So, if i put my chunky rear wheel, with a london fixed cog on the 6 bolt disc side on my roshambo, itll run the fat front wheel and fork with good geometry...
Killing 2 birds with 1 stone? try fixed off road, and check out a lower bb frame with the fatty? the stays end up being 1/4" longer, the bb 1" lower, the head angle may be as much as 1/4" degree steeper...
I think its a goer...
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Plowing through sand.
Mid week, we realised the cat was, err, how to put this pleasantly, ... stinky.
Not sure why, but there was no hiding from the fact that she was going to need a wash.
If you think herding cats is difficult, you should try getting into a shower with one. Although she looked a little forlorn and bedraggled afterwards, there is no doubt she is smelling all the sweeter for it. Not sure if my chest will heal up any time soon, but a small price to pay for non-foul nuzzles.
Cross on sunday in the seaside town of irvine. Near the inventor centre...included were several steep grassy climbs, rideable and non rideable staircases and just for the belgian aficionados, a beach trail which was 400m or so long.
Not content with that, it hailed, sleeted, blew freezing arctic winds and was generally pretty inhospitable. Especially when the commissar decided he ought to read through the entire bcf rule book on the start line.
We skipped prior to the start and boogied some shapes, but we were all freezing when the whistle went.
Due to a fairly hefty, boozy day prior, marty and myself felt a little fragile. Still, we held our ends up pretty well i think. Anja won the ladies and chris stomped his humu all the way into a very respectable position. Im sure he was actually smiling as he overtook me.
The bikes were wrecked by the sand and wet. I dont know if i have ever wet-washed my roshambo, but there was no denying the fact it was needing it yesterday. The good news is, that once i used some penetrating oil on the sprocket and chain, and some isopropyl alcohol on the brake lever mechanisms, everything seems to spin and work as it should.
It was a mixed-bag way to say good bye to my 35th year, and enter my 36th. I was mediocre on the course, until i eventually got going in the last 10mins. Never did manage to haul back the rude bugger who nearly took out anja and me and several other people with his selfish riding. In saying that, moules frites later on was a perfect way to warm the cockles. Today, I was given some amazing, thoughtful gifts by family and friends, and an early night last night means i feel up for a run this morning to try and clear the cobwebs, before we go to see wilson tan support white denim later on.
Not sure why, but there was no hiding from the fact that she was going to need a wash.
If you think herding cats is difficult, you should try getting into a shower with one. Although she looked a little forlorn and bedraggled afterwards, there is no doubt she is smelling all the sweeter for it. Not sure if my chest will heal up any time soon, but a small price to pay for non-foul nuzzles.
Cross on sunday in the seaside town of irvine. Near the inventor centre...included were several steep grassy climbs, rideable and non rideable staircases and just for the belgian aficionados, a beach trail which was 400m or so long.
Not content with that, it hailed, sleeted, blew freezing arctic winds and was generally pretty inhospitable. Especially when the commissar decided he ought to read through the entire bcf rule book on the start line.
We skipped prior to the start and boogied some shapes, but we were all freezing when the whistle went.
Due to a fairly hefty, boozy day prior, marty and myself felt a little fragile. Still, we held our ends up pretty well i think. Anja won the ladies and chris stomped his humu all the way into a very respectable position. Im sure he was actually smiling as he overtook me.
The bikes were wrecked by the sand and wet. I dont know if i have ever wet-washed my roshambo, but there was no denying the fact it was needing it yesterday. The good news is, that once i used some penetrating oil on the sprocket and chain, and some isopropyl alcohol on the brake lever mechanisms, everything seems to spin and work as it should.
It was a mixed-bag way to say good bye to my 35th year, and enter my 36th. I was mediocre on the course, until i eventually got going in the last 10mins. Never did manage to haul back the rude bugger who nearly took out anja and me and several other people with his selfish riding. In saying that, moules frites later on was a perfect way to warm the cockles. Today, I was given some amazing, thoughtful gifts by family and friends, and an early night last night means i feel up for a run this morning to try and clear the cobwebs, before we go to see wilson tan support white denim later on.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Genderanalyzer
Yeah, yeah. Everyone is doing it...
