sirmoun10goat

If that’s the case, surely no amount of penetrating fluid will help. Oil/lubricant should help, provided it can get between the seat post and frame

Is carbon bonding on to carbon not unusual? I always thought this would only happen with alloy on alloy

I hope Russel decimates VB. Maybe that will give the bosses at Merc the upper hand, as Toto clearly believes LH is worth more now after 7 titles than he was a year ago. If Russel performs, they will realize that winning the drivers and constructors can be done without LH, thereby eroding his bargaining power

Wow, are you really trying to compare and Apple Watch to a Garmin. I think you should blame yourself for not understanding the Garmin offering as opposed to the Garmin fanboy hype. Garmin does not pretend to make smart watches, they make sports watches that have limited smart features.

And Ray is just talking about software dev, which can only do so much. Things sleep tracking, 24/7 hr, going back in time to look at historic data, accuracy, etc can be rectified. But things such as music, tap to pay etc, requires updated hardware. And then Garmin's First Beat tech - this requires so much data which I don't think Wahoo has access to. At best, this model from Wahoo can be competitor to an entry level Garmin device. You will need to wait for at least Gen 2 of Rival before you can expect features offered by Garmin.

Well 140k could have bought you Wanyemol's spec'd to the max sub 10kg 'dale, with AXS, Trickstuff, custom built wheels, and a bunch of other stuff. The difference between AXS (be it XX1 or XO1) and GX components is worth 25k alone. I'm not sure about the total cost of the 'dale, but if you buy carefully you can definitely do a better build than what this Merida is.

On my last 94.7 I was pulling the bunch up Malibongwe, and turning on to Witkoppen I took a sip of water and dropped my bottle. I didn’t want to lose the bunch after work hard to get there, to make one bottle last till the end of the race. When it’s absolutely necessary, your body adapts well. I continued to drink throughout the remaining 60+ km, but just small sips

Non e-bikes are better. I have a friend who was 80km into a stage race and his battery fell out of his e-bike and I had to get him back over the remaining 28km

Remember, the top end bikes are not built for us mortals, they are built for the pros who race and try win. And at that level, a ball hair can be the difference between first and second. So diminishing returns hardly matters to the manufacturer - its all about the win. Luckily for the manufacturers there are incredibly wealthy (and incredibly stupid) mortals who by into unicorn hair, so they can make these frames and have a market for them.

Are we looking at the same bike - I see a HT

I have heard from a reliable source close to Matt that his ftp is crazy high. I have not heard the actual number, but he is strong and deserves a spot pro team overseas. Nico brought a real talent into his Bells Cycling with Matt

I don’t think garmin has been sitting on their laurels. They have been focused on wearables, as well as their data metrics and incorporating FirstBeat. Don’t forget garmin pay, they support the most music platforms, solar charging, etc. They are adding features continuously, whether consumers find these necessary/beneficial is another question. Innovation is rife. Their higher end models are beyond doubt no longer just gps devices that record speed, distance elevation and cadence

Hypothetically, government scraps all their rules and policies regards covid, and 947 cycle challenge get the go ahead, how many people will line up for this? i suspect a lot more than anticipated - most people are so over covid, the lock downs, the rules, etc and just want to go back to life as it was. so should events need to change - maybe to promote safety. but will events change - i doubt it, people enjoy the mass events, whether it is starting out in a leading batch and racing your heart out, or starting in a slow batch and enjoying the vibe.

Budget cap may mean Pink Mercedes has a bigger budget than Mercedes and Ferrari (or maybe not Ferrari given their current performance)

I had my 810 replaced with an 820 for around R1500, as my battery on my 810 was not holding charge. My 820's screen has developed a halo - since I am not in Canada, I contacted Garmin North America. I am getting a replacement unit free of charge. I had 2 options: send current device, and once received, they would send the replacement; or pay a deposit, they ship immediately, and I can return the existing device when I receive the replacement I have also had my Fenix 5 swapped out (no cost) by Garmin SA, and had a 735xt replaced with a 935 due to the battery not holding charge, for around R1200 I have always felt the treatment received is luck of the draw

The managers of the other brands? Too late for that, Specialized got the market share, now the rest are playing catch up. Specialized made it easy to go to a single store, buy your bike, helmet, shoes, gloves, socks, water bottles, t-shirt for post rides, a hoodie for the colder days, etc. all within the same brand, so you never felt like you were having an identity crisis when wearing a Cannondale shirt while riding a Specialized bike. Other stores would have carried a variety of brand options, but none could offer such a comprehensive range of cycling goods/products/apparel within the same brand as the concept and elite stores could.

