Strip Club

 I needed some mental downtime, and provided I’m not under undue pressure, immersion in a mechanical project can be extremely therapeutic. I’d intended to decompress by giving my fixed gear winter/trainer a midweek sudsy bucket clean and top up the now thirsty looking KMC S1 chain. However, one thing led to three successful missions.  

I was suddenly compelled to check whether Ursula’s RL340 would pull sufficient cable, thus removing any need to disturb the cockpit, save for a new cable and obviously, the bar wrap.  Having measured the TRP compresionless cable set and pruned to approximate length, I placed the wheel and forks into a stand, paired everything together.  

Drum roll...Engaging the lever proved a welcome surprise- decent modulation, travel and feel, no mushiness, sponginess or bottoming out. Hmm...Spotted a primer patch peeking through the School Chair fork, so on went a thin layer of black. Midweek...Should be nicely cured come the weekend... 

Fixed gear winter/trainer washed and rinsed, I topped up the Bike Medicine Purple Extreme Synthetic Chain Lubricant| cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) and gave the saddle a lick of hide food to keep it nourished.  Ditto Ursula’s Cycles Berthoud Soulor CYCLES BERTHOUD SOULOR LEATHER SADDLE | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com)    

While rummaging through various boxes, I resurrected the Infini Sword Super Bright 30 COB rear Light, which pumps out a maximum of 50 lumens and a super frugal flashing mode, genuinely good for 200 hours. No, you read that right. Not that I have any issue with the run times on my current batch of rear LEDs, but a super frugal backup is a serious boon.  

Halo Aerorage Track hub rebuilt; I’ve mounted the Kenda Kwick Roller KS Plus KENDA KWICK JOURNEY TYRES | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com). It’s a super dependable and seemingly durable model well suited to a winter/fixed-especially one forgoing a mechanical rear brake. Dusk’s cloak had well and truly been cast by this point, and I had a business meeting in Milton Keynes the following morning, so I quit while ahead, carefully repatriating everything to the garage.

Overnight Thursday had been extremely wet, with ample red, dusty rain coating cars, windows and garden furniture. Ursula was the obvious choice, especially given I’d just deep cleaned my fixed gear winter/trainer.  

Swift, compliant serenity was rudely interrupted by front mudguard stay chatter-just catching the tyre sidewalls over washboard tarmac. Annoying though. Having addressed another phantom click on Friday morning, I returned from Saturday morning’s blast convinced now was the time to switch the front end.  

Tools, cable, grease, and other essentials lain out, I commenced surgery. This took longer than intended and was defined by contemplative belching, barely audible agricultural utterances, and of course, diesel strength coffee. Wheel off, bar wrap peeled back, I slid the Univega’s triple-butted blades out and placed them gently to one side.  

Next came generous carpet of Peaty’s Assembly Grease PEATY'S BICYCLE ASSEMBLY GREASE | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) to the school chair fork’s crown race and everything was going to plan. The Gusset Headshock system also got a lick of grease before I introduced the mudguard and dialed the top cap’s preload, just to hold everything together. Ryde Andra 40/ Shutter Precision SD8 wheelSHUTTER PRECISION SD8 HUB DYNAMO | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) securely in place, I pruned the TRP cable outer further, remembering the measure twice, cut once mantra, and then fed the inner through the Tektro RL340 lever...

Fed into the outer and TRP Sypre SLC caliper, I was relieved to discover the pads hit the rotor with minimal lever travel. I then discovered that the mudguard stays weren’t long enough to connect with the Día Compe eyelet adaptors. Momentary dejection didn’t linger but my flash of initial inspiration (Bolting the left hand stay to the adaptor mount) caused caliper alignment issues.  

