HOOKS - Interesting film on YouTube...

Sunday cycle on the coast, a sandstorm at Peffersands...

Funny how the weather can make even a 3 hour cycle turn into a micro adventure. Take Sunday and it was damp and overcast and real cold with an easterly gale blowing cold air out of the North Sea.
The ride to the coast was a workout into the gale, but least i had the tail wind home to look forward to!...

I had walking boots on with gators but soon added the lightweight Alpkit paclite trousers and along with under gloves (Ron Hill running gloves) i was toasty, even if the weather was not!,
The beach was near deserted the 2 hours i rode the rocks and dunes and doing some filming with the Go Pro Hero 4 session and mono pod...

Must have been a meter or so of sand moved here to reveal all these rocks and this WW2 Anti Invasion Glider pole that i have never seen here!, makes you wonder what else is buried on the coast and will maybe get revealed one day...

Sea foam...

Sandblasted as the wind ripped through the flat areas of beach i was glad i remember to fit ear plugs to keep the sand out!...

Driftwood blasted clean...

After some zig zag riding through the dunes i had enough film so continued along the coast below the dunes where the recent high tides have again ripped out the sand blown in over the past winter...

Seahorse?...

The roar of the tumbling surf was incredible and once again the power of nature leaves you in awe...

Back home and bike washed and sand empty out everything and a short film edited,

Song is `Je Suis le vent`  by Working For A Nuclear Free City


Sandstorm Cycle; Peffersands from coastkid71 on Vimeo.


More soon...

The weekend!, Sideways rain!, so a Saturday tinkering in the Man cave...

 Pugsley wheel rebuild!..

Been a busy last week with a Chainsaw training course that has also involved commuting the dreaded Edinburgh A702 City Bypass  every day to West Lothian - adding 3-4 hours to long but enjoyable days for the week being trained to safely maintain and operate a chainsaw in Ground based conditions.
Monday was a lovely dawn with sunrise over the Forth Bridges...

But that would be the last sunrise as the rest of the week has been sunshine/showers, and even some sleet/wet snow on Friday!,
Anyhows Saturday was as forecasted a horrid day of sideways rain and real cold so after a busy week and still some revision to do for Mondays Assessment on the weeks course i had a day at home, or rather out in the man cave and  swapped out the recently failed Hope Pro 2 hub shell on the new Orange Pugsley fat wheel...

The failed hub...

Now i thought the failed hub was the Mk2 Pro 2 hub marked as a EVO 2, but doe! i had not looked properly and the EVO 2 hub i have is on the 29+ KramPug wheel, so i was surprised this hub failed being one of the old bomb proof original Pro 2 hubs, and i wonder why it did?,
Anyhows i found online and purchased another old but ok condition looking at the pics Hope Pro 2 hub shell from a shop on eBay, it`s Gun Metal Blue that does not really  suit my bike but it`s a hub!...

Hub Swap!
Now here is the cool thing about my Ghetto Split tube tubeless set up,  deflated i removed the tyre and split tube complete and hardly losing any sealant...

Left sitting a few minutes to allow most of the sealant to run to the base of the tyre i peeled off the split tube and hanging the tyre up i poured the sealant to re use into a Stan's Sealant bottle using a funnel...

You can see here how the 3 layers of Vinyl floor underlay has went flat with the inflation of the tyre - which dispels the theory that using foam stretches tyres , it only fills the air space to allow the tyre to inflate, and will prove this when i refit the tyre after the wheel rebuild...

So wheel stripped and spokes have had their threads dipped in oil  and i am also going to re use the spoke nipples as this wheel was only built a year or so ago...

First though is to rebuild the new hub shell, easy when you have the Hope tools to put it together...

I have already blogged doing this job here nearly 7 years ago.  So again here is the film by Hope on how to rebuild the original Pro 2 rear hub, you will learn some good tips watching this...




Despite this hub splitting and failing i still think there a great hub...

So on with the rebuild, relaced and tensioned...

3 wraps of new foam on the rim and back on with the previous split tube and tyre...

Pump up towards 20 psi and around that the tyre pops on the rim,
No need for all that big air bang nonsense gadgets that you won`t  have with you on the trail, so if you can inflate easy with a track pump then you can with mini Co2 bottles or bike pump...

Inflated easily and the tyre bead popped on, then deflate and add some Stan`s sealant,
As usual i use a Joe`s Sealant bottle as easier...

Re inflate to 8 Psi, and job done...

The Orange Pug also needed a new chain after a check with the chain wear tool showed it needed replaced. So after degreasing in Paraffin a new Sram PC911 was fitted to the bike and the Pug is good to go on both wheel sets...

And the old Hope hub shell was added to the junk room...

Sunday rain or shine i will be out on the coast!,  more soon...

Cycle to The Bridge...

With a weeks Chainsaw course next week i wanted to rec. where i was heading, rather than try find it in the madness that is the Edinburgh rush hour commute so friend Craig offered to show where i was to head being a West Lothian resident and cycling around here as a teenager. I suggested taking the bikes in the car and going to get some pics of the Forth bridges. Brian living a half hour from here turned up for a catch up and meeting in Inverkiething we cycled over the road bridge with a plan to ride around to Crammond, but, foul un forecasted wet cold weather would see the days plan called off as we were not dressed for these conditions, daft when we all have suitable clothing but not with us this day!,  anyway here is some pics from the ride as the weather deteriorated...

The Rail Bridge, from the 1960`s Road bridge...

all loved up...

Now soaked and freezing down in South Queensferry...

There is Bridges, then there is `The Bridge`...

Steel, and Steel...

There was a splash behind me as i was taking the above pic and turning round i saw Brian jumping about in panic as his bike had toppled over and fell off the pier!!!,
Craig came to the rescue running to grab a life ring and throwing it lassoed the bike preventing it drifting out into the Forth!, a boatman came to the rescue with a hook and they pulled Brian`s bike out the drink!...

After some pics from the south side of the Bridge it was time to get back to the cars, soaked and now freezing i was real annoyed with myself for not packing my waterproofs, but no one had so the game was a Bogey and time to head for home thawing out in the car....

Home and thawed out...

I did not shoot much film that we could use after we reached South Queensferry with the rain but using pics made a wee film,
Song is `Under The Coke Sign` by Boards of Canada...

Cycle to The Forth Rail Bridge from coastkid71 on Vimeo.

More soon...

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...