i'm putting a bike together , give me an idea what tools are needed , willany grease work wrt to BB's. are there any websites that would give a guidline in what sequence you would build up a bike
if you are not in a rush and have a freind or relative in the uk , order from totalcycling (i saved R2000 on a chorus groupset) and if i had waited a bit longer into the year then i would have got it even cheaper.
the mag is just not worth the money. not enough local or o/seas content. its just full of rehashed advice , buyers guides and adverts. just a scan of the cover on the book shelves tells me its not worth buying. do their "writers" ever go out and look for "stories" or do they kust cut and paste from other cycling mags? here are a few issues i would like to be investigated.....(1) access to the Bellville Velodrome. is the PPA a national or provincial body? why does it not work together with the WPCA in Western Province. What is the state of club cycling in SA and the various provinces? we have Olympics and Cwealth Games soon are we going to see the same names riding for us?
so much for developing track cycling - until that venue becomes availabe on a weekly (even once a week) basis u can kiss track cycling goodbye. it will never grow to any significant proportions
i was on holiday in France a few years back and i took my bike with . i stayed in the middle of Marseille so i had to ride quite a fair way to get into the countryside. all their roads (even in the middle of the city) has a dotted line for cyclists. one of the days during the week i got lost and found myself close to the city centre with narrow roads and lots of cars. i must admit that even though i hogged the gutter cars could not pass if there was oncoming traffic and cars parked next to the pavement (something like Muizenberg to Fish Hoek) but what amazed me was the patience that the motorists had when they were stuck behind me. reasonable tolerance of other road users - thats all it is
if you are prepared to wait for one of your expat friends to come back from o/seas. buy on line from there . for eg groupset from CWC on line R10 000 i got it for R7 999 from totalcycling. got it delivered to a friend of mine in the UK and he brought it in for me.
please remember when u work with the CSA staff , they are employees (admin staff) if you really have a problem contact the Pres. Lawrence Whittikar , he was the one who was elected by the provinces. i.o.w. some province nominated him, he said yes and got elected. the CSA staff are just doing an admin job. they might not know anything or have any interest in cycling. the procedure with any query is to get your club to take your problem to your province. if your province feels you have a case then they must take it up with CSA (thats the procedure) btw the CSA have improved the face to face customer relations. before they would just tell you what i'm telling you and put the phone down. now they try and help as much as possible. the reason why they might not want to help you is that the entry list might have already been printed and they don't want to waste money on reprinting it just to include your name.
are you still rying to enter Sa's - suggest you work thru your club and province. if the CSA (new name for SACF) has to entertain every query that every (licensed) cyclist had they would not have time to administer the sport.
pick an enlarged squad and start planning now. then send them to do the races on the African continent i.e Tour d Faso, Morrocco , Cameroon , Egypt etc this will get them used to riding low key but tough events. send (the survivors) the best touring team to Europe the next year. lets face it , our local one day races won't prepare them for Europe.
i was in that bunch (f). the crash was caused by the F riders who fell over into the path of the riders who were riding in the opposite direction. who is he suing the rider in front of him or the one who was riding in the other direction. i was next to and slightly behind the rider whose front wheel touched the back wheel of the rider in front. this guy then fell over onto the wrong side of the road coincidently at the same time as the other bunch was passing and had a head on collision with another rider/bike. the thud was sickening.
sort your problem out with your club. provide proof that you are a member. if you can do that then they are obliged to help you. u can still enter Sa's but at a cost.
