Cyclocross

Doesn't have the supermodel good looks of the Lezyne's but solid, great value pump. Had one since 2007 with no problems. Did struggle reaching max pressure on my road tubbies until I replaced the valve extenders with better quality ones. Now no problems reaching max pressure. Happy days.

Cyclesphere in Morningside

As was noted by an early response on page 1, Mr Holmes should be grumpy with the Aus government, not CRC (or Wiggle or ProBikeKit etc), and I think this for 2 reasons; 1. they don't charge sales tax (GST/VAT) on any retail import under AUD1000. At exchange rates hit this week, that's R12600 per order before any sales tax is added, plus making the free shipping threshold easily/cheaply achievable. Retailers and traditional importers are required to pay sales tax on all orders (probably due to order size always exceeding the AUD1000 threshold). It's affecting all retail in Aus, not just cycling especially since their minimum wage is pretty high for shop staff. Their govt ministers claim the small amounts of tax that would be collected if they changed this doesn't warrant the additional costs of collection (possibly they have not seen the volumes from CRC etc ). 2. they have let their exchange rate strengthen wildly as a result of China buying all their minerals to where it has been stronger than the US$ since 2010, making direct imports even more attractive to their citizens. By all means, respect to Matty Holmes for trying to protect his own business (under the guise of the "scene"), but I recon he's barking up the wrong tree.

Several manufactures suggest mixing your bottles as close as possible to departure before a ride, and certainly not the night before unless it will be refrigerated. Deterioration of natural products is expected. 4 hours does seem too short a period before turning though. As an experiment, try sniffing any unfinished drink/bottle the following day, especially if it's been left in the sun. Will make your eyes bleed.

Probably a bit of both but on a sliding scale depending on how familiar a viewer is with their cliches. Commentary fine for newer fans, tedious for those who have heard it all before and best to view it as a travel channel show with some good early remarks and post stage comments by Matt Keanan (yes I am a fan). All opinions aside, it is a great visual event and how else would my 3 year old daughter have learnt to shout out Tommy Voekler or Peter Sagan's name every time she sees a rider in Europe Car or Cannondale kit respectively.

It's bad enough when riders freeload, but even worse when they interfere with the racing like a big Sunday bunch (all on premium brand bikes) did during this years Tour D'Urban, joining the race on the M4 heading south and causing mayhem when the road pointed upwards towards Pinetown.

Agree with GOG that Matty Keenan is tops. His insights through often having spoken to riders and teams, many of whom he knows personally, and several of whom he rode with in Melbourne, are great and not just a regurgitation of what is available in the route handbook or interweb. I must disagree though regarding Paddy Agnew on the Giro in years gone by. I could not tolerate him and would rather turn the sound off entirely. His use of "um, err, arrgh" would drive me crazy, although that might just have been his Irish . Only the fool on TV who thinks he is a Formula 1 expert (i.e. I can read off the internet) makes more use of "um" as a verbal crutch. Back to the Phil & Paul show. Respect for them as they have gotten many people over the years introduced to cycling via their coverage of the TdF and for those who have not followed the Tour for the last 20 years it doesn't seem so bad. Also, while they are great fans of South Africa, their RSA focus during commentary is often during region specific cross overs where between them, they do short specific commentaries for each country receiving their feed. However it is time for fresh blood as I think they spend too much time opening their suitcases of cliches. Note: my opinion of Phil did go back up again briefly at last years Tour of California when he was caught swearing like a sailor before he knew the mike was on at the start of one of the highlights shows. MNet clearly don't watch or listen to their content as this was repeated with every one of the scheduled repeats.

http://cyclesafrica.co.za/ They even have an online shop for old stock items.

Can't say much more than has been said already about how good the ride, village and company were for the weekend. I think the Winteron Country Club bar made their target for the half year in one weekend. What I can do is remind you all how the crop sprayer knocked the snot out of those hay bales and dustbins with a load of water. For those where didn't see, the 2 x bins ended up about 20 meters away, (past the Audi). ps - while some got more vrot on Saturday night, the Smurfs must win hands down for their consistency of vrotness throughout the weekend. Respect.

