tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13183156065204980152024-03-16T18:52:53.115+00:00The Smut PedallerSmut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.comBlogger207125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-70804475222111790052019-10-12T01:41:00.001+01:002019-10-12T01:42:20.816+01:00The Gower PeninsulaI've always been attracted to the freedom and sense of adventure given by cycling, being able to explore new places. Naturally this has led me to become interested in bikepacking, riding out somewhere for several days at a time completely self sufficient.<br />
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For our first attempt we decided to do an overnight trip around the Gower peninsula which is just outside of Swansea, a large city in Wales. To prepare for this trip we would have to buy all our camping gear and setup, it would also be a good opportunity to test run everything for longer trips in the future. The route we took is more or less the <a href="https://bikepacking.com/routes/gower-bikepacking-loop/">Gower Peninsula Route</a> posted on <a href="http://www.bikepacking.com/">www.bikepacking.com</a><br />
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<h4>
The Route</h4>
<iframe scrolling="no" src="https://ridewithgps.com/embeds?type=route&id=28134150&metricUnits=true&sampleGraph=true" style="border: none; height: 700px; min-width: 100%; width: 1px;"></iframe><br />
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The route itself starts off in Swansea in the south of Wales, just to the west of the city centre is a peninsula which juts out into the Bristol Channel and eventually leads to the north Atlantic. The plan was to ride to the western edge of the peninsula where there is a beach, camp overnight and ride back to Swansea the next day.<br />
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<h4>
Day 1</h4>
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The first day involved getting the train out from London Paddington on the GWR service to Swansea. The new trains they have are really quite nice, although the bike accommodation is quite poor, only a cabinet the size of a shower cubicle is available with only 4 bookable bike spaces per train. These spaces require you to lift up your bike to hook the front wheel in a very confined space, which would be quite difficult if you aren’t that strong and/or your bike is heavily loaded like ours were.<br />
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The first part of the ride out of central Swansea involves going right past the beach to the south of the city heading out where you can see the peninsula beyond.</div>
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We rode up a hill and along till we got to three cliffs beach. The route that we followed takes you through some sand dunes, take my advice, if you ever do this route please avoid! This was an absolute pain in the neck to do and we lost about an hour dragging our bikes through sand to only move about 2km.</div>
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Eventually we got to Rhossili soon after, there’s a stunning view from the pub overlooking down the 5km long spine of the beach, just as the sun set. This was a first for the both of us doing the whole camping and bikepacking thing together, we came prepared with our new camping kit.<br />
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Once we got to the site we pitched our tent in the dark, somewhat slightly misshapenly in hindsight but nonetheless upright and useable. It was a new and strange feeling, a feeling of remoteness, being so used to an urban environment where water, phone reception, food and shelter are a given. Where we got to we had to haul our own shelter and food, it felt strangely liberating in a sense when you realised that most urbanites live a quite sheltered life.<br />
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<h4>
Day 2 </h4>
This was the first time I’d slept in a tent in a very long time, and before that it was only a few times. I normally don’t sleep well in unfamiliar situations so this time was no exception. In the morning the temperature dropped to about 5<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light; font-size: 6px; vertical-align: super;"> 0</span>C, I had my jumper on and was still quite cold, the sleeping bag I brought along was one I had since I was a school boy which was only really rated to about 8-9<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light; font-size: 6px; vertical-align: super;"> 0</span>C. To compound this I had stored it in a compressed for a long time thus it didn’t insulate all too well... Let’s say I learnt the hard way about sleeping bags. My wife was also quite cold too, her sleeping bag was only rated for about 10<span style="font-family: HelveticaNeue-Light; font-size: 6px; vertical-align: super;"> 0</span>C.<br />
