When researching the hybrid bike market, it immediately becomes plain that a key choice to be made by any prospective purchaser is whether to go for a model with suspension. It’s true that some ranges such as the Bianchi Camaleonte or Specialized Sirrus, which are aimed more at the on-road rather than off-road user, do not really offer the option at all. That aside, what actually are the options?
Basically there are two types of module – front suspension forks and suspension seatposts. You will not find a hybrid bike with rear suspension as is familiar on mountain bikes. Rough off road use is not their forte – if that’s what you want to do, then an MTB is maybe a better choice for you.
Front Suspension Forks
Suspension forks are by far the most widespread forms of suspension fitted to hybrids. Coil-spring operated, they have a travel of around 50-60mm.
There are various refinements available, depending on price. The most handy one to look out for is what’s called “lockout”. This is where there is the ability to lock the forks in place – very useful if you are on a surface which doesn’t call for suspension, as the action of the forks absorbs energy.
Scott likes to fit its bikes with supension forks – they feature on almost all of their models. Have a look at the Scott Sportster range if you feel that this is the way you want to go. Another well-regarded bike carrying suspension forks is the Kona Dew FS.
Suspension Seatposts
These are fitted remarkably seldom to hybrid bikes off the shelf. Many people, myself included think that this is a surprise, given how efficient they are in combatting uneven roads. They generally have a coil spring, although better models have an elastomer block inside. You are able to match the spring tension to your weight with an adjustment .
The Kona Dew FS is one version that does fit a suspension post as standard. They can obviously be retro-fitted at any time – they are widely available. Be careful to buy the right diameter post though.
So what are the pros and cons of suspension?
If you reckon on doing a lot of cycling away from smooth tarmac you will feel the benefit of suspension. If you have it available to you, you will think nothing of heading off the beaten track each time the prospect arises.
But be conscious that a good quality suspenson fork will push up the cost of your bike. On top of this, remember that a suspension fork will also add to the weight, and the springs will absorb some pedalling power – so go for a fork with lockout if you can, and use it.
As pointed out, I think that a suspension seatpost is a very valuable addition to any bike where comfort is a priority – they are not that expensive and will not add noticeable weight.
The choice is yours – what value do you put on comfort.
All posts in Leisures
Jodhpur has always been renowned for its excellent hospitality and the hotels in Jodhpur are striving to keep their tradition going. Jodhpur hotels are renowned for their opulence and colorful interiors. There are many heritage hotels that can be found in Jodhpur and they are among the best in the country. Jodhpur hotels such as The Hotel Balsamand Lake Palace, Hotel Devi Bhavan Jodhpur, Fort Chanwa Luni, Karni Bhawan, Hotel Ranbanka and The Ajit Bhawan Resort are some of the heritage hotels that can be found in the country.
Jodhpur heritage hotels aim at providing the level of luxury that the Maharaja’s enjoyed. This dedication to hospitality is the main reason why their guests make sure that they drop by in these same hotels every single time they are in Jodhpur. Heritage hotels aim at providing the guests with an insight into the culture and traditions of Jodhpur. These hotels organize many tours that aim to help the guest understand the way of life in Jodhpur.
Heritage hotels are also famous for providing an old world shopping experience. The heritage hotels organize bazaars and also have many traditional Jodhpuri and Rasjathani articles for sale. The interiors of the Jodhpur heritage hotels are adorned with many frescoes and vivid wall paintings of kings and tales of heroism.
The Balsamand Lake Palace Hotel is one of the most famous heritage hotels in Jodhpur. Balsamand Lake Palace Hotel is famous for its traditional Rajasthani cuisine and also has a fine collection of liquors. The hotel is situated on the Balsamand Lake and offers breathtaking views from each of the 36 rooms. This hotel is decorated with original Rajasthani curtains and Drapes and also has traditional and original Jodhpuri furniture. The terrace offers some excellent views of the lake and is a perfect place to spend the evenings with the pleasant breeze blowing from the lake. It caters to both business and leisure travelers.
You can opt for resorts that are located in the outskirts of Jodhpur too, as these resorts can normally be booked as packages and they will give you a deep glimpse on the local traditions, including live shows and performances of local music, dance and other related activities. Staying in a resort can be fun and adventurous at the same time, as these resorts also have rooms that are plush and comfortable.
