Been a productive but tough
couple of weeks, “Belgian Mix” has been satisfactorily reworked, so I’ve turned
my attentions to some children’s fiction since I’m on a mission to explore
additional horizons and opportunity presents. Autumn is showing visible signs
of its imminent arrival and with it, renewal of the workshop roof in favour of
something more substantial before renewal becomes urgent.
Other creative opportunities
have presented themselves and are being pursued with renewed tenacity coupled
with a sense of tentative optimism. Not exclusive to the “creative” industries
but seemingly endemic is the expectation that people will supply goods and
services for nothing- I’ve had several encounters of this nature recently, treating
them with the contempt they deserve. I have often accepted payment in kind, or
on a barter basis but refuse to indulge in the sweat shop mentality-doing so,
encourages a downward spiral, rather akin to buying stolen goods and wondering
why one’s home/business becomes a target for theft. Remunerate fairly and
skilled people will reciprocate.
Commissioning solely on
price has major repercussions-many an “Uncle Bob” with “professional looking
equipment” has shot their niece’s wedding with disastrously second-rate results,
copious tears and family rifts. Sure you can get a gas combi boiler refit for
£500 but don’t expect to find recompense when carbon monoxide or major
explosion rips through your lives-said contractor will have saddled their
horse, ridden off into the sunset without so much as a tax code, let alone
public liability cover and Corgi accreditation. Never mind, household
insurers are bound to be sympathetic…
For the time being I have
shelved the idea of qualifying as a masseuse, since singular, professionally
recognised qualifications seem rare as the proverbial rocking horse dropping
and I don’t want to pursue a three year beauty therapy route, only for my
extended skillset to be mooted by gender. However, opportunities can
materialise unexpectedly so I’ll continue along other paths for now.
Toyed with re configuring the
Univega’s front end to include an Alpina dynohub with disc mounts but the
practical advantages are outweighed by unnecessary retirement of perfectly
good components, while serving to increase its theft appeal. Nonetheless, I’ve
invested in another Dcup lower race and Weldtite have sent me their steerer
cutter, so front end surgery is definitely on the cards. Thirty thousand miles
and countless shifts later it’s eight speed LX rear mech has been pensioned off
in favour of this remarkably competent Microshift M45, an 8/9spd unit broadly
on terms with the Japanese giant’s Alivio but a wee bit cheaper.
Ours was the long cage model
for seriously wide ratios (11-34 teeth anyone) though, there’s a shorter cage
sibling, which will save scarce few grams but might canter across the block
fractionally faster. No surprise to see its now sporting the LX crankset, which
is better finished not to mention (258g) lighter than its Alivio predecessor’s drive side
alone, largely attributable to aluminium alloy rings.
So then, we now have an
eclectic ensemble of eight/nine speed mech, commanded by 8/9speed brifters,
9speed crankset, eight speed chain, cassette and fifteen year old STX front mech. Everything was pretty much plug n’ play, save for the latter but even this this complied when fed a fresh cable and tweaked judiciously. Quintessentially
crude, models of similar calibre appear pretty tolerant of mixing n’ matching
and serves to scotch popular lore suggesting such configurations will never
work to genuinely acceptable standards.
We’ll see how far it lags
behind in another fifteen hundred miles or so, by which point I shall put the
existing Sun Race and KMC consumables out to pasture, marking 108,000 miles on
the tubby tourer and its continued evolution into nine speed-by default, rather
than design. Well, that brings this entry to a natural conclusion-time I
drafted a few pitches and copied my late father’s Open University series from
VHS cassette to DVD.
