Rambling & Roaming

 

Having tamed cranks, rim tapes and similar sources of potential mischief, it was time for longer, laden escapes from the maddening crowd.   

The Madison Summit rack has been doing its thing very competently, without fuss, or fanfare. Its TIG welded in Taiwan and to the standards I’ve come to expect from products coming out of the Far East. The 10mm rod offers a very stable platform for panniers, especially those such as this Oxford Aqua V20 with Rixen Kaul type attachments Oxford Aqua V20 Single Pannier | cycling-not-racing, which is particularly welcome along rougher roads and trails. I’m still really impressed, astounded in some respects, by the Lomo Zephyr Lomo Zephyr Waterproof Panniers | cycling-not-racing

The narrower (100mm) top section is a little slender for bigger rack bags and though this Carradice will sit reliably, allowing me to concentrate on a decent tempo, it can make fitting and removing panniers from the lower tier trickier, technically defeating the object of a two-tier design. For the record, the Carradice is 116mm wide, so a consideration if you’re planning on a bigger rack bag, especially if you’re pairing with a pannier-single or otherwise.      

 I’ve been contemplating tyres for a while and was talking in terms of something old school and beefier. I may still do this, during the winter months but I’m sticking with something swifter. I’m still impressed by the Maxxis Ravager Maxxis Ravager TR Tyres | cycling-not-racing. My experience suggests that 60tpi casings are more reliable, especially off road. I’ve had one flat with the Ravager, three with Pirelli’s perky Cinturato. Admittedly one was a rim tape issue, so not down to the tyre and they still have bags of charm but I’m craving dependability at the moment, in case that wasn’t obvious.

I got curious about Maxxis Rambler, which Maxxis say are their most popular gravel offering, reckoned to perform uniformly well along asphalt, dirt roads and gravel. The Rambler has been around for a decade now, which suggests a fundamentally very competent design. Tightly packed centre knobblies promise efficiency, while more widely spaced cornering/side knobblies promise to keep bite deep when cornering on looser surfaces.

As would be expected, it’s a dual compound, tubeless ready model. There are two variants, our 60tpi and 120tpi, they’re also available in a wealth of sizes, from 38 to 50mm. I’ve gone for the 700x40, since that’s optimal, dare I say maximum for Denise’s clearances.

The Silk shield puncture repelling technology runs from bead to bead, thus offering the sidewalls some defence against flats and cut damage. They also tip the scales at a similarly respectable 524g apiece. I’ve run ours up front, the Ravager behind, as a control for the first hundred miles. Now, the Ravager are no slouches, even on metalled roads. However, the 60tpi Rambler feel palpably faster. Having reached for the rambler front and rear, I’ve am averaging 16.7mph against 15.9mph along comparable sections and thus far, they’re proving equally engaging off road, along dry hardpack trails, unmade roads and forest trails.

Grip and cornering prowess are proving similarly dependable, although I anticipate needing something with a deeper, more mtb influenced tread when the wetter, wintry months bring boggy bridlepath.  50psi seems the sweet spot for mixed terrain shenanigans but obviously, I’ll experiment further, as time and miles advance.   While giving Muffin a well-earned wash and light fettle, one thing led to another and I was curious as to whether they’d fit comfortably up front, being 42mm (against the Continental Pure Contact, which are 40mm wide and run a hair’s breadth from the MudHugger Gravel Hugger Mudguards. Much to my surprise, the short answer is yes, and this also presented an opportunity to tweak the Spyre calliper’s alignment fractionally.

The Leatt 6.0 are still performing impeccably and having regularly alternating between Muffin (and the Shimano M540) and Denise suggests the Leatt are a little stiffer, translating in slightly improved power transfer, Finish quality is also proving very high, resisting regular dis/engagements with nominal signs of wear.  Interestingly, the Leatt cleats seem fully compatible with Shimano SPD pedals, but Shimano cleats weren’t quite so compatible and its required more effort to engage and release.

