An ancient bike, from Den Gamle By, Århus, Danmark

Okay, the photo doesn't do the justice!

First look at Speedplay

Every time I plan small upgrade, I end up with much more. I was moving from triple to double setup but also ended up with Speedplay zero stainless pedals. Here is what is in the box.



It is necessary to read the installing instructions along with warnings or else you might end up damaging them. It was very easy installing them on my three hole Merida Carbon sole shoes.

I had damaged my first SPD cleats, from occasional walking. See the difference between not using and using cleat covers.



Since then I always use cleat covers. I bought coffee caps, cleat covers from Speedplay. Kool Kovers also makes covers for Speedplay. My earlier SPD cleat covers are from them. Don't expect to jog with them! They are good enough for short walk. Also, Speedplay's cleats need to lubed, so, covers help protect them.





What I like about Speedplay is ->
Adjustable float on both directions(in and out). Notice the arrow, they can be turned to get convenient float. Anyways, as you see my preference is zero float.



Two more thinks I feel with Speedplay are;

1. SPDs are wider than Speedplay, comfortable ground contact area.


2. With Speedplays I feel like 'heel' in the front. Those caps give large surface area, easy walking.





I definitely need covers!!

Buying and Shipping from ebay!!

There are few shops that stock high end bicycles, in Bangalore, but not many high-end components. I always first check with Venkatesh before I order stuff from ebay. He is a frequent visitor to Singapore and he might get that for you.

Though there are no problems with buying stuff from ebay, just need paypal account, the shipping process is not very pleasant experience IMO. Most of the sellers use USPS to ship internationally. Before I get into that, here is the general information on Bangalore Customs. Any postparcel that lands in India first has to go through the Postal Appraising Department. Here is the procedure followed by Postal Appraising Department for parcel, same content here also.

"Every thing looks so simple, what is your problem?". Delay! I don't take any chances and always use USPS Express mail. It has a tracking number. Although the USPS website updates with "Out of Foreign Customs" I don't receive my parcel. It is still stuck in customs. It usually takes a week. The procedure is manual after it enters PAD. I find big ledgers where they keep track of all the parcels. Here is where the human error creeps in. When they say "In cases where the details available with the parcels are not sufficient for assessment, a call memo is sent to the addressee requesting them to produce necessary documents for assessment of the goods.", they mean the addressee is contacted by sending postcard, oops.. the person in-charge forgot to send the postcard! So, I have to call them couple of times to check the status, find the contact information on PAD site. After producing those necessary documents, EMS of India Post delivers your parcel.

"If delay is your problem, why don't use expensive DHL?" For two reasons, it gets expensive to ship small things, like derailleur, and many sellers on ebay don't entertain DHL. In past, shipping by DHL, I have received them the very next day it lands in India. Yes, the other option is to use a mail/parcel forwarding service like Bongo. Bongo ships via DHL. After going thr' the rates/charges of a few forwarding services, I found Bongo VFM. I'm quite happy with it. They have very good web interface and + is that they have fast+prompt replies.

There was a discussion on Bikeszone about duties and taxes applicable in India. Below calculator is based on that information and the usual disclaimer. Talk to any CA to get exact value.

Disclaimer: The calculated duties and taxes are not exact.

Value of goods:     VOG:
          Custom Duty:     CD :% VOG         
 Counter Vailing Duty:     CVD:% (VOG + CD)  
          Cess on CVD:    CCVD:% CVD         
 Cess on Total Duties:     CTD:% (CD + CVD)  
Additional Customs Duties: ACD:% all of above

Taxes + Duties Payable: 

Edit 28May10: Duties receipt from Fedex that show above calculations.


For complete info on taxes and duties visit www.cbec.gov.in

[Update 15Aug13] 'post card' is not used, I received a registered post this time but still takes a week's time :( . The taxes were close to 30% for a geared hub.

Off underwear!

For the first time in my life, I haven't been with underwear for an hour or so. Probably everyone now knows, Bangalore was hottest in 25 years on 12Apr10.

I was never without underwear except while bathing. After riding for little more than an hour, as usual, my underwear was dripping with sweat. It caused enough of chafing to rest for the next day. This was in the evening b/w 6 and 7'o clock, it was that hot! Thanks to AC in neighbor hood, vehicular pollution and more thanks to BBMP for chopping many more trees. So, I'm on just biking shorts since then.

I like+happy with my ISM saddle but my short's padding don't match the ISM design. I had to put back the old San Marco. Now, I wonder if there are any shorts with padding wide enough to cover the wide ISM race saddle?

On Rollers

It not very difficult to get on bike on rollers but support is needed. I use window sill for support while getting on and also when I lose balance talking to my daughter.


It has been close to six months since my bike is IDLE. I had to rest for couple of months owing to keen pain and then another couple while away on a business trip. The wear here is result of riding for a mere half-an-hour.


No insane hero-ism until I get used to rollers. A stack of beds also, for support.

Goodbye Tube!!

Broken Presta valve of my Litespeed's tube.

From Litespeed

Now, the tube can be re-used for fixing puncture.

My first ride to Nandi Hills from Bangalore

Can it be guessed what happens if you ride in mist like this?





First time in my life, I saw something like this happens!! Droplets of water condensed on hair on my hand.