Slave

It occurs to me that the cops should set up a "sting opperation". Basically get hold of a few bikes, with some form of tracking device, ride up and down at the hotspots, and then track the bikes to wherever they go, taking note (pictures) of who is involved in the whole chain. They seriously need to bust everyone in the loop because I am convinced there is some kind of syndicate behind this. I know this entails risk on their part, but they need to do something drastic. Rant on: I am sick and tired of crime in this country. It starts at the top and gets worse as it goes down. AAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGG! Rant off:

After my 111 k's on Saturday and the wind yesterday morning when I woke up, I decided to give all riding a miss. Sat around and home and got some home projects done. I am really miserable when I can't ride on both weekend days. I had such a long face I kept falling over my lip.

So, How was the ride?

Astana, for my ten zim dollarsworth I would say it's a combination of more cyclists and worse driving. But that's just my opinion. Seriously starting to think about going back to running. Cross country this time. Or maybe get a canoe and do the Dusy.

You're right TNT, but at the end of the day, no matter how much the verbal abuse for doing something wrong, you just dn't hit women. It is ijits like this that contrinute to give us a bad reputation. They create unnecessary risks for others and it's not right. I'm now going to employ the F7 key. Helmet - check. Lycra - check. Bike - check. Outa here.

If you read my post, you would see that I maintained the approach was wrong. People are so selfish today that they only want help when it suits them. It's illegal to ridewithout a helmet, but don't go wasting your breath telling some w@nker that. You might just stop a smack, or a bullet. But it's ok to stop and help same w@nker with a puncture. NO WAY dude. Can't have your cake and eat it. So, to clean up our act and improve our image, we just ignore the halfwits and dimwits around us and get tarred and feathered with the same brush and feathers. Do me a favour and get real dude. We have to clean up our image. There is no choice. So how do we do this with half brained F***wits who go about smacking women? Granted, her appraoch was wrong, but the realaition was infintely worse. That can never be justified in any sane society. Face it, the world sucks because attitudes suck. We either take help from all quarters or none at all. All cyclists have to pitch in to clean up our image.

Yeah, let's find some positve stuff to chat about. HAd a similar one the other day where a lady was clearly in two minds about whether to passme or not before turning left. I signalled to her that I had seen her and for her to go. Thanked me with a nice smile and wave. No telephone number though. Nice to see a positive thread for a change.

BTS. We can debate all sorts of reasons why the world is in it's current state. It is my opinion that TV, music, and advertising plays a large role in why were are in this state. In the past, we would have a discussion around a dinner table with the family. We would discuss values, parents would teach their children. Now we sit in front of a TV and absorb some BS about some people solving the worlds problemes by killing all the "baddies". As fo rme, I'd rather go out and ride my bike, Eat my grub and then fartarse around in the garage. Advertising just gives us the notion that we can have it all and we can have it now. IF we fit a certain brand of tyres, the car will never loose grip on the road, or the shocks will get us out of any emergency situation. It is my opinion, and not neccessarily fact. That the world is over populate is a fact. More cars on the roads and more cyclists and the road infrastructure is crumbling. I read somewhere a long time ago that by the time the M1 highway was completed, it was ten years behind already. Basic human decency is to care for and to help our fellow human out. Basic human disrespect and indecency is to klap someone for their effort to help us out of our own stupidity. But yeah, point taken, Next time I see some dude broken down with a puncture, I'll just leave him / her, because it's none of my F***ng business right?

TNT, voiolence begets violence. Ther are more ways to train monkeys than beating them up.

What this thread is relly about is that modern society has become desperately ill. Television, advertising and all sorts of stuff has contributed to a society who no longer have decent morals. Generally speaking of course. We have become selfish in the extreme and have lost empathy and sympathy for our fellow "man" (for want of a better word.) People want to do their own thing and it no longer matters whether it is moral or legal. We want it all, and we want it now. Rules are only in place for the law-abiding citizens and everybody else can just go to hell. We don't want help or interference from others regardsless of the dangers we face by doing stuff wrong. I agree that when someone else's action endangers your own life or well being that we have a right to be heard and should be free to express our feelings on this issue. In my books, it doesn't matter what a woman does, you just don't hit them. And when this happens it is symptomatic of the world and it's values gone wrong. What has happened to us? Why do we do this? Simple, our own attitudes about life have created disprespect for ourselves firstly and secondly to our fellow beings. We swear and gesticulate wildly at each other in the traffic and almost shoot each other over a small piece of road to be on. This is sick and unless we all start addressing our own attitudes, we are headed for disaster. Yeah, I know there are still some (a lot of) pretty decent people out there who genuinely want to help their fellows by pointing out their mistakes, but what for? For a smack in the head? No thanks. Consider though, that the first approach was wrong. (not a good enough excuse for the retaliation, but still worng.) It matters not so much what you said, but how you said it. Some people are best left to learn their own lessons and if riding without lights, helmets and other stuff is what they want to do. Leave them be. Try and find another route. You are not the appointed guardian of mankind and some people will only learn by their own mistakes. It may take a tragedy to learn the lesson, but leave them be. It is not your choice but their own. You have only to worry about your own safety. It just does not surprise me though, that motorists think we are a crazy bunch of reckless lunatics with this sort of bahaviour. Have we become like the lemmings? Hell bent on our own self destruction. I would of course like to get my hands on this creep and help him right, but to what end? When are we going to realise that we are making huge mistakes and stop being so damn self righteous, pompous and arrogant? Leave the ijits to figure stuff out for themselves. If someone endangers your well being while you're on the road, wait for them to move on and take another route. Never argue with a fool because someone looking in on this will not be able to tell which one is the bigger fool.