Mine.."We think http://dRj0nswanderings.blogspot.com is written by a woman (84%)."
Uh huh.
Mine.."We think http://dRj0nswanderings.blogspot.com is written by a woman (84%)."
Uh huh.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Mo'vember.
Day whatever...lost track. Mo creeping towards being slightly more full...dunno, seems the other competitors are leaving the chase. I may win by default. Who knows?
Cross double header this week end. Pics on flickr, scottish cyclocross. Saturday had us ploughing a furrow in Cowdenbeath for the Stephen Lyle memorial cross. Windy, grassy, mud. Hard fought racing. VC-Moulin has some write ups, Anja took the ladies win, Andy charging hard in the men's, and i did ok, taking a scalp or two on the penultimate lap. Pleased with the underlying strength. Or maybe i can just plough better than most. Who knows?
Sunday had us in Glenrothes, wind low, dry fast fast fast course. A long straight and a brutal stairs/run up takes its toll, and the legs were leaden after yesterday. Even so, managed to get round. Anja won again, ahead of a hard charging elieen roe. A real battle royal. After peebles, i lie in 23rd overall. A little dissapointing, but i got my first call up in glenrothes and went balls-out for the hole shot, but ended in around 7th. 38:18 isnt great for sprinting on wet grass! Marty and i have some plans afoot for the series final, apart from the mo's.
Stay tuned...
Cross double header this week end. Pics on flickr, scottish cyclocross. Saturday had us ploughing a furrow in Cowdenbeath for the Stephen Lyle memorial cross. Windy, grassy, mud. Hard fought racing. VC-Moulin has some write ups, Anja took the ladies win, Andy charging hard in the men's, and i did ok, taking a scalp or two on the penultimate lap. Pleased with the underlying strength. Or maybe i can just plough better than most. Who knows?
Sunday had us in Glenrothes, wind low, dry fast fast fast course. A long straight and a brutal stairs/run up takes its toll, and the legs were leaden after yesterday. Even so, managed to get round. Anja won again, ahead of a hard charging elieen roe. A real battle royal. After peebles, i lie in 23rd overall. A little dissapointing, but i got my first call up in glenrothes and went balls-out for the hole shot, but ended in around 7th. 38:18 isnt great for sprinting on wet grass! Marty and i have some plans afoot for the series final, apart from the mo's.
Stay tuned...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
So its time to stop being weak.
Ive been languishing in a tired state for too long. I suspect that there is more than a little mental input into this. Sleeping a lot, tired all the time. Blah.
So Inspired by reading about gym jones in a recent edition of outside, i have decided to *up* the ante on the dynamic weight bearing training rather than resting.
Burn it loose.
Today: Kbells
1 min squat with 20kg
5 turkish get ups with 25kg each side
1 circuit of alternate dips with 2 16kg 10 reps, pressups and lifting on 2 16kg, and shoulder presses again with 2 16kg kbells, repeated.
weighted lunges with 2 16kg kbells, repeated 10 times each side, then repeated again.
a weighted squat with 20kg for 1min and 10 secs
Yeah.
So Inspired by reading about gym jones in a recent edition of outside, i have decided to *up* the ante on the dynamic weight bearing training rather than resting.
Burn it loose.
Today: Kbells
1 min squat with 20kg
5 turkish get ups with 25kg each side
1 circuit of alternate dips with 2 16kg 10 reps, pressups and lifting on 2 16kg, and shoulder presses again with 2 16kg kbells, repeated.
weighted lunges with 2 16kg kbells, repeated 10 times each side, then repeated again.
a weighted squat with 20kg for 1min and 10 secs
Yeah.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Evil ninja
Peebles cyclocross. Sunny initially, then wet, cold and windy. Happy bd Sam; well done anja; marty zabriskie; susans photos and peanut brittle.