Looking at yr.no weather report for Winterton area, looks like the beers will need those little pink umbrellas in them to stop the rain getting in and turning them into Millers.

I'll be collecting that beer IOU at SSWC thank you

and KZN rushes into stays in 3rd place.

It's a few years since I became a Durbanistani again, but I recall from my years on the Spruit that you accessed it next to the Cape Dutch style office park (buildings were yellow) just over the river down Witkoppen from the M&B. Brave folk used to ride from Centurion side through to Emmerentia too. Pavement stretch from William Nicol along Replublic was preferable to muddy option.

Hey XTC1, I did Splashy Fenn to Underberg to Bushmans Nek Hotel and back to Splashy a few weekends ago on the ss with no problems. But then the only luggage I was carrying were a phone, 2 x bottles, tube and multi-tool. See you @ Winterton (I'll be driving there).

Had same problem and tensioner was at same angle as yours. Solved by shortening chain, bringing tensioner into more horizontal position, thus engaging a few more teeth. Hasn't skipped once since. Happy Days.

Condition/age of shifters, derailleurs and cables is also a big factor. eg. An old XT setup won't be as smooth as a new SLX for example. Can't look at shifters in isolation although that said, assuming your cables are good quality (eg XTR with sealed ferules or continuous) and comparing new with new shifters, each upgrade does give smoother and lighter action shifting (and in some cases more durability too), but like weight loss with each upgrade, often at a disprortionate price. Diminishing marginal returns and all that.

I had exactly the same problem in fitting an older IS standard XTR brake caliper to a newer post mount fork (SID Team). Tried various adaptors including the red KCNC like yours. In summary, I could not get any to fit properly for use with a 160mm rotor. They work fine with longer bolts and spacers to accommodate a 180/185mm rotor. I wanted to stay 160mm however, and had a trustworthy LBS do a little machining of one like yours and it worked fine for my 160mm rotor. Ironically I spent longer getting it sorted than I spent using it as I subsequently upgraded to brakes with postmount, and the IS caliper brakes reverting to the IS fork it was originally used on (now on wifes bike) so adaptor no longer needed. Such is life.

Well, my Pyro 2000 (via Groupon) arrived via courier this afternoon. Hannes did indicate to me (in his prompt responses to my PM's querying anticipated delivery dates) that Groupon only paid for and collected the stock last week, so its arrival today is pretty good in my opinion. A lot has been said about the different LED versions of the various Magicshine lamps offered mostly by the two local vendors on the Hub. Based on how bright this unit is in my un-scientific backyard test earlier which involved waving it about clicking through the 5 power settings while illuminating the far wall and neighbours house (and how my head is still spinning from foolishly looking at the lamp while it turned on), my guess is that most of us would be very happy with either of the 4000K or 6000K temp options. The fact that both vendors appear to go out of their way to communicate and resolve issues with customers, says to me that you'll be happy whichever route you've chosen to go. Regarding Groupon and their recommended retail prices, I never believe any company's RRP as they are always inflated in my opinion, allowing them room to manouver in their discounting. You just need to consider what values are put to prizes in the many competitions we see advertised regularly in the media e.g. "win this tube of lip gloss worth R5000". I always do price research on any product I'm considering purchasing, as I did with this Groupon deal and would if I was buying a TV or washing machine. I thought the differences between the Pyro and Extreme lights offered were pretty clear in the Groupon offer despite the heading refering only to Pyro and I also thought the R1500 price for the Pyro 2000 model was R500 less than current available pricing (not RRP) and still think it was a good deal. Nice work by Magicshine (hubname) for matching this and ensuring more riders were able to enjoy this keen pricing. My only dissapointment is that my Moonshine HID light which I have used for a few years and even in some mtb night races, and used to think was brilliant, it now just lame in comparison to the new LED technology. Lighting and battery technology have come a long way since those days of crappy torches with halogen lamps and penlight batteries! One of the many positives of this is that the more of these new generation lights there are in use, the safer it makes us as we become much more visible on the road in the morning/evening. Edit: Performance update Used the Pyro 2000 early Wednesday morning for a dark road ride (Morningside to Umhlanga & back via back roads, some of which are very dark). I specifically had both the Moonshine HID and Pyro 2000 on my bike at the same time to really compare. No contest. The Pyro 2000 lights up the road like nothing I've ever seen and is much more than necessary for road riding. Based on this, I would say the smaller/cheaper/lighter units will suit those who stay on the road, especially those models which have a flash mode which is great for once it is light to increase visibility. Can't wait to take it offroad.

