Beacons of Hope?

The leaves are rustling, daylight is fading, and the UK is facing the prospect of blackouts during the darkest, coldest days of winter... Well, my blood will certainly boil, and don’t anyone dare throw a romanticised “It’ll be just like the 70s” line my way. Madison www.madison.co.uk sent us these rear lights to test. We’ve the Infini Metis, the Infini Tron, and The Kryptonite Incite XBR Rear Brake Light.  

What’s interesting about these then...Well, they’re all at the same price point (£34.99) and the Metis and Kryptonite feature “braking” functions. Interestingly, and more accurately, Kryptonite describes theirs as an “acceleration sensor”. Unlike some others, they cite the sensor will trigger the designated LED when it detects speed dropping by 3.58 mph (5.76 Kmh). Otherwise, it’s a 7-mode model with memory and run times, cited as between 10 and 36 hours.  

The Metis has 5- two steady, three flashing-including a daytime running flash. In terms of output, we’re talking between 10 and 80 lumens. I’m particularly intrigued by the Flashing 2, which is 40 lumens and reckoned to manage 28 hours from a full charge. We shall see... 

 

I like daytime running modes, especially on overcast autumn and winter mornings. The Infini Tron pumps out a maximum of 40 lumens but also has a 50-lumen day flash.  

The latter sounds a little tame by some standards- 100 and 150lumens are increasingly common.  

Indeed, they’re brilliant for soup-like conditions but there’s some debate as to whether these are otherwise anti-social. It does, however, enjoy a large surface area and employs a 42 chip and 10 SMD LED, so will be interesting to see how these lights compare in real-world conditions.  

I’m an advocate of always carrying a contingency light on long rides-even with disciplined charging, lights can suddenly power down, or fail. Risks are minimised by proper charging and other, basic care but just as the best-maintained bikes can succumb to a mechanical, the unexpected can strike.  

An integrated lithium-ion or lithium Polymer cell can only withstand so many charge cycles before losing some endurance. To illustrate my point, the Kranx Strix 100 came to my rescue when an excellent Magicshine unexpectedly powered down, meaning I was still obvious to other road users from a good distance and for the remaining 10 extremely dark miles.  

During this point, I also noted the Souma Leather handlebar tape Souma Leather Handlebar Tape | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) had stretched a little, causing it to turn a little baggy just below the brake lever. To be expected after a few thousand miles and easily sorted in five minutes. Unwrap at the tops, just below the hoods. Tension tightly and uniformly while weaving back up. Some fresh electrical tape sealed the deal. The Souma is certainly weathering and wearing well-not that I’d expect any different from a hide of that quality and price point, but reassuring, nonetheless.   

 

One thing, of course, leads to several others. Next thing I knew, I’d stripped the chain and cassette, given the bike a good wash, since I was there. The Green Oil Dry Chain Wax Green Oil Dry Chain Wax | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) for the theoretically more stoical Momum MIC Wax Lube Momum MIC Wax Lube | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) , then of course, I decided the saddle height was a little too lofty, then a fraction too low. The former causes undue and unnecessary strain on the knees, while also hampering efficiency. (Too high, or too low is inefficient and can lead to knee and other joint mischief).  

Then of course, the seat collar sheared-I should stress I had been using the torque wrench, set to the prescribed 5nms. Thankfully, I had a replacement in the small parts drawer, so switched and took this opportunity to blast some spray grease inside the seat tube and apply a light coating to the Kinekt 2.1 Aluminium Suspension Seatpost KINEKT 2.1 SUSPENSION SEAT POST | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) Shim and height checked, I snugged everything down to 5nm and ticked another series of little jobs off my doing list.

I have ordered a couple of 28.6mm BBB, just to keep in stock should another failure strike here, on the fixed gear winter/trainer (Although I have a nice Salsa lip lock somewhere in the spares bin, so will root for that, should need arise.)  

 

Stems & Other Pleasant Surprises

This Vecnum freeQuence Suspension Stem arrived to distract me from the UK’s unbraked descent into terrifying in chaos. It’s a spring/elastomer parallelogram design, intended for riders between 50 and 120 kilos (110 to 264 lbs). There’s more than passing similarity to the Kinekt Suspension Stem KINEKT SUSPENSION STEM | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) that Steve and I remain fond of, too.  