Droo, you got the recipe right there. Drink 'em beautiful. I'm reliably informed that the difference between a fox and a hound is about a case of beer.

NN. How'd you get the fine? Must have been one of those radar guns.

Needle roller bearings are far superior to ball bearings any day. The needle rollers should last a lifetime. I have the same feeling that they were not installed correctly in much the same way as I'm convinced that my most recent headset failure was my own doing. Mampara. On old bike like mine, there is really only one choice. Same old elcheapo's made in China. This set is made in Taiwan, so maybe.... (Yeah I know but I can dream can't I?)

BG. I have had this problem for a long time and JB has some very interesting technical answers for the problem. The indentations can be caused by a number of things. In my case, the last two have been because I tightened the headset too much and this caused too much pressure on the bearing race. The bike was like that when I got it and the first time I did the replacement, it lasted me a whole 500 k's (That's around two to three weeks the distance I ride.) The last one lasted me 50 ks, but then I know that I had the set too tight. The smallest of indentaions can cause havoc on the steering. Another problem that was suggested is that the bearings themselves, deposit bits of themselves on the race (This is the little "cup" dis-ting that you refer to) largely because the grease is squeezed out and there is metal to metal contact. Another possibility is that the vibrations form the road cause the dents. In my case however, I am now convinced that it was just a simple case of the thing being too tight. Will know in about a month toiugh as I will do the job tonight and go for a long ride on Sat. The headeset I bought last year in November was R30 at LBS but now gone up to R40. (and they measure inflation at around 10%) Bullsh!t.

Having gone through three set of the things, I hit LBS again this morning to get another one. I think I have finally found the reason why I have wrecked two of them, but that's a seperate issue and I will debate my intelligence or lack thereof in another thread. Intersting enough, the realisation came to me when teeny had a problem with his Alpina and the headset bearings. I noticed last night, when I stripped the bearing off our bike, that the Alpina has a slightly narrower fork and the bearings are not the same size as mine. According to other LBS (and all) the headset bearing sets are "universal". So when I went to Cycle hub, the dudes tell me there is no such. There are two sizes. 1 Inch and 1 1/4 inch. The one inch fits my peejou but is too big for the Alpina. Anyone knwo where I can get a set of headset bearings for an old Alipna?

Carry all the paraphenalia. Spare tube, patch, solution and pump. I only use bombs for racing but that's just me. I carry two spare tubes and patch and solution as well as a pump. Being a roadie, I have to contend with beer bottles, especially on my weekend rides. Seems the things get born and dumped on the roadside on Friday and SAturday nights.

I had this question buring my @ss for a while. Out riding the other day and two meto cops were speed checking with a radar gun. So I had to stop and aks. (Just couldn't resist.) The answer made no sence to me logically but they said that the wheel base (Distance from front to back wheel) will not trigger a speed camera. They can measure your speed on the radar dis-ting though. They said they are not likely to fine you because you don't have a registration number. Try to get your head around that one. Ok. My top speed 94k's down Camaro. What a rush. Only do that on Sundays (early before there are any cars about.) There is a premanent camera on the hill but at that speed, I'm not about to turn and smilefor the camera. No way Jose.

There are a couple of shopping centres about 30 k's odd from SBR. Dischem for one and Bracken City for another.

On the other hand, there are a number of training programs out there where they tell you how long you need to up your tempo. If you like, I have a hrad copy on my pc. PM me your e-mail address and I will send it to you.

This is not something I highly recommend. There is enough carnage out there without more people spontaneously blowing up. Pull yourself together man.

Experiment results. (I measured various tyres on Teeny's and my bike last night.) Teeny has a Vottoria 23c tyre on back and Conti Sport 25c on Front. I have bonts back and front. Both 25C Tyre make Size Loaded Unloaded Vitoria 23c 2076 2104 Conti 25c 2090 2101 Bont 25c 2078 2106 Based on this, I assume then that the Cateye and possiby other cycle computer manufacturers use 2105 as the default measurement because it is pretty close to being standard onmost unloaded tyres. I know that rider weight and tyre pressure will have an effect on the overall rolling circumference and the difference therein. I guess that my tyres have deflated some since I did the measurement on Sunday. (Almost 100 k's on the road.) I found it interesting though that a 23c and 25c had very little difference on the unloaded tyre measurement. JB. Feel free to comment.

Cool. Nothing in the Alberton Area. Come on Southern dudes. Let's get involved. Let's go out and ride in this critical mass thing.