Mid Week film... Old Delhi Motorcycles

Following on from the `Chasing The Bullet ` Documentary posted a few weeks ago here is another cool film on YouTube about Enfield Bullets...  love the swearing! lol!



More soon

SSEC17...

Roadtrip;  Single Speed European Championships,  Evanton, 2017

Friday evening and work finished and heading North on the A9 bound for Inverness and the 2017 European Single speed championships with friend Mike in his van...

Unpacked we rode along to the Venue tent and caught up with old friends, met some new ones, and goofed around. Good to get a ride on Charlie Bikemongers Surly Big Fat Dummy Cargo bike!...

Saturday;
The day dawned a roaster!, and it would have been easy to sit and laze around in the growing heat but    after some food we peddled up to the venue and signed on and received our goodie bags of souvenirs and number and returning to the campsite prepped for the day with err some Cider!...

The start was to dump the bikes at a field then walk into town  piped in by the local  pipe band.
From there -after an ice cream, we all walked back to the football pitch where after a presentation by the local mayor there was a warm up dance session which was hilarious to watch as those in fancy dress got down and shook there booties...

lol...
SSEC17; The warm up!!! from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

Race Start...
The race was hard in the heat which was sweltering for us blue blooded Scots. The idea was we were going to try ride two laps while the fast folk rode 3 laps, we soon scrapped that idea in the midday heat as we struggled to ride some of the steep climbs and many were pushing. We descended to the Beer stop and hung out there until time to descend to the finish tent and party time...
Despite the crazy heat  it was great to ride some great descents like this...

SSEC17; 2nd Descent from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

Was real hot on the climbs, sweating buckets!..

Soon cooled down on the descents. With one gear we just rode off the brakes as much as possible to keep up the speed...

SSEC17; 3rd Descent from coastkid71 on Vimeo.


The fat bikes were ace on the descents and i was now wishing i had single speeded my Surly Wednesday as it would be even quicker!, again great descents...

SSEC17; 4th Descent from coastkid71 on Vimeo.


We were told the beer stop was coming up so time to turn up the speed a bit more as starting to get real thirsty!...

SSEC17; The race for Beer! from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

Our cheese and biscuits along with some Gin and Tonic went down a treat with the gang,  was some good banter as we waited for the racers to finish 3 laps before descending to the finish tent...

Charlie Bikemonger had brought his Surly Big Fat Dummy cargo bike that his friend Joal was riding about on. Despite the chain snapping the bike rode real good on the descents with its long stable wheel base, fun times!...

SSEC17; Charlie Bikemongers Surly Big Fat Dummy from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

Saturday evening;
Food in the Novar Arms Hotel and more booze before heading up to the venue and live music, highland games, drinking behaviour and bonfires before somehow finding our way home to the digs :)

Back at the Venue and it was a mad evening!, with live music, mini Highland Games, Beer, Cider, Whisky, crazy activities and bonfires, somehow we managed to ride back to camp!...

Now THAT`S a hip flask!  lol...

Sunday morning;
People slowly drifted off home through the day from what was a superb fun weekend.
Until next time...

SSEC goes to Holland next year, i`m hooked after my first SS event and plan to be there!...

lol...

Mmm err menu...

:D

Everything burnable was burned when i revisited the Venue to see about a back pack i left lol

Ha ha what a mad weekend!
And here is it from Friday evening when we arrived crammed into under 4 minutes!
Song is `Eighty Eight` by Working For A Nuclear Free City


SSEC17 from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

More soon...

Surly Wednesday Update; replacement gears for summer....

I really like my Surly Wednesday Fatbike, it`s ride and simple 1x gearing.
I was also able to build the bike to a budget. Before i re laced the wheels to the tubeless rims the bike was built for under £500 (Not including the frame set and Halo wheels).
I did splash a bit of cash on the Shimano 1 x 11 drive chain rather than opt for the cheaper Shimano 10 speed Zee  mech and shifter,  Sunrace do a 10 speed 11-40 cassette which is also an ideal cheaper cassette option for  keeping the spending down,  Note the Zee short cage can only mech can only go to a 40 tooth rear while the XT 11 speed then went to a 42tooth,

Anyhow the XT 11 speed drive chain for the extra cost has never really impressed, and i have never managed to get the gears to shift real smooth -though the gears are a nice spread for my type of riding on the coast. Chain angle is scary to look at and the narrowness of it prob explaining the short chain life.
Buy a chain checker tool and use it often!.

3 chains to the first cassette in the last year before the cassette have shown ware in not a lot of miles,
I decided  to renew the cassette now and chainring again seeing as the mech and jockey wheels and shifter are still ok. after these 3 chains are used i may change to the afore mentioned 10 speed Zee set up, that Genesis reminded me of how much smoother that drive chain is!,

Sram X5  £75  cranks;
Budget £75 Sram X5 cranks have been ideal on the bike once i threw away the short lived Bottom Bracket that`s bearings are rubbish. replaced with a rebuild able Hope  BB- pricey at £75 plus £8 for the GPX-Hope/Shimano converter cups,  i now have the option of a cheaper complete £15 Shimano BB or source bearings for the Hope BB.

The cranks strip easy enough loosening the lock ring with a 10mm allen key until it is flush with no thread exposed, then loosen the 8mm bolt inside that locks against the lock ring and it pulls the crank off...

Bearings are a bit rough but will run em as they are rather than open them up now and risk contaminating them...

Off with the 26t `stealth` inner chain ring and a new Race Face 30t narrow wide chain ring fitted...

And fitted a small 22tooth `stealth` bail out inner ring even though i only used the previous 26 tooth once last year on the Capital Trail on 2 climbs, but it`s always there just in case!...

Crank axle was cleaned up and re greased and back on with the cranks and tighten up

Job done...

Halo 170mm through axle rear hub;

I like how the Halo free hub comes away simply by splitting the through axe with two 17mm spanners and the pawls are set in the hub,  no seal to fit or pawls and springs falling off the free hub if as often is the case your free hub is slightly stuck on...

As this one was despite copper grease  on the cassette before fitting, a small lever helps remove it...

Slight wear damage but nothing to worry about...

Re greased and don't forget the washer! then slip back on the hub body and refit the hub spacer to secure it...

New cassette on...

And back on the bike...

The chain was de greased having soaked in paraffin then cut to same length as the old chain before fitting.  I then washed the chain on the bike with the chain cleaner to remove any remaining paraffin  using TFR power washer soap (Traffic Film Remover).
Once dry the next morning i put the first of 3 coats of Squirt Dry lube on, it needs built up on a new clean chain...

Bail out stealth granny ring chain clearance is only 5mm in 1st but will be ok, It will go up the side of a house now in 22-42t ratio!...

Ready to go ride and have fun again!...


More soon...