Having acquired the necessary contact points, I returned from a much needed week of temping, determined to commence
transplant surgery. Tubby tourer plucked from its slumber, I harvested fresh
control cables, snips, tune-up stand, Allen keys and grease gun.
While hardly mechanically
challenging, it’s time consuming nonetheless- unless you’ve gone the old school
“Benotto” route, since even the best handlebar coverings become seemingly
inseparable from their hosts given a few seasons. This two year old Cinelli EVA
being no exception. However, firmly endeared to its combination of rugged materials
and damping prowess, salvage was my preferred option. Twenty minutes hence,
nimble fingers and perseverance saw both rolls free and intact.
Wholesale cable replacements
were another hassle I sought to swerve. Previous estimation suggested a shorter
stem would offset the Mungo’s more voluptuous curves, rendering this process
unnecessary, so, brimming with optimism I slackened and slid the Microshift
brifters free.
Unexpected complication
awaited me elsewhere, courtesy of a headlock preload bolt system displaying
early signs of galvanic corrosion. Full length mudguards and stout
Teflon/ceramic greases give most things a sporting chance on daily drivers but
the latter had vanished without trace.
Demon purged with assistance
from Long T handled Allen key and maintenance spray; the Salsa/WTB combo was
swiftly substituted for One23 and Mungos. Firmly focused, I introduced the
Microshift Brifter, allowing sufficient slack for some minor, tool free
manoeuvrings.
Cable length seemed
operationally bang on (though may be trimmed in due course), confirmed by
pumping the brakes and cruising fore and aft along the cassette a few times,
while provocatively turning the bars.
Alignment was pretty near too, verified
with a spirit level and some tentative tweaking. Dynamo headlamp and other
creature comforts, repatriated, narrow swift pattern saddle substituted in
favour of Spa cycles broader Nidd (essentially a heavier duty B17 homage)
transformation was almost complete.
I had some white Lizard
skins DSP wrap doing something close to nothing but while extremely crisp and
delightfully tactile, the black speckled Cinelli is infinitely more practical.
Experience suggests better quality wraps tolerate several removal/fitments and
Cinelli was no exception-I was even able to reuse the pre-existing electrical
tape!
Formative impressions are
extremely favourable, though care’s needed to avoid more pronounced brifters
fouling brickwork, render and other abrasives when slipping through alleys and
side entrances. Hence the Sugru end caps.
There’s also an element of “Hawthorne Effect”- any alteration either
feels euphoric or alien for the first hundred miles or so…
Much has been made of
Google’s new “driverless” vehicle, with business, innovation and skills secretary,
Vince Cable and indeed many cycling forum participants calling for their
widespread adoption. Superficially, removing driver error theoretically makes
the roads safer but is this (or indeed, any technology) truly fool or
tamper-proof and what of the wider, unspoken implications.
The early 1980s saw widespread
embrace of robot spot welders in car factories, lowering labour
requirements/costs, optimising efficiency and quality. Ah, but spot welding is
a very simple, semi-skilled process and therefore easily programmed. Peugeot cycles
adopted similar automated technologies on their mass produced HLE tubed
framesets and OEM/factory built wheels are generally by machine too.
However, these automatons
work to set tolerances. Artificial intelligence will doubtless render my
comments (and workforces) redundant in the fullness of time but a good wheel
builder or skilled welder will recognise optimum tension or weld penetration by
feel/sight. The same applies to
vehicles-many driving instructors taught parking/manoeuvres by wrote-three
turns to the right, one back etc. Once again, these have very limited horizons.
There is no doubt, this and
other technology has been readily available in various forms for some time now,
often transitioning from military applications (Collimator lenses used to guide
lasers readily employed in modern lighting systems are prime examples). So
therefore, vehicles could recognise motor/cyclists, pedestrians/other traffic
and theoretically know (calculate) at what speed/distances to brake or pass
from.
Longer term, this could literally
change our economic landscape. Logistics firms would no longer need to recruit
and retain skilled train, HGV and LGV drivers, couriers etc. Taxis could be
similarly automated. Traditionally, there have been two voices to the argument
around technological change. One suggests that people are liberated from hard,
laborious and potentially dangerous jobs and will move into other spheres.
Counter proposition points towards “dead trades”, wholesale redundancies with
little opportunities for retraining.
Taking the car industry as
an example, it was relatively easy for those from a craft/engineering grade to
move sideways with relatively little retraining. A coachbuilder once said
transition to CAD/CAM, programming roles, technical management fields was
straightforward. Semi/unskilled track operatives faced a decidedly uncertain
future. Traditionally a blue collar phenomenon, it has begun to impact upon the
“professional” classes, who have found it harder to recover from this and
previous economic downturns.
Talking of global
economies is perhaps slightly contentious in an absolute sense, though politicians
influence upon public life is dwindling and their tenure is likely to change
from a full to part-time vocation. The 1990s witnessed many losses from the
financial sector, some were quickly reabsorbed, others emigrated and retrained
in completely different industries. This was something
of a culture shock to many who viewed themselves recession and perhaps, future
proof and may well prove a trend.
