Pumping & Prepping

 

Not in the Mad Max post-apocalyptic sense, although global events and the political climate have certainly left me imagining some very dark scenarios. Growing up in the 1980s, I recall the very real threat of nuclear war and societal collapse and frankly, we seem closer to both scenarios, now…

After ten years, I was compelled by the urge to strip and inspect the Blackburn Piston 4. Would a good clean and regrease of the gasket and piston (plunger, if you prefer) restore its slick, refined efficiency? The hose and chuck were al in good shape and it was still very functional, delivering the desired pressures but the piston action and airflow weren’t optimal.

Undoing two little Philip screws, everything separated smoothly and in one piece. Gasket and plunger were sporting a gungy beard, but essentially sound. Degreasers can be a little harsh, so I gave both parts a light rinse with tepid water and then treated both to a few blasts of Juice Lubes Bike Wash.

Now, I’d generally steer people toward solvent based aerosol cleaners, or industrial alcohol when cleaning the barrel’s inner sanctum. However, I blasted some Motoverde Drivetrain Degreaser inside and left it doing its thing for five minutes, turning my attention to the gasket and piston. A gentle tickling with this Green Oil Bike Brush GREEN OIL BIKE BRUSH REVIEW and some tepid water cut through the grot.

Rinse, dry and reach for grease. Swerve anything lithium, or PTFE-based. When it comes to Silca, only use their dedicated preps. Otherwise, silicone formulas are a good default, but I’ve gone for the Juice Lubes Slick Juice. Liberal around the gasket, sparingly along the piston’s lower section. That done, I returned to the Piston 4’s barrel. I dried this in two stages. Some old, scrap towel doing the lion’s share, judicious deployment of a hairdryer on medium heat removing any residual, mischievous dampness.

On a roll, I took the same route with my SKS Air-X-Plorer Digi Floor Pump SKS Air-X-Plorer Digi Floor Pump | cycling-not-racing. This is stereotypically Teutonic in terms of build quality. Same MO, save for the collar screws being M25 Torx. Piston, spring and gasket were particularly solid. This time, I cleaned these with bike wash but exorcised the barrel using an aerosol solvent cleaner. Everything slid back together beautifully, any faint stiction well and truly banished.

Well and truly in the zone, I popped Muffin in the work stand and decided to remove the Genetic Tibia crank, clean and inspect the ring and give the frame a good waxing while I was about it. Be rude not too… I’ve gone for self-extracting bolts and was initially disconcerted by their reticence. Gentle persistence with the 8mm Allen key secured the drive side’s release.   

A tag team of Motoverde Drivetrain Cleaner Motoverde Drivetrain Cleaner | cycling-not-racing and Muc-Off Chain Wax Cleaner Muc-Off Chain Wax Cleaner 500ml | cycling-not-racing  consumed the slightly gungy residue clinging to the teeth, making inspection and assessment viable. The ring is still in good shape, so stays for now. I’ll review come November and at that point, will take a view and chain replacement may be all that’s called for.

I turned my attentions to the TRP Spyre SLC, giving the pads and disc a cat-lick, ensuring the piston movement was optimal. An easy, preventative tweak. Muffin back in the workshop, I turned my attention to Denise. I was keen to see whether the Magicshine Ray3000 would sit securely atop the auction site Garmin Mount.

Given the light’s girth, I needed to relocate the Genetic Neuron Accessory Bar GENETIC NEURON ACCESSORY BAR | cycling-not-racing outboard, necessitating a quick dip into the shim bag. While on that particular mission, I found another Magicshine handlebar mount, which is an improvement on that supplied with the Coospo Real Road CS600 GPS Bike Computer Coospo CS600 GPS | cycling-not-racing  . Sure the bars feel a little busier, which might bring the clutter-phobic out in hives. However, there was a bigger, unwelcome surprise in store. During our first outing, the out-front mount ejected the Ray3000. Testament to its build quality, not so much as a scratch.

