Catch up and cycle with a good friend...

 

Friend Mike stopped over a night on his way home from holiday up north and it was good to catch up again, was pre covid when we last saw each other so had plenty to catch up on... next morning we got in a cycle around JMCP...

Wee film, Song is `Aquarius` by Boards Of Canada

More soon...

A year of owning a Willys Jeep...

 

The Jeep has been parked up in the man cave for nearly 4 weeks since the roads have been salted for forecasted frosty conditions... well it is December! and we are now a week away from the shortest (daylight hours) day... but after a wet night of showers and no gritters the following morning and clear skies I got the Jeep fired to give it a run around town, after making a film to answer questions people ask me when I am out and about and ask online about the Jeep....

More soon...

1985 Muddy Fox Courier shop run bike...

 

A friend asked what my best bike is... I smiled and replied probably that one outside and pointed out the shop door...

Your expecting me to say my original Surly Pugsley Fatbike?... as I clearly have had a lot more fun on these Fatbikes than previous mountain bikes...

I would most deftinitly say a  steel Fatbike if you had asked me what my FAVOURITE  bike is, and it is probably one of the recent Surly`s I have owned in the last 13 years, maybe the original Pugsley, or the new Pugsley 2.0, or The Big Surly Moonlander? great memories of days exploring new ground on the coast at low tide on that ground breaking Fatbike... Or the Surly Krampus? - 29+ single track thrashing fun...or the Surly ECR for bike packing?... or the Surly Wednesday? -  which I still have which covers the last two Surly bikes mentioned nowadays...                                                                                               

All these bikes have cost a few quid to build,                                                                                             The most expensive bike I have ever bought was a new Devinci Downhill bike about 18 years ago at £2650...  then the Surly Moonlander at £2200...

But here is the cheapest to buy and run bike that I use more often than any other... I picked this up for £60 via eBay just after I moved to my previous house 11 years ago and still use it for errand duties...                a 1987 Muddy Fox Courier... it has been untouched and mostly all original spec despite over 35 years old and is cycled a few days a week to the shops and around town, and has only had £25 spent on it on new tyres in the last couple of years...

It arrived as an ex London Courier bike in 2010 via eBay with drop bars, shot tyres and brake shoes...

Remarkably it still had its original Suntour thumb shifters  mounted on the top of the drop bars!

But also it still had all the original Suntour Groupset including hub Ukai rim wheels and Dia Compe Canti brakes - not the rubbish later mountain bikes started coming supplied with but 90 degree to the Frame Canti lever brakes that were and still are powerful for cable brakes...

A bit patina but nice details...

It came with a period mid 80`s  Wonderlight, remember those?...

Some old Saracen Moosebars turned it into a commuter with mudguards and a rack added for panniers...

Muddy Fox must have sold  loads of these bikes in the mid 1980`s and I remember them everywhere in Edinburgh... they were a revelation for commuting with mountain bike  features, and they were built to last with parts that were strong - not skimped on alloy machining of the hubs and group set, gears and brakes were all strong... 

Most of them had those yellow and black wheel covers on the back wheel. I would end up picking up a pair of them a few years ago at Singlespeed Euro championships and should fit them...

It became a daily commuter bike for 6 years with mudguards added and I ground off the worn teeth on the big chainring to make it a chain guard and once the mountain bike tyres wore out some puncture resistant Schwalbe tyres and new chain were added... And it has remained like that untouched for the last 3 years...

Best bit is this... this bike resides outdoors and nothing original has ever seized...  A seat cover on the leather saddle and wet lube on the chain and it locks with a Dutch style horseshoe lock on the rear seat stay... ready to jump on to go to the shops or around town...  

Surface rustproofed with Lanoguard;                                                                                                         A recent spray all over with Lanoguard will no doubt keep the surface rust at bay and protect the Patina... 

This bike has cost near nothing... what bikes should be... cheap transport and  affordable to everyone and long lasting, strong and reliable, not stupid every changing bike standard hub sizes that change in width and axle diameter every other year, or a bike so valuable your scared to leave it unattended outside a shop even if locked etc...  these are all things I like about my original Surly Pugsley design concept, which works with bikes like this Muddy Fox from the early days of mountain bikes...

