Larry Vs Harry

Add this to list of wants? If only i had some cargo to move no more than a few miles....

http://www.larryvsharry.com/english/

Noo Shoos!

Pedal came off again, in the same way, in the same situation
apparently, (from a bit of careful inspection, observation and deduction), the inner race of the pedal, is a bushing, which is knackered. which is great, until you cant get spares (ghey).
on short sharp climbs, ones you dont change down for, just stand up and crank, the force is sufficient to make the pedal body touch the axel, lock together and unwind the pedal in about 5 revolutions.
whoops!

therefore, its time for some new pedals, while the xpedos are great, and super light, if they cant be serviced, they may as well be made of very heavy cheese.
that, and every time this happens, it risks ruining the crank arm good and proper!

Enter stage left Shimano: 520 weapons grade pedals;

a bit porky, in comparison, but one of the reasons is due to the whole axel assembly being one cartridge, and for the sake of a tenner, cant be undone and replaced as and when. that, and they last (in my experience of the older ones) for YEARS before it needs doing.

Coool, everyone loves new parts. time to change the cleats over on the shoesies...

nope, they arent coming out. not without a drill and a tenner on a new set of inner plates.
for a pair of shoes that cost 30 quid 4 years ago and have been ridden into the ground?
while they still work, i think its not unacceptable to think

"new cleats + new pedals = new shoes"

Ooo, Speccy BG expert shoes are reduced on evans, from 100BT to a mear 69BT (beer tokens)

nice stiff carbon sole?

seems rude not to really!



Nooo Shoooes!

Black Magic, or Alchemy, not quite sure.

Winding my way up a gnarly steep badass(ish) climb this weekend, i had the pedal on my left foot, snap off and drop away,

"Cock", thinks I, as i sit on the needle strewn floor and snap the cleat free from my foot. "thats gonna put a damper on the weekends excitement"

however, the thread on the pedal, and the thread on the crank arm, were both in pristine condition.
the pedal screwed right in, no fuss, no complaining, no cross threading, like new.
the bearings on the pedal itself are smooth as you like, nearly buttery.
pedals are designed to tighten themselves as you pedal, i would certainly have noticed if my pedal was a cm over to the left when i went to clip in (and got the bike out the car, and had the cranks off the night before etc etc).
the climb itself was quuiiite long and steep, and this was at the top, so no backpedalling has been done in a long while

the queery i put to you.....

WTF?? (what the "frick")

The Devils in the Detail

Crafty so an so's, adept at bodging stuff, on and off trail, will probably be able to tell you that, in the event of a missing rotor bolt (or 5 in jacks case on one occasion) being discovered, a bottle cage bolt will fit the thread, and get you home. however, Ive gone one better

The threads are indeedthe same size, but the whole point of using T25s are rotor bolts, is the low profile head allowing good clearance of the rotor. Due to this, a bottle cage bolt will not always fit the bill, it can sometimes foul the caliper (suprisingly messy if you fit it and dont check the wheel spins first)

but substituting (lets face it defunct ;-p ) bottle cage bolts, for a couple of T25s in advance, you can achieve more than one advantage:

• The holes in the frame are still covered/sealed from dirt
• The T25s give a much cleaner line (in my opinion) and thats always a good thing (thats what I was going for initially, giant OE braze-on bolts are rather lumpy)
  
• The bolts will now fit any rotor, foul free, be it on your bike or some other unfortunate souls. Wahoo!
• rotor bolts are generaly threadlocked as standard, so wont rattle loose

• ...and i suppose they are marginally lighter, but meh

go rummage in your spares box!

in other news, the 456 hub gave up the ghost, died and it turns out the carts cant be taken out without a 300 quid blind bearing puller (BOOO HISS on-one!) one saving grace is that the flange dimensions match the ProII perfectly, so (although im sure a "proper wheel builder" will chastise me) I could use the old rim and spokes. I also found a rather fitting welsh dragon in a mona lisa in aber, which now resides on the monster headtube, and if i say so myself, looks awesome. A little nod to Nant yr Arian and cronies.

Holiday

Popped over to Yankland for the filming of the next Roam, in the rainforest, so we did
Originally uploaded by olly rob.

Its been a while, again. Slacking.
We've been on holiday to sunny old North Wales for a week of bikey goodness. (FYI)
What fun we had :-D

Arty

Arty
Originally uploaded by olly rob.

rather bored, so heres an arty snappet of mon velo
i am running lights down, to try and recover the battery a bit,(though it mat be reet buggered to be honest, which is a shame as ive only used them twice) which is why there is a funny looking puddle of light there!
Also NB, skinny, undirtied 2.1 rubbers in place of the 2.3 gravs.
hopfully a bit faster and better gripping and clearing.

Alice - the Return of the Queen

Thanks to a bit of Jiggery pokery with some components, and the temporary butchering of the jump bike for a drivechain (minus cranks), getting some miles in after work, without the pain in the arse of maintenance is back on the cards.

Cant wait for a bit of suburban exploration :)

considering a half-link for push up tensioning, but only to clean up the chainline.....

More pictures on flickr

Of Llamas and bikes

Derby mountain biking has a new home

http://www.llamabikes.co.nr

Confusion

I did have plans for the mech and cassette that were in the collection of bits off the Jump bike, but I cant find them for the life of me, so that's going out the window, hrmph

I can't help feeling that I need to Cull a bike before I can justify the next one. Perhaps I just need to cull the supply of useless spares (4 half worn chainrings for example)Or perhaps a fleabay/STW classifieds spree

SSing the XtC is a brilliant idea, its going to be so perfect for the job of low maintenance super reliable Eastmids-mobile. I've a couple of bargains in the bag (Ideal rear wheel for pocket money) but getting it there is bugging me. It wont cost much, rather lots of little expenditures. a tensioner here, a Chain ring there, all adds up pretty quickly (perhaps STW and Fleabay could come to the rescue here too?

I can almost smell the occasion where I'm happy with 2 bikes, though I know its miles away in reality, with imaginative designs on an Alpine built reign-X holiday bike and a track-bike commuter ever circling like vultures. So close, yet so far.

134

134
Originally uploaded by olly rob.

Things have happened and moved on in the past fortnight, but i thinks it would be rude not to mention the Dyfi, even if belated.
We came to wales, we saw the Rockband and cheerleaders and we conquered the flapjack.
A weekend well done all round mefinks

On a side note, some new XT brakes are on order. I'm not convinced i can afford them (i can but i hate to see the money go)
My hayes are dying a death, and nearly killed me last night on a Blackrock ,North Derbyshire.
Dont worry, they arnt going in the bin or anything daft, they need an overhaul, and then they will be going towards the XtC SS Pot :-)
Also, Hope XC on 717 for 40 quid as aposed to the 70quid on fleabay or 120ish new, bargin mefinks, even if it did require some "percussive maintenence" to the bearings
Wheels, Brakes, Fork, Frame and SS kit lined up. now just a few finishing touches (cranks and bars and saddle and other vaguely vital stuff)

Olly Out