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We set off after a hearty breakfast at the campsite surf club. Not so remote after all... The aim for today was to get back to Swansea in time for our train back to London.<br />
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We hit a few grassy hills, which gave some great views off into the distance</div>
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We managed to cross over a 500 year old medieval bridge along the way<br />
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And found our way back onto the roads<br />
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Then back to the beach where we started. This part of the ride went by a lot quicker as we mostly went on road. You can see the bike setup in the picture below, I had an Ortlieb handlebar bag on the front carrying mostly clothes, cooking stuff, mattress. I had a rack lying around which I strapped the tent and sleeping bag on. This setup actually worked ok, considering I had only done it at the last minute, nothing really fell off and I was able to strap down my jacket on the back when it got warm.<br />
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We got back to Swansea earlier than we expected and rode along the hard packed sand back towards the town centre. This was our first bikepacking trip and nothing went horribly wrong apart from being cold. Nonetheless this was quite a memorable experience and we learnt a lot about the whole camping and bikepacking thing. The Gower peninsula has a feeling of remoteness once you get to Rhossili beach, despite it not being all that far from Swansea. We really enjoyed this trip and found that it was a great start to our foray into bikepacking, especially that you could easily fit this in as a weekend trip.<br />
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Thanks for reading</div>
Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-55527378720447845342018-12-24T01:38:00.000+00:002018-12-24T01:38:20.565+00:00Scott Spark: New cranks and a 1x conversionI can always find some way to improve my bikes, it didn't take long since I got my Scott Spark mountain bike that I decided to do an upgrade. One of the things that I felt could be improved was the drivetrain. The Shimano XT 2x11 worked quite well actually, although I rarely used the small ring, it came with a 34/24t crankset with an 11-42t cassette. <br />
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This gave it a really nice broad range with a good range of low gears. It wasn't really the gearing that I wasn't happy with, but rather the length of the cranks. I was constantly getting rock strikes and the very wide 176mm Q-factor was giving me knee pain on long rides. For some reason on a size medium bike which suits my height of 172cm(5'8") they gave 175mm cranks. I am used to 170mm cranks with a 144mm Q-factor as on my Sram Force cranks on my <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.com/2017/06/charge-plug-ti-part-2-new-groupset.html">gravel bike</a><br />
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<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Choices</h3>
<div>
The logical step in changing the cranks would be to move to a 1x system as I was already quite happy with this on my gravel bike and it made even more sense on a mountain bike. This would also serve to declutter the handle bars a little more as well as save a bit of weight. However the range of gearing would be quite limiting with factory Shimano parts, the largest cassette available was the 11-46t.</div>
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This required going aftermarket, Sunrace produces the 11-50t cassette in 11 speed, this features steel sprockets with the top two in alloy to save weight. This thing was a monster, I'd never seen a cassette this big before. The only real downside to 11-50t was the jump in gears, I wouldn't consider this for road riding, but for off-road the jumps aren't so much of an issue.</div>
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The crankset was a harder thing to find, the Scott Spark features a PF92 bottom bracket which is effectively the same outside BB dimensions as a standard BSA. This mostly limited my crank choice as going for a 30mm axle crankset would mean I could only really use aftermarket bearings, the PF92 standard fits a 24mm axle, so going for a 30mm axle means you have to use smaller less durable bearings.<br />
