Moonlander Update; ,The upgrades are finaly finished!, & Surlys new "Ice Cream Truck" fatbike...

No cycling last week and this weekend for myself. Dad has been ill and i have had a stinky cold so letting the cold clear up which is nearly gone and visiting dad at the Nursing home.
Been an upsetting week for all the family, just gotta keep busy and try not to worry too much.
And been busy with the wrenches this week, well not just myself but friend Colin popped round one evening and swapped the front hub on the big Moonlander to the bling gold Hope Fatsno 135mm hub i bought about a year ago. My Moonlander is the first model with the inline fork so the Fatsno front hub went straight on having the same measurements as the Surly hub the spokes were perfect lenght.

Every time Colin pops round and builds a wheel i learn something new about wheel building as i look on, make the coffee, eat the cake and observe...

As Colin says there is no black magic art to wheel building that some people like to make you think there is-but there are a lot of things someone with experience (over 30 years) will show you about wheels.
I have not had to touch a spoke yet on a wheel he has laced. his wheels don`t fall to bits.

And neither do Surly`s wheels wherever they are laced, prob out in Taiwan.
Perfect spoke lenght...

 Truing them up...

30+ year old Raleigh factory spoke key Colin was given at the Nottingham factory when he attended a wheel building course, wonder how many wheels he has built since with this key?...

Tension and then final fine tune...

And job done. After building wheels for racing bikes, touring, cyclocross, mountain bike, BMX, wheel chair racing wheels and offset Pugsley and 29+ wheels, Colin enjoyed another style of wheel to lace with the dual drilled inline Moonlander wheel...
Job done...

Out in the Man-Cave i have been sorting out stuff to put the Karate Monkey to a new use as my future winter commuter and Roughstuff bike. It will be a geared drop bar 29er ala the Salsa Fargo i had, but a bit more springy and comfortable for unladen cycling on and off road. More on that in the next blog...

Surly have just released details of a new steel 5" tyre/4" rim bike called the Ice Cream Truck (ICT)...

A big beastie of a bike!, with Surly Krampus style geometry with massive 5" Bud & Lou tyre clearance;

New bling from Surly

I just need a pay rise, then will be ordering one- looks like being ideal for bombing across the rocks here on the coast-something the much hyped plastic carbon fibre fatbikes i would never entertain for ...

Old Trek 830 MTB brought back to life...

I enjoy getting an old bike that has been laid up back on the road again.
Francis bought this old Trek steel frame MTB last week for £20!...

Bike is from around 1999 era...

Good old solid parts that lasted back then...

The overall condition under the mud and straw that covered this bike after a life spent on a farm is not bad at all!. Original parts and steel drive chain are solid and still serviceable. Even the chain has life left in it...

I degreased the chain, replaced the rear inner gear cable, lubed the outer cables with a cable oilier, juiced the tubes and patched them for the roadside thorns here, then gave the bike a good soaking in Neilson TFR (Traffic Film Remover) power washer soap that has a bit caustic in it, hosed the bike down, then sprayed it over with car shampoo. A quick rinse off, dry and lube the chain and Francis now has a good run about bike. Will be out to the pub tonight with it along with my Fixie :)

`Steel is real`... :)

Cruising on the coast with friends...

Saturday, started off cold and damp, ended still a bit cold but the sky started to clear. Hey it`s February!...

Down to Gullane with Mowgli to meet friends Craig, Brian, and Colin...

After the coast i shot some helmet cam with the Go Pro camera as we rode back up to Gullane on some of the sandy single track....

Song is `Node` by Phontaine...
click on the cog icon to view in HD

Was not too cold for ice cream after at Cools ices...

Sand Road Truckers...

February is always a cold month here on the coast in East Lothian.
The National TV news says it is the wettest winter ever and news shows severe flooding etc down in the south of England and Wales, and there has been a lot of coastal damage- something we seem to have missed here in SE Scotland.
Yes there is tidal erosion in recent weeks here in East Lothian but it is of sand dunes built up from wind driven sand that has been washed out and deposited elsewhere on our coast and not chunks of coastline disappearing into the sea as shown further south on the east coast. We have been really lucky here in East Lothian this winter so far...

We have been lucky in our county with the weather forecasts too. We have missed most of the heavy rain fore casted this month and there has until today only been a sprinkling of snow on the Lammermuirs.

But ask anyone who works outside on the east coast and they will tell you that damp cold weather feels a lot colder than any ice or snow does, In our Highland Mountains it is the cold damp that kills people with Hypothermia. This year the damp cold air has been really cold here on the coast at sea level.
Been a lot of cold Green keepers like myself who will vouch for this in the last few weeks.
I think this year it has been so cold with a damp feel in the air it really makes you appreciate the warmer days to come, and a warm house to sit in during an evening after a cold damp day outdoors...

I am saving for a wood burning stove with back boiler for my house, but until then will continue to enjoy sitting in front of my open fire-natures TV, i watch my friends who visit with their eyes glued to the whirling and flickering flames that are forever changing-no artificial flame can reproduce that warm atmosphere that a real fire has...

Cycling still goes on through winter for myself whatever the weather, you just have to adapt and ride the right bike for the conditions; from commuting on freebie bikes through the mud and road salt encrusted roads,  to cycling on the clean-mud free coastline on a fatbike-taken to work on the back of the car with the FatBOB Trailer in the boot, and then after work making the most of the increasing hours of daylight and enjoying a beach ride and collecting tidal wood washed up in our River Tyne Estuary at John Muir Park at Dunbar...

A walk through this lot left from the last River Tyne spate in the Estuary finds a lot of seasoned hard wood logs washed down into the bay. Too heavy to carry on foot but ok to transport with a Fatbike and Fat tyre trailer back to the car park...

Probably twice the 4130 cro moly BOB trailers weight limit i continue to be amazed at the strenght of this trailer and the old Pugsley to be able to cycle off of the coast pulling this weight!...

5 loads and 2 hours later were back home with a car load of hardwood Oak and Beach, and also some Scots Pine...

After another electric chainsaw massacre...

And split with `Old Faithful`, my dads Hickory shafted axe he gave me along with a small Kindling axe-both he bought over 45 years ago!...

Already seasoned this lot will be dry enough in a week to burn on the fire...

Free coastal heating...Fun to collect, exercise to spilt... enjoyment to sit in front of with a nice cider after a day working outside in the damp cold...