amateur

Can't we make Northern Farm please. I don't want to break the bike just yet!

This time I had Northcliff cycles adjust the brakes for me, I pay them which means they can't give me lip about it, I get what I ask for!!! But note we have had the discussion about wearing out the rotor if you only brake at the back .... blah blah blah

And I forgot these photo's. The one has a different bottle cage on, but we settled with the black one as in the other photo's. And the bike weighs in at about 10.2kg's, like I said not the lightest, but it's built to be strong not light, even though it is an improvement on my previous bike as that is about 5kg's heavier than this one!!

but then it wouldn't match my Thompson seat post

vaulter1 - not sure haven't weighed it yet! But I know it's not the lightest! WW - HIM darling HIM, I don't ride girls We have gotten him dirty twice already, last at the mine dumps ride and I don't think anything could have been dirtier than that! But we were still waiting for parts!

My new mtb, finally all the bits and pieces arrived and were fitted and now the bike is complete! Thanks to Zaskar for all the help and everything you've done , then to Scratch (for selling me this beauty of a frame and other bits), and to Cruxpearl for his help with the groupset! Oh and I forgot, thanks to the guys at Coolheat for sorting out the pedals for me!!! SO here are the pics (sorry there are a few) for your viewing pleasure! amateur2008-11-03 06:35:06

I am on agteros' side in this case. As a noob you don't know anything, you trust that the guys at the shop will sell you the right equipment at the time, if he bought the spare tube seperately from when buying the bike I can say fine, but come on the guy at the shop knew which tubes where on the bike and should've given him the correct one. Even after getting home and checking everything Agteros would probably not have known the difference still, I know I wouldn't have and trust me the last bloody thing I would've checked would be the little valve thingy on the pump, hell I only found that out after 6 months of cycling! You guys are quick to judge and flame the guy but put yourselves in his position as a new cyclist, his LBS should've adviced him when they saw he was a new cyclist and more importantly sold him the correct equipment. I have been cycling for 4 years and still learn something new everyday. Agteros - I stay in the area as well and have tried that shop many times, have never received helpfull advice or good service and their prices on items I have wanted have always been far more than other shops. On ocasion I even knew more than the guy helping me, which if you ask most who know me is scary!!!, just do yourself a favour and go to either Northcliff or Linden moving forward, you will be looked after better there. Also a bit of advice, when going to any shop, tell them you are new to the sport and ask them about the equipment you want to purchase, that makes this sport even more fun, finding out how every thing works etc! Good luck with the journey and don't let this bad experience put you off. my 2c

This was in our complex news letter than I received an hour ago: ONE OF OUR RESIDENTS WAS DRAGGED OUT OF HIS CAR AND BRUTALLY BEATEN WITH A BRICK AT 2.30PM ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE TOP OF DWARS STREET / CNR HEUWEL. <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> The Modus operandi is as follows: a car was waiting in the Heuwel cul-de-sac at the top of Dwars street. It was a small white vehicle. The Victim was too busy trying to defend himself to get the make of the car. The occupants were two males, and there was one male on the corner of Dwars and Tin. The Victim drove up the road to go to the shops, on returning and turning into Dwars, the "Spotter" on the corner of Tin and Dwars signalled to his "buddies" in the car. The car pulled out at great speed blocking off the whole of Dwars street, so that the victim could not go anywhere. He was then dragged out of the car, brutally beaten with a brick, (none of the surrounding residents heard a thing!!!). This gentleman is 66 years old, but he fought back. Not always the wisest thing to do, but he did, and when he was pushed onto the ground and the beating continued he started kicking. They then ran away, leaving him there with the keys still in the car and the engine running. THIS TIME HE WAS LUCKY.!!!

Best of luck with the recovery!!!

it looked like a 1000 cows was slaughtered in there, scary stuff!!!

MMM as you can see from most of the pics and going back to Holly's explination :'It's mostly flat" Thuggy's picture does not do justice to the amount of mudd there was, my bike looked 10 times worse, My front deraileur (spelling?) was so cacked up with mud, I couldn't shoft it at all, until I managed to wash some of it off in that river.

Hi guys Thanks for the ride yesterday. I still can't decide if I actualy had fun and enjoyed it or if I didn't. I think if there were less mud I would have enojoyed it more. But the mud was so thick that firstly trying to keep my bike upright was a mission as it kept slipping and sliding out from under me, well on the sections that I could ride anyway. then secondly the mud was so bad that I could not clip into my pedals from about 5 km's in, which also means I couldn't pull on the pedals and could only push. Now having done a hard climbing training session and a spinathon on Saturday, this absolutely destroyed my legs and by half way I started to bitch and moan because I was tired, and there was no relief in the mud as it got thicker which means more hard pedalling. So I apologise to those at the back who had to listen to my sense of humour failure In terms of technicality It was definitley challenging for me at times, I attempted to do some of it, like doing the one sandy downhill and the train tracks, but the rest the guys gave me enough warning to get off in time, thanks!!!! I am still contemplating if I'll do it again, maybe I will but defnitely not if it rained the night before again. The mud there is rediculous, it took us 4 and a half ours to ride (Walk) 35km's, madness. And my legs are still so tired that I can feel them throb as I sit here and typre this! OUCH!!!!! Nice meeting some new faces on the hub!!! TNT sorry you had to cut it short. Thanks again HR ..... I think!

he he he I don't own riding baggies either. I do however own a helmet with a peak, it's a raleigh one that I bought at Dion's for R60, does that count??? He most definitely won't win the stuffed sausage look compitition, but neither will Holy or Thug. I could compete though

Just stay about 50m behind me' date=' when you see a dust cloud and/or hear a lot of swearing you'll know it's time to eject! [/quote'] thanks Hog, but what happens if you actualy get through the obsticle, then I'm done for, as I'll be cycling along merily and then next miniute I'll be causing the dust cloud. The pictures at the last ride seemed nice and flat and jeep track type routes not a technical ride, that's why I said I'll join in. mmmhh If I want to ride and do things that are going to make me fall, I'd make sure I go do those where there are no witness', look at poor wonder woman and Rad006, they have been ragged to death. Or do you people have some sick kind of way of just trying to find someone new to laugh at for a change?

With alot of help from Zaskar I have built up a nice Cannondale MTB, but I am still waiting for some final parts that should arrive this week. That is why I haven't done the traditional unveiling of the bike on the hub as yet. I did take it out for a test ride on Saturday though as is and it's awesome but I already managed to scratch it on the first ride, and I like to keep my bikes in good condition. I don't not trust the ability of the bike, I don't trust the ability of it's rider

I don't like technical stuff and I most certainly don't want to break my new bike, so I request some sufficient warning before we get to the technical stuff please so I can dismount in time and not have to hurt myslef trying to stop before flying over the edge of a cliff! If that isn't to much to ask for?

where are you? Some guys and girls are coming from Kempton, the South and even Centurion and PTA.

The winner was the U23 rider from Konica Minolta. The sad thing is I have no idea what is name is, and I spent a while talking to him. Nice kid. Won't be at the crit next week as he is riding in the tour of Hong Kong. oh thanks for the correction, the minolta guy's name is Mauritz (not sure about the surname) he has won the last 3 crit's then if I'm not mistaken??? I think technically Alex has won most of them, but he does push Alex hard. Nice kid. Came through Mr Price youth cycling academy and still has an active interest in what is happening there. Ok, so it wasn't Her Royal Highness, Sir Elton then? nope it seems it wasn't her royal highness Mark - I don't count Alex anymore, he comes past me so fast it's a blur, so there is no real proof that he did or didn't, cause no body saw it.