linnega

Who is Biancha and what does she do? What colour is that?linnega2008-10-16 04:25:31

Hagar, to fix the bearing problem, replace hub with something not made by Mavic.

You are absolutely right. The Hummer is the ugliest car ever made - that Toyota is probably second.

I was thinking about this post when the following situation arises. I am arriving at an intersection and plan to turn left. There is a car waiting at the red light, also wanting to turn left, and I approach him in the same lane. From about 200m away I can see the only car that could possibly get to the intersection before the light changes will get there a good 20-30s after me. So the options are: 1. Go around the car waiting in the lane to turn left and run the light, 2. Go around the car waiting and stop in front of him, wait for light to change, or 3. Wait behind the car on the left, knowing that there is a car approaching from behind that will then sandwich me between the two cars (there isn't enough space on the left of the stationary car). To me its an easy decision, option 1, is clearly the safest. No need to stop and unclip. No need to ensure that the revving idiot sees me before he wheelspins up my arse as I clip back in. Option 3 is a no-no. Waiting in queues of traffic is simply unsafe. The chances of someone not seeing you are far too high. Option 2 is possible, but it does me that I inconvenience both the driver of the waiting car and myself. So it is a case of be a good law-abiding citizen for no good reason or run the light. I ran the light. Had a cop stopped me I would have paid the fine and made the same choice the next day.

There is one very good reason for training and racing wheels. Your racing wheels get the good tyres and your training wheels get the former racing tyres (ie after 10 or so races retire them to the training wheels). That way you feel nothing riding your daily commute through urban glassland. Same reason I have two MTB wheelsets - one has knobblies on, the other has semi-slicks. Much easier to change wheels than tyres.

In Germany it's quite a debated about "responsibility" and being a role model. Pretty much all kids wear a helmut when cycling, parents when with them generally as well, more and more commuters also wear one. The recreational cyclist generally also wears his helmut. I think it's a good thing! But everyone's choice. It only confuses me when a helmut-wearing commuter crosses over a red traffic light. Perhaps we better not re-ignite that debate....

Neither of the two options sound particulalry appealing. East London can barely run a functioning wing of Fort Hare (ex-Rhodes) University. I can't imagine where they would find administrators capable of running a fully blown campus. Then again keeping a GP track really for old times sake is a bit silly. Can't see how that benefits the greater South African, Eastern Cape or East London community.

ok to make this statement true it would mean that i didnt have my best ride of my life on a set of borrowed wheels from my girlfriend they were a set of shimano Whr500 wheels (really cr@p in most peoples opinion) but have you actually ridden anything worse or anything better i posted a time of 2h02 minutes in the bela bela classic on a set of 1650ZAR wheels so seriously people its not about the components you use its all about eating right riding often enough and using the correct supplements for the right reasons another thing is people are waaaaay too serious about what bikes they ride well get this i ride a 10kg bianchi and i can still keep up with the elites on thier sponsored 6.8kg bikes upgrade when the parts break or really need repairing not because you think it will look good to ride a new bike everyday With the price of bicycle components these days I would buy the best I can afford purely from the point of quality and durability. I could also do a good time on a relatively cheap set of wheels' date=' but when you riding day in and day out on the same set of wheels they won't last very long. The same goes for the gruppo. The only place I would skimp is on the frame as their is no wear and tear on it like the gruppo for example.[/quote'] I'm afraid that's just garbage. Components do not become more durable as they get more expensive, just lighter. 105/Veloce/LX/X7 will usually be the most durable. As for wheels - 32/36 spoked wheels with a decent rim and 105/LX/Veloce or better hub will last the longest and provide probably the best bang for your buck. That all said, a bike you like is a bike you'll ride. So get what you like because you should spend a lot of time riding it.

HARD 1st 60km is uphill No real hills to talk of. A couple gentle climbs in the first 11km, then Inchanga, followed by a few short, sharp bumps between Drummond and the Hillcrest offramp on the M13. After that its all downhill through to Suncoast (unless you count the N3 onramp and Tollgate as hills). The real hills will be on Saturday in and around Giba Gorge. don't worry about being droped from VA. VB, then VC, then VD etc will all approach from behind. Just stay out of their way but in their slip and all will be fine.linnega2008-10-14 07:22:07

Exactly ...... thank you! I don't know why they don't all just use a system like they do at motorcycle track days... photo's get taken, put on web, and if you want one, mail them proof of payment and they send you originals... In principle the perfect solution except for the poor photographer that gets no orders. At this year's Greytown race, there were so few orders they just sent out an email saying if you want electronic copies of the pcis just email your number they sent them for free.