People must really have a serious issue with Specialized to drag their socks into this debate. WOW. People should give credit where it's due - Specialized got a big chink of the market because they got good distribution channels in the country before the cycling explosion. It's not their fault Trek, Giant, Scott, Cannondale etc did not build proper distribution channels. These brands had the bikes, clothing and accessories. Their bikes were easy to get hold of, the rest, not so easy.

Still not the brand that is suing - it is the management team. So because they make poor decisions, that does not make Specialized bikes inferior, or people who ride their bikes should not be judged on the bikes they ride. The engineers who are employed to design bikes for Specialized do their best to design a bike that gives an edge over competitors, the marketing team uses the brand awareness to create interest in the product, a sales team a will set a target price, etc. These people do their best to ensure a quality and product and experience. Painting everyone in the organization with the same brush is unfair on these people. The poor experience people have with the concept stores speaks more to the quality of the people who own the franchises than it does of the brand.

All my bikes are Specialized, but that’s not out of loyalty, more a matter of finding good deals. I was out a work meet an greet and we started talking cycling. The usual question ‘what bike do you ride’ came up. So I tried to pass on that I ride a Specialized, without drawing too much attention to it, as so often mentioning that name results in some snide comment. Too my surprise, the response was very different, I heard ‘fantastic bikes, good service and support’. And the more I look around Canada, the more Specialized bikes I see. Maybe it’s just South Africans that love to hate Specialized. There is a lot less hate for the brand when you leave the confines of SA

It wasn’t trademarked in SA at the time. Mercedes had no right to it at the time as Mercedes did not operate in SA at the point in time. So I don’t think it’s entirely different. And what about Orange (the cellphone provider) coming in and pushing companies to not use orange in their logos? Or Woolworths and the Frankie Softdrinks and Ubuntu Baba sagas. Point is, many big corporations bully small entities. And as I also mentioned, it’s not the organization’s doing the bullying, it’s the one or two boxes managing the organization that instigates this. These boxes then move on, and the brand must continue to be held accountable? Did Steinhoff steal people’s money, or was it Jooste? Steinhoff was just the vehicle through which Jooste was able to steal people’s money

Mercedes has done the same. Many years ago when Mercedes was under the Cargo Holdings distribution, my father used to have his car serviced at a mechanic (everyone called him Josie), with his business registered as Daimler Benz (he was located in the JHB CBD, near Marshall/Main Street). He was a specialist in Merc gearboxes. When Mercedes took over the distribution, he was forced to change his name. Think in the end he changed his name to Terarro Motors. And I hear rumors of Orange launching (relaunching in SA - they had a presence of sorts before). They threatened many companies who had orange logos, forcing them to change. These things have and will happen again. Specialized is not the only bully. It's not the brand who sues, it's some box sitting in a position of power. These people come and go - holding the brand accountable for these actions is a bit short sighted.

Many people are not even aware of the lawsuits. And I have never heard anyone say "I hate Specialized because they sued..."

Let be honest, we all have stuff that is beyond our league...many people have shoes capable of running the comrades, yet the wearers only do a park run. If you can afford the fancy running shoes, why not...just because the costs multiples of the shoes, doesn’t change the principle

Maybe they come last because they work their a**** off for a big salary and dont have time to train 25 hours a week. Just because a bike is expensive a 'built for racing' should not exclude non-race winners from owning them.

For those who carry on about price, I think they should break the bike down into components, and measure the cost of the frame as the difference between the bike bought direct from the dealer, and sum of the components. Bike manufacturers take a lot of slack with regard to prices, but the component manufacturers play their part to. Whats the price of the SID fork, a full AXS group set (and wireless dropper), add in a power meter? People very often upgrade their bikes slowly, so they dont feel/see the full impact of these upgrades. Here, the top of the range bike probably has everything you could want/need on a bike, so no further outlays.