For more information about Jodhpur Hotels Online Booking Services, Please visit our website for booking Hotels in Jodhpur at http://book.mustseeindia.com
Does your life feel out of balance or not as meaningful as you would like? The choices you make in how you spend your leisure time can increase your level of happiness and enrich your participation in the flow of life. According to Martin Seligman, a leading authority on happiness research, it can also make your life more meaningful.
Having time for leisure is a basic human need. Leisure can be defined as an opportunity for engagement and/or meaning in personally satisfying activities outside of your work or career. These activities:
Recharge your body.
Stimulate your mind.
Enrich your spirit.
Life without leisure depletes you quickly because the rhythm of life is broken. When you are in a “crunch” time, you have to stick with something to meet a deadline. Whether this time period is short (a few days) or long (several months), it takes perseverance and good self-management skills to get through it. During crunch times, you look forward to the time you can balance work and leisure again to re-establish the rhythm which is necessary for good health.
It is assumed that it takes no skill to enjoy free time. However, evidence suggests that free time is more difficult to enjoy than work. Being able to use leisure effectively can be stressful. Some people get anxious when there is unstructured time to fill. If this happens to you, give yourself permission to learn how to enjoy your free time. Break the time into smaller time frames at first until you are more comfortable.
The benefits of leisure are many:
Allows you to connect with others and reflect on the meaning of your life.
Helps you to live your dreams and make important contributions which make your life meaningful.
Helps you appreciate the present moment and beauty around you.
Increases motivation, concentration, self-confidence, and creativity.
Increases happiness, gratefulness, and serenity.
All leisure activities are not the same. Some are active and increase flow, i.e. games, sports, hobbies, socializing, and reading an interesting book. Other leisure activities are passive and can create apathy and depression because they do not require much skill and are not challenging, i.e. routinely watching television more than four hours a day and negative thinking.
The choices you make in how to spend your leisure time can have the potential to recharge you. It can mean:
Active social interaction and/or spectator participation.
Finding ways for creative expression.
Intentional intellectual stimulation.
Appropriate physical activity.
Learning activities which expand your perspective.
The choice is yours. Enjoy.
Copyright (c) 2007 Maurine Patten
Penang is the main electronics and computer related exporting state in Malaysia. It has several big silicon manufacturing company like Intel, AMD and many others silicon manufacturing here also. Having a business trip in Penang is rather more vacation than compare to business travel. However, you can try to sneak out some times for self sight seeing around in downtown and heritage buildings areas.
Transportation When you land at the airport, go to the Taxi counter to purchase the ticket for the taxi queue outside. It costs RM38 to go to the Georgetown area (Evergreen, Traders and G hotels) – Taxis around Penang are pricey and they will not use the meter. It is pretty standard prices although some drivers may be open to negotiate if you agree to regular pick up. I usually take the hotel shuttle to office but have the same driver pick me up everyday from office at 5pm. It costs 30 ringgit to the Traders hotel from my office in Bayan Lepas industrial areal. One way from Georgetown hotels to Kulim industrial park is about 70 to 90 ringgit. If you are commuting to Kulim daily from a Georgetown hotel, you definitely want to make arrangements with a cabby rather than try to call a cab from office on the way home. – During rush hour, expect to spend 30 min to/from island and mainland. The ride over the bridge and Kulim may run an hour.
Accommodations All these hotels have shuttle service to offices in Bayan Lepas industrial park in the mornings. – Equatorial Hotel, most expensive and most isolated of the hotels. This is a very old hotel and I have chosen not to stay here because it seems to be such an inconvenient place to stay so I will leave it for someone else to chat about. – Trader’s Hotel, this use to be the old Shangri La hotel and although it is been remodeled, and still very much the same hotel. Plus: Good business hotel with a strong free internet connection, good variety for the free breakfast buffet, comfortable rooms with everything in working order, good grocery store located in the nearby Grand Plaza mall (basement). Minus: No decent restaurants nearby (good hawker stands on Lorong Baru, a 5-10 min walk from the hotel, closed on Wed.), there are some mediocre restaurants in the mall behind the hotel (there is a Starbucks in Prangin Mall behind the hotel) – G Hotel, this is a fairly new hotel but the paint is a already fading in some of the rooms. This is a really popular hotel so it books up quickly. The real draw of this hotel is location right next to the upscale Gurney Plaza. They have made some improvements like bolstering their internet. Plus: Free breakfast and internet, they will give you a ocean view room if available and you ask for it, very nice gym overlooking the ocean, very stylish pool area. Minus: Not enough electrical plugs in the room, no clock, there is no phone on the desk where the cable connection is but you just need to move it yourself, dim lighting in the bathroom, some of the rooms have major plumbing problems (my carpet was soaked because of leaky plumbing; more than one room I stayed in had this problem) basically it seems like this hotel was put up in a hurry with little attention to quality control. – Evergreen Hotel, Decent cheap hotel, 20 min walk (or 10 Ringitt taxi ride) from Gurney Plaza. Plus: free internet, good business rooms, nearby hotel has Starbucks and some decent restaurants (Nasi Kandar is very good). Minus: corporate rate would not get you an ocean view, breakfast is not free and was not very flavorful.