<b><br /><span style="font-size: large;">My criteria was:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Narrow Q-factor as possible</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Boost spacing chainline (~52mm)</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Light as possible</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">170mm length or less</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">1x compatible</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
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Only really the recently released Sram/Truvativ Descendant DUB cranks or the Rotor Rex 3.1 fit the bill. The Rotor cranks came in a lot cheaper and were similar weight, also I always liked their road parts. The only downside was that they run a slightly oddball 76mm BCD in their own proprietary pattern. I took the plunge and went with a standard 32t narrow/wide chainring, Rotor is known for their oval rings, however I didn't feel like experimenting with this. The other plus is that the Rotor cranks are compatible with Shimano bottom brackets so they should slot straight in.</div>
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The cranks came in at 599g complete with chainrings and hardware which is very light for a fully alloy crankset with a steel spindle. As a comparison the Shimano XT crankset they were replacing came in at 720g. The crankset itself is quite unique in that it looks like it is forged then the hollow section is drilled lengthways giving it the TDS "Triple Drilled System" profile which looks like a figure 8 with an extra bit. Also the chainring itself is beautifully made with an etched CNC finish.<br />
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Removal of the Shimano cranks was straightforward, the bearings were perfectly fine despite having gone through a winter's riding with subsequent jet washing. This was good as the bike has a press fit 92 bottom bracket and I don't have the tools or experience with these. The spindle of the Rotor cranks went straight in, however the fixing system is quite different to any other cranks that have a pinch bolt on the non-drive side.<br />
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The pinch bolt on the non-drive side has to be backed out to fit it over the spindle, no more than 2.5 turns otherwise the bolt will fully come out and you will never get it back in! Even with this backed out the non-drive side still needed some grease and a few light taps with a mallet to get it seated properly on the spindle.<br />
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You can see below the difference in Q-factor, the Shimano XT cranks come in at 176mm wide and the Rotor cranks are 163mm which is significantly narrower. There are narrower cranks out there for MTB but none of these are boost spacing compatible and there was the chance that they could hit the chainstays. Luckily these cranks clear the chainstays perfectly fine, however it is quite a tight fit and my Garmin cadence sensor which is 5mm thick wouldn't fit on the backside of the crank.<br />
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I opted for a 32t chainring to give me a super low gear with the 50t low sprocket. This overall setup gives a gearing range that almost reaches the range of the double setup. The Rotor chainring itself is beautifully CNC machined with a narrow-wide design and the proprietary asymmetric 76mm BCD chainring bolt pattern.</div>
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<h3>
Drivetrain</h3>
<div>
Now for the rear of the bike, in theory the cassette should slip straight on and the long cage XT-M8000 rear derailleur should just work, according to the Sunrace website this derailleur is compatible. Well not quite... I found it struggled with an occasional mis-shift, especially from the 2nd to 3rd lowest gears, it would hesitate and most of the time would get stuck. You could solve the latter by changing the b-tension however this would mean it would struggle to get in to the smallest sprocket; this was a sign that the upper pulley was getting in the way and the cage design wasn't compatible with the size range of the cassette itself. </div>
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<h3>
Shifting problems</h3>
