Saturday; Coast, Cake and Aeroplanes...

Saturday was East Fortune Airshow day. Friend Ritchie made the  2 hour drive from Newcastle for a day on our coast. Jason rode along to my house on his Pugsley and we took Ritchie with his Moonlander to Seacliff and its wee harbour - the smallest commercial harbour in the world...

Riding to the coast...

First picture of TWO Surly Moonlanders in Scotland -:) ...

Seacliff...

Seacliff beach - photo by Richie...

I have not ridden the Moonlander for a month and it has been sitting in the living room wooing me to take it out. In the right terrain the Moonlander shines and it is amazing on rocks with loads of grip from the bigger tyres. A Pugsley will ride over nearly everything a Moonlander will, but the moonie makes it that bit easier and you can do that bit extra with its increased float and grip...

Rock riding - 3 pics by Richie...

Short film riding rocks on the Moonlander, Go pro makes it look a lot flatter than it is...



Blasting through water on the moonie - pic by Richie...

I never took any pics as we rode to Tyninghame but had the Go Pro filming, from Tyninghame and the secret trail.

Mid tide in the Tyne Estuary, at St Baldreds Cradle...

After the secret trail it was along to Tyninghame Cafe for Tea/coffee and cake...

Fed and watered we headed up to Pencraig Hill, and just as we got there the Red Arrows arrived!...

Pic by Ritchie...

Amazing display...

The Red Arrows must have grabbed a chance to fly as the weather was not the best for July as heavy showers blew over the county, and the temps dropped when it rained, not the best July weather!...

From above Markle another good view point as the remainder of the show flew around East Fortune...

-:) ...

WW1 Ariel display - Ze Germans! ...

Glad to miss this downpour...

Warm again as the sun came out, quite a change in temperatures today. A typical days end to bizarre summer weather...


Pic by Ritchie... `Beam me up Scotty!` -:)...

Down to East Fortune and a deluge must have fallen on the show as the race track was near underwater, no sign of this wet summer ending yet...

With all this rain, lush vegetation encroaching on inland trails, and the mud, i am just glad i have fat bikes for riding on the coastal sandy trails and beaches...

Some film i shot while riding, rather than riding to shoot a film - if you know what i mean!
Click on 720p to view in HD

Song is  The XX Intro (MmMi XX Long Version )

Another new bike coming from Surly Pt2 - The Krampus 29+

From The Surly Blog...

More info and fun... -:)


So Surly have cleverly managed to build a regular 73mm BB 100mm front/135mm rear hub hardtail that takes a lightwieght `Rabbit Hole` 50mm rim and their new lightweight `Knard `3" tyre to make a 29+ trail bike, with a slacker head angle than their Karate Monkey it sounds like a fun bike to zoom along trails on, should provide loads of grip and comfort...

Another film posted this week...



This new bike has been flying around the fatbike web for a couple of weeks and blogged  already by a few folk, thought i would wait for some more pics and film to pop up before posting on a bike that has a thread on MTBR Fatbike Forum running into 17 pages to date!...

On line pics...

Fat Trail?

`Fat Trail` is a concept i have never really got and one which a forth coming UK fat bike seemingly is marketing - a faster steering 4" tyre fatbike for regular trails here in the UK.
Just my opinion but taking away the slacker head angle - designed for more control on snow is losing the best feature of all these bikes if riding them ridged on trails as you can get away with murder on roots and slippy trails with slacker steering as there is a lot less chance of the front end tucking in and sending you down. slippery roots are deft easier to ride, and while the fat 4" tyres here will give more grip, the semi fat 2.5" 29er is quicker and easier to maintain faster speeds nearly everywhere else.
Owning the Surly Pugsley and a 47mm wide rim 29er Surly Karate Monkey on 2.5" tyres i know it is horses for courses and the Monkey is a lot more fun  riding regular trails than the Pugsley if the speed is raised to out of the saddle riding, pumping corners and riding along with friends on regular bikes, though i wish the KM had the slacker head angle of the Pugsley.
The Krampus has this. With its lighter rims and tyres it is going to be faster and more fun ripping trails than a 4" tyre fatbike.

Note; Head angles can be slackened a degree with one of these British made headsets for £75 by Works Componants . I need one of these!.

Krampus for UK riding?...
So the Krampus looks a fun bike, build it up out a regular bike with a frame set, rim and tyre kit, or splash out on a complete build next year when they are available...

This bike is really what you want to buy here in the UK if you want a fat bike but do want/wish to ride on the beach, think of the soft peaty grassy trails that cross Edinburgh's Pentland Hills or The Border Cheviot hills and this bike at 30 lbs in weight should be ideal for less impact on soft trails and also fun on the descents with that slacker than regular 29er head angle.
But, there seems to be two issues that come to light for riding here in the UK, tyre clearance for mud, and low gearing for climbing.

Little tyre clearance for mud...

Not a problem on dry dusty trails or even trail centres maybe, but also another question which i asked on line and no one seems to have answered is can it take a 22t `granny ring` and front mech?, or is there not enough clearance?.

A bike with minimum tyre clearance and no front mech/22t capability is not much use for riding here in the UK, esp Scotland.  29ers need a lower 1st gear ratio than a regular 26" bike.

The gearing question may be answered by a comment on line that the bike can be run with the new Sram XX1
A 1 x 11 speed set up which in theory sounds a good idea, though i still do not think you can have a wide enough gear range for UK riding.

