Worth The Squeeze

200 miles in, I’m pleased to confirm that upgrading my Univega to the Centos 10speed setup, has been a resounding success. Even this horse was intrigued by my setup. With the Sun Race SP570 mech extender, the Centos copes effortlessly with the 11-28 setup, without feeling over-stretched. Ratios between 36.8 and 93.6 seem to cater for most occasions, and weary legs.

Plenty of torque when accelerating away from the lights, yet tall enough to avoid spin out down 1in7s at 35mph. Some initial cable stretch combined with a quick shot of lube, seems to have corrected minor indexing reticence. Most obviously clambering to the 28-tooth sprocket, and mid-way through the cassette.

Though far from spongy, pulling the front brake’s inner wire through a few millimetres, restored familiar “stop on a sixpence” bite. This is helped in no small part, by the lever’s travel, which is much greater than the shallow reach 9spd predecessors.

Last but no means least, I dialled the left pedals’ tension screw a little tighter, since there had been episodic, unwelcome release. The cleats were only recently replaced, and in good health. However, patterns are by nature accurate by degrees.  

During this bedding-in phase, I stuck with the FSA chain’s factory lube, rather than opting for the otherwise excellent Squirt Long Lasting Dry Chain Lube https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/squirt-long-lasting-dry-chain-lube . These lubricants are widely revered for their relative cleanliness and staying prowess (I’ve had 400 miles from a helping, during a dry summer).

Serendipitous too, since these Zefal Extra Dry Premium Chain Wax and Zefal Pro Dry lubes arrived from Bob Elliot &Co. Seems the first batch were coveted by a courier. Thankfully, the second arrived without incident.

I seem to be gravitating towards wax-based lubricants these days, so have taken that route, first. Will be interesting to see how it compares to the Smoove https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/squirt-long-lasting-dry-chain-lube , Weldtite TF2 Advanced Ceramic Chain Wax https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/tf2-1 , or Weldtite TF2 Ultra dry chain wax https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/weldtite-tf2-ultra-dry-chain-wax

Cool mornings are a theme of late, so I’ve reverted to long sleeve base layers and jerseys. This Prendas Ciclismo Bordeaux-Paris Long Sleeve Jersey is proving perfect for temperatures between 9 and 14 degrees.

At the upper end of this scale, a bit of zipper dropping comes in handy but that’s what I’d expect, from long sleeve garments. Balmy weather, we’re promised, is just around the corner. So, in anticipation, here’s my review of its short sleeve sibling https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/prendas-ciclismo     

Elsewhere, Emma Hillyard has been putting the Primal EVO2.0 Women’s Short Sleeved Jersey through its paces. https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/primal-evo-2-0-jersey  

The Velo Orange Accessory Mount has been growing on me too. We had a few teething problems. The combination of “bolted” construction and relatively generous payloads have demanded re-tightening. Thread lock appears to have cured this. The resin camera mount also proved annoyingly prone to misalignment.

This was traced to the ball joint top. Switching to the mighty Minoura V100 has sorted that. Vice like grip, perfect for bridal path blasting and unaffected by persistent, low level vibration.  Not that I’ve noticed much of that, thanks to the Acros Wrap Silicone Handlebar Tape and Primal Onyx gloves… https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/primal-onyx-gloves