A bit of fettling on the Solaris ready for the weekend:

Index gearing - check
brake pads - oops! Need new ones on the front, uh, oh! and new ones on the back. - check
Bolts all tight - check
Sealant - check
Spares - check

Now it's just the non-bike stuff like making sure the electronics is charged.

htrider wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 10:08 pm

Jurassic wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 9:29 pm

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:55 pm Drop bar risers... Isn't that going a bit too far

I'll let you know!

I've got Surly Truck stop bars on the Straggler (30mm rise) and they are ace! Flats now about 20mm higher than the seat level.

Well after a first ride on the Drisers today (not far but a ride that usually puts my hands to sleep) I have to say they seem to be excellent. No numb hands and the shape is good, the drops are more usable being 20mm higher (and shallow anyway) and the aero/ergo shape of the tops is super comfy.

Re-dished the rear wheel on the plus bike to get a bit more room for the chain in twiddly gear... moved the rim over about 6mm and looks more central now.
Cleaned the drive train and fitted a new RD hanger.
Satisfying afternoons potter.

Fitted a J-Tek wotsit and a Wolftooth Roadlink to the rear of my Equilibrium. A quick test ride round the block shows them to be working properly so I now have an 11-34 cassette working with my 10sp Campag Record shifters and short cage Chorus rear mech. Happy days!
Of course it’ll work! by Richard Picton, on Flickr

Busy day, rebuilt my fork with new seals and some new decals to match the newly powder coated frame, then pressed in the headset and proceeded to rebuild the bike, just need my wheel parts to arrive now.

Pickers wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:01 pm Fitted a J-Tek wotsit and a Wolftooth Roadlink to the rear of my Equilibrium. A quick test ride round the block shows them to be working properly so I now have an 11-34 cassette working with my 10sp Campag Record shifters and short cage Chorus rear mech. Happy days!
Of course it’ll work! by Richard Picton, on Flickr

Rich ... you are da man. Work of art fella

I fitted a rear mech that doesn’t fit

My Vagabond had a long overdue overhaul today, new bottom bracket, rear derailleur, brake pads, large chainring, wheels serviced, genetic digest bars fitted, new bar tape, and all new cables. Had a mate from work who used to be a bike mechanic help me out, I learnt loads, unsurprisingly. Feels a bit like Trigger’s broom. Really like the new bars

i gave my OO Fatty some unaccustomed love (hang on ... that sounds weird ... move along) I cleaned the drivetrain properly, fitted new inner and out gear cable, pulled out the bottom bracket, cleaned and greased it, disassembled the headset and treated the bottom race to a new set of bearings (faaaaark that was fiddly) Next weekend, it's a front m back cup n cone hub service. Could get ugly.

Some changes and an upgrade to the El Mariachi.

Carbon forks, 29+ wheel and H-bar clones for the front.
Shiney new XT SPD’s to replace the old Deore’s that where rattling on their axles!

Pedals great - new handling not happy

Replaced my front brake pads while out and about this morning. Noticed a grinding noise about 40 km into the ride, so stopped and swapped the pads for a set I've been carrying since that start of last month. They lasted 7,445.7 km (according to Strava), no idea if this is a good distance or not, as I've not used hydraulic disc brakes before this bike...

That seems like a good amount of time/distance you've had out of them.
I find it depends a lot on riding type and conditions - I've worn a set out in a day in wet, gritty winter conditions.

SS spin to the paper shop for the MiL's paper
Gravel ride to drop off the said paper and a 35 mile detour home.
SS spin back to the same shop to collect a new budget camera tripod

Just cleaned the mucky chain. First with muc off and a tooth brush but I find anything MucOff to be a bit of a scam and even thiugh used neat it was, it can mucOff the horrible stuff.

Then resorted to some white spirit and carefully wiped it on with toothbrush (not mine off course ... they'll never know) and hosed it off. Gave the rest a wash too and noticed the sealant that sealed the other days front tyre hole, had splattered all down the down tube.

