SeaBee

sk - in my mind not much has changed ito support pillars. What has changed is that the complexity of the wings have increased even more, therefore a loss of a section of the front wing, maybe just a vane, might affect the airflow so much that it might cause replacement. Jaco, in short... and this is my understanding thereof, it may not be 110% accurate. The FIA decided it's a safe idea to lower nose height for safety reasons in accidents, stipulating a specific minimum height. I suspect they had early-90's cars in mind when they made the rule, but even initial drafts shortly afterwards suggested these... appendages will be a way to go. The reason: you have cars dependent on airflow below the car for downforce, which is why they started the high nose trend to begin with in the mid-90's. So, staying within the rules... minimise the "nose" surface, reducing drag and maximising airflow under the car. Along with this, they came up with the bright idea (buggered if I know why) that blown exhausts should be outlawed. So, you have cars designed around rear downforce (and traction) no longer existing due to the blown exhaust ban. That causes these hyper-complex front wings, to direct air more precisely. Good thing is, the new engines apparently sounds very nice! Much better than last year's whine. Maybe we should close our eyes and enjoy the sounds this season... (is there a way to mute commentary as well?! )

...on a dark background. Same as RB ito masking their noses with clever paintwork. Bloody complicated front wings, crazy elements and vanes. Look at the Cateham pic I posted as well. That all because of this rule change in conjunction with no-blow exhausts. Crazy...

Oh... Brace yourselves. Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes Caterham... (I think Kobiyashi is now going to demand pay to drive in this!)

Haha, RB just "masked" their di... ehhhrrr dolphin nose by painting it black! Was actually wondering (or hoping in vain ) that Ferrari went for masking something at their backend when painting it black - and will revert to red later, once all the cats are out of the bags anyways. Hoping like crazy the Merc and Ferrari will kick butt seriously in the first few races and everybody copy their nose designs. Interesting that both of their interpretations finishes flush with or behind the front wing.

I see the STR also has a limp-deek/ant-eater/dolphin nose. Oi... hopefully somebody else will also use an innovative way to get around this regs with a decent-looking nose. Ferrari's vacuum/kiddies slide is the best thusfar. Maybe RB surprises us? Or Merc... can't recall having actually seen their car, just the support message for Michael.

There's gonna be a lot of pressure (and in some cases hot air) inside the cockpits to counter that, sk27! From that one short, the Sauber do look better, but the angle is very deceptive, esp wrt nose. It may also have an ant-eater nose like the Mac. I like the vacuum nose on the Ferrari more and more. Well, anything beats these butt-ugly stepped platypus noses of the last 2 seasons. I just dislike the black rear - makes it look like the Marussia used to.

Thank you Ferrari! At somethin decent-looking...

Well that did not take long! ...cigarette advertising is bound to make a comeback after this!

Which means you haven't seen the Lotus yet... Positively pukeworthy, these noses... The McLaren at least looks like something. Just for the record - I prefer these (or at least McLaren's) to those stepped noses of last two seasons. But I was hoping it would look more like the 80's and early 90's cars when they said "lower noses". The Lotus - from the side. From the top it's a... ehhhrrr.... interesting!

Sorry, seems you replied while I was typing!

That's on MTB - and I agree. On the road you have idiots that can assist you with that by hitting you from behind and open it up. There I always put mine in the V between the seat stay and chainstay.

Agree with Wizz, 2 sec a lap is a lifetime. Your top 10 are sometimes covered by 1/10th in quali. And... flame suit on... In my my tiny mind a lot of the state of F1's "boredom" is BECAUSE OF all these cost cutting measures and crap that F1. Rules and regs to curb this, that and the other development, for the sake of cutting costs and financial fair play. I mean FFS, I hear this year they're even restricting wind tunnel time! Sorry, but give the guys room, let them develop cars and tracks and let them race. Then we won't have every 2nd car looking almost the same and artificial DRS and KERS overtakes. Hmmm... I think I've just given my age away. Oh, and to continue the rant. Just when everybody is on the same playing field, top teams are dicing (or were, untill they changed tyre regs mid-season ) and even smaller teams are getting closer, as Crow said... they go and AGAIN change the flippen rules! Cost savings there was...?! Now everybody has to redevelop and redesign. Sorry, but I really am baffled with goings on of the last couple of years.

Networking issues?! Must be all the non-greeting.

Was also surprised to see he's racing for free. Love the black livery on the FI! Interesting to see them having another cycling sponsor in F1... Suddenly two of them?! (Not counting "Team Alonso"!)

No, he's the side pod eating champ... but at least he's trying to overtake!

Good to see Kobiyashi back! That ought to keep some guys awake on track...