Normally I have a cast iron stomach, but I also had an upset stomach from the early evening of Day 2 of the Trail. Sh*t myself silly through the night which left me with a few less horsepower on Day 3. I'm guessing it was a bad egg at waterpoint 3 which was a bit crusty having been in the sun for a few hours. None of the food in the race village gave me any feelilng that it would cause my stomach grief. Food hygiene at remote water points late in the day is harder to control than that of food in the race village. Or it could have been the 1.5m snake I had to bunnyhop which was crossing the road about 50m from the finish line. It clearly wasn't following the marshalls instructions to wait until I passed. It did get the locals excited though. The next Jonty Rhodes could come from that lot the way they started flinging stones at it once I screamed like a pansy pointed it out. For those who might know something about actual snakes (as opposed to the white pant-yellow shoe variety), it was brown with a yellow stripe down its back and very shiney, about an inch thick at its widest point (so it hadn't caught any slower riders yet).

For what it's worth, my experiences are: 1) I've recently fitted a Blackspire Monoveloce too (33t), (replacing a Truvative ss crank/ring) mated to 17t Gusset cog and 7spd Wipperman chain, and have been rocking all Giba climbs and recent Hammersdale mtb race climbs with no problem regarding slipping with either. (I did have a problem with slipping when I first built up my newer ss pony but this was due it turns out, to the chain being too long (using Fireye spring loaded tensioner) and chain wasn't hooking enough teeth on the rear cog). Blackspire rings are cheaper than Raceface and others due to slightly less machining of the ring but best value single ring in my opinion, plus they do a wider size range (incl.33t) which several other manufacturers do not. 2) I use an 7spd chain as it's strong but not as heavy as a dedicated single speed or bmx chain, and it is not designed to have as much sideways flex as for example a 9speed. Plus you are not paying for the work required to the outer links of a 9spd chain to assist it to change cogs/rings, so it's cheap (under R100 for full nickle coat from CRC) and has a solid connecting link. Unless you are doing a lot of dirt jump riding or bmx park style, I don't think the extra weight of a BMX chain is warranted. 3) Regarding "stretching" of halflink chains, I read somewhere that it is possible on these due to the s-bend in each link straightening under pressure over time, so maybe this is one instance where the word can be used without receiving abuse.

In bleeding them, it's suprising how little additional oil is required to restore the lever take up point to your prefered position. Conversely, it's suprising how a few tiny bubbles retained in the system can do the opposite.

Went past this yesterday afternoon. Pleased to see a new appetite for enforcement by Metro Police of this cycling only lane (during clearly defined morning and afternoon hours for those not familiar with it). Ironically the two vehicles I saw being fined where middle class type rather than taxis. Seems the sense of entitlement exhibited at government level has filtered down to the middle class where certain elements seem to think rules are discretionary rather than obligatory. Just see the types of cars jumping red lights to see what I mean. Comments made by those being fined as described by the OP further show these drivers have no remorse or even acknowledgement of the need to share the road. A microcosm of our increasingly aggresive and intolerant society unfortunately?

Noted thanks.

Could it be that it became a men only event due to no women entering?

33/17