brian1

I saw signs up at Hot Spot giving a cash price, monthly installment and total financed amout, whether they are a registered FSP or use a different one, I don't know.

Ok, obviously Hot Spot Lynnwood cyclery Hatfield cycles Bruce Reynecke Cycle Lab Singletrack Edit I mixed them up so they don't correspond to the OP.

I am in the process of buying a bike, actually paid and done, picking up this afternoon. Anyway I visited 6 LBS in my area during the process and the differences were amazing. As a customer tightly gripping my plastic card in my sweaty palm all excited I know how I expected to be treated but alas. 2 shops really showed a lot of interest, they measured me and explained all kinds of things to me and made the experience a pleasure, 1 guy was friendly and helpfull but kind of "OMG Noob". 2 shops were staffed with people decidedly not interested in their jobs but grudgingly spoke to me and 1 shop I have now been to 3 times and have yet to speak to anyone, the employees pretend to be busy or scurry off with "1 second sir". Amazing. My point is big Rave to Hot Spot cycles and Neil for superb service and you have a customer for a long time to come.

cheers.

Nobody ??

Help me choose please, I have 2 bikes on my shortlist, Merida Big 9 lite 1000 - R 13495 Scott Scale 960 - R 11699 Merida already has tubeless tyres on so add R 1000 to Scott price. Scott has remote shock lockout. Salesman reckons the Merida is better specced with much better wheels??? Merida has Manitou shock, till now all I have heard about is Suntour, Rockshox and Fox (never really in my proce range anyway.) Manitou is new to me and I heard that it must be serviced in CT even though another thread has a guy in JHB who does it??? I reallly like the look of the Merida personally. What do you think? Thanks

I have a Garmin FR 210 that I got predominantly for running, plus factors for me were price and looks (IMO it is one of the few out there that can be used as an every day watch) Recently I started cycling and simply changed the setup from pace to speed (current, other options are lap and average) and it worked perfectly. It gives distance, speed and timer on the screen. Distances are accurate as I know them from my runs. Unfortunately it is not waterproof so a no go for triathlon, all I need now is a bike mount .... and a decent bike .... and loads of new kit ..... and

I'm almost afraid to ask. The shammy is the padding in the shorts .... right?

Hahaha, thanks for the warm welcome and tips everyone. One kidney is already allocated with one kid starting Uni this year and the other still in school. Can a person live without any kidneys??? Just kidding, things we enjoy often cost money but that's also why we pay up.

Hi Guys, New to this forum and thought it best to introduce myself and maybe tap a bit of wisdom. My name is Brian and I do a fair bit of road running, max half marathon distance but not being naturally built for it and now in my mid forties I am starting to pick up more and more injuries that simply mean I cannot run as often as I would like. So I started looking at a lower impact exercise and started riding my old Makro bike, but honestly the way that thing creaks and groans and the gears and pedals jump I am pretty sure I am not getting full benefit nor enjoyment. So I started to read thehubsa, awesome forum and information source, keep it up. And then I took myself off to the local Cycle Lab. I now know I fit a large frame, a 21 inch KTM 29er was the one they recommended, used once apparantly for R11k with tubeless conversion. A new one was in the region of R18k. Must be honest from R1000 every so often for running shoes to that was a bit of a shock. However from reading here I have to ask myself would I not be better off buying a used 26er from thehubsa classifieds? I think I should be able to do quite well in the R7k range? I am leaning towards a MTB because knowing myself it won't be long before I am heading to the local Sat morning race and it appears that there are more MTB races around than road bike races. I am not the kind of person who rushes out and buys the newest of everything, rather someone who tries to get good value and then makes a start. Unfortunately I am just figuring out my headset from my groupset and would really appreciate any comments or advice that you could offer. Cheers