i24

If you are in the Southern Suburbs, I have had good service in the past from Aerontec: https://www.aerontec.co.za/ If you buying resin, local suppliers' "in house" brands are likely to be cheaper than international brand names.

I go with this. From the picks you are close to the limit both on both "cross gear" selections, big-big sprocket and small-small sprocket. Maybe the derailleur is a bit short for your the sprockets currently on the bike. But check one thing, what happens when you sit on the bike and compress the suspension, does it get tighter or looser? If it gets tighter, you may have a problem. If it gets looser, no issues. Obviously avoid using cross gear selections when riding. Finally, if in doubt, a too long chain will cause the chain on the derailleur to rub against the chain on the small sprocket in the small-small sprocket selection. This will make horrible noise but it won't cause a rapid failure. A too short chain will be less forgiving. So if you have to chose between one link too short or one link too long - take the latter.

My first bicycle I got 2nd hand when I was 8 had front brake on the right as did my first motorbike (2nd hand Zundapp) when I was 16. Somewhere in the meantime bicycles started getting sold with front brakes on the left, I am not too sure when or why, I was only riding motorbikes at that time. But when I got back into cycling, I swapped my brakes back to the correct arrangement. What has changed in the meantime, is that now days, both motor bike and bicycle brakes actually work! You didn't need ABS on drum brakes. Although I can recall locking up the twin leading shoe drum on the front of my Yamaha 180 twin smoke, it took quite a lot of adrenaline. My Guzzi has trademark "Intergral" brakes. The foot brake master cylinder activates the rear Brembo disk as well as one Brembo disk on front wheel. Stand on it and the bike stops very, very quickly! With little tendency to lock anything. The right front leaver operates the other front wheel Brembo disk, but the front leaver ratio is poorly selected and you have to pull it very hard. Guzzi fitted the same setup on the Le Mans but it came in for quite a lot of criticism and they dropped it on later models.

Exactly, so the markets for a new entry shop might be: Sell "Bafang" bikes. Open dead OEM battery packs and replace the cells, re-seal them. (May require a software "unlock"?) Service out of warrantee OEM motors. Import "grey" spares for OEM products. Supply "alternate" software for OEM products. Supply alternate brand e-bike specific chains, cassettes etc. Wear life is likely to be a bigger concern to customers than weight and competitive performance. You would need to source technology and parts. Maybe from overseas or maybe enlist some bright Safer's. You would need to have a very good understanding of what works and what does not and know what to sell and what to avoid. An on line presence would probably be very important to. Anybody here doing any of the above already? Care to comment?

I don't think I would ever try open a "hobby" related business, let alone a bicycle shop. But if I did open a bicycle shop I would look at e-bikes. Importing components and batteries. Testing and refurbishing battery packs. Rebuilding motor units. Controller and software upgrades. Charging station sales and installation. E-bike conversions. Sales of alternate brand bikes and maybe even e-motor-bikes. I don't own an e-bike and I know very little about that industry but I think the market for high value brand name bike components has peaked, while the e-bike market is growing rapidly.

You asked, so I went to take a pic. It looked a bit dusty, so I washed it and ended up hosing it down. Then I had to get it dry again, so easiest was to take it for a ride 😃 (then I had to resize and rotate the pics to get them to display here..)

Take your gamma for a ride round London for me and I will ride the guzzi around Cape Town for you! 🙃😉

I have owned my Guzzi V50 for nearly 40 of its 43 years. It has basically the same engine as the 85TT. My V50 still runs beautifully, is great fun to ride, has excellent handling and useful in traffic. And it sounds and feels like a Guzzi! It is still possible to get most spares (ex import from Europe) as they are used on many other Guzzi's and some other bikes. Parts prices are reasonable compared to those for modern bikes from local dealerships. But it does need some cosmetic work - that is a project for a future date. I don't plan to sell the V50, and I am not planning to buy another bike. But if I were I would have a good look at the 85TT. The difference between the 85TT and the T700 is that you can do wheelies on an T700 but you would not bother keeping one for 40 years, even if it could last that long. I understand if I lived in London, my V50 would be exempt from congestion and pollution charges, because of its age. That would make it an excellent bike to own there!

Looking at the original video. It looks like the camera was mounted on the helmet of a cyclist following "clipped in Karen". From the camera angle the photographer was riding outside of the line of those in front and must have been MUCH closer to the Landy. Maybe it was the photographer yelling in the clip - that brave soul's cycling shorts likely needed laundering afterwards.

Those stairs look more dangerous than the bike.

