Rubber, Bearings n' Bounce

Wasn’t expecting to be so impressed by the CST Czar 700x28 but many early morning miles hence and they’ve won me over with their blend of speed and swift, though predictable handling-even along greasier road surfaces. Wild rabbits love to test my handling skills and help with this assessment process. Little to choose between them and the Vittoria Roubino Pro Control Vittoria Rubino Pro Control Graphene 2.0 | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) in terms of handling and compliance. Both are 60tpi, but the Roubino Pro run between 70-100psi.  

No minimum pressure is inscribed on the Czar’s sidewall, just a maximum-120psi. I’ve defaulted to 100 and this seems my sweet spot. I was pleasantly surprised to discover sufficient clearance at the Holdsworth’s fork, so parked a Czar up front and a Roubino Pro at the rear, given. Taking this route saved at least 300g from the build and probably deliver some more zip to proceedings. I am a major fan of the Freedom Thick Slicks, but an opportunity presented itself.  

Puncture resistance is dependable thus far. However, I have a quiet thought as to its long-term durability in this respect. A reflection of the price point, rather than the Czar specifically. I say this, since, in my experience, most budget-belted models seem dependable to around the 2,500mile (about 4023.36 km) mark before losing their edge a little.  

Back in 1989, I had a set of Nutrack 27x1 ¼ on my Holdsworthy built Claud Butler Super Dalesman. These became vulnerable to flats during a Norfolk tour, so were replaced with Michelin’s bargain mile munching World Tour (eventually superseded by some Vredestein due to clearance hassles). In the early 80s, there was a trend for relatively tight clearances, even “fully fledged” touring lorries were designed with 32mm tyres in mind. There’s a lot to love about this breed. They handled beautifully laden, or otherwise, had strong brakes and sufficient gearing to ride up, down, and along the Great Wall of China.  

Keeping a 3x drivetrain well-mannered could be a chore sometimes, though-especially through a grotty winter.  That said; while I like the relative simplicity of 1X setups, they tend to be relatively expensive, particularly when it comes to cassettes, given the wide spread of ratios involved. They also require mechs with very long arms, reminiscent of mid-80s mountain bikes, although I have subverted this by running a road typical 11-25 block and road mech. Works for me, for the most part, although there is some trade-off when it comes to winching and bombing prowess.  

There is a quiet movement for repurposing older mountain bikes as drop bar tourers/monster cross and gravel bikes. One I happen to subscribe to. However, if you’re going the drop bar route, there are a few things to consider. One is cable routing (if you are heading towards a front derailleur) the other is stem length/height.

Older cross-country mountain bikes tend to have very long top tubes. This partially explains why I run a stumpy 35mm stem, even on a 17.5-inch frameset. I am proportionately short in the torso but by contrast, on a semi/traditional road build, I run an 80, or 90mm stem.    

Staying with the front end, I decided it was time to retire Ursula’s long-serving (8 years) Stronglight O’Light. This time, I’ve gone for another, the Stronglight O’Light ST. ST denotes steel, whereas the O’Light was aluminium alloy. I had planned on just switching the bearings from the bitsa ST I bought some months back.  

However, it became clear the O’Lite cups were also looking tired, forcing my hand. I took this opportunity to prune the steerer by 15mm, switched to a shorter Gusset Headlock Cro-moly bolt and lost the extra spacers. Cleaner aesthetic too... The stiffer Kinekt Suspension Stem KINEKT SUSPENSION STEM | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) spring also arrived this week, so I wasted no time in switching to it.  A very easy job, thanks to the design’s engineered simplicity.  

 

Spitting the Dummy

Having updated the old girls’ transmission, some might say, bringing it into the 21st century, Ursula decided she wasn’t impressed with the KMC and wanted something more refined. A sentiment palpable when said chain imploded 200 metres from home. Some pondering followed by fevered rummaging in the transmission box unearthed this gold superlight model. 

 

One which also feels more robust than the KMC. Of the two joining systems, I much prefer connecting pins over quick links. Both need to be replaced when you’ve performed a removal but being as I tend to get 1250miles from a chain and rarely remove, I’ll stick to cleaning it in situ. 

Performing well thus far, long may it continue. I ran it on the factory lube during the “shakedown” period but went over to the Squirt Cold weather chain lube, since conditions are relevant.  While doing a supermarket run, I happened upon this brush, which looked the right profile for scrubbing chains and cassettes.  

Now, there are some people who dogmatically insist that household cleaning products are the answer to everything. Until of course, the harsh kitchen cleaner dulls expensive finishes and/or damages small components, such as seals. I do, however, recognise there are some useful crossovers. Beeswax furniture polishes being one of my favourite staples. Will be interesting to see how effective and moreover, durable this bargain-basement brush is.

   

As for the gearing, well, it’s a little lower than I might consider ideal for tarmac duties but “spin out” hasn’t been an issue thus far. Some would argue in favour of 2x10 but the whole point of going the 1X route, was a lack of complication while shaving a few grams into the bargain.  

I’m contemplating a planned upgrade of the rear wheel, while we’re at the phased replacement, rather than obligatory stage. The Deore hub is inexpensive and generally reliable but if I’m going to upgrade the hub, I may as well upgrade the complete wheel, since the inexpensive rim will be showing some signs of wear and penny-pinching costs more in terms of time hassle and ultimately, money.     

Drive pins tend to be the weakest spot on multi-tools. The KMC claimed that belonging to this cheerful Topeak Alien Homage. For the time being, I’ve switched to a Crank Brothers F15, which boasts a fair complement of tools catering for most situations.  

However, I still need a 6,8 and 10mm socket wrench to tackle the bike’s corresponding fasteners-brake straddle wires, specifically. The more obvious thing would be to carry a stand-alone chain tool, but I don’t fancy the additional heft and annoying tool kit percussion.  

A reminder to perform regular tool/spares inventories, rather than getting caught out on a cold, dark and rainy night...Talking of which, I’ve reached my conclusions regarding the Ravemen CLO5 Sensored Rear Light RAVEMEN CL05 SENSORED REAR LIGHT | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) 

If you need a model with a braking function, its bigger brother, the CLO6 RAVEMEN CL06 SENSORED REAR LIGHT | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) I’m really fond of both units and find them more than adequate for the darkest lanes. Neither employ an official daylight running mode, which may be a deal-breaker for some, although I still find their presence quite useful, especially on overcast days.  

It's been chill here, by UK standards-single figures, so I have stuck with the FLR Defender MTB Thermal Dry S-Tex Boot.FLR DEFENDER MTB DRY BOOT | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) I usually don a heavier weight gilet, atop a jersey cum jacket type layer to block invasive wind chill. 

Chill that can otherwise result in a lingering and painful chest infection. March can be a tricky month weather-wise. Conditions where easily packable gilets, arm warmers, glove liners, etc can make all the difference to rider comfort.