Drop bar cycle on bone dry February trails...

Chris suggested a wee ride out to test his newly acquired Surly Disc Trucker, so i pumped up my Dawes Ultra Galaxy i converted to cable disc brakes and he popped along for a quick afternoon blast around a local loop i often cycle...

This was the last forecasted sunny day before a change in the weather forecasted for the weekend so it was good to make the most of it. Despite shod with road touring tyres Chris was hooning it on the bone dry trails,  i kept close behind with the 41mm Surly Knard tyres giving great grip being in their ideal riding conditions and was grinning like a dafty capturing some ace riding footage of touring bikes going flat out through woodland trails!..

Up to a favourite view point near Fenton tower, the hazy low sun was not ideal for distant views but did not matter, Chris was loving his new rig, i was puffing away trying to keep up!...

Past the tower...

Then flat out down the mowed field boundary - the best kept paths and boundaries are around this farm

Back through the estate and it was a stunning afternoon to be out cycling...

Snow drops, Daffodils, and Wild Garlic all out now in the woods..

Back at HQ and a coffee and blether about touring bikes - Chris has done a lot of touring around Europe and owns a lovely Thorn Cycles Raven, a bike that will need no introducing to touring cyclists...

The Victorians invented bicycle touring and bike packing with frame bags etc over a 100 years ago, Mountainbiking  as the term of off road cycling became known from several origins, the most known were the Klunkers of Marin County and the Tom Ritchie made frames.
But the oldest known off road cycling Club was invented in England and is still active today - The Rough Stuff Fellowship, they cycled road and touring bikes all over the countryside and mountains. Ropes and Hike a bike were the norm in the early days of Victorian cyclists and later the CTC.
Now we have `Gravel` and `Adventure` bikes,  originally invented by the Victorians, and being now marketed by many manufacturers in the Millennium as something new to do!...

Here is a film that will give you a giggle, Hooning it through the woods on 40mm tyres and drop bars :)
Song is `Niogax - 2014` by Boards of Canada



More soon...

Dawes Ultra Galaxy 853; Making more out of an ace bike, Pt 3 of 3...

Rear Disc Brake Conversion...

Time to add a rear disc to the Dawes Ultra Galaxy by way of fitting a a2z mount.
I fitted one of these years ago to an early Cannondale Super V, and although  different to this one now advertised, that original one worked fine with no issues so i was happy to splash out and buy another for £26-that`s a lot cheaper than a disc mounted frame!...

The instructions say it is only intended for Aluminium drop out frames with large flat drop outs.  I could see why when i fitted it and the mount caught the steel seat stay ends where they met the flat drop outs.
I marked them with red marker pen that you see in the pics then got grinding, as you do......

15 mins with the bench grinder and back and forward to re fit them on the bike to try and they soon fitted fine!...

Canny beat a bit garage tweaking!...

I tried the hub with disc rotor fitted (1st pic) and set up the calliper so it spun in line and would be ready to refit once the wheel was relaced to the disc hub.
I then stripped the rear wheel rim and took the new 185mm spokes, tool, and wheel jig etc inside...

With an early Sunday evenings bed after a mad weekend i woke early and was up at 5am as loads to do this week after work every day with planned  DIY on the house. I laced up the Dawes wheel and soon had the Shimano XT rear disc hub trued...

Job done and off to work on the Pashley and a lovely morning...

Busy day at work fencing and other stuff but here is a pic of the hens lol..

4pm home time and roasting hot as i got a heat on cranking home into a warm easterly headwind...

Home and out to the man cave and a final true of the wheel before refitting the tyre and adding the cassette and disc rotor and mounting up, all sweet and spinning nice...

Adding a rear cable after i stripped the Canti brakes and canti brake seat stay rear cable, i added the supplied BB7 Road cable adjuster on the front section and then ran a section of rear cable to the  calliper to get everything operational. A full outer rear brake cable would have been better for off road grit etc instead of the stock set up but this will do for now...

Job done and a quick spin around the block and all is fine. Seat bag removed as swings about and the small Top Peak mount won`t interfere  with the seat pack if i do use it, i need another better rear light and another Zefal rear guard as it`s useless with no rear guard as a commuter, but it is ready to go for the commute tomorrow!...

More soon...

Dawes Ultra Galaxy 853; making more out of an ace bike, Pt 2 of 3...

So.... time to get a disc brake on the front, and not having the correct spoke lenghts needed (that would be 285mm) i handed the front rim and Deore hub into local bike shop  Mikes Bikes who soon had the wheel laced up in a couple of days...

Searching on eBay turned up an unused still boxed Avid BB7 Road Disc brake calliper and disc at a `Buy it Now` price that saved £25 on a new off the shelf item so i hit the Buy button!...

After being miss sold a non Dawes Disc fork with incorrect for a Dawes Galaxy steerer length and axle to crown length and weight that says it is cheap steel and not a Reynolds steel i have now returned for a refund.
As i should have originally done i ordered a Surly `Disc Trucker` fork that has the same axle to crown length as the Ultra Galaxy and which arrived in under 48 hours from SJS (St Johns Cycles)

Stripping the short Canti brake cable from the bars before removing the stock fork...

I then measured the stock Dawes steerer tube length to then cut the Surly fork steerer to same length...

And used my steerer cutter tube-home made by a friend!...

Steerer tube cut and smoothed with some M40 paper then i inserted and knocked in the star nut...

Lower headset race needed seating which a hand sliding tool made easy work of...

Surly fork on, and due to no spare steerer tube spacers i left the allen key locking Canti brake mount on as it also works as a lock to keep the headset secure...

Before fitting i stripped the Avid BB7 calliper and Copper Greased the adjuster and back of the break pads before refitting....

Back on and trued up and ready to go...

I had to fit a longer new front cable which required a bit fettling to route ...

How i do it is remove the pivotal plastic item that holds the cable and thread the cable through it and gently pull and if needed use a small flat bladed screwdriver to get it into place, grease on it holds the plastic end caps in place and it onto the brake cable nipple...

It`s a wee faff but this way is a bit easier!...

Using a Road Avid BB7 road brake calliper you have to fit the supplied cable adjuster...

Ready to roll...
With blue skies today and a mid afternoon high tide not ideal for beach riding on my Fatbike i took the Dawes for a short local loop of around 10 miles on local gravel roads...

Some new signs for the recent;y resurfaced tracks through Binning Woods...

Big sky! as i headed around Tyninghame and on to Seacliff...

Combines will be out in a couple of weeks to harvest the Barley that is nearly ready!...

Across some of Becky`s Strip byway before home via some of the John Muir Way...

Loads of stuff like this for riding a bike set up like this around here...

Part 3 of 3 will be finishing the project with fitting a rear disc brake once i source all the parts needed...
More soon...