Gravitating Toward Fixed Gear Gravel...

 

No great surprise really given my love of ‘cross inspired bikes and escaping metalled roads on them. Yes, I’m leaning toward an endurance event, similar to the dirty reiver https://www.dirtyreiver.co.uk/ . I pondered this, while exploring some long forgotten lanes-the sort just wide enough for a very small car and zero wriggle room.

Shod with those 30mm Vee rubber, ‘cross inspired fixed and I took the centre-strip-an impacted mound of mud, silt and grit in our stride, albeit at a more cautious 15mph-in case a John Deere, or similar behemoth be winding uphill.

At 105psi or so, they’re really quite capable on softer surfaces, though more of a tyre that give a taste of gravel, rather than something I’d deliberately set out to tackle a big event with. Neither, for that matter, is a fixed gear of 79 inches but it was perfectly manageable in these contexts.

Hmm, I feel another reconfiguration coming on. Received wisdom says a gear of 63 inches is optimal for trail biased fixed gear fun but I’m erring on the taller end of 60. We are talking a 700c build and I don’t want to be spinning myself into another dimension, or whipping the wheel around when I come to long stretches of metalled road.

The MK2 Ilpompino’s frame and Kinesis cross fork permits tyres up to 32 and 42mm respectively, without clearance hassles but ideally, a gravel build’s rear triangle will entertain 38mm with room to spare but we’ll see.

Talking of frames, Seven Day Cyclist has a feature on refinishing aluminium alloy, complete with a step by step renovation of a Specialized https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/aluminium-frame-refurbishment   

Back in 2008 I toyed with going the two speed Sturmey Archer route. Frankly, though it has some obvious appeal, especially in the scenarios outlined here, in practice the system was short-lived first time round. It also adds unnecessary cost and complication to proceedings.

Some, scrappy, note pad doodling points towards a 19tooth sprocket. I’d like a decent CNC machined unit. Cheaper elliptical types with bevelled teeth hail from the days when racers would retire an old road frameset from competitive duties and convert it to fixed for winter training.

These sprockets compensate for chain-line imperfections and certainly have their place but below par for a purpose build. Ideally, I’d have another EAI Gold Medal premium (CNC machined unit with straight cut teeth).

A truly beautiful piece of precision engineering but to my knowledge, 18 teeth is tops. More likely that I will opt for a cheaper but extremely cheerful Halo, which is also CNC machined, offered in the magical 19. Think that’s a done deal, for now at least…

Generally speaking, living in a house completely devoid of heat during the winter of 1992, coupled with 30 winters on two wheels has left me with a high tolerance for cold.

That said; I’ve been taken aback by how chilly April and May have been-psychologically, I’m anticipating 15-18 degrees and on many morning’s its barely crept to 7 degrees, less when wind chill is factored in.

For the most part, I’ve been comfortable enough wearing mitts, as has Steve https://www.sevendaycyclist.com/santini-micro-mesh-gel-mitt  but on Wednesday, I resurrected these full-finger Endura Strike from my gloves drawer.

Revisiting them 8 years in, I’m still impressed by the standards of warmth and wicking. Even in relatively mild temperatures they wick much better than padding density and overall design might suggest. I’ve added Respro retroreflective stickers to accentuate hand signals on dark nights and unlit roads.

Elsewhere, I was called in to cover an event the Indian Community Centre in Coventry on Saturday. I’d also like to take this opportunity to introduce some creative wrapping and card making services from Dolly Blue-Blue.

Like what you see? Don’t be shy, get in touch and I’ll pass your enquiry over.

 

 

 

Salvage

After several attempts with Southern scrappies, I managed to persuade a Midlands based vehicle dismantler to let me photograph his yard in action. Arriving with steel toes, hi-viz jacket and assurances I would take only my images met with surprisingly little resistance.

Fiats, Alfa Romeo, Vauxhall and even the odd X type Jaguar sat in neat piles, their empty bodies squashed like discarded soft drinks cans. Teenage lads peered inside elderly Nissan Micras (not the most obvious Yoof wagons!); while I pondered the lives of three mk1 Ka stacked nearby and pressed the shutter at desired intervals.

Rediscovery of my Cyclo tyre removal and fitting tool’s replacement head has spelt an end to tyre torment and prompted the resurrection of these26x2.1 Kenda Small block eight for some off the beaten track fun with the Geonaute.

As their name suggests, the small block 8 are a closely spaced knobbly designed for optimal speed and control across hard surfaces with operating range between 30 and 80psi. They’ll quickly clog and become slicks in gloopy mud but this was academic given full-length mudguards preclude anything trickier than dry woodland trails.

Said tubby tourer’s drivetrain has also developed a phantom squeak. Crank arms are tight, chain properly dressed (in Muc-Off Hydrodynamic lube, which has evolved into a seemingly hygienic wet potion these past 120 mixed terrain miles). Definitely not those Time ATAC pedals but rotating the cranks suggests the fit n’ forget UN55 bottom bracket might be culpable.

Not obvious sources of grief, since these (and their UN52/54 predecessors) enjoy legendary reliability-10,000 miles or more in some cases). Faulty seals/bearings are possible, albeit unlikely since I avoid jet washing like the plague. Will monitor for now and may even plump for an FSA or Stronglight next time round.  

Things they say; happen for a reason and while wrestling with the anaconda that is writer’s block, I sought solace in my austere, though practical concrete plot known affectionately as the Soviet block and began testing the degreasant claims of some bike wash formulas. Experience leads me to conclude that concentrates harness best-of both worlds performance, though require careful alchemy.

Pre-mixed blends are generally bang on for speedy cleaning of non/organic stuff thrown up from the roads and trails but their neutrality to all frame materials and finishes means they can’t cut through the sort of congealed claggy grot harboured by winter/fixed/cross and mountain bikes fed tenacious ceramic or even, old school wet lubes.

Common sense dictates starting with the bike’s transmission; otherwise you’ll just coat the rear triangle in mucky spatter and smear it over the frame. Therefore, I decided to whip out the Ilpompino’s rear wheel for minimal faff. Good thing I did –closer inspection of the 32mm Kenda Kwicker Bitumen revealed the iron cap casing was riddled with flints that could induce puncture of epic, tube-binning proportions!  

Murphy’s Law reasons this would strike several miles from home on a wet and windy night. The casing is reparable and I will fashion two boots from offcuts of scrap tyre at a more convenient moment.Generally speaking, 32mm is the limit with full length mudguards but being a slick, a 35mm Vittoria Voyager Hyper fits without touching anything-just, we are talking tighter than a hipster’s trousers.

Some WD40 drivetrain degreaser had arrived during the week and having achieved predictably lacklustre results using two generic bike washes; I shook, aimed and fired in two short blasts. Several months’ congealed gunk ran like mascara from the stainless steel track sprockets. Breathtakingly quick, though cautions suggest minimising contact with seals and similar rubberised/plastics.

Then of course, after several years’ faithful service, the pressure gauge on my Revolution floor pump is singing its swan-song and this rather likeable Axiom multi-tool literally blew its guts while slumbering in my rack bag. Again, I’ll attempt reconstructive surgery shortly but thankfully, Axiom offers original purchasers a lifetime warrantee against manufacturing defect.

Integral gauges tend to be the Achilles’ heel of budget track pumps, which generally soldier on for several years before heading up to that great bike shop in the sky. Standalone gauges are more reliable in any case.

Spring may have brought longer evenings but the advent of some much needed temping means tweaking one’s ride schedule. Time to resurrect the big guns for spirited back road blasting methinks…