For commuting and cost per mile it is brilliant... but don't go off-roading on it as the geometry may well be great for taking panniers and loads  but the steering is razor quick and you will probably end up losing your front teeth! lol...   best use the Surly`s for that job!...

Shopping  for essentials...

More soon...

A rustproofed beach bike?, can it be done?, Saltwater Rust and Corrosion Prevention on Fatbike using Lanoguard...

The test bike; 2007 Surly Pugsley...

Can A Fatbike really be made rust and corrosion proof? 

This is something I have written about over the 12/13 years of owning and riding Fatbikes here on the Scottish east coast and the exposure of salt water and wet sand and what it can do to a bike if the bike is not prepped well first. I have experimented with various products from Linseed oil then special frame saver and products like ACF 30 for inside frames - none of which actually properly work and all wash out and eventually attract surface rust, and until recently after trial and error i eventually settled on the same preparation on new builds for the last few Fatbikes I have built which you can read the last update of  Here...

Some folk are instantly going to say just buy a Titanium bike as it will not rust, well a titanium frame set would indeed not rust... but it will cost you thousands of pounds esp a custom fatbike build... and the thing is the frame is not really the problem it's all the small parts that corrode and seize...  4130 Cro Moly Steel - which I usually refer to as BMX steel is as good as it gets for steel Fatbikes as its quite light for what costs and it's strong, and lasts... my 10+ year old original Surly Fatbikes are proof of that... and it can take knocks when you fall off it and eventually you will take a tumble or two cycling on wet greasy rocks exposed at low tide - so of course that for me rules out using a Carbon frame, with the costly repairs if damage is involved...   

Next folk will say to use an alloy Fatbike frame, well I could, except while folk think it does not rust it does not, but what it does do is corrode and fatigue with age and if you disagree then just look at anything made of aluminium left on the coast, you won`t see many things made of aluminium around a Scottish east coast harbour i can guarantee as it will disappear to powder in a few years...  A small dent on a steel frame is hardly noticeable but can also be quite unsightly on an alloy frame... 

so I started with and will continue to ride steel Fatbike frames for coastal cycling here on the east coast, but wanted to find an ideal treatment for a whole bikes components along with a frame treatment to protect it which also includes a chain coating - which needs to not attract sand, and different materials of components...

When I decided to paint this Pugsley completely covering as many surfaces as possible it was to try stop rust and corrosion on the usual suspect areas, one of the worst is the wheels esp the spoke nipples where stainless steel spokes meet brass spoke nipples which meet alloy rims which seems to create some sort of chemical reaction when exposed to salt water.  I`m not a chemist so cannot really explain what happens... coating the complete bike in several coats of red oxide primer and then Army green paint was a start, but paint will get worn through and chip so a further treatment would be ideal..

Until recently I thought doing the paint thick on everything was probably as good a set up as i could do, until having read and watched loads of online reviews of Lanoguard which is derived from the Marine Industry i thought this is worth looking into, and having prepped the underside of my Willys Jeep - you can read that Here...

Following on from posting up on the Orange Pugsley 2.0 beach bike getting a spruce up and treating the usual surface areas that always get a corroded finish due to salt water exposure cycling on the coast...

 I had posted about doing this online on the Facebook Lanoguard users group page and Lanoguard suggested I heat the Moto grease and apply a thin coat to the chain and it will provide a rust proofed non fling waterproof covering - after all their grease is used on crane wire cables in Ports and other industry and while I was sceptical about it attracting sand and just becoming a magnet for a big mess of grinding paste I thought what the hell as KMC X8 chains are usually only  £10-£15, so if it does not work I will just replace it...

The grease was going to take all day to melt on a small heater so I took it inside and sat it in a pan in the sink and filled it with roasting hot water,  by the time I made and drunk a coffee it was melted...

Using a small brush I paint the liquid coating the whole chain, then wiped it down after to remove excess...