As Shimano only offers up to a 46t cassette from the factory that is officially compatible with this derailleur this was no surprise, despite Sunrace claiming that their 11-50t cassette is compatible. Doing a bit of googling I found that with this cassette many people had found changing to a medium cage on their derailleur helped with shifting issues. Some people had found it made no difference.</div>
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I went ahead and bought the medium cage inner/outer, the medium cage is about 15mm shorter than the long cage. This helped a bit with the shifting but still did not solve the problem completely, it still struggled to get in some gears. What I learnt is that it really comes down to the individual bike, as each one has slightly different geometry and setup. The next step was to go to an aftermarket cage which offsets the upper pulley.</div>
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Wolf tooth makes the Wolf cage which uses a special offset upper pulley, this shifts it back about 10mm toward the rear of the bike which moves it out of the way. The Wolf cage only includes the inner cage and requires it to be mated with the Shimano XT medium cage outer. The whole piece is a nicely CNC machined bit of aluminium alloy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBEu5H8MV1oPWawPKr2hkZWpA-wtyW_spUyiRGmBYwjMA4XDuHS2VYiXLRHFQFSvXfsDyw4ZGtCQTrjI5RC-42d-oI4Vc8bUggiluWGsZK3QZeaURa8vOhL_o0OQJoqcpWWyV3iDJKK38j/s1600/IMG_1325+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="808" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBEu5H8MV1oPWawPKr2hkZWpA-wtyW_spUyiRGmBYwjMA4XDuHS2VYiXLRHFQFSvXfsDyw4ZGtCQTrjI5RC-42d-oI4Vc8bUggiluWGsZK3QZeaURa8vOhL_o0OQJoqcpWWyV3iDJKK38j/s1600/IMG_1325+%25281%2529.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpWvUV1WL4-RneCMcXO2oU47Daw98iVKQ6fkcQpe0cGwDzP2xwd1ihxikSf3-FvaSIkXU5SzP-oECOT305ig9k4uUinuEANjgSc5l9XMIEOGssUk3q9AM28JYXtFPp5IE0ZjYVqTOAUid/s1600/IMG_1330+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="808" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicpWvUV1WL4-RneCMcXO2oU47Daw98iVKQ6fkcQpe0cGwDzP2xwd1ihxikSf3-FvaSIkXU5SzP-oECOT305ig9k4uUinuEANjgSc5l9XMIEOGssUk3q9AM28JYXtFPp5IE0ZjYVqTOAUid/s1600/IMG_1330+%25281%2529.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Installation was quite straightforward and immediately improved the shift quality, with a few adjustments it was near perfect now! Shifts happened immediately across the gear range in all directions. It isn't quite as crisp as the stock Shimano factory setup but it's about 97% of the way there. As you can see in the photo above it moves the upper pulley out of the way of the big 50t sprocket at the end without having to wind out the b-tension which compromises the high gear shifting.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQj78w2ZCg3SnoKAmQRctdhyphenhyphen9OYTZ0Dqg5Wg2KjruRWgfdygWAetkx1pwWy04sd0ziivHi_f9X62FROc0CDVD4KWqGx8OhWbQemnKY4oxxUUn3hHFypxWWU5GfWzk3Do26mRMutfVBPXBd/s1600/IMG_0934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="808" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQj78w2ZCg3SnoKAmQRctdhyphenhyphen9OYTZ0Dqg5Wg2KjruRWgfdygWAetkx1pwWy04sd0ziivHi_f9X62FROc0CDVD4KWqGx8OhWbQemnKY4oxxUUn3hHFypxWWU5GfWzk3Do26mRMutfVBPXBd/s640/IMG_0934.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Additionally I also installed a chain guide, the Spark frame lacks any ISCG mounts however there is a factory chain guide which comes on some of their top end Spark configurations, it was a bit of a mystery on how they mounted onto the frame exactly but it appeared to somehow attach to the suspension pivot. The guide itself was quite difficult to track down but I managed to find one supplier and had it shipped from Spain,<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ7CJFrNm9iEm6uTaWBE7CF0ISLFnOHwPx60mCb2GRX1auIVsDM5WmW-1eRJ4S81BfsddRyL0UHgHOaOQ9CxB3yLd32BBhCvxsg6spEfKpmJaKDIHu4w0Az51n2MPKGDuTK1MZJl1tIpk7/s1600/IMG_0936.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="808" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ7CJFrNm9iEm6uTaWBE7CF0ISLFnOHwPx60mCb2GRX1auIVsDM5WmW-1eRJ4S81BfsddRyL0UHgHOaOQ9CxB3yLd32BBhCvxsg6spEfKpmJaKDIHu4w0Az51n2MPKGDuTK1MZJl1tIpk7/s640/IMG_0936.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3wOeRVx3ZrzVnzDiBdFLiCucWI6d3LpkdkAsDlu7nYc-LKCy1eEd_WGbKTenc_c9_ijB4fs3Pne_M6LzJpB67aDnptUVdyQmCGPy1uCLAHgGwdOlES14wbnR78VhOsNc3bwfteF3u6oz/s1600/IMG_0939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="808" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu3wOeRVx3ZrzVnzDiBdFLiCucWI6d3LpkdkAsDlu7nYc-LKCy1eEd_WGbKTenc_c9_ijB4fs3Pne_M6LzJpB67aDnptUVdyQmCGPy1uCLAHgGwdOlES14wbnR78VhOsNc3bwfteF3u6oz/s640/IMG_0939.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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It makes for a very neat install as it takes the place of a lobe shaped nut which is part of the main pivot spindle. Height is adjustable for different chainring sizes and hopefully it should ensure that I don't drop my chain on really gnarly terrain.<br />