Closer inspection revealed the plastic Garmin pattern mount had deformed and fractured at one point. I switched the light to the resin Magicshine mount and popped the Coospo CS600 in my jersey pocket for the remaining five miles. Diagnostics done, I arrived home, had a rummage in the spare munts bag and found a replacement. I also took the opportunity to exchange the Gaciron Cetus 1700 Gaciron Cetus 1700 Underneath Bike Light | cycling-not-racing mount for the Magicshine Hori 1300 Magicshine HORI 1300 Front Light | cycling-not-racing for those times when I’m testing the Ray 3000 on another machine and I want more lumens than the Exposure Revo dynamo lamp can muster.

 

 

 

 

 

Pruning, Tuning & Distraction

 

I resisted the cable pruning urge for all of 24 hours. Weary of bum and brain, I shuffled from my office chair and headed to the garage. Cursory inspection and some double-checking later, I’d marked the cut point and removed the front mech's inner wire. Measure twice, cut once; I performed a final check, snipped the outer cable and refitted. Save for pulling the inner wire through trimming, and restricting the front mech’s throw- done in five minutes.

Oh well, might as well…I was compelled to adjust Ursula’s rear brake. The cable had stretched slightly, which also saw me realigning the calliper.  This phase was a little more perfectionist- some might say obsessive. Having pulled the inner wire through a little further and snugged tight, I slackened the calliper mount, then used a rubber O-ring to bring the brake lever fully home. Theoretically, aligning the calliper, while I tightened it evenly. A technique that ultimately proved successful. No tickling, or rub, just smooth, progressive stopping. Yay! 

I’m a big fan of Topeak’s Uni Super Tourist 2.0 DX Rear Rack. Being a two-tier design, there’s no issues combining panniers and rack bags, whether their MTX Trunk Bag Topeak MTX Trunk Dry Bag | cycling-not-racing, or something more universal, such as my long serving Carradice. You can still pair these on a single tier design but whipping them on and off is more convoluted.

The rack is highly adjustable-great for various frame sizes and designs, regardless of whether they run discs, or not. 25 kilo maximum payload caters for most contexts, and the factory powder-coated finish is generally hardy.

My one minor niggle (aside from electroplated fasteners) is the rack’s design can hinder access to disc brake calliper mounts. A moot point tackled with a workshop, ball-end type but potentially tricky with some multi-tools. Singular L-type 5mm keys, or slender tools, such as this Oxford Torque R10 Mini Ratchet Set Oxford Torque RT10 Mini Ratchet Set | cycling-not-racing seem the best fits.   

250 mixed terrain miles on and the All-Mountain Style Miami Glide Chain Wax is also performing very well- clean and yet seemingly resilient. I’ve concluded that letting it cure for 7-8 hours reaps best reward-I sensed I was chancing it at three hours but was keen to take Ursula for a shakedown ride and it’s the sort of thing we’ve all done now and then.  Much the same story with Muffin’s KMC chain.

One thing led to another while I was contemplating the world and my place within it. Curious to see how compatible (or otherwise) Slick Juice was with titanium; I switched the super plush Sumo for this Torus. This also presented opportunity to top up Muffin’s frame preserve and having torqued everything correctly, I gave the post a polish and applied some protectant. Given the grease’s composition, I’m not expecting any issues with galvanic corrosion, but there’s only one way to find out.  

As the miles rack up, I’m increasingly impressed by the All-Mountain Sports Miani Glide Chain Was. Specifically its lubrication and temperature stability. It seems to penetrate and coat the chain’s pins and rollers, resulting in silent, crisp shifting, doesn’t attract grime and runs cleaner. In fairness, several waxes I’ve tested over the last year or two haven’t become a gooey mess when the mercury’s creeping beyond 23 degrees but some are definitely better than others. It's also proving quite effective on cables, cleat mechanisms and other metal-on-metal interfaces that we might want to lube “while we think of it”.

