sirmoun10goat

There was more going on behind the scenes there than we will ever know - it was not just outright pace of Hamilton, he had much more support than Alonso, and when Alonso called McLaren out on that, they tried to act impartial

Because people are willing to enter under those Ts&Cs. It may not be ethical, but they are also not holding a gun to anyone’s head

From my experience in Canada, the bike shops have dedicated mechanics, whereas in SA there is usually a ‘head’ mechanic and and a few guys doing the service. The SA model works fine, provided the head mechanic oversees what is done and does his checks and trains the guys doing the service. However, in must LBS, this head mechanic is also the store owner/manager, and stays out the service area (for various reasons-could be selling bikes, dealing with clients, ordering stock, going out for lunch, being lazy, etc). I think often the LBS doesn’t have the right staff in place

Fine line between harmless joking and snobbery. I viewed this thread as a place to laugh at stupid names item things have been given over the years, as opposed to making people look stupid. And this thread is also informative at times-an example is the origin of clip less pedals. I know many people thought clip less should be called clip pedal, as you clip/cleat in

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

https://www.sarisinfrastructure.com/catalog/bike-racks

I also find I get more punctures as the tyre wears (easier for cr@p to pierce the tyre as there is less rubber). So out of season (ie when I’m not entering races) I’ll ride a more worn tyre. When I am entering races, I prefer a tyre in good condition. Not because I’m competing for podiums, but because I don’t want a race I paid a few hundred zar to be wasted due to frugal expenditure habits

I would think there is a reason there is no standard/marking as to when a mtb tyre should be changed. If you ride mostly gravel roads, you can ride till there is hardly any tread left. If you planning on a nice ride with lots of lose marble type rocks (magalies monster) you will want more tread. A muddy race is seldom planned, so it’s unlikely you can consider tyre wear when it comes to that.

Calling pretty much any gps device a Garmin

My comment may have been a bit harsh aimed at what could be a nuub, but I think the comments I made should apply to the majority of people. As bikes become more expensive, we should accept paying more for maintenance as the norm. Not necessarily because components cost more, but because we want to protect our bikes and make sure they perform at a level in line with what we paid for them. And as this happens, I expect basic bike maintenance in the garage/back yard to become more common. In 16 months in Canada I have learnt to strip my bikes, change bb’s, bearings, getting better at searing tubeless tyres (I got to pay $1.50 to it a pump at a petrol station for a few minutes so even that is an area where I try be efficient with). I have always worked with tools, so I am decent with them. But stripping and rebuilding a bike takes a lot more time that I expected. If you want a bike shop to do a thorough strip and inspect, you can expect to pay $$$

There definitely sounds like some sh1tty service here, but the OP must carry some blame. Getting a minor/major service is not like buying a bottle of all gold tomato sauce-every lbs will offer a different range of service. Always ask what is covered by a service, and if you feel there is something else that warrants a look at, inform the lbs. R580 for a major service-if the OP has ever done some maintenance on his bike, he would know that getting a major service at that price is basically impossible. Here in Canada I got my fork serviced-CAD180 (just over R2k). But the going rate for a skilled laborer is CAD100, and I know the total time spent on the fork is over an hour, plus parts, so it seems to add up. Everyone acknowledges bike prices rival that of cars, so I don’t see a reason why a bike service should not be in the ballpark of a car service. But let’s be honest, how many South Africans will be willing to pay for that. Does a skilled (trained and qualified) bike mechanic deserve to earn 10% of a lawyer’s salary just because he was not been through tertiary education and only in possession of a trade qualification? You get what you pay for (I’m general)

Possibly premium (subscribed) members only?

Price points differ around the world, given salaries, cost of living, disposable income, etc. So In some markets, there will be more demand than in others. However, changing prices in low demand markets doesn’t always work, it will result in a lot of illegal imports of the products from those cheaper lower demand markets to the more expensive more in demand markets. One cannot look at pricing in isolation

Because everyone on the Hub is an expert and knows prices are excessive here in Hub Land. On the other platforms people are less informed and more likely to accept a higher purchase price

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

comments like: 'please, no time wasters' don't help. It either puts people off (like me, I won't contact a person who says that), or some people will just contact you to waste your time to get a kick out of it

Tap to pay will increase in popularity/usability over time. A big issue was most stores had cc terminals which did not support NFC. This is why ABSA pay on a Samsung was popular initially - Samsung could replicate the magnetic strip on a card, so even an older terminal was supported. As terminals are replaced/upgraded to NFC, it becomes possible to tap to pay

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.

You wallet wont be bulky after buying that, so things will balance out

I see the all over Canada. I assume the DH bikes are to long to fit nice on the Thule ride on racks. They seem to work well, regularly see people with at least 3/4 bikes

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.

29er. Sani is not rough, nor technical. So you don’t need a smooth ride, nor a ride you familiar with. The rolling benefit of a 29er will be significant. Also, should you buckle a rim or wreck a tyre, there will be more support for 29ers. And a HT is fun

No, it never went back to the original owners, and not at a discount either. Wanda bought it from Providence Equity Partners for $650mil, and sold it to Advance for $730mil in a cash deal. And I'm sure they made good returns on each event hosted - 235 events a year. One of the investors from PEP was involved in the deal wih Advance.