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<h3>
Conclusion</h3>
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As normal, the conversion to 1x was not as straightforward as expected, in hindsight it may have been easier to just have converted the entire drivetrain to a Sram GX Eagle setup which is setup for 1x from the factory, this would have let me get a wide gear range (10-50t rear) and would be guaranteed to have shifted perfectly. </div>
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On the plus side the handlebars are less cluttered now without the front derailleur shifter which I rarely used anyway, the 32x50t bottom gear is about as low as I need, the jumps in the gears whilst not great are bearable for the advantage of simplicity. Also there was a slight weight loss now, about 300g as I removed the original double crankset, front derailleur and shifter but added a slightly heavier cassette and a lighter crankset. The crankset with its narrower q-factor and shorter length has made a noticeable difference, rock strikes are less common and I no longer have knee pain. </div>
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Thanks for reading.</div>
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Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-14301473619281808252018-12-08T05:47:00.001+00:002018-12-08T05:47:31.063+00:00New Bike DayI still remember one of my first proper bikes when I was a teenager, it was a GT Palomar mountain bike. Back then (this was the 90's) it had Rapidfire shifting, cantilever brakes and alloy rims. It was also a smidge too big at 17" size for my height at the time. After that I owned a Haro MTB which had a suspension fork with 60mm of travel and V-Brakes which I thought was awesome for the time. I rode this bike mostly on the road with the occasional excursion into the dirt, but nothing all that serious. I kept this one well into my university years, using it to commute. It even got stolen once and miraculously returned at one point. From then on I owned a succession of road bikes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46Xm2wRV7c4fvOVWNPUoncrUIgXoCnyNR9GwAHH6dG51ARYilz_SA1RGcrXSYU2pWvTYTg47m00p_XqtiWdzGG7zHG5G-FkNImxvM7U6_aR-b5EhSmOB4sdyLpkfUyT4X0R0qHKwN6JXs/s1600/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_17800+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46Xm2wRV7c4fvOVWNPUoncrUIgXoCnyNR9GwAHH6dG51ARYilz_SA1RGcrXSYU2pWvTYTg47m00p_XqtiWdzGG7zHG5G-FkNImxvM7U6_aR-b5EhSmOB4sdyLpkfUyT4X0R0qHKwN6JXs/s1600/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_17800+%25283%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Any of the regular readers of my blog know that I'm quite partial to dirt, and it really was just a matter of time that I would end up with a mountain bike. I've not been posting much in the last year as I have changed jobs and gone through many other things in my life which have occupied my time. Before starting my new job I had a small break and spent it test riding bikes, visiting Swinley Forest which is a bike park in Surrey Hills and generally riding. From the get go I decided to get a mountain bike that could tackle things that my gravel bike could never do, so it had to be a full suspension bike.<br />
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<h3>
Choice</h3>
There was really so much choice, and the nature of mountain bikes had changed significantly since I was young. There were so many different types that didn't exist previously, I went to a demo day held at Hadleigh Park, an ex-olympics XC course where I was able to test ride quite a lot of different types of bikes. I rode a Cannondale Trigger enduro bike and loved how smoothly and effortlessly it went downhill, then followed that with a Merida 29er XC bike and appreciated how well it rolled over obstacles and how fast it went. Later on I tried riding a Scott Spark 720 plus bike and loved how it combined the best qualities of both of these.<br />
