Swapping n' Stripping

 

150 miles hence and my bruised inner right thigh reminded me why I substituted it. This time round, I’ve reached for Selle Royal Respiro, which is something of an “old faithful”. Should it prove a little narrow, I’ll reach for the BBB Echelon, which is another all-rounder but slightly broader-145mm at the widest point. Madison have sent me their M Part Primo anti-slip silicone gel bar tape.

 Available in four colours- red, black, blue and white, it employs a silicone underlay for damping and a Polyurethane exterior for tactile purchase. It’s a little heavier than some at 128g (complete and uncut)  I’ve dressed Mufin’s bars since it contrasts nicely and I’m very satisfied  with the Wolf Tooth Supple Lite Wolf Tooth Supple Lite Bar Tape | cycling-not-racing adorning Ursula’s Soma Condor 2 SOMA CONDOR 2 SHALLOW DROP BARS |   which  offers a good blend of connection, damping and grip without undue bulk.

It’s also in very good shape, so stays-for now at least. Arguably, no need to go beyond 2.5mm, even off road since the big 2.3inch tyres also provide plush, refined comfort. Before I forget, here’s Steve’s review of the Continental  Contact Speed Continental Contact Speed Tyres | cycling-not-racing      

The M Part Primo is surprisingly easy to fit and thoughtfully employs a tacky silicone backing strip, rather than the traditional adhesives, meaning its tolerant of correction. No cheater strips either which suits me, since I’ve found myself defaulting to the “figure of eight” technique around the brake levers. Plenty of tape left, despite generous overlap on these 44cm wide Genetic D-Riser 4 GENETIC DRISER 4 HANDLEBARS | cycling-not-racing

Elsewhere, I've been harvesting some smaller fasteners, specifically bottle cage mounting hardware, not least as it's good to have some decent staples in stock-a chainring bolt can go rogue and create mischief at the least expected (read convenient) moment. Particularly on the fixed. Several years down the line, I’m still seriously impressed by these Genetic Tibia GENETIC TIBIA TRACK CRANKS & RING | cycling-not-racing

Obviously, it’s important to get the correct bolt and collar length, not to mention applying a light coating of assembly grease. This will give you a sporting chance of removing them when ring replacement’s due.  

 Aluminium alloy fasteners might sabe a few grams while looking pretty into the bargain but where components are under load, I reach for Cro-moly every time and twice on Sundays. I’ve wasted no time in fitting them to Dobbin and torquing down to 12nm. Another little job off the list.  

 On the subject of small parts, I'm keeping an eye out for a replacement skewer for my TWBents Bob Yak homage trailer.

I'm confident I've stashed the original unit safely away in one of my storage boxes, following Ursula's renovation last year. Spares of this kind make sense. However, some folks have been hawking them for £74 apiece, which is laughable, not to mention uneconomic. I always preferred that coupling system to that employed on the original Bob Yak. I was fond of mine but there were some things that merited improvement/felt a little fragile.   

  A few hundred miles down the line and I'm reaching the conclusion that the FLR MXT Vibram Trail Shoes are best suited to pedals with a broader, or at least, tapered angular profile.

This includes these Wellgo, which offer greater support (and consequently efficiency) than the mighty dual side cross country M540 and XTs. They do strike an excellent balance between stiffness and walking for longer periods-think touring and bike packing rather than gravel racing, or competitive. They’re a notch or so better on the riding and walking fronts than the otherwise likeable Shimano MT701 GTX SPD  Shimano MT701 GTX SPD Shoes | cycling-not-racing

Staying with pedals a moment, here’s a quick guide to keeping them cleaned, greased and happy Simple Pedal Overhaul | cycling-not-racing I’ve acquired some lever rubbers-primarily since the WTB bars wide flare tends to see the lever ends grazed against brickwork, which sets me on edge for several reasons. Might also provide some additional grip when riding in the wet.  

On the chain lube front, I'm continuing to default to the TF2 Performance All Weather Lubricant TF2 PERFORMANCE ALL WEATHER LUBRICANT | cycling-not-racing . This is a lighter middleweight that returns decent mileage in changeable conditions but without attracting too much grot, especially along fire roads and forest trails.   I've since discovered that Weldtite have revised the formula, removing the PTFE component, which has me intrigued...

Whipped out the chain checker and Denise's KMC is still in reasonable health 3 months down the line. I’m confident I’ll get a further six weeks, or 600 mixed terrain miles before its retired. That said, I bought another batch of staples, since chain wear can be very sneaky.  A bit like the front mech, which has dropped the chain a couple of times recently-nothing turning the adjustment screw 1/8^th of a turn didn’t fix, but annoying and inconvenient at the time.

 

Front Loaded

 I was hoping to find the other Schwalbe 365 and whip that on the new dyno hub wheel but no sign of it in the rafters. I was in the throes of switching to a Schwalbe Marathon Mondial but discovered the casing was rather weathered, permitting flints and other sharps inside. 26-inch mountain bike wheels have now lost their dominance, meaning supply is less plentiful. I was still seeking something rugged, so got quite excited by Schwalbe Land Cruiser (26x2.0)  

Being an active line model, it’s a wire bead and puncture resistance isn’t on par with the Marathon range, but we’ll see. Better a slightly lower spec than top drawer rubber past its puncture repelling prime. The other options were   Continental Ride Tour (26x1.75), which on paper offers a similar tread pattern but superior puncture resistance. Then of course, there’s Kenda Kwick Journey KS Plus KENDA KWICK JOURNEY TYRES | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com), which also comes in a 26x1.95 and in my experience, super dependable. One of these might replace the rear Schwalbe Marathon Mondial Dual Defense TEST & REVIEW: SCHWALBE MARATHON MONDIAL TYRES (sevendaycyclist.com) 

Several months down the line, I’m seriously impressed with how well the Peaty’s Speed Grease has stood up to the wet, greasy, and sometimes freezing conditions. I’d still stick with its Assembly Grease counterpart, when it comes to contact points, bottom bracket and pedal threads, hubs, and headsets-at least on winter, or working bikes. 

