Eugene

I personally wouldn't take the risk of buying a no name frame from some unknown person on ebay. There are a couple of guys that import and resell similar frames on the Hub. They normally offer warranties, so rather buy from them and let them carry the risk of a breakage.

I cannot get the link to work, so I'm not sure which model it is exactly. Schwinn's are very nice bikes, but recently they have moved away from high end racing stuff and seem to be offering cheaper, more touring type of bikes. Have you tried Reaction Sports in Charlo for a used bike? They have quite a number for sale and Mark, the owner, is very helpful. What is your budget and do you know the size that you require? If anything that I hear of comes up, I will let you know.

Why not buy a cheap mountain bike for R3 000 or so. I use mine to commute. The nice thing is that you can hop on and off pavements, ride on the gravel next to the road etc.

Doesn't your friend know, 29ers are already old school. Tell him he should be looking at a 27.5er. After its win at the world champs at PMB on the weekend, these are destined to be the next big thing. In the car industry there was a quote "win on the weekend, sell on Monday"

I live in PE and did not even know that this event happened. Good marketing by the local and national governing bodies. I would have loved to watch.

If I'm not mistaken, Two Wheel Trading, the guys that do Momsen bikes were the official importers of Parlee. A chap at our club has one too.

Hey, this is a cycling forum. Want to know about bicycles, then ask away.................medical questions are best dealt with by doctors. If your doc won't commit, go to another doctor for another opinion. Imagine you end up in a wheel chair for life because "the Hub" has told you that you can still cycle.

There's more to a bike's weight than just the frame. There is a ton (pun intended) of other components which could account for the weight difference. Consider a super lightweight bike at 6.8kgs. Of that, the frame probably comes in at 1kg. That makes up 14% of the total weight. Hi end aluminium frames are not very common now days, so 10-1, the aluminium frame you checked was a heavy entry level one with light weight parts. Cannondale, is one of the few manufacturers that still have good quality high end alum frames and is probably lighter and better quality than many carbon frames of today.

I see some Campag recomendations here. Just remember, you will have to change your wheelset as well, unless you are going 10 speed Campag. There are a couple of manufacturers that make Campag cassettes that will fit a Shimano wheel, but they only make 10speed and not the newer 11 speed. Campag parts are hideously expensive, unless you support the overseas online shops. Also consider Microshift. A Hubber was selling them new for R3 500 (shifters, front and rear deraileurs). They are 100% Shimano compatable and are lighter than Dura Ace. The shifters and rear deraileurs are carbon so they look really cool. You will at least have something very different as well.

They are pretty decent bikes and come in at a good price. There was a post earlier on about how quickly a Silverback warranty issue was attended to (2 days for a new frame to arrive). I have heard horror stories on other, more expensive brands, where people wait months for replacement frames. After sales service is a really important factor as it gives you peace of mind of the product you have bought. I rate the Space Concept as one of the sexiest frames out there. The only issue I have with Silverback is that they were an SA brand and were proud of it. Last year they stuffed off to Germany and put "Designed in Germany" stickers on their bikes. It was obviously done for business purposes, but still, I like a bit of patriotism.

I have that same frame and it really is nice. Just a few things to consider. Some of them had their sizes incorrectly marked. Mine states size "52 Large." It should read "52 Medium" This mistake was pointed out to me by Probike, the importers of these frames. The second thing, which could be linked to the incorrect sizing, is the top tubes are relatively long. My Medium has a 57 cm top tube as opposed to 55cm odd for most mediums. Thirdly, these red/black frames were never available as complete bikes. The frames were brought in specifically as part of a recall on the 2007 frames which had a tendency to crack. I personally believe that your friend cannot go wrong. I have never heard of a single breakage on these frames. Team Microsoft rode them in this colour scheme and the 2008 yellow/blue scheme in 2007 and 2008. Over a period of 2 or so years, there were at least 4 or 5 SA titles won on these frames (something the Raleigh bashers don't like to hear).

Did exactly the same thing a few weeks ago. The bike shop re-threaded for me for R10.00.

I paid R100 for my daughter to swim in the Kid's Challenge at the Redhouse River Mile last weekend. Her event was 60m long and took her all of 50 secs. I paid R100 bucks for her to swim for 50secs or R2 per second. The point I am trying to make is that cyclists aren't the only ones being screwed.

Don't forget that you might qualify for a crash replacement on the Bell. It is a 75% discount if I'm not mistaken. You may just end up going back to Bell

We are all waiting with baited breath as to the descision that you made. Have you decided yet? We want photos.

I've read that Alain Prost does it every year. Apparantly he is pretty awesome on the bike too.

I badly want to do it too.

You made your original post on 17 Feb and you have already been sorted out. That is from a company 11 000km away. maybe some of our local suppliers can learn a lesson from this.

Is the bike ok? I would be the hell in if this guy had damaged my bike in an accident

Pretty disgusting if you ask me. If you need to go, look for a hidden spot.

I'm not an engineer, but I cannot see how a small tube the length of a stem or even a handle bar can give any noticable difference in vibration damping. If it does, there is no way a human will be able to tell the difference.Besides, doesn't the front fork absorb all the bumps anyway. There is only one benefit and that is looks.

Looks are all important. I would take the Giant based on that. Just out of interest, what are the prices? Bicycling has quoted the Specialized at R18 000 odd, however, I have seen places selling the 2010 versions as a complete bike with Rival for about that price.

I cannot for the life of me remember his name. But our ex-minister of defence often rode in races. He did a rather impressive face plant, on the tar, directly next to me at the Herald a number of years back.

Buy local and support local, get the Momsen. Silverback shafted SA by moving to Germany and then putting stickers on the bikes that say "Designed in Germany"

This is cycling. Wasn't Alberto Contador given a ban for having traces of Clembuterol in his blood? The amount they found was so minimal that it didn't affect his performance. Sorry Burry, based on these principles, you have to be banned too, even though your shirt gave no performance advantage.