Tuesday 31 January 2017

Sunday, return of the sun!, and an exploding rear hub!

 Wednesday and Pugsley go to the beach!

Funny what 12 hours can do to the weather!,
After the horrendous cold and wet weather of Saturday Sunday dawned frosty and clear!...


Keen mountain biker Louise got in touch and keen to try out a fatbike  we arranged a beachride from North Berwick, Louise rode the Surly Wednesday, and enjoyed the riding west towards Gullane. It was a lovely day for it with that magic winter light on the coast...


Climbing a sandy single track trail on a small dune there was a big bang from my Pugsley and the free hub slipped if under pressure.  i thought a hub bearing had collapsed, as it had side to side play and weirdly the rim had buckled. Unseen at the time once home i discovered the rear hub shell had cracked, ovaling the hub and causing the free hub to slip and spoke tension distort the wheel.

Being a Pugsley with reversible wheels i swapped the wheels and could continue though with the fixed cog and derailer still on i could not stop pedalling!..

Reversed wheels - get out of jail free card of the Pugsley!

we cut back through Archerfield and spoke to Gavin who had been up flying, before a visit to Steampunk cafe for nibbles....



Back home and here you can see the front wheel on the back with fixed Surly Dingle cog which gave me a choice of two gears!...


With the rear wheel needing another hub shell i returned the Orange Pug to 29+ KramPug mode with it`s 29 x 3" tyres and TIME pedals...


Here is the busted hub, a Hope EVO Pro 2, now having posted this on line already there is a pattern of this model of this hub breaking the hub shell, and this is my second evo hub shell to crack, not good. I need to post it back to Hope and see if i can get a replacement, either that or will maybe look at another make of hub...


More soon...

Sunday 29 January 2017

Saturday rain ride on the coast...


The sun cannot shine all the time!, and Saturday dawned not overcast as fore casted but raining, and it was a raw cold as i drove and picked up friend Craig to go for a beach ride,

Gear Up!;
Dressed for the weather i was warm and dry all day,
Alpkit Gravitas Jacket, Merino long sleeve base layer and DC top,


Hands were toasty inside BARR MITTS...


Merino boxers, Keela Cycling trousers, Alpkit Waterproofs,  Trekmates `Baffin` short gators over Anatom walking boots and Thick Bridgedale wool socks and i was all toasty!... 



We met St and Mac who were riding to Gullane so joined them for the banter,
all pics today by Craig...












The cold rain eased off by the time we passed Yellowcraig and we even seen a glow in the sky where the sun was trying to burn through to say hello!...



But by the time we returned to NB and left the warmth of Craig`s cafe the drizzle was back on and it was freezing!.  Wet snow fell on the higher ground of the local Garleton hills as i drove Craig home and it was good to get home myself before dark and into the warmth with my stove on!,

I never shot much film worth using, the lense blotted with rain most of the way to Gullane, but there is a little, add some pics by Craig and a short wee film edited up quickly,
Song is `The Tape` by Working For A Nuclear Free City...


Sat Rain ride on the coast; Jan 17 from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

More soon...

Wednesday 25 January 2017

Sunday 22 January 2017

T2 Trainspotting Official Trailer...

A cult Scottish film 20 years ago...
Choose life, glad i chose something else...
The long awaited sequel premier is launched today, and i plan to go see it this week,
No girlfriend for a date  to watch it :(
But there was no girlfriend when i went to see the original film! :)



Northumberland beachride...


All pics by friend Craig...

Saturday and time to go cycle!
Good to get out on the Surly Wednesday again, I drove down the A1 and over the Border to Berwick with friend Craig for a half day ride along the coast to Goswick on a cold but clear day. The sky was a mix of clear and fog on the road down but thankfully cleared as the day went on as we rode east from Spittal along the cliff top trail to Cocklawfoot and the start of the miles of sandy beach and dunes...




The old tractors at Goswick always make a good photo stop...

While Craig took photo`s  i did some filming with the Go Pro,  Pt 1 of 2 films from today`s ride,
Song is `The Tape` by Working For A Nuclear free City...



Boom!...


WW2 look out with machine gun Pill Box underneath...







After the ride out on the beach we returned through the dunes...





This huge WW2 Gun emplacement marks the end of the dunes...




 And a cracking pic by Craig,,,


Back to Berwick and the car. A cracking wee cycle...


Pt 2 film of the return ride through the dunes,
Song is`Transmissions from a lonely room` by Stone Temple Pilots...


