After several weeks, I’m
still coughing like a chain smoking beagle. This hasn’t stopped me from getting
the miles in and various sets of tyres on, mind.
Issue 5 of Seven Day Cyclist
has just hit the digital newsstands and includes an interview with Dani Foffa,
CEO of Foffa bikes and grass roots tours of Ireland and Cheshire.
http://www.pocketmags.com/viewmagazine.aspx?catid=1038&category=Sport&subcatid=234&subcategory=Cycling&title=Seven+Day+Cyclist&titleid=2582
The more miles I do on those
Vittoria Voyager hyper and street runner tyres, the more endeared I become-sporty
casings combine magic carpet ride with low rolling resistance and a surprising
turn of speed. Despite a road centric cassette, the Univega now feels a little
under-geared; or rather I’m running the big ring and catching traditional
roadies unawares more often.
While quicker, lighter and
supposedly better protected from malevolent sharps, they swept me back to the
mid-late 90s spent belting along London’s commercial road on Nokian City
Runners. I favoured 1.5 sections, which seemed an ideal compromise-sufficiently
generous that they’d iron out minor imperfections and rider error, yet adequate
for 20mph cruising and swift getaways when the lights changed.
Road bikes were decidedly
out of favour at this time, to the point where many of us were popping drops on
our cross country workhorses. I liked the all-terrain concept but it also
helped ensure otherwise nick-able bikes stayed under thieves’ radars.
Triples were also completely
unnecessary-even with a trailer, hence another trend for running a single
42/46/48 (Purple anyone?) ring and 7/8spd block, Ritchey copy VP pedals…
Lightweight, low maintenance and fast; for inner-city tarmac terrorism at
least.
Good times from a relatively
dark and difficult era. Fast forward two decades and I was surprised at how
stubborn the street runner’s final section was on two separate occasions, the
most recent being serenaded by that familiar heart-sinking hiss along a lonely
lane.
Now is the point where we
regret not doing a full trunk bag inventory-thankfully I had a spare thorn
resistant “builders hose” type tube, three tyre levers, including Crank
Brothers speedier lever and this Revolution midi pump. Personally, I loathe
mini pumps-fine for those who run Co2 cartridges as roadside staples and
infinitely better than no pump for dire emergencies but otherwise impractical.
This Revolution resembles a
track pump put through a matter shrinking device but will genuinely achieve
moderate to high pressures extremely efficiently, so 75psi barely raised a
flicker.
Strangely enough I found
myself equally frustrated by the realisation I’d forgotten my compact camera
and the opportunity to document the events frame by frame! Having returned home
it prompted a long overdue make do n’ mend tube re-commissioning- you know the
drill; repair once, more than two patches-chuck, or reinvent as chainstay
protectors.
Generally speaking, the
speedier is a marked improvement over the old speed lever, which, for the
uninitiated was a retractable ladder design that slid onto the quick release
skewer, while the head either scooped the bead off or pushed it back on with a
hooked claw and only moderate force.
Alas, the composites were a
little willowy and prone to fatigue-I snapped two in under ten swaps, which was
disappointing. Obviously, these are roadside assistants, not workshop staples but
I’ll reserve proper judgement until we’re at least eight or ten tyre swaps of
various genres down the line.
Talking of resurrection
(well, we are hurtling towards Easter afterall), I substituted the Univega’s
BBB Fuel tank cage for standard Boardman and Burls carbon models.
This wasn’t a weight saving
exercise and those PET types are super convenient for touring but they do
consume considerable amounts of main triangle, especially on a small, compact
geometry mtb frameset.
I’ll be keeping it handy
though since the Fuel Tank XL is definitely one of the most rugged and a fair
bit cheaper too.
Right then; I’m going to see
how this Carbon Pro heavy duty cleaner deals with two filthy workhorses and
organise some newbie friendly step-in pedal systems for a group test. Hmm, time
the KA’s sill received a sixth coat of high build grey primer too…