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It was a 130/120mm travel trail bike equipped with 2.8" 650B+ tyres, these tyres are larger and more voluminous than the standard 2.25" tyres normally found on mountain bikes. They give it a feel of being able to roll over anything like a fat bike but without the heft, the volume gives it crazy amounts of grip and gives you a lot of confidence to throw it into turns and loose terrain. The bike also featured the novel Scott Twinloc, this is a device which alters the volume of the rear shock causing it to become more progressive (the spring rate ramps up more quickly as it goes through its travel), this enables more efficient climbing with less bobbing, and makes the dynamic head angle steeper and gives you a slightly higher BB; all this is quite useful in slower more technical terrain or when hammering up a hill.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_S4D4agwddBYc9Mc2bvbKcTDMnBRN7Y90_-nvvTOIAQ3Gyzpfswd6cj97gahyphenhyphenGBdnjZl3Dm7kHrCQLvgXDrQy1BCrILQ7I9PczEugwtpqSmleG-coEw5W912bYpiMcpotiBN2k9iBRJTq/s1600/tdfsyyJ%2525ToKpApiAJ6ICcA_thumb_1780f+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_S4D4agwddBYc9Mc2bvbKcTDMnBRN7Y90_-nvvTOIAQ3Gyzpfswd6cj97gahyphenhyphenGBdnjZl3Dm7kHrCQLvgXDrQy1BCrILQ7I9PczEugwtpqSmleG-coEw5W912bYpiMcpotiBN2k9iBRJTq/s1600/tdfsyyJ%2525ToKpApiAJ6ICcA_thumb_1780f+%25283%2529.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Soon after I ended up buying a Scott Spark 710 plus, this was a lucky purchase as it was 40% off as it was a 2017 model that was being superseded. It was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NbnNjejz28">MBR Plus bike of the year 2017</a> and received a 10/10 review. Originally I was intending to get the 720 plus which had an aluminium frame but was hard to pass up this one as it was only a few hundred pounds more which got you a carbon mainframe, better suspension and a better groupset. Straight away one of the first things I got for it was a pair of Ergon GA3 grips as the stock ones were rock hard and not too grippy.</div>
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Winter muck</h3>
Having purchased it in winter though meant that there was mostly very sloppy wet riding for the next few months and the constant hassle of having to wash the bike every ride. I took it to Surrey Hills and got familiar with many of the trails around Peaslake. Eventually as spring came around I rode the South Downs Way which is one of my favourite long distance natural trails to ride. I wasn't quite sure if the bike would be overkill for a trail like this, however it felt perfectly fine and much more comfortable.<br />
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Despite the rocks and terrain of the South Downs Way being quite mild, on my <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.com/search/label/charge%20plug">Gravel bike</a> I would typically get fatigued from all the bumps after about 3-4 hours of riding on it. The plus tyres of the Spark as well as the suspension really helps with comfort, and not only that. I was able to climb up steep, slippery inclines on it that previously were only walkable. The traction afforded by the big volume tyres in combination with the rear suspension opened up another world of ascent.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7LlTY_8jLYsRwqreFvm4XjIvAlW3wDgv1NCX3ZXe91m_UZHHFE0Nu3vKRImIA_dhh1sYZBp9XLAxRAsphdfnbud_ltSKcUVy2o5vEZRqO8p4jgmtZK8XwInBGgqfnKB2A35jeCZUaIP0/s1600/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_17919+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7LlTY_8jLYsRwqreFvm4XjIvAlW3wDgv1NCX3ZXe91m_UZHHFE0Nu3vKRImIA_dhh1sYZBp9XLAxRAsphdfnbud_ltSKcUVy2o5vEZRqO8p4jgmtZK8XwInBGgqfnKB2A35jeCZUaIP0/s1600/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_17919+%25283%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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By the time summer came around I was able to ride around Surrey Hills and many other trails on drier terrain which really made an enormous difference, I really prefer riding where I don't have to spend hours cleaning afterwards. I did however neglect my gravel bike for a bit, however it does form a good complement to the bike collection which was the original intention.<br />
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Thanks for readingSmut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-40612249213091148612018-07-14T15:23:00.002+01:002018-07-14T15:23:54.859+01:00Lezyne Super GPS Review<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5c2DHnXjdA2YWat8AmzueoQEoPqHrXa_7b-2LDFC_hiFd1e-iGOLZik1znGJn_-g0wVrh7tSJ47sl4F9iKyxwFZ-RIvkTpRJg2jj63ZJVJEJpNZXrd3Irg8156yyimV2E9ux7Oo1nlB0b/s1600/DSCF9733.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5c2DHnXjdA2YWat8AmzueoQEoPqHrXa_7b-2LDFC_hiFd1e-iGOLZik1znGJn_-g0wVrh7tSJ47sl4F9iKyxwFZ-RIvkTpRJg2jj63ZJVJEJpNZXrd3Irg8156yyimV2E9ux7Oo1nlB0b/s1600/DSCF9733.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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One of the earliest memories I have of bike computers was fishing out my old Cateye computer from the washing machine, I had forgot to taken it out of my short pockets, it didn't fare well.<br />
