Back in March I signed up for a 20twenty bank account and have been quite happy with it. Considering I’m online 24/7 using a bank which is marketed as an internet/online bank was quite appealing at the time (though all banks have inet banking these days) since it would be fairly convenient to do all my banking: eft’s mostly. But at the time the main reason was to get the actual plastic, as a 20twenty card, is by default, a mastercard even if you don’t have a line of credit. So this would enable me to buy/pay for stuff online with ease — which is pretty much how I’ve been using it since.

One thing I’ve noticed with online banking and credit card facility, is that I’m far more willing to part with my \*cough\* hard earned \*cough\* cash since it just doesn’t feel real. Managing my finances online feels almost like a game to me, meanwhile I know that in reality the money is being drained out of my bank when I buy stuff online.

I have a Paypal account as well as an Ebay account, among other things, and it takes quite a bit of restraint to not go out and buy a whole lot of junk — for my bike of course. Needless to say, I just spent another R340 using this shiny piece of plastic which I now have a line of credit for. For that R340 all I’ll be getting are 2 chunks of thermoplastic (read: frame sliders) and 2 stainless steel bolts delivered to my door. Certainly quite a bit cheaper than the R400 I was quoted for sliders locally, not to mention that I’d still have to hunt down the correct bolts and take my bike to get measurements done etc. etc., so all in all it seems to be a fairly good deal.

I’ll probably only get them the week after next with some luck, at which point I’ll have to figure out how to mount them. I’m expecting to receive the sliders at much the same point in time as I get my bike back, but I kinda want to fit these myself, unfortunately I don’t have the tools to a) take my fairing off and b) to cut a hole in my plastics. To cut the hole I’ll need a hole saw about 5cm in diameter, hopefully I can pick up a drill attachment at the local hardware store, and then just finish off with a file. Don’t feel like buying a rotary tool or a dremel to do the job, and I don’t particularly trust other people to cut a hole flush. So the remaining problem is trying to figure out how to remove my fairing…