On a 29er you need a 36t rear 22t front 1st gear to winch up hills, and a 32 t front 11 rear to not spin out on descents and tail wind assisted road riding.

And have you seen the price of the Sram XX1? rules out a cheap bike build from a donor bike...

I hope i am wrong and low gearing can be fitted, As this looks a fun bike to ride and that slacker head angel is something i am always raving on about and wish the Karate Monkey had.
Until then i do not see any advantage in the outlay to this from my present Karate Monkey 29er which can take all gear options; 3 X 9, Singlespeed, Alfine IGH etc...

Rabbit Hole 50mm drilled rims

The 29er drilled lightweight (single wall) 50mm wide Rabbit Hole rims with there dual spoke lacing and weight would be a good rim on a Karate Monkey for sure, also with their offset possibility a 29er wheel set can be built for a Pugsley, that is another option for someone only wanting one bike with both wheel concepts...
They are way lighter than the 47mm twin wall Kris Holm rims presently fitted on my own 29er, but probably not as robust, hence i will keep what i have for now due to having 36 spoke hubs, and i am not getting any lighter and also the occasional hard riding in rock gardens and will probably just try a Knard tyre up front when they are available.
Put a pair of Rabbit Hole rims on your own Karate Monkey and enjoy the semi fat float with some 2.4 or 2.5 tyres, way better grip and comfort on trails.

I am content with my 3 Surly bikes at present and have no wish to sell at a loss what i have to upgrade. these bikes can do more than i ask of them and do whats written on the tin...

I am sure Surly will sell loads of these because now there seems to be so many folk who just have to get the latest bike to satisfy a craving...thats not a dig, i have bought enough bikes due to lust for now, the Moonlander was pure lust/want but i love it! -:)

I am selling most of my other old bikes i do not use much soon as just ordered a new frame set for a new bike build for doing daily riding to work/weekend Sustrans routes/easy trails and gravel roads, and East Coast Touring,  and have to admit to being more excited by what this bike when built will be capable of and rewarding to ride...

Critical Foundations...

If you live here on the east coast of Scotland you will live not far from concrete objects built during WW2.
You will find these objects all around the UK coastline as well as inland around the countryside.
They may be coastal defences like the thousands of concrete cubes that formed tank traps against a foreseen German invasion...

Aberlady Bay...

Tyninghame...

Machine Gun Pill boxes...

North Berwick...

Tyninghame...

Anti aircraft batteries...

Macmerry...

Aberlady Bay...

Chain Home radar bases...

Berwickshire...

Chain Home Radar Coldingham Moor Berwickshire in 1943...

Searchlight stations...

Yellowcraig...

If you know where to look, bunkers once used by Churchill's secret army - The Aux units...

Somewhere in Berwickshire...

But most obvious to most people are old airfields...
Here in East Lothian Were 4 Airfields;
RAF Drem; mostly a fighter station base.
RAF East Fortune; mostly Coastal Command and Air Fleet.
RAF Macmerry; Aircraft repair
RAF Lennoxlove; camouflaged airfield storage airfield.

Many are abandoned and returned to the former land owners and some buildings now used for agricultural use, many have fallen into disuse and dereliction...
The thin green grass strips growing bewteen the large concrete runway slabs and old windowless brick buildings, air raid shelters and defences are often all that is left of what was once front line stations that defended our skies and took the fight to Germany by brave young men in dark days...
I look on all this stuff as kind of memorials to those involved. Sadly not many are being preserved as this stuff is part of our heritage and should be kept safe and maintained and signed with information for the public young and old to see...

RAF East Fortune, now home to the Scottish National Museum of Flight...

RAF Drem 2012...

Former billets, now Fenton Barnes Retail Village...

Perimeter (Peri) track...

Night fighter training building...

One of 3 remaining hangers,  there was 6 during WW2...

Anti invasion defences pointing onto what was then grass runways...

Ammunition store...

Dispersal Pen with defences and air raid shelters...

RAF Drem East Lothian WW2...

Nazi occupied surrender of Norway at Drem, East Lothian 1945...

Pics above are from the former RAF Drem which i made a film of;
RAF Drem Now and Then...

There was only 52 RAF airfields as Great Britain entered the war in 1939.
After victory in the Battle of Britain by fighter stations based at these previous WW1 airfields it became priority to construct bomber airfields for the forth coming Allied bombing offensives on Nazi occupied Europe...

What is not commonly known is this project is still to date the biggest ever construction operation in Great Britain.
Starting in April 1941 special construction squadrons of  60,000 men and woman who were known as the Critical Foundations built the Airfields and infrastructure.
Thousands of tons of concrete was poured and bricks layed for the runways, perimeter tracks, buildings and defences. By the end of WW2 in 1945 684 Airfields were built and operational.
Fly into Edinburgh Airport today and you land on top of the former runways of RAF Turnhouse, home to the 603 (City of Edinburgh) Fighter Squadron during WW2.
These WW2 airfields can easily be seen today on Google Earth or an OS map with the familiar `A shape` layout which enabled planes to take off and land in any wind direction...

East Fortune Google Earth...

This great film i found on Vimeo captures some of the  construction work, there must have been millions of tons of concrete, bricks and reinforcing used in the project!

RAF East Fortune, beside where i live is featured...



These sites that were constructed would become known as  to be constructed by what became in 1943 the Ministry of Works who continued to construct the Cold War era of Bunkers and defences...