The Eat My Dirt brake shields were sent my way on the basis they had “Michael Stenning” written all over them. These are primarily designed to protect disc brake/rotors from a sticky coating of spent lube when re-lubricating a thirsty chain. Same goes for tyres and rims.

Story goes these were invented after Jon fancied a quick blast on Gary’s bike. Unbeknown to him, Gary had “just chucked a bit of oil on his chain and cassette” seeing as they were looking a bit dry…

Mid wheelie, Jon engaged the rear brake…Nothing. Next thing he knew he was flat on his back and the concept was born.  Being marine engineers, they made a prototype from cardboard and refined the design with some input from Huddersfield University.

The brake shields are essentially a massive “bib” that clips on in literally seconds once you’ve got the knack. Bike Bib was their intended moniker but it seems, Michelin own the name “bib”…

Ultimately, they decided polypropylene was the ideal, flexible, chemical resistant material. In fact, they are so confident in its longevity, they will replace free of charge and under normal use, so long as you send them a short video explaining how they failed.

First slip the shield behind the cassette and secure the tab around a convenient spoke. Clip the top hook around another spoke and check it won’t move when you rotate the cranks backwards.

Once you’ve cleaned and/or re-lubricated your chain, unclip and flush the channel through with a bit of bike wash/concentrate and rinse that away using tepid water. Despite some initial scepticism; it’s beginning to find favour with me. http://www.eatmydirt.eu/brake-shield

Out of the blue, this Blackburn Piston 4 floor pump arrived on the SDC test bench-straight from the States. It’s a high volume model, featuring a steel barrel and base, which are welded together and finished in a very fetching gunmetal grey, a huge 3 inch gauge that goes all the way to 220psi.

Formative impressions are very favourable-these 35mm Clement were brought from flaccid to 90psi in a cool 38 strokes and my Univega’s 26x1.75 Vittoria to 80 in 50, both with minimal effort. As you’d expect from this end of the market, not to mention Blackburn, the build quality is absolutely top notch, with a really solid feel and refined action.

While looking at foot mounted gauges is hardly a hardship, the super clear top unit means there’s no excuse for over-inflation and if you do, simply  scrub off the unwanted pressure by hitting the head’s integral bleed valve.  

Other pleasant surprises include these uber lumen Meteor Storm Pro and Shield-X lights from their UK importerwww.raleigh.co.uk . In recent years, high power systems have become increasingly compact, especially for the road market. The Meteor storm pro boasts a range of steady settings delivering between 1700 and 125 lumens, which is very impressive from a torch type with integral battery.

On paper, this range should cater for everything from race pace antics along unlit back roads to urban commuting. Admittedly offset by 6hour charge times, a quoted run time of 2hrs with the full 1700 on tap is pretty reasonable given its fuelled by a 3.6 volt 3200mAH cell…Buying a second will obviously extend its potential, especially since those sorts of charge times aren’t the most convenient for desk bound commuters.

Spec wise, we have two Cree XM-L2 diodes, CNC machined aluminium casing for durability and excellent heat displacing qualities and an automatic shut down in the unlikely event of overheating.  No less than ten modes, including a 2000lumen flashing “day” mode that they reckon will run for a claimed 38hours. 

Those looking at the bottom line will point out that high power Cree units complete with battery and charger can be picked up online for around the £20mark. True, these offer a lot of bang for little buck but tend to be a little unrefined in terms of delivery. Three modes, run times around5hours in top are quite enticing and in my experience, practical for longer winter training runs along unlit roads.

However, reflector and lens quality tends to be bargain basement, so while there’s enough bite for 35mph plus on straight sections, they tend not to be so useful in the twisties.

They’re decidedly overpowered in the suburbs, let alone town centres too, which is where those with more intelligent, multiple modes score highly. On a completely different note, I found myself roped into photographing a wedding at a days’ notice-one of the biggest textbook no-no’s for any photographer.

