Monday 30 September 2013

Hold On, What About The Holdsworth?






Didn’t feel inspired to assume keyboard duties first thing, so resurrected “Ninja Blue” from hyper sleep, popped it aboard the work stand and commenced disassembly, ready for bottom bracket shell replacement surgery. Contrary to popular folklore, only brazed/silver soldered framesets are realistic candidates for this sort of invasive repair.

An ocean of home brewed frame preserve sloshing round the tubes certainly rendered internal corrosion academic, ensuring threaded components released easily too, though given their high torque settings, crank bolts benefitted from a squirt of heavy duty penetrant.

Bottom bracket extracted, I doused the slightly grimy chassis in a blizzard of Brite Ride’s super sudsy foaming bike wash and let its ionic surfactants get busy while harvesting bucket, fresh water and super tactile Muc-off brush. The latter inducing spontaneous, yet not universally welcome rendition of Prince Buster’s “Wine and Grine”-afterall, have brush you avoid rush. Strongly suspect he wasn’t referring to post winter cross race clean ups mind…    

Joshua’s reproving looks weren’t adding anything beneficial to proceedings, so he was sent in search of SLR, prime lens and these Seal Skinz waterproof kid’s gloves… Several minutes later, he emerged from the office brandishing said goodies, by which time the Holdsworth’s 5012 powder coat livery positively gleamed, offering an unhampered view of the hairline fracture.

Temptation has been to fill with brass, smooth flat and repaint-somebody quoted £40 for the structural stuff but Murphy’s Law dictates said damage will simply recur a few weeks hence, rendering such efforts futile. Ergo, Midlands based Lee Cooper http://leecoopercycles.webs.com/ seems our best bet once cash flow resumes a more favourable state.

Some would suggest taking this opportunity to introduce bottle bosses and similar modernisations, afterall, said build is hardly original. However, there’s little need given the availability of high quality pressure fit composite cages. Cosmetics will remain unchanged, though it may be enamel rather than powder this time round-depending on whether Lee is comfortable with paint being outsourced to Maldon Shot blasting & Powder Coating…

With all that water sloshing about, its inner sanctum was flushed through with liberal blasts of maintenance spray. Gently rotating the frame before leaving it upturned for twenty minutes largely eliminates risk  of moisture lodging ruinously inside.

Several season’s continuous use of Seal Skinz products affirms they’re genuinely waterproof-right to the cuff lines. Nonetheless, thorough evaluation of any performance claims is essential. Joshua willingly immersed his hands for ten consecutive minutes, confirming bone dry digits, although felt slightly disconcerted by the sensation of water lapping against the inner membrane. Textured palms offer reassuringly good purchase too, so scoots to school shouldn’t be too uncomfortable as the nights draw in and temperatures plummet.…


     


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