Recently, as I was riding home, I heard a bit of a twang from the environs of the rear wheel on G G G G Granville as I was riding home. This was soon followed by a regular fluctuation in resistance to my efforts towards forward momentum. I surmised a broken spoke and a glance at the rear wheel as it exhibited a slight ‘Pringle’ effect confirmed my suspicions. I had a spoke at home which I thought would suffice but it turned out the break was on the non drive side. The spoke I had was a drive side spoke so about 4mm too short!
Yesterday I fettled the new, correct length spoke onto G G G G Granville’s rear wheel. After refitting the wheel and doing a bit of truing, I discovered that the rim had split around a different spoke hole to the one I had been fettling- ‘doh!
Moral to this story is check the rim before fannying around with wheel related stuffs.
As a result I had to search the Dungeon Dimensions (the sheds and the garage) until I found a rear wheel that would accept the cassette from G G G G Granville’s dead wheel.
This turned out to be the rear salvaged from Knuckles when he was killet by the delivery van that reversed into me a couple of years ago (G G G G Granville was his replacement).
The dish on the Knuckles wheel is different to that on G G G G Granville’s so I had to do a bit of messing with brakes. It is also a slightly narrower profile (Knuckles was a Saracen road bike with 23mm tyres) so the 32mm Marathon+ took a bit of fitting (no profanity and my thumbs are fine!).
It got me to work this morning.
I love fettling!
Monday, 15 October 2012
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Winter is coming- dig out your lights!
This morning 'twas bright and chilly with mist hanging in the air over the meadows as I rode to work.
It was the first morning I arrived at work with a silver sheen on my gloves and the front of my knee warmers. I finished my ride with my glasses perched on the end of my nose as the lenses had covered in dew, there was dew dripping from the front of my helmet and, when I got undressed for my shower, the front of my thighs were Ferrari red.
Summer has gone.
This means that the nights are drawing in and, the last weekend of the month sees the clocks going back an hour. Accordingly, when I set my clock for 6:00 a.m. the first morning after, it will effectively be 5:00 a.m. and still dark outside when I hit the road. The time has come to dig out the 'see' lights and make sure they are charged up and serviceable.
I categorise lights two ways - 'see' lights and 'be seen' lights.
'See' lights are the hi powered retina frying 'Frikkin Lazers' that turn night into day and allow caution to the wind midnight descents of hills.
'Be seen' lights are the flashing LED units that I have switched on as the light fails, even in built up areas with street lighting.
A pair of 'be seen' lights stay on my commuter bike all year round (one front, one rear) as I never know when I am going to be late off and need to advertise my position. I also find that, in the summer with the routes I use, even after full dark, I can just about see where I am going to make a slow pootle home feasible.
As winter draws in however, the darkness seems to be deeper so 'see' lights are a must. Another factor to bear in mind as autumn and winter progress is the impact of cruddy weather on your visibility. As a result, I try to make sure that the single front and rear 'be seen' lights that I use in the summer are backed up by at least another front 'be seen' light.
For me, the second front 'be seen' light is an Exposure JoyStick on a helmet mount. I use the high level mount because, as far as I am concerned, this raises a flashing light out of the background noise of car lights and increases the likelihood of being seen. I also have a Knog Frog permanently fitted to my helmet as a stand by light in case either of my other front 'be seens' fails.
I love Knog stuff as it is well thought out and quirky in design. I saw recently here that they have upgraded their 'Blinder' lights with some quite powerful units. I would love to get my hands on some of these to give them a try.
So, don't forget, dig out your lights and make sure they are fit for purpose this winter.
It was the first morning I arrived at work with a silver sheen on my gloves and the front of my knee warmers. I finished my ride with my glasses perched on the end of my nose as the lenses had covered in dew, there was dew dripping from the front of my helmet and, when I got undressed for my shower, the front of my thighs were Ferrari red.
Summer has gone.
This means that the nights are drawing in and, the last weekend of the month sees the clocks going back an hour. Accordingly, when I set my clock for 6:00 a.m. the first morning after, it will effectively be 5:00 a.m. and still dark outside when I hit the road. The time has come to dig out the 'see' lights and make sure they are charged up and serviceable.
I categorise lights two ways - 'see' lights and 'be seen' lights.
'See' lights are the hi powered retina frying 'Frikkin Lazers' that turn night into day and allow caution to the wind midnight descents of hills.
'Be seen' lights are the flashing LED units that I have switched on as the light fails, even in built up areas with street lighting.
A pair of 'be seen' lights stay on my commuter bike all year round (one front, one rear) as I never know when I am going to be late off and need to advertise my position. I also find that, in the summer with the routes I use, even after full dark, I can just about see where I am going to make a slow pootle home feasible.
As winter draws in however, the darkness seems to be deeper so 'see' lights are a must. Another factor to bear in mind as autumn and winter progress is the impact of cruddy weather on your visibility. As a result, I try to make sure that the single front and rear 'be seen' lights that I use in the summer are backed up by at least another front 'be seen' light.
For me, the second front 'be seen' light is an Exposure JoyStick on a helmet mount. I use the high level mount because, as far as I am concerned, this raises a flashing light out of the background noise of car lights and increases the likelihood of being seen. I also have a Knog Frog permanently fitted to my helmet as a stand by light in case either of my other front 'be seens' fails.
I love Knog stuff as it is well thought out and quirky in design. I saw recently here that they have upgraded their 'Blinder' lights with some quite powerful units. I would love to get my hands on some of these to give them a try.
So, don't forget, dig out your lights and make sure they are fit for purpose this winter.
Monday, 1 October 2012
Ryder Cup
I am not golfer and don't really enjoy watching it but do sometimes get a bit engrossed in the Ryder Cup, probably because it is a team game.
The 2012 edition?
Wow! Just Wow!
Well done Europe.
The 2012 edition?
Wow! Just Wow!
Well done Europe.
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