However, I had trusty CSCs and a few suitable lenses, so was happy enough to help out; on the understanding it was a favour. Despite some initial trepidation, the Baptist ceremony went surprisingly smoothly. I was even asked by one guest, if I had photographed her wedding 22 years previously (!). Right, off for a chat with Tegan Philips about her bike, Axel

Continuous Improvement

So, a TRP Spyre calliper kit was wafted under my nose at the right price. Resistance was futile and deal done. Mine is the black/silver contrast, which to my eye, is even better looking than the stealthy, sexy black unit adorning the Revolution Cross 2.

Autumn is trade show time; Seven Day Cyclist www.sevendaycyclist.com is not at Eurobike this year but will be attending the NEC Cycle show later in September.

Talking of stealth, I was surprised by dusk’s advance towards the latter part of August. Blinkies have now been flanked by commuter plus torch-type lamps of the 300-400 lumen calibre on my cyclo cross and road biased builds. 

Generally speaking the preserve of suburban-semi rural commuters, these lights are fine for tackling the latter end of dusk and bright enough to be seen by but 600lumens plus is nearer the mark when darkness really bites. 

Several Moon models of varying capacities and the See Sense Icon + rear have arrived on our test bench this past week.

At the upper end, we have the XL 760 torch-type unit, which is surprisingly compact for a model offering 760 lumens and seemingly powerful enough for tackling pitch-black lanes at a decent pace. Quoted run times of 2hrs 20 in top also seem pretty reasonable, although the    removable 3200mAh battery is another nice touch, meaning you can carry a spare and swap over for extended playtimes. 

Seven settings optimise performance and economy, so you can toggle down for town and up for backyard scratching, although 360lumens is arguably overkill for sub/urban duties.

At the other extreme, their Aerolite is designed for contingencies and surprisingly powerful relative to its size-the sort that comes in handy for early morning TT’s, pre-standlight dynamo companion, reading maps/road signs, or those “Oh #$*@t! My main lamp’s just died ten miles from civilisation and I can hear the chorus of banjos” moments. Thankfully, the latter are rare these days but not completely relegated to the vaults of history.

For many years, I rode primarily in the dark and for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being seasonal- testing lights. Darkness also brings a new lease of objectivity when testing components, or complete bikes.

If you can’t see groupset and simply settle into the ride, things become much less subjective. I have been pleasantly surprised by just how well some budget drivetrains performed; say when shifting under load, or at the last minute.

While not a people person in overused sense of the word; I am also intrigued by people’s choice of winter bike(s) and riding attire. Much of this stems from beginning my serious riding career during the month of falling leaves, inspired by Au Pairs and predictably, the classically French off season attire.

Retro kit, so long as it’s still practical and relevant also gets me very excited. Enter this Minolta X300 35mm film SLR…Retro cool for pseudo artists? An “expensive” paperweight by some people’s reckoning but in my case, it’s a prop for a project or two…

An editor once remarked that being a journalist; though especially freelance also demands the ability to take good photographs. With this in mind, I am predominantly self-taught with some school-of-the streets input. Seeking to experiment in a very different genre to product/technical work-I’m occasionally approached by people asking if I would consider doing their wedding etc but by my own admission; I am a shower of sparks (rather than confetti) chap.

Nonetheless, I’m looking to stretch myself creatively-in parallel. Think I’ve found a suitable studio and instructor to safely explore the genre of artistic nude/erotic (not glamour) photography.

In a wider context, being freelance demands resourcefulness and the ability to problem-solve and think laterally-this extends to cars and other equipment. Purchases are seldom accidental (although things have been known to fall into my lap).

Given my family’s backgrounds in heavy industry/print, growing up, I was steered toward acquiring a sound academic education and a broad, transferable skillset.

Those who experience least economic and consequential turbulence have skills that can be ported over to another industry with similar remuneration. Traditionally, people were also invested in, retrained to bring some facets up to scratch as required-assuming they basically fitted the criteria, although this has also changed.

With this in mind, I have been eager to enrol on a qualifications based massage course, which has to date, eluded me. A lot of further/higher education colleges run this as part of beauty therapy but not a separate entity. I have also been deterred (not so subtly by some tutors) on the basis of gender and to a lesser extent, age. Now, I’ve just received a call asking me to cover a wedding-at an afternoon’s notice...