However, at 285g a fair bit lighter, and adjusting the tension doesn’t require opening the stem or swapping springs (not that this could ever be described as a hardship with the Kinekt). Simply introduce an Allen key and gently turn clockwise to increase tension, checking as you go.  

Convenience aside, this does away with the need for “lock-out” and similar engineering to overcome unwelcome travel. Vecnum list the unit as self-lubricating, which is arguably another bonus. However, it employs fit and forget bearings, which will ultimately require professional servicing/refurbishment once worn.  

Vencum also recommends applying gripper paste (the stuff typically employed when fitting carbon components) to the fork steerer. Good practice for this genre of stem generally I’m thinking, although I’ve never had any issues with the Kinekt or Redshift Sports TEST & REVIEW REDSHIFT SPORTS SHOCKSTOP SUSPENSION STEM (sevendaycyclist.com) Shock stop Suspension Stems.  

30mm (about 1.18 in) travel is 20mm (about 0.79 in) positive, 10-degree negative, rather akin to a suspension fork. Again, in common with the Kinekt, it’s designed to be progressive and not affect the bike’s geometry. Regardless of bar height, or positioning- whether you ride on the hoods, tops, or drops. It's beautifully machined, extruding that industrial beauty that I’m deeply drawn to. Formative impressions are very favourable but we’re in the honeymoon phase at present. Only time and real-world mileage will tell.  

I’d recently switched the fixed gear winter/trainer’s Cane Creek Thudbuster G4 for its G3 predecessor TESTED: CANE CREEK THUDBUSTER ST SEATPOST (sevendaycyclist.com) when I opted to return to this Pro Turnix Gel saddle, which continues the weight saving without sacrifice narrative. I went for the Peaty’s Bicycle Assembly Grease PEATY'S BICYCLE ASSEMBLY GREASE | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) and took this opportunity to replace the seat post collar boot- made from scrap mtb inner tube.  

I’m deeply endeared to both generations of the Thudbuster ST, but I must admit, I’m not overly keen on the G4’s single-bolt saddle clamp design. Not that I’ve had any real-world issues these past two years or so. However, this seems a curious design for one intended to support riders weighing up to 150kilos.  

 

For those unfamiliar with the Thudbusters, upon hitting a bump these work downward and reward, so force is absorbed at the same rate. This prevents the saddle from bouncing around and robbing rider power. Aside from Mtb and gravel audiences, in my view, they have a lot to offer tandem stokers who don’t always get warning of the lumpier stuff until they’re experiencing it first-hand.  

I also remain a big fan of Redshift Sports Shockstop Suspension Seat post REDSHIFT SHOCKSTOP SUSPENSION SEATPOST | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com), although not everyone is sold on the industrial aesthetic and length means its best suited to road biased, rather than semi/compact mtb builds-Ursula being a case in point. There’s not much between them weight-wise either. Something may not be to my tastes but that certainly doesn’t make it inferior, just not the right fit.  I’d noticed some unexpected judder under heavy braking with the new rotor and pads.  

Closer inspection revealed the obvious culprit- a soiled rotor. A simple cure with some Green Oil Clean Chain Degreaser Jelly GREEN OIL CLEAN CHAIN DEGREASER JELLY (sevendaycyclist.com) and some vigorous scrubbing with their Bike Brush. Clean, but not sterile is a rotor’s preferred state. I’d confirmed this by switching back to the SL9 wheel and Swiss Stop Catalyst Pro Disc Rotor  Swiss Stop Catalyst Disc Rotor | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) I’d also discovered a pinch flat and since one thing always leads to another, I’ve switched to Specialized’s Road Sport Tyre and now that roads are getting wetter, I’ve reverted to Motoverde PTFE Chain Lube on the fixed Motoverde PTFE Chain Lube | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) For now, I’ll stay with something dry/waxy to keep Ursula’s drivetrain clean and wear pedestrian. I'll close with Steve's review of the Ravemen LR1200 front light Ravemen LR1200 Front Light | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com)