Leatt have graciously sent me some shoes and shades to play with. Now, I've defaulted to twin bolt gravel shoes for the past five years or so, on and off road since they strike an excellent balance of power transfer and walkability. Grippy soles offering excellent traction off the bike-even if it's just dis/mounting on an icy morning. Prior to this,  cross country mountain bike and sportier touring shoes were my go-tos. I'm still a big fan of these Quoc Pham, which are still going strong after thirteen years. Leather uppers are easy to care for and resist the elements very well-wipe clean with a damp cloth and treat with hide food, or shoe polish to keep them supple.

Back to the Leatt. These are the Trail 6.0, a trail shoe, which features a longer cleat channel, offering greater adjustment. Forward, for a more aggressive, dare we say, racy stance, further back for trail, all mountain and endurance genres. A little different. Synthetic uppers seem rugged, although means mesh panelling. Once upon a time, this meant very soggy feet when the heavens opened. However, the slightly wider fit means they are readily paired with thinner waterproof socks, such as these Muc-Off, which are firm favourites of mine. 

Leatt also sent me their  Ride Viz Sierra Sunglasses. These employ "Biopolymer" frames with stainless steel temples. Polycarbonate lenses employing polarising technology, promising to eliminate glare and therefore, eye strain are something we've come to expect. Their casual, slightly classic design looks less aggressively technical, so theoretically a good fit off the bike. The Rebound employ carbon fibre frames and arms, keeping the weight low and rubberised grippers offering tactile tenure. 

Technical kit doesn't have to look overtly technical. Some brands still offer more relaxed "touring" shirts and shorts, although this is a smaller market, which seemed to almost reach a point of extinction, but made a quiet comeback thanks to gravel's rise in popularity. Prior to that, messenger subculture had a fleeting influence between 2005 and 2009. I'm still fond of "messenger knickers" which were nicely cut, looked stylish off the bike-perfect when meeting friends for lunch and similar social contexts. 

Looser fit mountain bike clothing is similarly practical. Endura Humvee remain popular (justly so, in my view) and cross, trail, touring and gravel genres very capably. Pockets and stash points means they're also ultra practical, won't look out of place on a mountain bike, tourer, gravel, or road bike.  Great for everyday riding where Lycra is inappropriate or frowned upon.   Hmm...Might that be why the Shetlands are shunning me ... I'll close here with my long term review of the Topeak Uni Super Tourist DX Rack Disc  Topeak Uni Super Tourist DX Rack Disc | cycling-not-racing

 

 

Overhauling

 

Having packed the headset, I added a fresh butyl boot to the bottom race, bolted the bars and stem in situ, if only to keep the forks in place. I then decided I fancied the Dia Compe 287 levers over the Gran Compe, so switched those, then got to the business of pruning cable outers and bolting everything together.

Doing so revealed a very sticky rear Spyre calliper. In some respects, a schoolboy omission-I should’ve inspected it while tackling the front. Ultimately, sticky, not seized and easily coaxed into submission with two shots of MO94. Activating the calliper accelerated the process, freeing everything nicely.  

Cable connected and some more MO94 Muc-Off MO94 Multi Use Spray | cycling-not-racing applied to the housings and inner wire, normal service restored. Front brake fully home, I rocked the bike back and forth- serenely smooth and no hint of play, so checked alignment and snugged the pinch bolts to 5nm. I quit at this point, since other things required my attention and I was awaiting a fresh set of gear cables.

These didn’t materialise as expected, but thankfully, I had a few inner wires and some suitable outers, so sorted the following morning. I allowed these to stretch and dressed the Ridgeback branded drops in some Genetic Hi Grip Genetic Hi-Grip Handlebar Tape | cycling-not-racing, which offered sufficient coverage, but there wasn’t much leftover.

