Showing posts with label artwork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label artwork. Show all posts

Tuesday 22 April 2014

Lateral Thinking & A Saunter Through The Spares Bin


Bank holidays are a great opportunity to relax, reflect and therefore be more productive as a consequence. That said; self-employment in any capacity/context requires long hours, forward planning and oodles of self- motivation- I’ve seldom seen bed before 1am these past few months. Presently I’m working on my collaboration and specifically cover designs, which is a different but extremely rewarding challenge with intense flashes of inspiration.

Further investigation revealed the Ilpompino’s GXP cranks and cups had become sitting tenants, though three timely blasts of penetrant spray and gentle persuasion from this ACOR wrench accelerated a tidy eviction.

Obviously closed cup pro grade designs hold the winning cards when it comes to absolute precision, though open type enable loosening of the non-drive side, facilitating release of reticent two-piece Truvativ without recourse to more forceful techniques.

Much to my surprise, several salt strewn winters had infiltrated the chain-ring bolts, leaving their threads unexpectedly brittle. Hence I’ve introduced an understated but worthy sealed square taper bottom bracket and low mileage Stronglight 55 crankset for the short to medium term until such time the latter’s non-detachable ring becomes bin fodder, or I acquire something more glamorous.

110mm long axles might sound another curious choice for fixed gear builds but the chain line’s bang-on, those extra few millimetres breathing space prevents arms fouling cadence sensors and similar electrical gizmos.

Dropping a couple of teeth has lowered the gearing slightly (from 81 to 77.6 inches), lessening joint strain on more intense climbs and improving acceleration without hampering cruising tempo or inducing quasi comedic spin-out during long descents.

Such moments had me thinking about chain life. Derailleur set ups ascend the stairway to heaven between 800 and 1100 miles depending on rider sensitivity, standards of maintenance, lube and riding conditions but things seem considerably less prescriptive with single speeds. Obviously the former variables, not to mention chainline are significant players.

However, theoretically at least (given the additional loading associated with braking, track standing and explosive acceleration) one would reasonably expect this to be level pegging with their variable cousins.

I’ve had a brown 3/32 Sedis expire somewhat fatally nigh on 25 years ago while hurtling along at 42mph, inducing unwelcome mirth and interesting rider antics. Aside from last year’s infamous crush injury, there’s never been a spiteful moment or sense of impending expiry using 1/8th track fare. 

The Ilpompino's  KMC is starting to shed its purple finish in places and I keep a generous length of links lest disaster strike miles from home but we’re well into three thousand miles. My preference is for half-links since they allow more precise pruning, especially on conversions where tensioning can prove tricky (vertical dropouts being a case in point) and some whisper 10,000 miles plus is readily attainable.

Galvanised coatings according to others are show-stopping must-haves, particularly but while taint resistance is pretty good, those I’ve used have lacked finesse unless fed a wet lube diet and eventually the zinc layer flakes away, leaving links exposed and therefore equally vulnerable to Joe n’ Joanna rot. Perhaps Inox is the answer to these particular prayers…