Nonetheless, a few months and a few thousand miles down the line, there’s plenty clinging to the Deore crankset’s splines and it’s also proving a great option for cantilever posts and of course, hybrid sprung/elastomer seat posts, including the Kinekt 2.1KINEKT 2.1 SUSPENSION SEAT POST | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com), which I retain a very soft spot for.  

Other than Cane Creek Thud Buster ST 3.0 TESTED: CANE CREEK THUDBUSTER ST SEATPOST (sevendaycyclist.com), it’s one of the only serious performance options for an older mountain bike frameset. Back to the grease, it hasn’t been dissolved by sudsy bucket washes and citrus type cleaners and degreasers, which I’ve used to strip caked-on slurry from the bottom bracket shell, strip chains.  

Bearings are another component easily overlooked.   

I am particularly fond of headsets with needle roller, or annular/cartridge bearings. Thus far, with regular regreasing and full-length guards, Ursula’s Stronglight O’Light LX Aheadset is still in good health, over six years later. However, these parts can often fail at the least convenient times and lead times are longer courtesy of a pandemic and Brexit. Therefore, I’ve acquired its steel stablemate, which is slightly heavier but theoretically, even more durable. It was also offered at a price I couldn’t resist.  

Easier than registering for a COVID booster shot online, too, although perseverance paid off and I’ve been booked in. The implications for skilled clinicians and related professions already overworked before the pandemic now stretched beyond breaking point is chilling. An unresponsive, indifferent government (One seemingly unable to manage a drinking session in a brewery, let alone a national crisis) is simply exacerbating the situation.    

By contrast, the Purple Extreme is doing its thing and no less than I’d expect from a lube of its genre. 100 miles in, and it's staying put, much like a wet lube in characteristics.  

In common with some other favourites, including Finish Line Cross Country, Bike Medicine also recommends it for cleats, seat post and handlebar hardware, brake and derailleur pivots, spoke nipples when wheel building, and cable housings. Not sure it’d be my first choice for derailleurs or brakes for that matter- a touch too thick by my reckoning but we’ll see. A trace on recessed Allen heads/similar fasteners would be a good bet, though.      

It’s good practice to strip drivetrains surgically clean before introducing any new lube but Purple Extreme is one of those with a solvent content that will cause any residual lube and contaminant to rise to the surface, rather than floating away, or consuming them. Will be interesting to see whether the Purple Extreme will extend the chain’s life, longer than the 1100miles I get from a typical 10speed KMC.    

New Cassette Then...

  

Look through any forum on the internet, raise the topic with any group of riders and you will get a bewildering array of opinion when it comes to drivetrain life. Much will depend upon how meticulous your maintenance is, riding context and to some extent, rider weight/riding style. Mountain biking/gravel, rough stuff touring and winter are going to chew through chains and cassettes at a much faster rate than those belonging to best bikes brought out on sunny days.  

Rule of thumb and with generally good maintenance (Clean chains, lightly lubed and replaced at.75 wear) I get through three chains to every cassette.  

Shifting had suddenly gone off-phantom stuff, so hustling along the backroads at 5am, I reasoned cable stretch the most obvious culprit, so I tweaked the barrel adjuster. Seemed better for a while but still phantom shifting under load. Chain was well within acceptable tolerances, but closer inspection of the cassette suggested this was the culprit. In fairness, it’s been chugging along since May 2019, so didn’t owe me anything.  

A rummage through the transmission box revealed two new chains but only a part worn 9spd cassette, which was of no use, so consigned to the bin, along with its 10speed counterpart. It makes good sense to buy chains, cassettes and other consumables in multiples-two of each, so there’s no dramas when the bike shop’s shut.  

Particularly when they’re cheap...While the global supply shortage seems to have eased slightly, getting hold of things, especially at the right price is still proving trickier than before. I went for another Tiagra since these seem to strike the best balance between performance and economy. I’ve never liked Shimano chains, so KMC, SRAM etc are my defaults. 12-28 is pretty much ideal, given the build’s brief.   

On the plus side, the replacement arrived within 24hours, which was totally unexpected. These Muc-Off mechanics gloves had arrived just an hour before. On went the cassette! I also discovered the Univega’s front Continental Contact Speed reflex was pancake flat, courtesy of an easily spotted flint embedded in the shoulder.  

Not a nasty cut, but one that needed filling with superglue, nonetheless. At present they are wearing at the expected rate and across the centre strip Tube switched; job done. An ideal opportunity to polish the frameset, check and clean the brake pads, clean the rim side walls with a medium stiff brush etc.    

The chain was still in very good health, so I’ve stuck with it for time being. Judging by the analogue gauge, at present rate, I should get another five hundred miles, (3 weeks or so) from it, then I’ll consign it to the bin and so the cycle will continue.  

I’d got past the 500miles on a single application of the Muc-Off –50 chain lube, which does transfer quite easily to hands but less readily than many wet lubes I’ve used in the past. No worse than Weldtite TF2 Performance All Weather Lube https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/weldtite-tf2-performance-all-weathe , which is a comparator in terms of viscosity and operating range (also reckoned very good in freezing temperatures). I’ve also grown fond of the Ravemen TR50 Rechargeable Rear Light https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/ravemen-tr50-rear-light      

The ongoing pandemic and localised lockdowns has made travel and touring a more considered affair. Cicerone’s guide to riding Hadrian's cycleway could provide useful inspiration https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/cycling-hadrian-s-cycleway