Supersonic - Really! Look - Out!

It's not often I'm blown away by kit, but today I was and it was by one of the cheapest and least sexy components out there - an inner tube. The Conti Supersonic race specific inner tube is just ridiculously small - I mean take a look at the photo. And just ridiculously light - take a look at the scales.

And what's more, I just saved R3,000 - what a day.

You see I've been hankering for a pair of Look Keo Blade Carbon Ti 16Nm pedals for a while. They are gorgeously desirable and ultra rad in design, extremely well reviewed and a good bit lighter than my Shimano Ultegra pedals. But they ain't cheap and there just isn't R3k in the kitty at the mo.

So, instead of going long on carbon I decided to stick to a basic spares order especially with the Gauteng worldchamps - the 94.7 Momentum Cycle Challenge - just around the corner.

The only optional purchase was the supersonic tube.

It's 59 grams lighter than the tube I'm currently using. The Michelin Pro Race3s I'm going to race with are 118 grams lighter than the Gatorskin training tyres they replace. Now I'm no good at maths, but (2(114-55))+(2(315-197))= a lot. Like really worth it.

So as I rip off the Gatorskins and my old tubes and pull on the new Michelin Pro Race3s and the Supersonics I do so in the knowledge that 354 grams of rotational weight has just been shed.

I was going to buy the Michelins in any case so my only real decision was the choice between the Look Keo Blades at R3,000 and the Supersonics at R90...now let me see.

Nota bene

Of course, like those ultra thin condoms you can get from the dispenser in the lavs of the best British pubs, the supersonics promise a lot: they come in fancy packaging, guarantee heightened sensations, more feel and less resistance. And using Supersonics is just like using those condoms, you know that one split and you're farked.

Chainreaction - I promise I'll never stray again...maybe

I've bought quite a bit of cycling kit since I last wrote here; some absolute pants, some fantastic. But before I get onto the kit itself, a word on the purveyors of all things bike.

Last weekend I had to go shopping on Saturday and Sunday in real stores with real people. It gave me a rash. And this is my excuse for conducting retail therapy online. Enter Google Chrome, enter bookmarks - make hay.

Price comparison is fantastic and across the UK I love pitting Wiggle, Chainreaction, Evans, Fudges and Planet X against each other. In SA its Buycycle versus CWCycles - voila, simple the landscape is still bare. And when it comes to the US everything is measured against RA Cycles. Of course the best bit is comparative shopping across the 3 continents and I can generally get my fill by either select ZAR as the currency, or running everything through OANDA for currency conversion at credit card rates (interbank +/-3% if I'm not mistaken).

All good. Like with like. Not quite.

I recently bought from Planet X whose prices kicked butt. However, could anyone tell me where my delivery was? Could they sort it out when challenged? Nope and nope. A good ol'gripe on Twitter did the trick. My delivery had been at my local post office for 6 weeks. My happiness at finally getting my gear was short-lived: the top of the range SRAM PC1091 was OEM - not what it said on the site and they were missing an inner tube - nothing major, but no correction either.

As much as Evans & co can frequently bust a price wide open - if you want it to get to you, be able to track it and be able to get something done about an error, it's Wiggle and CRC all the way.

CWC is making the SA turf their own and it's no wonder they were in a showdown with Yuppie Chef for the best SA online retail site. Just need their prices to come down a tad...

Click on.