EigerSA

I'd imagine you'd be the first and only one in SA. He also makes these H-bars' date=' weird looking yes, but I think he's on to something..[/quote'] I did a bit of lurking on some forums like "frameforum" and "bikeradar", seems like the bike got a lot of good comments, same for the H bar. I tried making a set based on the pictures but it didn't work out so well... think I'll try again!

I agree with MJ... up to a point of course. At the end of the day it's not VA's responsibility to look after your bike/car/scooter, they advertise their services as a health and fitness centre, not a garage. Having said that though, I would have thought the VA would put in something like bike racks in order to encourage a healthier lifestyle and way of living, as well as doing their bit for eco'friendliness. As with all big corperations in the world, the only time they are going to listen is when the get negative publicity. So write them a friendly letter, enquiring as to why they are not providing the racks when there are such obvious benefits, and mention the fact you sending the letter to the press as well as the GM.

I WANT ONE!!!!

Thanks but I harbour no ill, I been around here long enough to know how it works! And I love these threads with the different opinions and voices... it's a learning curve for even know-it-all's like me

You are of course right. The arithmetic in the example is not quite right. The force in the handlebar is the result of the downward force on the pedal minus that that ends up going directly to the road. If the bike is leant over whilst pedaling from a vertical direction, that force is larger. The force on the handlebars will be zero only if the pedal is exactly in plane with the frame, which is impossible with our bicycle designs. ok guys... I was just trying to explain as simply as I knew how the reason why there was flex in laymans terms for slowbee, and what the flex was a result of... sheesh!

There was a test run last year where a bunch of riders were handed "un-branded" frames and asked to test them for comfort and quickness and a few other things. All the bikes were set up with the same components. At the end of the test period, there was no consensus between the riders as too which bike was the fastest or the strongest. The only category that had a clear leader was the comfort one, and a steel bike won, with titanium 2nd, then carbon and lastly alu. But at the end of the day the data was judged to have been far too close to be able to say that "this one is better than that one", tire pressure made more difference than frames did. All that could be concluded from the test was that every rider out there had their own ideas as to what constituted a good ride, it was all relative to the strength and experience of the individual riders. I personally would go even further and say that 90% of riders wouldn't be able to tell one frame from another.

I'll have a bash at explaining this... Basically when you pedal away on your bike, a number of forces act on the frame. The two biggest are on the power stroke, the first being the physical push of the pedal, and the second being the act of pulling on the handlebar. Now we know from Newtons laws that there must always be equal and opposite reactions taking place, so if you work out how hard you pedal (lets say a value of 10) and how hard you pull (lets say a value of 5) then you need to find a value of 5 elsewhere... and that's the flex in your frame. Flex is also known as deflection, and is basically the measurement of how much out of true you bike moves whilst under stress. What I think is really interesting, is that most people think the frame itself flexes which it does to some tiny degree, but there is more flex on the handlebars and bottom bracket than anywhere else (Bicycling Science, Gordan Wilson). This means that having a lighter and stiffer frame should offer no advantage, and generally couldn't even be felt by the rider! At the end of the day, always remember that terms like "stiffness" and "flex" and "dampening" are usually terms attributed to bikes by marketers who have one goal and one goal only, to market and sell a bike, they are surely not experts! You need some flex in the bike, it makes a ride a bit easier since it helps in dampening vibration as well as adding some "spring" to your pedaling action. This help at all Slowbee?

"Hey" - The Pixies

I been smoke-free for about 9 months now, and the only way I did it was by constantly imagining how much more fun I'd have on the bike without the wheezing and coughing!

More news from Slave's Ministry of Misinformation coming up shortly... (btw this is a great' date=' great film) [/quote'] Forget the tash... I want his hair!