Inspecting the chain revealed .5, so I decided to pension it off, rather than risk it kicking up on a new cassette. I wanted to purge the rings of any congealed wax chain lube and embedded gunk. I also intended to strip and re-grease the Hollowtech II axle and Leatt Endurance 6.0 Pedals Leatt Endurance 6.0 Clip in Pedals | cycling-not-racing using Juice Lubes Slick Juice. Rob at Juice Lubes sent some along with their Bike Wash and Bike Wash Super Concentrate.  

In essence, the slick Juice is a low viscosity mineral oil employing Anhydrous calcium soap as the thickening agent, which prevents washout and other premature deterioration. The mixture is carefully blended, so safe on elastomers, bearing seals and carbon fibre.  Where it mustn’t be used is on EDM

Slick Juice can also be used on threaded components, so I popped some on the preload ring and pinch bolts. The latter released easily enough but were beginning to look a little thirsty. Everything reinstated and snugged to the correct tolerances, pruned and glued the gear cable inners before going through the gears to check shifting and chain for any stiff links.

No reason why the Slick couldn’t be employed in headsets, but I’d already packed them with Bearing Juice. When it comes to headsets, bottom brackets, and hubs, durability gets my vote. At least on bikes serving year-round. Slick Juice’s flow rate is very nice, so easy to achieve a uniform coating  

However, avoid EPDM- commonly employed on e-bike contacts, hydraulic brake olives.

Not that I’ve been stingy. It can also be applied via syringe for pinpoint accuracy-something to consider if you’re wanting to inject fresh grease into components with grease ports, or indeed pedals, without doing a full strip down.

Talking of which, the cheap n’ cheerful Wellgo 823 are incredibly smooth, following the injection of Speed Grease. Both can also be used on threaded components, which is a welcome convenience-especially when time’s pressing.  

Satisfied everything was correctly adjusted, I applied some All-Mountain Style Miami Glide Chain Wax and left it curing ahead of an evening shakedown ride.  Seemed to cure after three hours at 17 degrees, although I’d ideally leave it overnight-same goes for any lube with a suggested curing time of four hours or more.

The sharp-eyed will note the front derailleur cable housing is a little long, but shifting’s prompt and better too long than too short. I will be pruning in due course, but since its aesthetic, no immediate rush.  

Clearly resembling a zebra, I was shunned by the Shetland ponies-one making his distain perfectly clear but otherwise, the seven-mile mixed terrain shakedown was very positive. Only the headset bearings and the front mudguard needed a subtle snugging down.

Elsewhere, Castelli have sent me their Ultimate Sun Protection: UPF Jersey, which boasts a yarn with factor 50 promising excellent defence from the sun’s UV rays.

The lightweight polyester fabrics are designed with breathability and maximum (factor 50) sun protection in mind. I’ll still advocate wearing a buff-type garment around the neck to guard against sunstroke in more intense heat, or indeed, wind burn. Especially when riding in coastal regions. Obviously, you’ll still want to apply suitable sunscreen to protect exposed areas of skin.

Those seeking more comprehensive protection will be pleased to note there’s also a long-sleeved version. Ours is the seasonally standard short sleeve, cut longer in the arms and around the neck The fabric is thin, without feeling fragile. Front panels feature slight perforation for improved wicking.

A full-length zipper is something of a given these days, but the generous zipper tag makes single-handed adjustments effortless.  Round the back, we’ve four pockets- three sensibly proportioned terraced with a fourth zippered end for valuables. That tag is a little bijous for my tastes and favours right-dominant hands. I can carry vivid orange surprisingly well, but “silver gray” is the alternative.

I’ve only ridden 100 miles with ours, but formative impressions are favourable. Castelli’s suggested temperature range is 20-38 degrees. I’ve been out in the midday sun (12-1600) where the mercury’s been hovering between 24 and 29 degrees and thus far, living up to the hype, although the Large isn’t unduly snug, or unflattering but I’m wondering if XL might’ve been optimal.