Staying with pedals, I’ve always leaned towards dirt biased SPD shoes since the power transfer is generally very good, and you can walk or run efficiently and comfortably. Race shoes, mtb or otherwise can be fine- I’m quite happy whizzing along on the fixed for several hours with these stiff soled FLR F70 Pro MTB M250 Shoe FLR F70 Pro MTB M250 Shoe | cycling-not-racing  but found them a touch too rigid, say shouldering bikes cyclo cross fashion across more technical sections, or indeed mooching around, but then our old friend “horses for courses” springs to mind. 

Roads Paved With Dung

Shod with the Schwalbe Marathon GT, Cross flavoured fixer and I have been belting along the back roads. The GT feel a lot faster than their 808g suggest and continue to inspire confidence by the bucket load-in every sense. Talking of tyres, Seven Day Cyclist has an eight month test of another beefy section tyre, Maxxis Roamer http://www.sevendaycyclist.com/maxxis-roamer-tyres  

Fun is obviously high on any rider’s agenda but for me at least, reliability is level-pegging on a daily driver or winter/trainer. I want to concentrate on the ride, or let my mind wander in reflective/creative directions. While punctures and mid-ride mechanicals per se, are all part of riding, being sat by the roadside tackling a flat; or broken chain are events I prefer to keep infrequent.

Last Thursday, the thermometer had barely crept above minus 2, so I headed out late afternoon. Run at 85psi, their contact with the surface, coupled with the ability to regulate speed by holding off against the cranks, made 1in 4 descents and similar efforts that bit more comfortable.

Ascending one climb, dancing on the pedals and shoulders shuffling to similar tempo, my heart momentarily sank at a fut-fut sound, synonymous with a flaccid tyre. Glancing over my right shoulder, I was relieved (and somewhat amused) to discover this was a wheezy, asthmatic contemporary Fiat 500. Said super mini eventually regained composure and passed, observing a welcome 1.5 metre gap a few hundred metres later.  

Three miles from hot coffee, I swept around a bend to discover a young man tending to his motorcycle. I called out, checking he was OK; he affirmed this and explained his motorcycle’s final drive chain has snapped. This was literally 50 metres from where I was performing link surgery the previous Tuesday evening.

I offered to call someone but he politely declined, much as I did at his age and continue to. In parallel with the sheer fun and freedom, Cycling and motorcycling tends to engender a fierce sense of self-reliance.

We wished each other safe journey and I spun my way home, fingers and toe boxes nipped with chill. Next morning, I took the same route and saw his machine parked on the verge. I’m hoping he got home safely, acquired a new chain and is back to enjoying his machine again.      

These Super B professional cable cutter and inner cable puller arrived this week. We’d hoped to get them in ready for the Univega’s rebirth but no matter, these things can’t be helped and it’s timely enough given the stage I’m at with Graham’s GT. 

In common with other workshop kit, such as work stands, cable pullers aren’t essential but make maintenance and repair jobs that bit easier and quicker. Cable pullers; sometimes referred to as fourth hand tools tension the inner wire, leaving yours free to nip everything tight. Care is needed to avoid over-tensioning when feeding the inner wire into the slot but that’s as difficult as things get.

A decent set of snips, by contrast are the staple of any basic toolkit and will repay their investment countless times over. To some degree, there’s no limit to what you can spend. £30 odd is my benchmark and these Jagwire Pro my all-time favourites to date, anyway. http://www.sevendaycyclist.com/jagwire-pro-cutters  At £29.69 the imaginatively monikered Super B TB-WC30 are quite a bit cheaper, which fuelled my intrigue. Will be interesting to see how they fare in the longer term too.       

Elsewhere, John Moss has been plagued by a slipping Alfine set up. He attributes this to the manual system, so is talking in terms of upgrading the mango to Di2-price dependant. Mercifully the tandem’s Nu Vinci hub seems to be behaving itself impeccably since its rebuild.  

The same goes for the Univega, aside from another chain breakage-easily sorted with a few spare links and this Pedros multi-ttol. The 1x9 set up has enough range for long hills and fast descents. 

Full length guards offering ample protection from winter’s slimy slurry and of course, rural backwaters.The highways agency appears to be encouraging farmers to resurface with generous helpings of dung- even its Time ATAC aluminium pedals were showing signs of being engulfed. 

