Sunday, 3 August 2014

Cockpit Swaps & Brave New Worlds






Having acquired the necessary contact points, I returned from a much needed week of temping, determined to commence transplant surgery. Tubby tourer plucked from its slumber, I harvested fresh control cables, snips, tune-up stand, Allen keys and grease gun.

While hardly mechanically challenging, it’s time consuming nonetheless- unless you’ve gone the old school “Benotto” route, since even the best handlebar coverings become seemingly inseparable from their hosts given a few seasons. This two year old Cinelli EVA being no exception. However, firmly endeared to its combination of rugged materials and damping prowess, salvage was my preferred option. Twenty minutes hence, nimble fingers and perseverance saw both rolls free and intact.

Wholesale cable replacements were another hassle I sought to swerve. Previous estimation suggested a shorter stem would offset the Mungo’s more voluptuous curves, rendering this process unnecessary, so, brimming with optimism I slackened and slid the Microshift brifters free.

Unexpected complication awaited me elsewhere, courtesy of a headlock preload bolt system displaying early signs of galvanic corrosion. Full length mudguards and stout Teflon/ceramic greases give most things a sporting chance on daily drivers but the latter had vanished without trace.

Demon purged with assistance from Long T handled Allen key and maintenance spray; the Salsa/WTB combo was swiftly substituted for One23 and Mungos. Firmly focused, I introduced the Microshift Brifter, allowing sufficient slack for some minor, tool free manoeuvrings.

Cable length seemed operationally bang on (though may be trimmed in due course), confirmed by pumping the brakes and cruising fore and aft along the cassette a few times, while provocatively turning the bars. 

Alignment was pretty near too, verified with a spirit level and some tentative tweaking. Dynamo headlamp and other creature comforts, repatriated, narrow swift pattern saddle substituted in favour of Spa cycles broader Nidd (essentially a heavier duty B17 homage) transformation was almost complete.

I had some white Lizard skins DSP wrap doing something close to nothing but while extremely crisp and delightfully tactile, the black speckled Cinelli is infinitely more practical. Experience suggests better quality wraps tolerate several removal/fitments and Cinelli was no exception-I was even able to reuse the pre-existing electrical tape!

Formative impressions are extremely favourable, though care’s needed to avoid more pronounced brifters fouling brickwork, render and other abrasives when slipping through alleys and side entrances. Hence the Sugru end caps.  There’s also an element of “Hawthorne Effect”- any alteration either feels euphoric or alien for the first hundred miles or so…

Much has been made of Google’s new “driverless” vehicle, with business, innovation and skills secretary, Vince Cable and indeed many cycling forum participants calling for their widespread adoption. Superficially, removing driver error theoretically makes the roads safer but is this (or indeed, any technology) truly fool or tamper-proof and what of the wider, unspoken implications.

The early 1980s saw widespread embrace of robot spot welders in car factories, lowering labour requirements/costs, optimising efficiency and quality. Ah, but spot welding is a very simple, semi-skilled process and therefore easily programmed. Peugeot cycles adopted similar automated technologies on their mass produced HLE tubed framesets and OEM/factory built wheels are generally by machine too.

However, these automatons work to set tolerances. Artificial intelligence will doubtless render my comments (and workforces) redundant in the fullness of time but a good wheel builder or skilled welder will recognise optimum tension or weld penetration by feel/sight.  The same applies to vehicles-many driving instructors taught parking/manoeuvres by wrote-three turns to the right, one back etc. Once again, these have very limited horizons.

There is no doubt, this and other technology has been readily available in various forms for some time now, often transitioning from military applications (Collimator lenses used to guide lasers readily employed in modern lighting systems are prime examples). So therefore, vehicles could recognise motor/cyclists, pedestrians/other traffic and theoretically know (calculate) at what speed/distances to brake or pass from.

Longer term, this could literally change our economic landscape. Logistics firms would no longer need to recruit and retain skilled train, HGV and LGV drivers, couriers etc. Taxis could be similarly automated. Traditionally, there have been two voices to the argument around technological change. One suggests that people are liberated from hard, laborious and potentially dangerous jobs and will move into other spheres. Counter proposition points towards “dead trades”, wholesale redundancies with little opportunities for retraining.

Taking the car industry as an example, it was relatively easy for those from a craft/engineering grade to move sideways with relatively little retraining. A coachbuilder once said transition to CAD/CAM, programming roles, technical management fields was straightforward. Semi/unskilled track operatives faced a decidedly uncertain future. Traditionally a blue collar phenomenon, it has begun to impact upon the “professional” classes, who have found it harder to recover from this and previous economic downturns.


Talking of global economies is perhaps slightly contentious in an absolute sense, though politicians influence upon public life is dwindling and their tenure is likely to change from a full to part-time vocation. The 1990s witnessed many losses from the financial sector, some were quickly reabsorbed, others emigrated and retrained in completely different industries. This was something of a culture shock to many who viewed themselves recession and perhaps, future proof and may well prove a trend.

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