Interestingly with a 22-32-42 and 12-34 cassette, there are 15 useable gear combinations that are not duplicated. As mentioned above 6 of the 9 options with the 22 are duplicated elsewhere, but worse is that 5 combos are duplicated with the 32 chainrings as well. With a 29/44 chainring, and the same cassette you get 16 useable gear ratios and the increments in the middle of the cassette are small if you are happy to jump from big blade to small blade to achieve the smaller gear ratio changes. My calcs below using the late Sheldon Brown's gain ratio to measure gearing: Useable options 29/44Useable options 22/32/42Redundant combos 22/32/4234x29 1.6 34x22 1.2 30x29 1.8 13%30x22 1.4 17%26x29 2.1 17%26x22 1.6 14%23x29 2.4 14%34x32 1.8 13%23x22 1.8 20x29 2.7 13%30x32 2.0 11%20x22 2.1 30x44 2.8 4%26x32 2.3 15%18x22 2.3 18x29 3.0 7%30x42 2.6 13%16x22 2.6 23x32 2.6 26x44 3.2 7%26x42 3.0 15%14x22 3.0 20x32 3.0 16x29 3.4 6%23x42 3.4 13%34x22 3.5 18x32 3.4 23x44 3.6 6%16x32 3.8 12%14x29 3.9 8%20x42 4.0 5%20x44 4.2 8%18x42 4.4 10%14x32 4.3 18x44 4.6 10%16x42 5.0 14%12x32 5.0 16x44 5.2 13%14x42 5.7 14%14x44 5.9 13%12x42 6.6 16%12x44 6.9 17%>linnega2008-10-14 04:02:16

It is an interesting question. Looking a the GI (gear-inches) on a standard 22-32-42 setup, all combinations from 22x12- through 22x23 are redundant, as they have almost identical GI to other combinations using your 32/42. My concerns would be that there are some fairly large gaps particularly around the granny gear combos (29x23 to 29x34) and a granny gear, as mentioned earlier, limited to the equivalent of 22x26. I would investigate it further if I didn't feel I needed a super granny gear for the really steep stuff, but am tempted by the simplicity of two chainrings.

Actually its like wearing a helmet when you drive a car - which you don't do despite the fact that the chance of you being involved in a serious car accident is higher than a serious bike accident, and a helmet is more likely to provide some level of protection in a car than on a bicycle. If I thought promoting the use of helmets was the right thing to do, I would.

Perhaps, like millions around the world, he simply chooses not to wear a helmet. Or perhaps he knows that his chance of falling are extremely low, his chances of hitting his head are a fraction of that (and even lower because he is not wearing a helmet) and should all these eventualities come to pass, the chances of his helmet providing adequate protection is a fraction of that fraction.

I enjoyed the sarcasm in the Cyclingnews report where Holczer was pretty confident that his "cheering" team had only one CERA user.

H - I run tubes on my MTB wheels with the slicks and find I have no real issues. Have slime in the tubes and that seems enough to stave off punctures. Only had one in 2 years but it was pretty messy. Off-road had endless problems with tubes. Not really sure why, just had many punctures and slow punctures. Tubeless removes that problem. Only had one issue with the rim tape (Joe's) which split after about 2 years of use. The problem didn't manifest while I was riding, but after a few rides where I would ride fine one day and then come to put on my knobblies only to find the tyre was flat. A quick pump would solve the problem, but when I checked I found the rim tape split from one rim wall to the other. When I get around to it I will replace with tubeless again.

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/category/components/wheel-sets/product/pro-carbon-31468 CyclingPlus usually has good reviews of the Planet-X kit, and their wheels in particular. linnega2008-10-12 11:50:28

?which looks a bit like my butt I wouldn't waste toilet paper on his face.

I imagine that would be your primary problem. Top end kit is expensive and not particularly durable with a few exceptions (XTR hubs for example). Wear and tear stuff like chains and cassettes, stick to LX or the SRAM equivalent, or a decent aftermarket brand. Will last longer and is cheaper. Just because you X-0 RD, doesn't mean you need high end cassettes and chains.

Sean, I have to agree with Porky on this one. The method that someone chooses to complain is entirely their business. He probably won't go back to the shop in any case, so making the effort to complain directly to McLean would not serve his interests, although it would obviously help in managing the shop better. I believe this is endemic in retail in this country, not limited to the cycling industry. What we need are more retailers welcoming any feedback. My recommendation would be to PM "steynja" and take some action to remedy the situation, even if that is only in the form of an apology.