I also resurrected the Geonaute G-Eye2 to capture some footage. Lazily described by some as a poor man’s Go-Pro, it’s less intuitive than the Tom Tom but still offers decent image quality for a budget model.  

Right, I’ll leave you with the Visijax Gilet review http://www.sevendaycyclist.com/visijax-led-gilet  

Whoppers

Puncture season has well and truly struck and Tuesday’s night’s wet n’ windy lane-side pit-stop saw my endless gratitude for this helmet mounted BBB Scout light. 200 lumens doesn’t sound much these days but the really pure crisp arc of light made locating spare tube(s), tyre levers and Cool tool (not to mention the job itself) that bit easier.

It also ensured I didn’t lose anything, or litter the verge when bunging everything back in. Talking of lights, while there are some minor compromises, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Xeccon Zeta 1300r Wireless Front light http://www.sevendaycyclist.com/xeccon-1300-wireless-front-light

This was the second flat in two successive evenings, so has me questioning whether unbranded tube bundles are little more than false-economy. Fine for getting back on the road and other contingencies, but not as everyday staples; neither puncture seemed the result of a sharp piercing the Clement USH casings. Both rim tapes are pristine too.

Graciously the supplier is sending me a replacement bundle, in case these are a rogue batch.I’m likely to revert to a thicker gauge butyl, possibly a Kenda thorn resistant on the rear, store branded goo-filled model up front.

Having reviewed the contents of my wedge pack, I retrieved a CO2 inflator and spare cartridge to further minimise roadside indignity on a wet and blustery night. That said; I never ride anywhere without a decent pump riding shot gun on the bottle mounts, or in a jersey pocket.

Research suggests the brain is in fact, phenomenally active when we are consciously resting. Talking of customisation, I awoke on Wednesday morning with the idea of a tyre swap. A 35mm Vittoria Voyager hyper at the rear and a 42mm Maxxis Roamer 2ply up front…Hmm, well best laid plans…

Despite the MkII Ilpomopino’s rear triangle supposedly swallowing 35mm sections (sans guards), the voyager hyper was tickling the chainstays at their narrowest point, so I reinstated the 35mm Continental.

I suspect, given their portly profiles, the Voyager’s 32mm counterparts would still be in fag paper territory clearance-wise. Shame, since they’re a really, nice compliant tyre with magic-carpet ride quality. We reviewed them in issue 7 when Seven Day Cyclist was a monthly, downloadable PDF publication. http://www.sevendaycyclist.com/pdf-reader  

https://issuu.com/vortexcreative/docs/sdc_7?e=0/14991072SDC8

 

The 42mm Maxxis and Kinesis fork proved a much happier marriage.

Grotty roads, oily finger prints and similar caked-on spatter also presented opportune moments for further testing of The Pro Green MX triple pack. Having sprayed the drivetrain degreaser on the ring and sprocket, before working it into their inner side and then into the links using an old brush.

Most bike cleaners are marketed as kind; or at least safe on plastic, composites and rubberised components. Experience leads me to conclude, some are kinder than others so I took this opportunity to give the tyres a really good scrub too. 

Though a big fan Green Oil’s bicycle brush this Oxford tyre scrub continues to grow on me.  The rubberised contoured handle sits naturally in the palm and allows really efficient cleaning. Sculpted nylon bristle plot is angled perfectly for lifting impacted gloop and sharps from the casings, restoring the aesthetic and greatly reducing the likelihood of punctures and other damage. 

Generally designed for mud and other organic contaminant, the relatively gentle cleaner continues to impress, shifting oily finger marks and even some internal frame preserve that oozed out from the bottom bracket shell.

The drivetrain degreaser has also shifted more sophisticated petrochemical chain lubes and caked on residual stuff clinging to the cranks inner spider. Having dried and re-lubricated the chain, it was time to give everything (bar contact points, disc and rotor components a misty blow-over with their all-over shine formula.

I could easily lose 30minutes to polishing-often it’s a therapeutic, reflective exercise. However, applied in a gentle mist, this formula cures to a really jewelled like effect within thirty minutes. A gentle breeze certainly helps but isn’t essential. So far, judging by my Univega, it isn’t attracting a dirty patina in the usual places-fork crowns, bottom bracket shell and rear triangle.       