All good.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Supra beasto
We went out for a local night ride on tuesday - daveoptionalchops, anja and the alpine massive. Dry weather, slippery under tyre. Rocking and rooting, diving and bombing. Rode the odd bike (from now on known as El supra beasto) in anger. 4" tyres are pretty amazing things. The deformation over uneven ground due to the low pressure (i ran 14 psi) allows an increase in traction that is difficult to explain. You can quite literally charge into things and let the pneumatic suspension and huge foot print massage your way through.
I like it. The bike is fugly. Tis true. But its all about working out what i like and what i dont. At the moment, my lean is towards at least 1.5" off the bb height, and a longer top tube/more relaxed seat angle. Couple this with a lower standover, taller head tube and perhaps an adjustable seatpost...and im on the right path.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Hope. I hope.
Everything that happens will be historical. But Obama winning this election is a sea change in more ways than one. Ideologically, yes. But it wont surprise me if the age of the voting public is younger for this US election than in any recent election.
I can only hope for the future.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Happy us.
It is our wedding anniversary today. I'm a lucky man to have trina as my wife. She is even tolerating this mouser mischief...
Amazing.
Amazing.
It lives...
So, the Frankenbike has finally been ridden. Noteworthy: within 2 minutes, i had managed to get 2 dog craps on th front wheel. Actually, one may have been cat (p-phone...?!).
Also noteworthy, it rides pretty normally. As in, the number crunching left me with a bike that deals with the 55mm offset/69er+ set up pretty well.
The bb needs to be about 1.5" to 2" lower i reckon....for proper moto feel, but that is for a different (custom) frame...so we'll see once ive ridden it for a bit.
Been under the weather for a few days. Spent all of sunday in bed. As in, i was up for 2 hrs in 24. Still shaky but less fever and headache going...will be taking it easy for a day or two yet.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Diamond geezers.
The black diamond heavies are playing Mono on the 30th of october. Supported by wilson tan - gotta be done.
Skewered.
Found an old USE safe T headlock thingy. It is 5mm threaded 0.8mm pitch, so it works perfectly as an alternative to the qr axle. All i needed to do was work out how to transfer the hardware from the dt rws to the new axle, and bob's your uncle.
Here is a photo essay.
The old man mountain supplied skewer is top (though this is the front one). Its not a great piece of kit. Vague closure, and not the most secure, as all external cams are in my opinion.
Below is the rws that will act as a donor for parts. It *is* a very secure skewer. But, it aint long enough to stretch all the way through the alloy rack carriers and the hub...
This is what you get when you ease an rws apart. The splined thread on section needs thread locked onto the axle, then the red bolt carries the spring that allows the lever to move as a ratchet. Simple, light and solid.
The threaded rod was donated by the old USE safe T head lock. All i needed to do was bind two nuts on it, and a 6mm allen key provided plenty of torque to remove the alloy top section. Next, i used a tap to clean the thread with wd 40 and then alcohohol. The rws head was threadlocked in place and the mechanism replaced. The axle was cut to size and...
Bob is your uncle.
Here is a photo essay.
The old man mountain supplied skewer is top (though this is the front one). Its not a great piece of kit. Vague closure, and not the most secure, as all external cams are in my opinion.
Below is the rws that will act as a donor for parts. It *is* a very secure skewer. But, it aint long enough to stretch all the way through the alloy rack carriers and the hub...
This is what you get when you ease an rws apart. The splined thread on section needs thread locked onto the axle, then the red bolt carries the spring that allows the lever to move as a ratchet. Simple, light and solid.
The threaded rod was donated by the old USE safe T head lock. All i needed to do was bind two nuts on it, and a 6mm allen key provided plenty of torque to remove the alloy top section. Next, i used a tap to clean the thread with wd 40 and then alcohohol. The rws head was threadlocked in place and the mechanism replaced. The axle was cut to size and...
Bob is your uncle.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
More wheels.
I love building wheels. Cliched i know, but it truly is a zen like practice, and it is nice to know that the very structure responsible for your enjoyment was made from component parts by your own hand.