Went through this exercise end of last year. You won't be sorry, it is a kick-azz frame. The Maestrro suspension is awesome. Oh - and the Advanced price at that stage was... basically double. (Plus they did not have any stock of my size, should I have been that way inclined.) Don't know what you're coming from, but also note that you'll very likely have to fit a new chain due to the length of the chainstay. I also had to change my crankset due to incompatibility.

You can't blame a team/driver for being good. It's always been like this. Before this, Alonso had a mini-era of two seasons, before that Schumacher and Ferrari, before that a mini Hakkinen-McLaren era, preceeded by Schumacher-Bentton, preceded by Williams dominance, preceded by Senna and Prost (and before that Prost and Lauda) nailing everything that moved in their McLarens (remember the MP4/4 winning every race bar one - which they were on the way to win - also De Angelis commenting one year finishing 3rd in WDCC that he's World Champ in the non-McLaren class). Before that there was a chap called Piquet in a Brabham. Need I go on? Lauda/Ferrari... Steward and Tyrrell had their era. Lotus before that. I agree this is not great for entertainment, but it's not as if it is something new in F1. And face it, last year's "dominance" was only a result of the FIA in their wisdom changing the playing field mid-season by suddenly introducing other tyre specs. Let's see, maybe the rule changes (many of which I dislike) will upset the apple cart. We may see a new 5 year dominance of Williams or something!

We were in GB for the weekend and at the start, watching. I had sympathy for everybody! And yesterday we woke to... an absolute peach of a windless morning.

Amazing how often XC is (around here) confused with "across the country"...

Love my Thomson Elite(s - have one on both my bikes). I looked at that Scandium KCNC thingie... and it did look a bit flimsy to me... but seriously light! (And from memory, the one I saw was not within the mentioned budget - but I may be confusing two prices.) And no, I'm not all that heavy, that's just one area where I want to be as sure as I can be to have reliability.

StevieL, you've answered your own (initial) question. I came from a Stumpy HT and got the Anthem frame, took across what I could from the Stumpy. It is awesome. Do yourself the favour... Well, just go ride somebodies Anthem - that should be enough to convince/convert you (too).

Okay, I'm no pro, esp on the mtb side of thing. But this is my experience, shoot me, don't shoot me. I went from a 26FS to a 29HT. Like everybody says, it climbed like a rocket, it even gave me tons more DH confidence. Where I struggled was (don't laugh!) the flat stuff. I am relatively light, so I can't "sit down" the rear end when it you hit the bloody km's and km's of corrugated road (sinkplaat) we have at times. However, the front-end (even on corrugation) was a lot better for me. I simply could not sit down, let alone pedal! I have since gotten a 29DS frame. It does not climb as well. It's got a longer wheelbase, so gives me a bit more confidence on higher speeds descends... and yes, it's not as if I'm magically powering on a bubble of air over the corrugation sections, but at least I can sit and pedal where previously I had to coast, slow down, pedal a bit, repeat... and check afterwards whether I still have all my fillings. So - like with so many other things in life, the answer is... "It depends".

Agree with what others have been saying. YOU do what is right. It is being seen. On a longish ride on Sat I was stopped by numerous red lights as well, plenty of times saw people watching... maybe they were just jealous, sitting in their cars! And pleased to say I ran across another guy toward the end of my ride, full CWC kit, who also stopped at all red lights. I even arrived at a 4-way stop... either yesterday or Sat with a bakkie having arrived there (marginally) ahead of me. I stopped as usual, waiting for the bakkie to pull away. The guy smiles, thumbs-up me, then proceed to wave me through.

Armpies, I've been taught differently. Left lane, left or straight. BUT DON'T CUT THE F'EN INSIDE LANE! Right lane, Straight (beware of left-lane cutting eedjits) or Right. ..and then you get Paarl drivers' interpretation - oh my hat, a red robot is a christmas trimming and they can't even figure a 4-way stop, let alone a circle. (For which reason I try like crazy to avoid them on a bike, but when I do, EYE CONTACT and indication is key in my mind.) Anyways, here's what arrive alive has to say : To Turn Left (taking the first exit) signal left and approach in the left-hand lane keep to the left on the roundabout and continue signaling left to leave. To go straight on (taking the second exit) select the appropriate lane on approach to and on the roundabout. If no marking on the road it is usually safest to keep to the left lane stay in this lane until you need to alter course to exit the roundabout signal left after you have passed the exit before the one you want. To Turn Right (taking the last exit or third exit ) signal right and approach in the right-hand lane keep to the right on the roundabout until you need to change lanes to exit the roundabout signal left after you have passed the exit before the one you want.