Where There's A Will...

This week we’ve been looking at trailers for touring and commuting http://www.sevendaycyclist.com/tug-jobs.  Hopefully we’ll have some samples of Dani Foffa’s new urban clothing range in for testing very shortly. In the meantime, these 42mm Maxxis Roamer tyres arrived from another title and our Revolution ‘Cross test bike seemed the ideal candidate.

The Roamer is a wallet-friendly family of e-bike rated urban rubber, supposedly designed to cope with everything from commuting to touring. 60tpi semi slick casings, maximum 75psi operating pressure and a Kevlar breaker strip certainly indicate so.

Giving the ‘cross a visual once-over, I reckoned the roamer wouldn’t present any concerns clearance-wise and those portly, supple casings also implied a compliant, easy-to mount set...  welcome antidotes to the Bontrager several weeks’ back.

Well, I was nearly caught out on both fronts.

The first 65% slipped aboard the rims effortlessly and sans tools but it wasn’t long before I was close to agricultural language and guttural groaning more commonly associated with hospital labour wards. “Oooooh! Go-on, go-on!!!! You will! You will, you will!” probably wasn’t the sort of tea-time entertainment my neighbours hard bargained for either.

Order was restored with the retrieval of my magic tyre wand that had mysteriously escaped its hook and was hiding behind the chest freezer. Having dialed the Spyre’s barrel adjusters in to provide some slack, wheels were repatriated.

Clearance up front was good-pretty much what you’d expect on a modern disc braked ‘cross/adventure biased build but at the rear, you’d be lucky to slip the proverbial fag paper between casing and chain-stay bridge.

To my amazement, it didn’t clog following a ride or two on the wild side but something to check, especially on frames with vertical ends where there’s no leeway. Lighter than the OEM kenda, these have been delivering a magic carpet ride over the lumpy lanes and increasingly battle scarred main roads.

They’ve given the ‘Cross2 a perkier persona and rolling resistance is much les than I was expecting from rubber weighing over 700g apiece, although thanks in part to the widely spaced gearing, ride/handling still feels closer to that of a middleweight tourer than ‘crosser per se.

The other objective that evening was to continue getting it as filthy as possible since this fetching blue Zefal bike wash had also been sent my way…Bike washes provoke quite a bit of debate and most work to broadly similar science with comparable results.

Most solutions (aside from citrus based versions) are alkaline and employ non-ionic surfactants. These basically break down the grime on a molecular level; ensuring non/organic grot is easily flushed away and does not reattach itself during the washing/rinsing phases.  Aside from distinctive blue colouring, Zefal reckon theirs imparts a protective, dirt and dust repelling glossy film...Time and testing will reveal whether there’s any substance to these claims.

Working on the basis most knobblies become slicks when feed sufficient gloop, I decided it was time to revisit the bridle path featured on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Sevendaycyclistmagazine/videos to see how they’d behave.

Despite some initial skepticism, the Roamer’s comparatively supple casings literally glided through the gloop, taking thorns, flints in its stride. However, while the strip is comprehensive, its thinner at the shoulders... Given another seven miles or so, a sharp hard infiltrated the recessed, traction boosting, water channelling grooves. Just as I’d pulled up outside the house, its rear tyre let rip with a hearty hiss. Ruptured tube seam, so new tube and back to testing…

Elsewhere, the Univega now sports this Guee silicone bar wrap. Despite materials in common it’s proving quite different from the venerable Genetic flare http://www.sevendaycyclist.com/genetic-silicone-bar-wrap   in many respects, though most obviously, texture.

Price is a stumbling block for some people but compared with space age polymers commanding similar cash, the rubber’s natural tenacity means these don’t require backing adhesives, so aside from introducing fresh UPVC (electrical tape) they can be repeatedly rewound.

The Guee benefits from a little extra pre-stretch (especially when feeding the first few centimetres inside the bar end). Thankfully, it’s less susceptible to stretch marks/discoloration under tension, which is helpful since it’s less generous than the flare. (I had sufficient left over for the Holdsworth’s pursuit bars) Only time and miles will tell whether performance justifies the £7 price differential...