The bike would not be out for a few days to see how it will turn out, then I thought about what I was going to try next and thought why wait?, and that was treat the frame around the usual rust spot areas and the whole wheels - minus the brake discs of course!,  when I painted the whole bike with oxide red primer before Olive drab green I had wondered if I could make this bike rust and corrosion free?,  it was already a test platform to try out the Microshift Acolyte 1 x 8 wide ration group set on (more on that soon once they have done a few more miles) and I`m also thinking using Lanoguard grease on all bearings needing repacked  and anywhere threaded needing grease to prevent seizing may if it all works could make this UK product the go to product for saltwater preparation...

So with the bike upside down I rolled up and then wrapped rags around the disc rotors to cover them, then shaking up the Lanoguard I poured a little into an empty bike cleaner spray applicator - now you may think any sprayer would do and it will, but using a regular sprayer like this one for bike cleaner or say a DIY Center sprayer etc will work but Lanoguards own hand sprayer which I do not have but now purchased having since read up on as it is better as it produces a finer spray so you don't waste as much of the Lanoguard liquid and so saves you money as it goes further...

It took just a few pumps to cover the bike which was then saturated, I then gave it all a wipe down to remove access where it is not needed as much, then left it to soak in overnight before removing the disc covers, I would then leave the bike a week before using to allow the Lanoguard to set to a wax like finish...

A Week later...

The bikes surface was now near dry to touch and not greasy or sticky as expected, so moment of truth... and I went for a cycle with G  and we headed out around the point at JMCP...

Wee film, Song is `Yesterday` by Latch Key Kid, 

Results...

Back home and i thought the drive chain would have become a grinding paste disaster with greasing it but no it was actually ok!, not any more sand attached than using my usual preferred Squirt Dry lube....

 I washed the bike down and the sand was easily hosed off and Lanoguard grease coating has remained...

And after drying it with an old towel the next evening there was no new surface rust to be seen on the chain which usually happens when putting away a wet bike...

Intrigued I sprayed the chain direct once fully dried a few days later with Lanoguard liquid to see how that works on the chain, which i will report on how that goes next once it's sat another week to allow the Lanoguard to firm to a wax like finish...

Going by the results so far I think I will definitely use Lanoguard inside frames in the future and have ordered their own hand sprayer bottle with their wand - a long pipe with 360 spray end for  spraying inside chassis box sections and should work inside bike frames aswell as outside on the underneath and chain stay and seat stay areas of frames in the future - though I only have one other fatbike to build... but if all goes well I will fully build that bike up preparing it with Lanoguard Moto Spray and Moto grease...

Update; Proofing inside a Steel frame with Lanoguard....

And last week the Lanoguard new hand sprayer and wand turned up...

The sprayer nozzle unscrews then you just add the wand...

The reason I bought their own hand sprayer was i myself discovered the bike cleaner hand sprayer I used to spray the green bike saturated the bike by having too big a spray nozzle aperture and basically it wasted some of the Lanoguard liquid by applying too much. I then watched a Lanoguard film explaining how they have experimented with spray nozzles and flow rates to find the optimum flow rate .4mm aperture nozzle to best apply a thin sufficient coat...

So time to try out the wand and I unpacked a brand new Surly Pugsley 2.0 frame set I bought and stashed in the loft after I found out these frames were not getting made again (hopefully Surly Bikes see the light and change their minds)...

Before I brought it in to unpack I did something I do to all Fatbike frames that are not already done and I drilled a 6mm hole under the bottom bracket, this supposedly voids the warranty but I cannot see anything going wrong with this frame to need bother about that, and it saves water collecting and trashing bottom brackets...

The newer Surly Frame sets are ED coated to help prevent internal rusting but Surly still recommend a frame saver product so I am going to use Lanoguard. 

Before treating the frame i added white graphics as I think they look so much better,

The build of this bike will be in another blog post of it's own so on with using the Lanoguard Wand and hand sprayer to treat inside this frame...

Here is  Pt 2 film prepping the frame with the wand and hand sprayer, the Lanoguard hand sprayer is superb and gives a nice fine spray with it's fine nozzle...

In a few weeks I will get this frame set built up and do a full film on the prep with the build of components 

More soon...