Restaurants Secret Recipe has great desserts but mediocre food, Sushi King has terrible Japanese food, Nasi Kandar has great flavorful curry, the Japanese restaurant at the G hotel is very authentic and tasty, the Food Loft in Gurney Plaza has a nice selection of international dishes (I recommend the salmon and snow fish in the American section), there is a Chili’s next to the G Hotel that has really good cheeseburgers (which is a treat after 3 weeks in Asia). There are alot of places that have all you can eat seafood; many of the hotels do and so does a restaurant called Tao’s (great butterfish). – My favorite hawker stand is located in downtown Georgetown on Lorong Baru. The best Char Koay Teow stand you can find in island. There are hawker stands everywhere in Georgetown, Bayan Lepas, Batu Ferringi, and almost every places you hang out in the island you can find any hawker food around. – The satay beef and chicken from the hawker stand, near McDonalds, on Gurney Drive is a good choice for trying PG street food. Satay is charcoal grilled, bite sized, skewered meat served with peanut sauce. A meal of 20 skewers will cost $3
Entertainment Langkawi Coral reef snorkling is the best daytrip under $100. The package includes hotel pickup and a 2 hour high speed boat ride to and from an unforgettable underwater experience. The shaded snorkeling platform is located in the pristine waters of Pulau Payar, a few feet above one of world’s most spectacular coral gardens. Groupers, Barracuda, and parrotfish are some of the 100s of fish that school around the platform. The sea platform includes an underwater observatory, snorkeling equipment and diving facilities.
Free games downloads such as bike games and their like are very easy to play and moreover do not cost you a single dime in fee.
Regardless of the background from which one may belong, it is a noted fact that the young internet generation is obsessed with free games downloads. And why would they not be? Free games downloads such as bike games, cricket games or even games for girls are fun to play and moreover they also do not cost a dime to the players. It is easier to play all these games since what you need is an internet connection along with a computer, and you are good to go. The only thing that you need to do get started is search the web for free games download websites. For that matter you are sure to find hundreds of such websites that provide free games downloads of famous games such as racing games, car games, bike games, cricket games etc. the reason for the immense popularity that these games enjoy is the fact that people like to save money or for that matter do not intend to spend on games. And why would they? Especially when they can get their hands on free games downloads.
Many people presume that popular games are available as free games download because there is a dearth of choice, but the truth can’t be further than this. When you visit such a website that only cater to one particular niche such as bike games, one may be surprised to find he number of spin-offs, variation and categories within each section. Not only it has that, you may also stumble upon games that are just suitable to your mantle and calibre across genres.
One must however be careful in their choice of the website for free games download as there are a few websites that charge a nominal amount before they let you enjoy online games. You do not need to shell out money in order to download and play such games as there are so many websites on the internet that are willing to allow you to enjoy your favourite online bike games free of cost. Moreover, some of them won’t even ask you to register before you can get started.
These free games download websites employ flash technology for designing of their bike games or for that matter any other games. Over the years the technology has achieved great strides thus giving the viewers an improved visual experience thereby making such online games more and more attractive. Subsequently, the era of 3D graphics has ushered in increasingly interactive games that are nothing less than a visual treat and a delight for the gamers who simply could resist the temptation induced by bright and vibrant appearance. Moreover, games such as bike games that are widely available on websites providing free games download are easy to play. One may not be an expert in a particular game to enjoy it; also the help menu comes in very handy in order to get acquainted with the various functions and commands of the game.