<a name='more'></a>Over the years I went through many phases, for a long time I went without any bike computer but then started using a wireless Cateye unit to keep track of time and distance on my road rides, and then later upgraded to a VDO M4 which had a built in altimeter and lots of other functions. Still at heart these were quite simple computers which lacked the smartphone connections, GPS and other modern conveniences you normally would associate with more serious computers like Garmin, Polar etc.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9Wq6bVmZDCCh2BvEzfyADIuVpo38IYyAoS6BtrDLoyh5C_NscgdmtZFasWB0xid4_9I9p60fnRpmE60LJUlMUA631tg1SJC7GcCJCXAcOQoM6RNQA4gTKno5ikWTex99oXTcmrx8E8Jz/s1600/DSCF9788.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9Wq6bVmZDCCh2BvEzfyADIuVpo38IYyAoS6BtrDLoyh5C_NscgdmtZFasWB0xid4_9I9p60fnRpmE60LJUlMUA631tg1SJC7GcCJCXAcOQoM6RNQA4gTKno5ikWTex99oXTcmrx8E8Jz/s640/DSCF9788.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My trusty old VDO M4 wired computer</td></tr>
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These computers never really appealed to me, as I didn't really see the point of recording all your rides, in addition the exorbitant cost really put me off, from my point of view they cost nearly what an old iPhone would cost but with vastly inferior UI and processing power. I had previously used my iPhone on a handlebar bracket which was fantastic for following routes I would plan ahead of time. However this had several problems, firstly it would completely run down the battery within a few hours, usually in the middle of nowhere and secondly the touchscreen was useless during rain and/or when wearing gloves in the winter.<br />
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<h3>
Decisions</h3>
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<div>
The VDO M4 I had purchased back in 2015 had served me really well for many years, it's altimeter allowed me to keep track of elevation, gradient as well as a plethora of functions. VDO would soon be releasing a new model with GPS tracking as well except now it was pushing nearly £100 so I decided to look at what else was on the market. What was I looking for? I needed something which could navigate me along pre-planned routes, have a long battery life independent of my phone's battery, and be generally reliable and simple without too many useless bells and whistles.</div>
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I investigated several options, I looked at Garmin but they all seemed too expensive and poor value with so-so battery life and from what I could gather not that great an interface. There was Wahoo, Bryton, Polar and a few others. It was actually quite difficult to figure out which ones would navigate me along a GPX track which I could upload. What I discovered is that the majority of computers are really for tracking a ride rather than guiding you through one. In the end I ordered the Lezyne Super GPS and the Bryton 530E with the intent of returning one of them and keeping the other. Both these computers have features which allow you to upload your own GPX files and they would navigate you there either with a breadcrumb trail and/or turn by turn directions.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvKVCP6u7mo1t9ClkSSjVbE5d_4Gz0TU6ZXj8XcuzUNDGum5CcT1rw6mCPfaX_ZIl6X4zhmwZE4No-Z5Bp61yjfBqqLo_2JCK37vinTLvrJopHADpHL846RHUbeaTNIbNK9l0f9RB2Jz0/s1600/DSCF9735.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvKVCP6u7mo1t9ClkSSjVbE5d_4Gz0TU6ZXj8XcuzUNDGum5CcT1rw6mCPfaX_ZIl6X4zhmwZE4No-Z5Bp61yjfBqqLo_2JCK37vinTLvrJopHADpHL846RHUbeaTNIbNK9l0f9RB2Jz0/s1600/DSCF9735.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<h3>
First Impressions</h3>
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I received the Lezyne as well as the in-front mount, one of the first things I noticed was how small the Lezyne unit was in comparison to your typical Garmins which are about the size of a small smartphone. The Super GPS is really compact, about the size of two boxes of matches. It's not the most handsome unit, it has a slightly almost 80's blocky look to it.<br />