After some faff, I reached for some stocky black cable ties and tethered everything securely to the fork legs. No rattle, no flex. Aside from some minor cable and caliper tweaking, we were on the home straight. Bar dressed and tape secured with a spare finishing strip, I tweaked the Aheadset bearings. A couple of readjustments and rock-tests confirmed all was right, so I reattached dynamo cabling and Sigma BC9.16 computer sensorSIGMA BC9.16 ATS WIRELESS CYCLE COMPUTER | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com). Tyre pressures checked, it’s time for some shakedown rides and to bed in the stopper...Oh but before I do that, here’s my review of the Shimano Alfine Hub Dynamo Shimano Alfine UR700 Hub Dynamo | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com)     

Call Up & Clipless Dilemmas

 Dawn is calling sooner and by 545, it's surprisingly bright. So much so, that I’ve often thought I’ve been running late...Pre-dawn rides are where I enjoy the silence, sensation of speed. Yes, much of my ride time is spent evaluating products, but I'm a three-dimensional entity, a multi-faceted human. I am forming the belief that World War 3 looms perilously close, and much will depend upon whether NATO countries employ a no-fly zone.  

Then of course, there are reports of troops going AWOL, supposedly to form a resistance. My feeling is that if Russian forces cannot take control of Ukraine, they will bomb it into submission, or indeed, out of existence. They will then advance into neighboring countries (Hungary and Poland are my guess), destroying their infrastructure. For the first time in 37 years, I feel nuclear war is a very tangible and frightening possibility.

  

I often reflect upon what my grandparents would make of this.  

Pragmatic people of principle, they believed and strove for a peaceful world, one free of destruction and divisions. One of hope and opportunity. My grandfather was a highly skilled welder who worked on the first Magnox nuclear reactors and when he realised the potential abuses of nuclear energy, refused to work on Dounreay. Story goes the firm respected his principles, and in return he agreed to train and mentor welding apprentices. 

Digressing again, I know. Back in the saddle, having formed my conclusions regarding the Alfine hub dynamo, I’ve spent the past few weeks racking up miles on my fixed gear winter/trainer. Sure-footed, yet with sufficient sparkle to induce a big grin, I’ve been enjoying the 700x38mm Vittoria Adventure Tech’s compliant and yet surprisingly quick qualities. Staying with Vittoria, I mourn the discontinuation of their Randonneur Trail VITTORIA RANDONNEUR TRAIL TYRES LONG TERM TEST (sevendaycyclist.com) which served me and Ursula handsomely for several seasons. Yes, there was an element of compromise, and at 900g apiece, quite portly. Crucially they were swift, solid and great for green lane and bridle path deviations. 

I’ve decided to switch the pedals, from the otherwise very likable Wellgo MO94B WELLGO MO94B SPD PEDALS | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) to these ISSi II Tripple.  

The latter’s cosmetics have aged less gracefully than a polished, or anodised finish would. However, they’ve done plenty of miles in the last six years. My reason for switching boils down to a hunch around cleats and misalignment, causing tenderness in my right knee. 

This is not an issue with Ursula, I’m using the same cleats and shoes on both, and I don’t turn tall gears with any regularity. Saddle alignment and height have also been checked, ruling that out. These HT Leopard 878 TESTED HT LEOPARD 878 CLIPLESS PEDALS (sevendaycyclist.com) were another good bet, but the cleats are different, so ruled out on the grounds of uniformity. As an aside, they’re also 70g heavier than the ISSI.  

Single-sided designs, though perfectly serviceable aren’t my first choice, especially on the fixed. Though a small thing, dual-sided models mean I can just click in and power away. Time ATAC are another favourite of mine- lots of mud-shedding prowess and knee-friendly float-Holdsworth and Teenage Dream sport these. However, though generally durable, Time’s brass cleats wear faster, being a softer metal and unlike SPDs, patterns aren’t plentiful, thus more expensive.  

While playing “lucky dip” in my transmission box, I also took the opportunity to switch the fork crown race over (having treated the school chair fork’s cantilever posts and small chips to some high build marine primer and black topcoat) Said rummaging also unearthed my Gerber Cool Tool. Well, not the original that my father gifted me for Christmas 1992, but a later version he bought for his drum braked, hub geared Pashley sit-up n’ beg roadster.  

Mine was “lifted” by someone, while I was living in London and had a red silicone pouch. Some thirty years on, some of the tooling is a little dated perhaps, but the adjustable cone/headset and track nut end is a seriously useful, ditto the chain tool. Combined with something like the Soma Woodie SOMA WOODIE MULTI TOOL | cycling-not-racing (sevendaycyclist.com) and save for spoke keys and tyre levers, you’ve most bases covered-even on a group ride, with an eclectic group of machines.