grumpy

Hi Chris I am in the market for a 12-27 Dura Ace 9700 cassette, a Fizik ladies saddle and Time road pedals, either the I Clic carbon or TXS carbon.

Not for me, guess it's a acquired taste... I get the feeling this is what a normal bike will look like if you are high on speed...

Some famous cyclist, who's name escapes me now, said that weight, price and durability is the three factors in any bycicle purchase. You can choose any two that is important to you, thus if weight and price is the important to then you must know that durability will go out of the window. Similarly if you choose weight and durability then don't complain about the price... Carbon is extremely strong, I hit a deep pot hole on my road bike doing in excess of 50km/h, both wheels and the frame was destroyed but the carbon steerer on the fork survived, one would have thought that the steerer would have snapped.

Why does it bother you how the brand is spelled? We are not talking about high end quality here Alex rims are cheap anyway, so what if it is a fake / copy, it may just be better

I have a full XX groupset on my Giant Anthem Advanced, moved from a XT groupset on my old MTB to the XX, at first the down shifting of the gears was strange but I got over that, the position of the brakes / shifters was also a problem at first, I had them too close to the grips, you have to position them further away to allow free movement of your thumb (up and down shift via the thumb) I now love the groupset, it works really well and the 2 x 10 is excellent, I went for a 42/28 in the front and a 11/36 in the back, the gearing is so wide that I rarely have to use the small chainring, don't miss the granny gear at all. Enjoy, it's a Rolce Royce groupset.

My 2 cents worth.. I moved from 9 to 10 speed on my road bike and the only difference was that there was more gears availble to find that sweet spot. Recently upgraded from 9 to 10 on my MTB (SRAM XX, 2 x 10), only difference was this time around the front chainring went from 3 to 2 configuration, the extra gear in the back made it possible to get rid of the silly little granny gear in the front. The 2 chainrings (42/28) with a 10 speed 11/36 cassette is equal to 3 chainrings and and 9 speed cassette

Hi Bolla I have a pair, not bad but not on par with Assos, the pad is too thin for long ride, unless if you have fat butt then it would be ok.

Of the South African brands I have tried First Ascent and Cape Storm and Anatomic, there is also a number of lesser known brands in my closet, they hang there for the odd occasion when I cycle for less than 70km or the early morning training ride. For the longer weekend rides I prefer Assos, the S5 or the F1.13 shorts, they are simply superiour, in the final analysis you get what you pay for.

I go for a MTB holiday every year, we tour the Western Cape, stay in B&B places for 2 - 3 days and explore the gravel roads in the area. After getting lost 2 years ago I got a Garmin 705 and plan the routes. Been thinking of visiting the Lowveld and doing the same, suggest you get the Tracks for Africa maps, they show the minor gravel roads not normally shown on the Garmaps. What is nice about this type of holiday is that you mix MTB with normal holiday activities.

Get your wife / girlfriend involved in the sport, once hooked they will stop complaining. My wife loves it as much as I do, she does not even complain that I spend a lot of money on the sport, simply because she is also entitled to the same equipment as I am buying. A friend of mine came home late on a Saturday after a very long ride, obviously his non cycling wife was upset with him, to which he replied " I don't understand why you are upset with me, I wasn't even here to upset you" needless to say he was on the dogbox for awhile..

I have to agree with you, for me Giant is the only bike that I will allow in my garage, it's like that old saying " we don't want cyclists who wants to ride, we want cyclists who can ride..."

This mornings ride was tough but nice, it's great cycling with strong okes, especially if the wind wants to blow you back to where you came from. The best thing for me is the feeling of wellbeing I get afterwards, the mornings are great and I have the evenings free for other pursuits. See you guys on Thursday, hopefully the wind will be absent.

Hi Stewie Why not consider tubeless clinchers? I recently fitted Hutchinson Atom tubeless tyres to my Ksyrium's and they work really well, the ride is similar to tubbies, they roll fast and will not easily puncture, obviously a large cut will stop your ride but that is true for normal clinchers also. Visit www.NoTubes.com there is a video clip showing how to convert normal rims to tubeless, no tape needed for sealed rims like Ksyrium or DuraAce. At the end of the clip the tyres are penetrated with a large needle and it seals every single time.

Hi Chris Have a look at the Hutchinson road tubeless tyres, for some reason they are not available in South Africa. I recently fitted two Hutchision Atom tyres and they work well, the ride quality is similar to tubbies, had to import them. I think this may be the next best thing in road cycling, lower tyre pressure, improved ride quality and a lot less flats.

Hi Slave Hired cyclists are useally useless, don't want to drop you and leave you behind in the dark...

Hi Butafly, I have done the route many times, normally arrive at the bottom of Vissershok at 05h30, at that time there is virtually no traffic, the traffic normally increases drasticallty from 06h00 and by that time I am past Tiekiedraai in the yellow lane.

Hi I am planning to start training again in the early morning, planning to do 50km's before work, interested rides can contact me. My average speed over the distance is about 26km/h and raising to 30km/h as I get fitter, but it's 26km/h for now. I have a strong front light to light the way. The proposed route and times are as follows: Route 1 Tuesday 05h00 Hendrik Verwoerd rd - Plattekloof rd - Burganday Estate - Tiekiedraai - Tyger Valley rd - JIP de Jager rd, turn around at Welgemoed centre and do the route in reverse = 50km. Route 2 Thursday 05h00 Jip de Jager rd - Tyger Valley rd - Tiekiedraai - Contermanskloof - Vissershok - Race Coarse rd - Tiekiedraai - Burgandy Estate - Plattekloof rd - Hendrik Verwoerd rd - home = 50km Any takers?

Grumpy's baby, young and beautifull

My baby, she is young and beautifull..

Hi Guys I guess pedals are like car's, some oke like Beemers and other Mercedes, personally I like Time pedals, the angular float is awsome and they work really well. I can't see that Look pedals have any dicernable advantage over the other manufacturers except maybe consumer loyalty.

Hi Guys I have purchased from CRC several times, Customs increase the cost of what you paid by 10% and then add 14% VAT the only time when I had to use a clearing agent is when I imported a full groupset and fork, value about R26k, that cost me an additional R350. Just don't import clothing, there is a 40% surcharge of clothing to protect our useless clothing industry.

Hi Guys I am interested in purchasing Hutchinson tubeless tyres for my road bike, they seem to be the only company making tubeless tyres for road bikes. For some obscure reason CRC have been waiting for ages for stock, that started me thinking that there may be a problem with tubeless tyres for road bikes, why hasn't other manufacturers not started producing such tyres, there must be a massive market for it. Does any of you have experience with such tyres? Don't want to make a expensive mistake.. P.S. I have Mavic Ksyrium ES wheels, think all Ksyrium wheels would be suitable for tubeless

Rather go for the Anthem X2, I can get you an X2 for about R21K, it has a full XT groupset, the only upgrade needed is to replace the wheels with XT or similar tubeless wheels.

You are going to enjoy the Anthem, built mine up a month ago..I went for SRAM this time, light but doesn't work as nice as Shimano

Not sure what you were smoking but it must have been heavy man.. I started out in D'Arcs as a novice, they certainly are comfortable, the lens quality is good at the price but do not compare with Rudy Projects. I am on my second pair of Rudy's will not wear anything else, my wife has Oakleys, will not swop her.