Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

And slowly we are getting there.





Bearings for the headset are coming today and the brakes tomorrow.

 

Brakes got.

 

Blimey. Ordered. If there are any left next week I shall order another lol.



This may seem insane and I agree, it sort of is. However, the more of the original bike I keep intact the better, as a friend of mine is getting it.

 

RIP yet another chain tool (and my expensive chain ) and a rear brake cable inner that caught and went all cacky.



Many things done.

 

16.6lb with everything but the chain done.

 

Now that is one sweet ride.

 

Thanks Hans.

I managed to break another chain tool the other day and it mangled my expensive chain I immediately ordered a cheap replacement, but once I had calmed down yesterday and took a look at it it seems I was doomed from the off. The links are hollow, and once you push them out you are never, EVER getting them back in again. When I inspected the chain where I initially put it together I discovered the pin had not gone into the far side plate of the link. I am amazed it didn't snap when I rode it.

Any way, thinking I would have to swallow a £50 loss I then realised that there was one of these in the box.



I have never used one before. I also do not have the tool needed to fit them.. Any way, with a lot of pulling and hand wrecking I managed to fit one. And then it dawned on me if I have two more I can literally fix the chain. So I ordered those and they are coming today.



I then ordered the tool, as I think it was a miracle (as my hands will attest) that I even got one installed without the tool you need.



That should arrive tomorrow. The jockey wheel I bought unknowingly from China has not arrived, so I ordered another one from Amazon. Again coming today.



Aside from the rear inner brake cable which I ruined (it frayed, numerous attempts to save it failed) that should be all of it. I have ordered another inner (that is why the inner is just dangling there holding the outers together for now) and again that should arrive today or tomorrow.

 

No tool needed, to fit a split link put the bits into the chain then each other, rotate the chain to the top section between the chainring and cassette, then just hit the pedal. To take it apart you can use a pair of pliers across the diagonal of the link, a gear cable threaded round the closest rollers or a chain ring.

 

Problem is I was adding to it because it wasn’t long enough. And I need to add another one again to where I joined it last year. Until then I can’t just pedal stomp it and do need the tool.

Try and imagine two rags and a lot of strain and then wrecked hands lol. That was how I did the one I had. You also need to pull it perfectly straight which the human body doesn’t want to do

 

Nevermind... beaten to it.

 

STEALTH(tm)

CBA finding the superscript option or using Word to paste, but that is a neat build . Out of interest - why the aero wheel on a tricksy bike? We use these for speed on the front (supposedly, but I'm not at the level where my IM results are going to be improved by a 3 minute improvement on my bike because of a wheel, even though I did spend a small ransom on some Reynolds aeroplane efforts).

Have you never used a missing link though? They're a staple in our tool box because we're so incompetent!

 

I'm a BMX guy dude. So I am usually fighting with an adversary more akin to a motorbike chain lol.

When I bought the orange bike I was unsure. Like I said, BMX guy. However, I wanted something I could actually take some distance without feeling like death. I refuse to sit on a 20" because you look like a helmet so I always ride standing. And at 50? it takes it out of you, and you don't get far.

Problem is the orange bike arrived with a damaged wheel. Again I was unsure it could hold up to me because at the time I was 18 stone. So I bought some alloy mags that I knew could hold up. I then found a new "me" inside myself and actually rode it responsibly and not dangerously. And I became hooked.

I believe the rear wheel just stands for the whole idea of the bike. "Champagne taste, lemonade money". It was £60 and tatty, and missing parts. I bought an old Ultegra hub for a tenner (NOS), rebuilt it and then cleared it with matt (I hate shiny carbon it should be illegal). It misted a bit, but the wheel is pin straight and very sound, so yeah that became the rear. I now understand why he wanted, and got, £300 for the front one.

All of it was cheap. Like the ISIS SLK carbon cranks (forged, I have a hollow set of ultralights as well) were £40. Again, just tatty, so those were refurbed in matt also. The £400 Ti BB? £25. Had a few hurdles on that (missing bolts M14x1 that no longer exist, and it being Italian) but it now stands me in £37. I reckon that was what caused the biggest weight drop tbh. I know the Ti frame is lighter than the alu one, but not by a pound. The old ISIS BB was heavy AF.

So yeah, it has all just been bought cut price over the years. As I said when I bought it, I thought £525 was a whoooole lot of money for that frame but it really just isn't. They were £1799 when they launched.

The singlemost expensive part on the bike aside from the brake calipers? (they were £160) was the carbon Box BMX race bars. They were £120.

Edit. One part that may not make sense... I bought the orange bike for £300 NOS from 2008 in 2017. It was £300 from Germany, RRP was £999. So I wasn't that bothered and returning it would have been a nightmare that would have cost me most of what I paid for it.

 

I deffo need to sort the clear coat on that rear wheel.



Maybe not paint it in 30' weather next time.





I could maybe get another half a tooth engaged on the rear sprocket but I don't want to overdo the tension as I have seen a guy break one. The angle he had it at I am not surprised. Needs a shakedown run but it is blowing a gale atm.

 

New toy...

WhatsApp Image 2024-04-05 At 16.48.57_9bb25e6e by andrew8200m posted 5 Apr 2024 at 21:43

WhatsApp Image 2024-04-05 At 16.48.57_2e3d0779 by andrew8200m posted 5 Apr 2024 at 21:43

WhatsApp Image 2024-04-05 At 16.48.56_5c1f1e09 by andrew8200m posted 5 Apr 2024 at 21:43

 

Is that thing as long as it looks?

And the obligatory “that’s what she said!”

 

Probably 1300mm wheelbase is now pretty normal in mountainbikes. It only took 35years of MTB for the big players to figure out that a long stable bike is better on a steep uneven ground.

 

The bike is massive!

it’s a 29er front 27.5 rear “mullet”.
Plenty of travel, insane 4 pot 203mm front and rear rotors, 12 speed cassette with 32t single at crank. Handle bars are a bit wide at 820mm though.

the gap between the wheels is represented correctly, the geo on this thing is wild. Absolutely love it, from the very basic riding I’ve done today it feels every bit as lovely and stupid as you would expect it to be.

I used to ride Kona Stinkys with bomber rims, Zokes DH pros, 20mm bolted thru axles, bash guards in all sorts of stupid colours with Maguras that blew seals ever 5 minutes. Things have come along way from “stupid”. Now to not kill myself on it.

 

I realise now how little I actually know about some things I thought I knew more of.

You have different size wheels??

 

Same principle as a dirt bike or motor cross bike.
Bigger wheel up front to help roll over everything in front of you and a smaller wheel at the back for better traction and to keep it nimble. Just like a dirt bike it works really well

 

Outdoor photograph: ah yes a bicycle

Kitchen photograph: a friggin' massive bicycle