Today I decided to do a little spring clean. Over the course of about 2 hours I managed to clean the garage out, but that left me with a huge bakkie load of crap I needed to dump. Amongst said rubbish was some ancient 5l paint tins as well as about 5 computers in various dismantled stages. Since I'm into the whole eco-movement (I don't believe in global warming, but I like the green part) I decided to head to the nearest dump. After about 120km's of driving (after visiting 3 dumps) it turns out I can't dump the paint tins or the computer stuff 'cause they contain heavy metals. So after loads of aggravation (I yelled at a lot of people today) I'm back at home with a full bakkie load of rubbish... pretty much where I started this afternoon. My question... with all the building work and renovating going on, just what exactly is happening to all those now nearly empty paint tins? None of the dumps accept them, so I assume everyone is just hoarding them? Ditto the computer stuff. And how can my local council (Ethekweni) not know where I can dump this stuff!? I can totally understand why people just dump on the side of the road! Rant off EigerSA2009-11-03 15:11:34

I'm still deciding about Mad Max, I'm in Hillcrest so not sure yet if I wanna drive all that way, especially since I could just spend the day at Giba... If I do go it will definitely be a social ride, I'm no race snake! Are you doing it?

I can barely function at 7, what the hell would I be able to do at 5!?

Hi Adrian. I got the Silverback Oakland at the beginning of this year and rode my first race in February (I think) which was the Wartburg one... it was just an awesome day out in the saddle, you'll really enjoy it, and raced the 105km hill2hill not so long ago, it's a good bike. You don't mention how fit you are, but like everyone else has said, just put time into the saddle. One thing I must point out is that riding on the road and riding on the dirt are two different things! Try get out to Giba or the Ballito place (can't remember the name) and get out on the dirt. Oh and find hills, lots of them

Want to loose weight really quickly? Exercise in the mornings before eating anything, about 60 minutes worth. only drink an energy drink during the workout and then eat in moderation during the day only when you feel hungry. Also eat slowly, try eating only healthy stuff, mostly fruit and veges to start with. I'm doing this and after many many years of being overweight and diets ect the weight is dropping off me so quickly. I honestly don't believe you need a dietician, just use common sense and move your arse a lot more!

My friend Seth sez I look more like Burt than Mr Magnum. Seth is stoopid and drools a lot. Tomorrow I'll ask my girlfriend Delilah what she thinks cause she meets loads of men everyday. She works only nights and sleeps a lot during the day so I don't spend lots of time with her. She is a professinal and makes men happy. I'm still quite young, only 23 and I will finish school maybe this year. Mum says I'm such a catch and any girl would want me. I will post a picture of myself here soon cause I think Dirt*Girl sounds right for me. Burt is handsome, he makes me feel funny.

Please please please let it be Hillcrest in Natal!

I been growing my mustache for like forever so that I can look like Magnum PI. Sometimes when people talk to me I tell them about Magnum PI and they ask me who is he and then I show them my mustache and then they know. My friend Byron says he also wants a mustache like Magnum PI so he can also be cool and popular like me but he wont grow one because his sister has a bigger mustache than him. His sister makes me feel funny inside. EigerSA2009-11-02 08:12:32

Hope you guys weren't hurt! It sux, sorry dude.

There's also that little insecurity that most people have when they go for a group ride as a beginner, seeing everyone around you with bulging muscles and extreme bikes... Honestly I think the clubs should bear/bare (spelling?) some responsibility and chat to the new members, show them where to go. After all if you new to the sport how the hell you supposed to know what questions to ask?

So she hooks up with a club for her first ride out. She's excited and raring to go. She hasn't ridden a lot and probably isn't sure as to what constitutes A group or B group, at this point it's probably even fair to say she probably doesn't even know that there are different groups. So now instead of someone from within the group coming out and explaining to her how things work in a really nice way (was it too hard too explain? the words too big?), she gets treated terribly and has now lost interest in this sport. And people support the club!? This is what's wrong with this sport.

I think you have a very good point, perhaps if there's as much focus on the girls race there would be more entrants. Have you taken it up with the race organisers? If you feel that strongly about it, don't leave it, there are at least three publications you can write to to start off with. Get stuck in to them!

That bike looks fantastic... if it were me I'd be petting it all night! Really well done to you wimpers!!!!!!

La Roux - Bulletproof

Not sure if this has been posted before but check it out... it's some amazing video of the Atherton's sending a downhill course in the Favala slums Brazil... just awesome stuff!