I normally use squirt (which always ends up on the jocky wheels) but for yesterday's race I added a few drops of chain saw "chain and bar oil". That stuff was developed for chains operating in the harshest conditions. It looks like a cross between honey and oil and it costs less than R100 per litre. The bike rides as smooth as butter even after a day in the rain. The chain looks black and shiny 😁. It will easily do another day like that or a month of normal riding. Real lubricants are black, oily and greasy. If you don't want to get marks on your legs - fit a chain guard!

Early MG's had options for left and right foot gear shifts. I have not seen a hand shift before, I suspect it could be after market. The pipes on that bike are also not near "OEM". The CX500 looks cool but I am not a fan of "chopped" BMW air heads and Motor Guzzi's - they should rather be kept original. I mean how would you feel about a CBX1000 converted into a "Cafe Racer"?

But next time it will be a repeat offence (like a certain ex cabinet minister) - provided the next victim presses charges ...

Can you remember how many times we got up on Monday after the tour and said I am glad we are not out there cycling today ...

She did not mention that. I believe the new rider will have to pay R200 substitution fee. It would be nice if the new rider offered to pay the difference between that and a normal entry fee, perhaps to be donated to a charity.

My daughter was due to fly out from London yesterday, her plans included riding the CTCT. But she tested positive for Covid and her trip has been cancelled. 🙄 She has an e-mail from the organizers saying that her entry can be substituted at the expo. If anybody is still looking for a ticket to ride the event, please send me a direct message. (PS Don't pay any attention to weather forecasts. If it is windy, it will just take longer ...)

Please explain? Someone fixing things in their front garden? How did it get there and is that motor going to be made to fit on the front? (You welcome to answer on the aviation thread.)

Nice! Where did you get those sprayed? And what was the budget? I need to get tank, mudguards covers and fairings resprayed on my Guzzi one day... But I after I have done some fibre glass work on the fairing....

Your conveyancer is supposed to represent the seller. Although the OTP normally obliges the seller to pay your conveyancer's fees and the estate agent will be very quick to recommend their own tame conveyancer. So ask your conveyancer for their advice. The buyer will likely back down if the conveyancer says it is their responsibility. But as I understand it a "patent" defect, which can be seen on inspection, is the buyers responsibility. A "latent" defect, which cannot be readily seen on inspection, and the seller new about but failed to disclose to the buyer, can be the sellers responsibility.

Did you pay for parking?

They have just done that - at 3 hours 50 min.

If you ride an e-bike with a non e-bike entry board, someone will notice, and if you finish too close to front of group they will likely complain. If that gets confirmed in a subsequent investigation you will be facing a potential life ban from the CTCT. If you ride an unrestricted e-bike and go too fast you will finish under the minimum time limit and get disqualified. If you are capable of getting around in under 4 hours on an e-bike that is regulated at 25km/h, then you should be capable of riding the tour on normal bike. The only problem area left is an e-bike rider assisting a non e-bike participant. But if e-bikes are seeded from the 4 hours groups backwards - behind the racing snakes, this is less likely to be a problem. There will always be people who cheat but I think the organisers have most of the bases covered.

E-bikes have to be entered into a different category, so Race Tec just have to DQ any rider who's time is too fast. Just a few lines of program code. The rules also state: 3.3. Should a rider wish to partake in the Cycle Tour by using an e-bike, such rider must select the E-bike category when completing the online entry for the Cycle Tour. 3.4. If the rider failed to register in the E-bike category, he/she will not be allowed to partake in the Cycle Tour. 3.5. Any person riding an e-bike on the Cycle Tour that has not formally entered as an E-Bike participant shall be disqualified from this and future Cycle Tours. 3.6.4. the motorised assistance only engages when the rider is pedalling, progressively reduces and finally cuts off as the vehicle reaches a speed of 25 km/h or sooner (i.e. no permanently powered bicycles); 3.6.5. it is fitted with a control mechanism that limits the maximum electric powered speed on PAS (power assist) mode to 25 km/h; Gate marshals will have to police that e-bikes are not entered as normal bikes, not too difficult. If this was applied to this years ride, the first 40 out of the 204 e-bike finishers would have been disqualified, that's 20% of the field. How easy it is to beat 3hr50 (28.5 km/h) on an e-bike that cuts the power off above 25km/h? I think there was some cheating in this years event...

So this is how they are going to reign in the e-bikes in 2022: https://www.capetowncycletour.com/race-entry-terms-and-conditions/ "3.10. The fastest time that a cyclist, using an e-bike, may complete the event is 3hr 50min. Any e-bike cyclists recording a time of less than 3hr 50min will be disqualified." So I guess the this year's fastest e-(motor?)-bike time of 2hr 38min 26sec will stand as the record forever?

If you want to get around CTCT at > 40km/h, you are going to need to pack some extra Lithium ????