Anyway, hopefully its warm enough that the untreated chain won't rust overnight (too much) and at some point I'll treat it to some Smoove.

Also swapped out the 31.4 Rithcey seatpost for a shimmed 27.2 Canyon. Weighed in the Spa Special 'Brooks' saddle and almost fell off my feet. 600g... no wonder its been comfy. Swapped that out for the Selle San Marco funny shaped one. Hope I don't live to regret it. Saved about 350g or more...

Put It back together again

Before






After


Lovely powder coat job, I can highly recommend Banbury powder coating, class job and cheap at £65, I’d say it’s much better than my factory coated Surly ECR.

I also put one back together, my arkose. Then went for a spin.


Came home to finy my mtb tyre flat in the garage, cant find any air coming out anywhere.... but it is... somewhere.....

Moff wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:46 pm Pedals great - new handling not happy

Is it your first time with a H bar? My first rides with mine they felt terrible and I wondered what I'd spent all that money for. I stuck with it and after a few rides it just clicked.

sean_iow wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2020 9:45 pm

Moff wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:46 pm Pedals great - new handling not happy

Is it your first time with a H bar? My first rides with mine they felt terrible and I wondered what I'd spent all that money for. I stuck with it and after a few rides it just clicked.

Bar with this much sweep, yes.
Don’t think the bars are the issue, it’s something between the tyre size, pressure, stem length and fork trail.
I’m getting a bit of a steering flop at lower speeds and there’s a level of ground profile tracking from the front end that feels odd. Feeling too much like cautious passenger.

Hopefully just need to work through the options, less tyre pressure, reduce fork trail (flip dropout chips), old wheel back in, shorter stem? Will keep me busy for a few days!

Pulled off the Vittoria Terreno’s and refitted the 2.35 Mezcals, with the rain we’ve had the Terreno’s become a handful in the mud, I’ve enjoyed the extra speed but swapped them out before I was tempted to take them to Wales.

Fettled my brakes and changed the front tyre from a WTB Trailblazer 2.8 to a Continental Cross King 2.8 as I'm looking for more grip on the front.

So I went with the little one round the back to finally get the BBpoles onto the TTstealth in prep for the DD600 (or 450 which seems the most likely cos I'm soft) and have it put up in the garden... About 45 minutes later there was still no sign fo the longer of the BBpoles. So instead we did some other bike work instead...



Bout 5 blows each to the peripheries (kneecapped it or whatever its called) and then about 15 to 20 to try and squish it and it finally cracked

Still didn't help me/us find the pole though

First real rain this week saw me pwt and discovering the limits of the G-One Allround tyres in mud.
After wasting a morning trying to find some alternative tyres put the MK2s on.
Reckon they will see me through the winter unless it turns dry or I go back to just riding the Exe Trail.

Came home from holiday on Tuesday to find the rear tyre had deflated. Too busy doing technical assessments for potential new jobs to fix it. Need to get this moths bivy in tonight, or tomorrow night, so had to rebuild the inflater cap to get it sorted.

So yesterday I went for a shakedown ride on the Spearfish. Just as well I did.

Towards the end the chain began skipping on the top two gears. Got home, cleaned the bike then it began chucking it down so got the bike in and I'd oil things today.

Got the bike out this morning and ...



Initially I thought it was the quicklink but it's just a standard link. Fortunately I'd an 11spd quicklink spare so an easy fix. No idea what caused it, I must have hit a rock at some point which weakened it and eventually it's gone. KMC chain *I think*

Put the gold titanium CrankBro Candy (or whatever they are) on Stan. Lost around 40g per pedal from the xtr types I had on already as well as another 5g per cleat plate!

Not sure how I feel about them though as it seemed to be complex work clipping in on the uphills standing starts (ie. Clipping the second pedal after getting moving). Seem to be much more comfy though with the slightly bigger platform and 6 degrees or more of float...