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.

Let there be light

Winter is coming...

I've not stressed too much about a decent front light in the past, partly because there was always someone in my cycling group who had one and partly because my bike was worthless.

This winter (that's June - Aug for anyone in the northern hemisphere who thinks I'm premature), I'd like to ride some of the night races in Jozi's Delta Park and I'm also very conscious that my new road bike is worth almost as much as the car I drive. What's more, Jozi's roads are like Swiss cheese but with more holes, so just getting to the group which has the bright lights is now hazardous.

The brief: get a kickass front light which would allow me to race at night time without breaking the bank.

The research: there are plenty of sites out there with comparisons showing the varying degrees of brightness of bike lights. I particularly like Wiggle's (no, I'm not putting in the link otherwise you'll clear off to the Wiggle site and not come back). The problem is that all the top lights in the comparisons (Exposure, Hope etc) come with hefty GBP200+ price tags. Converted to SA zots, that's a lot. So putting the research sites aside I started with local online store CWCycles and lo and behold they had two lights for under a grand (that's GBP85) on their front page. There was no brand name, just a reference number for one of them: SG B-1000. A little more research lead me to discover this was Sprocket Gear. Further digging and a several reviews on Amazon later... it became clear that this is simple Chinese fare which is dished up under different names in different countries. Price comparisons revealed that you can pick up the one light I was interested in for as little as US$65 (that's about R500 - so don't think we don't know what you're up to CWC). Being extremely tight fisted I was going to order the US$65 version and have my wife pick it up from the States late April. That was until I rode smack bang through the middle of a pothole last week...

The outcome: Saturday I ordered the SG N-1000 online and today - Tuesday - its here and unpacked. What's the difference between the SG N-1000 and the SG B-1000 - well the picture of the N-1000 on the CWC site looked closer to the B-1000 reviewed on the Amazon site and I wanted to think I was getting the light that someone else had reviewed. Confused? Me too, let's move on.

When I picked up the delivery box I had a fright: it weighed a ton. As I walked to the house I pondered how such a small looking light could weigh so much. Then I remembered: I'd ordered 950ml of Stan's tire sealant! Anyways, chapeau CWC, yet another order dispatched quickly and delivered in one piece.

And so I opened the box. No doubt it's Chinese. There's nothing on the box or the kit itself that says "Made in China", but there are other tell tale signs. You can tell because there are not 65 pages of instructions in 14 different languages congratulating you on your purchase, or telling you that swallowing it is dangerous or that this light should not be shone in a baby's eyes from 5cm.

The least tell tale sign though is the build-quality. First up it looks pretty good. The light looks proper with a solid metal case, beautifully polished glass and machine bolts that you can actually undo with an allen key (no cheap plastic clip together facia here). The battery pack is covered in a removable non slip rubber which fits snuggly and looks like it will resist the elements. Huh - pleasant surprises.

There were more surprises too. Notably two wonderful head straps / bands / contraptions. They're pictured here.

The first I'm calling the Mary Poppins strap - it is a very simple lamp mount which attaches under the chin rather like those old hats at the turn of the 20th century. For the life of me I can't think what it's for or how it stays on, but on the plus side, at least the light faces forward.

The second strap / contraption I'm calling the Doctor as the light position reminds me of cartoon pictures of doctors from the 50's with white coats, stethoscopes and big examination lights on their forehead. It's a fully adjustable strap and comfortable fitted my noggin. However, when mounted the light faces... down into your chest. This may or may not be what they intended. Who knows? I may have got it completely wrong and this is a crotch strap - but even then it only lights up your chest again (or your back if you swing it round).

Weight wise - it's 347grams with the battery pack. That's not a problem, I consulted the local weight weenie guru - (Arno D that's you) - and he told me that to keep my bike at its same current weight I'll just have to remove the pedals. He then reminded me that my pedals are very heavy and that his weigh under 200g.

Brightness? Can't tell yet - it's not charged (there were no instructions remember). I'm not expecting it to compete with the Exposure's of this world, but I am hoping it will prove a good value alternative to the MagicLights that much of the peloton ride here on the highveld.

Tune in later this week for some real feedback.

Mavic Razor MTB Shoes 2010 model

A New Year a new post...

Or just a gripe? I've had my Mavic Razor's for 15 months now and I didn't feel I could review the shoes earlier because I was such a newbie to mountain bike riding. Having taken my fair share of spills and put in about 2,000km I feel I can now say with some certainty: these shoes are underwhelming.

My goal was to get an entry to mid-level shoe to get me started in the off-road scene. Price wise the shoe is very competitive, cheaper than its Shimano and Sidi equivalents but up from the dhb (Wiggle own brand). Tick the box.

Comfort wise? 10 out of 10 there's not an out of place seam, bad stitch, buckle mount or sole issue. The lining (now a discoloured yellow) is nevertheless plush and comfortable.

And so to the first bad point: the fit. The heel cup is cut very low and has little support. I have a narrow foot and I have to ratchet the shoe tight to avoid swimming around in the back of the cup (trust me, I didn't take the wrong size). If, like me, you have a narrow low volume foot, the Sidi shaped heel is just so much better. In addition to the ratchet closure there are two velcro straps. The first of these for me is simply redundant - it wrinkles the soft upper shoe when closed fully - neither providing support or comfort.

Stiffness? I've seen jellies firmer than these babies. My road shoes (until recently - separate post to follow) were 10 year old Sidi 5s which don't have a carbon sole and have lost their structure, so I know what shoe flex is about. The Mavics give in all directions: there is no lateral stiffness (that floppy heel support only exacerbates this), nor is there stiffness through the pedal stroke. Cleating and un-cleating are imprecise due to

the flex. The only time the shoe has helped me has been in my (many) falls on steep rocky terrain where they offer tremendous grip thanks to the design of the rubber studs.

Overall? Not happy. I needed a shoe to give me confidence in a new sport, a shoe to support me. This shoe has not done that for me. The only thing left to do is put a skewer in them and roast them over some hot coals, because they really are marshmallows.

Comfort 10/10

Stiffness 3/10

Price 4/10 (they may have been under GBP100.00 but now I need a new shoe)