sight - just pedal powered vehicles. Like the others have said, there is no cycle lane and riding in the yellow line is both illegal and dangerous. Secondly, there is a general rule that requires all vehicles ride single file, except bicycles that may ride two abreast when overtaking another bicycle. You, in your car, are required to change lanes to overtake any cyclists even when they are single file. Those are the rules - dumbass.

Oh - and use Google translate to get to grips with the language. If you don't have an Android phone, why not?

Rent or just buy something cheap from Decathlon.

My expectation was that the 29er would be more clumsy around the tight corners than my Anthem and I found the opposite. The first tight corners I did (in the Christmas race in Illovo) I turned too quickly having to correct. This may be because a hardtail is more direct and a transfer of weight has a more direct impact on cornering. I will do a couple of runs up the switchbacks at Giba and see if I have the same result there.

Can't see it ever taking off in in Durban....

While 7 pages of he says, I says might be interesting, the only meaningful comment I've seen so far is that there doesn't seem to be enough of a difference to change to 29ers. That said, I've just changed to a 29er HT (On-One Scandal) from a 26" dual sus (Giant Anthem). My reasoning was simple - I hate rocks and even if for only placebo, a 29er made sense. Being 6'3" also means a 29er should be good for me. I was concerned about a lack of comfort in going back to a HT, but there seemed to be some evidence that the geometry on the Scandal was at least going to be comfortable enough. I am no race snake, but I do ride around middle of the pack in most races and have been known to spend over 12 hours on a bike so I'm not totally useless. I found the Scandal to be lighter, easier to climb with on any type of hill, and easier to roll through and over the rocky stuff. Still don't love rocks but I definitely have more confidence. What I found surprising was that none of the technical stuff felt any easier on the Anthem and tight corners are in fact easier on the Scandal. This was a big surprise as I expected it to be difficult to squeeze around the tight corners. Finally, on the comfort front, the jury is still out. Both races I have done were only 40km but on rough and difficult terrain. I felt better, especially in my lower back, riding the Scandal, but during the rides the bumpy sections seemed to be harder on the body. Whether that will be a problem in rides up to 100km I'm not sure, but I'll only find that out in a couple years. So for me the Scandal was an excellent choice and it was good on my pocket too.

101SCC - have you ever considered that perhaps you are speaking to the wrong people with regards to your business model. Your idea relies on an extensive store network, more than anything else. Convincing around 250 independent retailers (about the footprint you would need) would be difficult. Perhaps you would be better off approaching retailers rather than LBS's that have a better concept of the idea that service is more about having the customer's product in stock when they want their product than about "knowledge". It worked very successfully in the UK with BikeHut through Halfords, and through Decathlon with their "Pro" cycling section.

All sounds too complicated these days. Where do I find road racing seedings?

You can service the bearings yourself, but the manufacturers don't recommend it. The simplest option is to buy new SLX/XT bottom bracket cups - probably also work out the cheapest in the long run.

and the fork on the Raleigh is better.

I don't think the disbelieve is necessarily in the science, just the magnitude of the difference. A bike with lighter wheels is easier to accelerate may be a fact, and losing 100g at the rim is like losing 200g in the water bottle may also be a fact (I made up the number but you get the principle). However, if it only makes a difference of 0.002% to acceleration (instead of 0.001%), it is a lot of calculating that has absolutely no value. That said, good looking wheels accelerate faster because they look lighter, which makes them feel lighter in your head, which makes them lighter in your perceived reality, and that is a fact. And Mampara - in what world are Mavic's XC-specific, extra-thin rims (XC717's) anchors?

http://www.good-2-go.co.za/ They are in Pinetown

This is why I use my Garmin Forerunner 305. GPS always gives me my distance wherever I ride or run, and obviously elapsed time. Also very easy to swap between bikes or my wrist. Occasionally I use my HR strap but not often. Easy to download and analyse to my hearts content in either SportsTracks or Garmin Connect. You can pick one up these days for less than R1500.

JD Bug is great for kids that have low muscle tone as it forces them to balance and strengthen their core. My 5 year old still uses his, although his younger brother is officially the own now and has been using it since he was a little over 2 years old. Training wheels or even the plastic scooters have the same problem in that the kids don't need to learn to balance. Rather they balance on a JD Bug than learn to pedal poorly on a bike with training wheels.