Showing posts with label 25mm road tyres. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 25mm road tyres. Show all posts

Friday 6 October 2017

Staying Ahead









 
As I intimated in my last entry, my fixed gear winter/trainer’s FSA Orbit Aheadset, is at the beginning of the metaphorical end.
 


This presented an ideal opportunity to see how resilient Pure bike grease is, compared with Green Oil eco grease and through Autumn/early winter. https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/green-oil-ecogrease-long-ter-test

Another Woodman Saturn, like that fitted to the Teenage Dream and Holdsworth was my first choice, not least as they’re incredibly smooth and very well sealed from the elements. However, these have been discontinued and finding something NOS (New old stock) was proving tricky.

With that in mind, FSA Orbit XLII seemed an obvious and relatively inexpensive alternative. Mine for £18.99. Just as well replacement isn’t urgent, since it arrived without one of the cups. Nonetheless, to their credit, the dealer apologised and rushed me a replacement cup 1st class.

Unless we get a more exotic grease in for testing, I will probably default to Park PPL1  or White Lightning Crystal grease https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/white-lightning-crystal-grease . Think I’ll make a boot from old inner tube around the lower race for some additional protection, while I’m at it.

An old 26x1.95 Kenda thorn resistant model seems an ideal candidate but generally speaking, any Mountain bike/BMX section will fit snugly without recourse to cable ties/similar.

These might be necessary on old fashioned 1 inch headsets. Bear in mind that traditional Lithium and Teflon infused greases will rot butyl over time. Counter argument says we should strip, inspect and possibly, re-grease regularly.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to winter riding. Really stiff greases and stay put chain lubes, or lighter, cleaner formulas, replenished more frequently. I confess to a hybrid approach.

Really stout polymer type greases for bearings and component assembly, cleaner and lower friction chain lubes/waxes. Provided of course; that roads/trails aren’t waterlogged or snowbound.

Another blast from the past came in the form of Panaracer Pasala PT. Those who’ve been riding a good couple of decades or longer will probably recognise it as the tour guard-it’s just been re-named and justly so, given it ranges from 700x23 to 26x1.75.

25mm is narrow enough for general road duties and audax/weekend touring, although the bigger sections are perfect for gravel, or cyclo cross bikes that earn their keep as winter/training bikes. At 255g (each), the 25mm folders are pretty svelte but feature a puncture repelling Aramid belt.

Samples aside, unless bike(s) in question were on strict, calorie controlled diets, I’d be inclined to go for the wire bead version. Ours proved tricky customers with deeper section rims, such as the Holdsworth’s Miche-after much primal grunting, I resorted to my mighty Cyclo workshop tyre lever.

Formative impressions are favourable, although tyre compounds and other technology have advanced considerably in recent years, so they face stiff competition from models such as Vee tire co rain runner, which seem that bit faster and more dependable at full pelt and in foul weather.

Not that we’ve had anything close to the apocalyptic, stormy conditions predicted to hit these shores. Conditions have become damper mind, the lanes are paved with bovine dung, which is a decidedly slippery customer-worse when it’s glistening with ice.

I wasn’t surprised to discover more persistent rain and wet backroads have put a dent in the TF2 ultra dry wax’s economy. Needing a stiffer, yet still clean running pour and go potion, I headed to my lube box.

A quick rummage unearthed this Motorex dry chain lube, which is a fully synthetic hybrid of oil and wax. Previous experience suggests this composition serves to lock in the lubricant, while a superficially scabby layer of contaminant sticks to the wax.

This version is also similar, yet slightly different from other wax type lubricant. The wax component grabs hold of grot, preventing it sticking to the oily, lubricant properties and becoming a transmission wrecking paste. However, it doesn’t flake off, which can look a little unsightly. Nonetheless, it returns a fairly high mileage per application.   

Now, you’ll excuse me, this Halo white gravel rim and spokes have just arrived from Ison distribution, ready for John to build around the shutter precision PL8 dynohub. Talking of lights, here’s links to the Xeccon Mars blinkies and 900 lumen spear we’ve reviewed recently…