linnega

My guess is they should be flush and there should be no "wiggle". I have always pushed the forks steerer tube as tightly as possible into the headtube and made sure there is no play before tightening the star nut. Seems to work fine - ie no play and no problems on either the MTB or the road bike.

mmm...much like the question yesterday about what people "have against" LA.

Haven't seen Lonestar for a while

I'm with Kona, your heart is going to explode.... Seriously though, your max heart rate is best determined while out riding. Your heart could beat faster than any maximum, but your brain only allows it to beat at a certain speed. When it gets to that point, you will not get enough oxygen carried to your muscles so you won't be able to continue at the same pace, and your HR will drop. My max HR is around 202/3 these days, so I use 200 as it is easy to calculate 80% of 200 or 95% of 200 (!). If my HR max was 187 as per the calcs then I would have had an average of more than my maximum for the first climb of Sunday's KZN Expedition!

The answer to your question on number of cogs is that enough is never enough. I assure you I was overjoyed when I moved from my ten-speed setup to 12-speed. I am of course referring to the total gear options given that the best you could get at the time was 6 cogs on the rear cassette. That was enough - in fact 5 at the back was enough. As for the incremental differences between groupsets, once you get to 105 or Veloce or any SRAM the quality increments from there are very small. The massive amounts of money you pay are for lighter kit and maybe newer (although not always better) technology. Wheels is another area where huge amounts of money are spent for incredibly small benefits. A standard 32 spoked wheel with decent box rims will perform almost on a par with your R20k carbon clinchers. In fact, a handmade wheel with a top quality hub will certainly be more reliable and durable than your R20k wheels, so if you factor those into your measure of performance, then the handmades are better.

We have this one in a weeks time: www.charitycycle.org Nice social event with one of the P's who is quite entertaining when he isn't talking about LA.

True...walked into a testing station in Mississippi to find out when I could do the test...they said how about right now? Did the test (written and practical)' date=' had my photo taken and the license issued, all in under an hour.[/quote'] And they'll give you an ID card if you want to carry two cards around. The guy in Dallas couldn't understand why you would need to have a separate ID card/book when you already had a drivers license. The problem with the system is the usual problem with systems. Users are incompetent and were poorly trained. I got my automated renewal of drivers license letter from eNatis and went in with what was required, only to find that our local traffic department wanted a few other things and an extra photo. When I told them that the requirements per the eNatis form were different they just shrugged and told me they didn't send me the form so it didn't apply. He also wouldn't let me use the pre-completed form that I had printed from the KZN Traffic department website ("because I need a green form"). The guy there must be used to being called names because I called him a f*&%ing incompentent moron and he didn't even flinch. Perhaps he didn't understand....

@ Nellie Guys if you really need a pic, just look at his profile, then google his name and "voila" as they say in the land that will kill LA.

Much better than last year. I did get a "license declined" message from Carinus, which had me thinking not again. Turns out it was just Carinus pulling my leg. I am assuming the plastic thingy will arrive sometime before Jan09.

Hagar is probably spot-on. The bike you buy has more to do with what you want and can afford (the intersection between the two). It has nothing to do with cycling ability. Nice bikes are nicer to ride, might feel faster etc. But at the end of the day a good bike is a good bike whether it cost R5k or R105k.

You can try getting hold of Wally Bodin (google for his email - not sure what is current) or Craig Proctor-Parker from www.accidentspecialist.co.za (craig@accidentspecialist.co.za). They have organised similar protests in KZN.

Nothing wrong with the Shimano wheels. Well priced and reliable. If you are looking for a carbon bike in the 15k range then have a look at Kiwi's Planet X bikes. With a set of his bottom end wheels, you'll be paying nearly R16k with full 105 groupset. Otherwise give TokenFreak a PM and look at his generic options. You'll also pay about the same for a similar Silverback or Raleigh. Otherwise get second hand.

The National Credit Act only came about because consumers make poor decisions left to their own devices. Banks and stores generally didin't provide reckless credit - they would never extend credit if they thought they could never recover the money - but they did overextend consumers. As a result, some of the bigger retailers are having to write off 15-20% of their book. What happened in the USA is different to what happens here. A much larger proportion can safely secure credit against there income (as opposed to assets). The problem was that US banks misjudged that level of income, and when it slowed had to turn to assets to recover their monies and the assets were nowhere close to covering the debt. As a result many banks are teetering on the edge and some have shut down. That all said, the driving force is the insatible appetite of the consumer to consume. Look at the guys on this forum. Many of you have wheels worth more than my bike and drive luxury cars, go on expensive holidays. Most of this is funded by debt. If you focussed on ensuring that the only debt you have is your bond and perhaps a car, then you could never be over your head in debt no matter the fluctuation in interest rates. Still, I encourage you to spend, spend, spend - it just means a bigger bonus for me after Christmas.

I see no mention of world peace! World peace is reserved for the winner.

I've never been a big gel fan. They seem to work sometimes, but other times not, so I tend to believe there is a bit of placebo effect in their effectiveness. Bombs are good, but learn how to use one first. Like the others have said, don't hold the metal directly. I just got a new minipump (with a hose - just like the old days), so I'm carrying a pump with me these days. Gets the tyre up to 80psi which is good enough.

That is not how I remember it. What do you base this on? Memory

JB did show a road bike in that particular episode but did not specifically mention MTB's with discs. The following week he categorically stated that his recommendation for removing the lawyers lips should bot be done on bikes with disc brakes.

Why do you need the receipt in any case? Surely the S/N is easy to trace at the wholesaler. Those thieves keep a record of every serial number of every item they sell, to avoid mistakenly sorting out warranty claims on parallel imports.

I got married on the day of a Currie Cup final. In fact, my team was playing and playing at home. The minister was invited to the reception but declined because he had box tickets. 11/9/1999. Sure something else happened on that date a few years later....

I've been listening to Metallica's Death Magnetic since I got hold of it. Mostly at work as that is the only time I'm sitting for any length of time(riding my bike in traffic with an iPod is a no-no). Also been listening to the Parlotones, Suzanne Vega, Sisters of Mercy, Madness, REM and Queen.

As always, I enjoyed the ride. Still my favourite road race. Did a reasonably comfortable 3:15 after spending nearly 4 hours on the singletrack around Giba on Saturday. Highly recommend the double - perhaps with a few more riders at the MTB race I will actually see other riders the last 2 hours.