The town bike needed a new front wheel. For some reason, all the tension went from the right side of the wheel over the space of a few days and the creaking and wobbles set in, prompting me to reach for the spoke boxes and loctite. The Xt front hub was retained, and dt double butted black comps, to alloy nips with a bonty mustang gave a really nice wheel. I am becoming a fan of slightly fatter rims for road riding. Seems to make the tire nice and stable, whilst minimising the chance of pinches.
Next i stripped down the rear dt singlespeed on the tIF. It has served well for 2 years, but the bearings had developed a small amount of play. Having had the dt tool kit for while, and spare bearings (bought needlessly after strathpeffer a year or so ago) i set to work. Easy peasy, though i did put the star ratchet retaining ring in the wrong way up initially(on account of rebuilding it upside down compared to the instructions). Easily sorted, and as new. Bonty duster with red alloy nips and dt comps in black. Swish.
Time spent fettling.
I wanted to ditch the square taper crank and bb from both the town bike and the roshambo. Square taper is just not as stiff, or long lasting *for me* compared to shimano HT II. With the help of dave at alpine bikes, i faced and fitted the bb and crank to the roshambo. I completely failed to fit the 105 triple, despite fiddling with several bb's and spacing configurations. Yet again, it went on with masses of space between the drive side crank and the frame, with the non drive side hitting.
The shimano mtb bb cups are less deep than the road ones, so i was using an xt and all the spacers on the other side. No joy, still hit.
BTW: If anyone knows why on some frames the cranks are off set to the drive side please let me know. We looked at some of the bikes in the shop and some are and some arent. Weird.
On returning home, i used a 5mm (red) 1" headset spacer and a rubber sheet trimmed to fit and seal it onto the axle. This is 2 mm thinner than the original plastic spacer on the crank. I then used the 105 bb and a 2.5mm spacer on the non drive side of the town bike (a dambala) and it all went together beautifully... nice.
The shimano mtb bb cups are less deep than the road ones, so i was using an xt and all the spacers on the other side. No joy, still hit.
BTW: If anyone knows why on some frames the cranks are off set to the drive side please let me know. We looked at some of the bikes in the shop and some are and some arent. Weird.
On returning home, i used a 5mm (red) 1" headset spacer and a rubber sheet trimmed to fit and seal it onto the axle. This is 2 mm thinner than the original plastic spacer on the crank. I then used the 105 bb and a 2.5mm spacer on the non drive side of the town bike (a dambala) and it all went together beautifully... nice.
Cross, baby!
So, 3 races into the tight scottish cyclocross season (see schedule on scottish cyclocross linky over to right, down there...). 3 very different races. Bannerman high, a course with everything - sand pit, tight corners, run ups and mud. Aviemore, a neato technical (for cross) course with 2 monster steep sealed climbs to slam the legs to 11 each lap. Then today, Auchentoshan. Wild, wet and windy. An unforgiving run up a 45 degree muddy slope from a small stream halfway through a quick but wet course.
Think i did ok today. Certainly had some vim and vigor in the legs, i kind of like cross when its really wet and windy. I like to suffer and hang on with grim determination despite the conditions. John and marty and jac all punctured out. Chris duncan and anja (who won the womans race) reprasented the vc moulin with Andy wardman who came within a whisker of winning the hard fought mens. Chris rocked the humu and suspect enjoyed the conditions (broadsliding with abandon) more than most.
All good clean fun. In a muddy, wet way..cross rocks.
Think i did ok today. Certainly had some vim and vigor in the legs, i kind of like cross when its really wet and windy. I like to suffer and hang on with grim determination despite the conditions. John and marty and jac all punctured out. Chris duncan and anja (who won the womans race) reprasented the vc moulin with Andy wardman who came within a whisker of winning the hard fought mens. Chris rocked the humu and suspect enjoyed the conditions (broadsliding with abandon) more than most.
All good clean fun. In a muddy, wet way..cross rocks.
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