More soon...

Thursday 19 January 2017

Surly Wednesday update; And a proper tubeless question nearly everyone ignores answering!...


Always plenty to do on winter evenings,  like getting the Surly Wednesday ready for this year...
Like fitting tubeless fatbike rims to the Wednesday this week, yeah tubeless the way to go many of your shouting now!, well aye and kinda aye!,
First off a question!

Why still use a split tube instead of pukka tubeless tape on proper tubeless rims?
Quite easy really, as i can replace broken spoke nipples, or indeed spokes,  as you can just deflate and roll the tyre and tube which will have over time bonded quite secure to the tyre and not spilling any sealant and get to the rim tape and move it to reveal easy access to the required spoke nipple...
This set up is also easily re inflated out on the trail with your bike pump or tool kit Co2 - no need for a compressor or Zeppelin towed beind to re inflate the tyre!.

Now this is a question i have asked on various Fatbike Forum threads and Facebook pages and it has always been ignored except by one person who agreed proper tubeless is a pain when comes to a busted spoke or i found more common a broken spoke nipple, they seem to usually break around the seat of the nipple in the rim, usually due to salt water erosion over time despite being brass and the spoke threads oiled prior to assembly. Or possibly too tight built wheels?, so far my own built wheels have only suffered this once and i easily replaced it once home, but that`s not to say a stick could take out a spoke on any wheel anywhere,   Imagine on a bike packing weekend or longer away on holiday and you wreck 2 spokes?, no problem as can fix it, i have spare spoke nipples and 2 spokes in my tools and frame bags.
Someone did say just cut a square out the tubeless rim tape, replace the broken item then patch the tape with gaffa tape,  another friend says gaffa tape etc will eventually detach with the sealant,
Who do you know carries a roll of tubeless tape with them?, a tube maybe?, i carry a tube in case i shred a huge hole in a tyre i cannot plug or stitch to keep air tight,

Anyway use what method you think works for you, i`m happy with my set up...

Time for some tubeless rims for Wednesday!....
I failed to inflate the Halo Tundra rims using my tried and tested layer(s) of underlay foam and a split inner tube - you can read about it Here..
I am not interested in any tubeless set up that cannot be aired up by a toolkit Co2 bottle or micro pump, so time to use other rims...

I have had a pair of DT Swiss BR710 rims sitting for a while so time to lace them onto the Wednesday`s Halo hubs..


Swapping rims on a complete wheel is quite easy, first cable tie the spokes at their cross over point...



Then loosening all the spokes i swapped one side onto the new rim, the top side first...


Then the lower side, all done and the cable ties were cut and the tension and truing of the wheel could begin...




Front wheel done...


Then the rear...


Red surly rim tape added, the white duct tape is just on to enhance the red colour...


24" Schwalbe SV10 Presta tubes were ordered, 4 pairs as needed some for my Mulefoot 27.5+ wheels with 3" tyres, had to go Presta as the DT Swiss rims are machined for Presta only,

This micro BA spanner fits the removable Presta valve core on the  Schwalbe  24" tubes


You can see here the lack of material to drill the valve hole out to my usually preferred Schrader valve size...


So usual tube inflated, stretch on, cut and split down the centre with scissors and folded over the rim...


Stan's sealant, approx 160ml applied using a Joe's Sealant bottle as easy with the supplied tube...


With both wheels set up i stuck a new chain in Paraffin to degrease it before drying off, cutting to length and fitting and re lubing with Squirt Dry lube,  ready for the beach!...


Schwalbe `Jumbo Jim` rear and Surly`Nate` front is a nice set up for this bike, secure front end and drift rear for out the saddle fun riding!...


27.5+  3" split tube tubeless set up...
Another evening and i set up the Mulefoot rims tubeless with split tubes on the Schwalbe `Nobby Nic` and `Rocket Ron` 3" tyres...







As with the Fat wheels one Co2 inflates the tyre easily and seated i pumped it up to 20 psi and leave them a few minutes before removing the valve core and adding sealant...







Then just the exposed split inner tube ends to trim. I always use a new blade per wheel, i have once slashed a tyre side wall from a blunt blade that caught then slipped!, an expensive mistake...


Take your time and rotate the wheel quarter turn at a time and you can get a near invisible tube...



Vola a perfect set up of trail wheels for the Wednesday, Pay day will see another cassette and disc rotors purchased...



More soon...