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It comes standard with a bar mount and an in-front mount is also available aftermarket which I purchased. On both mounts the computer needs to be pushed into it at 45º and then twisted straight at which point it locks, the amount of force you need to push is actually quite high so it means that the bar mount rotates a bit as you push and twist. The in-front mount is a pretty thin and lightweight thing so it needs your second hand to support it as you push and twist. However once it's in either mount it feels extremely secure.</div>
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The first test was navigating me home from work, firstly it required a connection with a smartphone to use it's main features such as turn-by-turn navigation. I downloaded the GPS Ally app, connected it to the unit via Bluetooth and set it to auto navigate me home with turn-by-turn. During riding it would pop up the upcoming turns with distances as well as a simple breadcrumb map, basically this is a dot representing your position going along a line which is the navigation route. There were a few minor niggles though, the breadcrumb map did not rotate as you changed your direction, north was always up, also you had to manually start/stop the recording function when stopped at the lights. Still the navigation worked pretty well actually and I managed to get home without any major navigational issues.<br />
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As soon as I got home I checked for firmware updates and found out that the firmware that came on it originally was about 6 months old and it appears they had released many updates since then. I quickly updated to the latest and wow... what a difference. Finally the breadcrumb map rotated as you did, the screens were a lot more customisable now and you could add multiple bikes each with their own settings. The recording mode would also now automatically stop and start as it detected movement. These were huge jumps from the original firmware which I felt made the device seem somewhat primitive, I've based this review on the latest firmware available as of December 2017.</div>
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<h3>
Interface</h3>
The interface is quite simple, there are four buttons on the unit with their functions marked on the bezel. Once you are riding the interface consists of a series of screens which you use the top two buttons to navigate through.<br />
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On powering up, you select which bike preset you want to use if you have more than one. You can easily add and configure each preset in the app or on the unit. If you hold the power button it will go back to this menu, another press will shut off the unit.<br />
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The first screen is a status screen, this shows the connected sensors, battery percentage, date and time. </div>
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Pressing the right button (shown as Menu) scrolls you to the Navigation pages if you have started recording, otherwise it will flick through the stats pages shown above. These are fully customisable in the app, different layouts with lots of different fields available to display.</div>
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Another useful feature is the passthrough for messages and notifications. Email, text and any other notifications can be passed onto the Super GPS unit in a read-only form which means I can leave my phone in my jersey pocket, particularly useful if it is raining and I have it wrapped up in a waterproof cover.</div>
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Overall the interface is reasonably simple, beyond these pages described above there are the other function buttons, such as the menu/settings, start/stop recording, backlight and power button. The buttons are rubberised and have a slight squishy feel with a click when pressed, perfectly useable with thick winter gloves.<br />
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<h3>
Navigation</h3>
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This was my first serious bike computer, and for a long time I had wanted a simple and reliable GPS navigation unit that would have a long battery life. This meant as well that I wasn't really sure exactly what features I would want, was breadcrumb navigation on a monochrome LCD sufficient? Or would I really miss having a full colour Google maps turn-by-turn experience I was used to on my phone? I used the Super GPS's somewhat basic navigation on many different rides, pure road rides as well as rides along off road trails and bridleways. </div>
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What I realised is that I eventually preferred just using the breadcrumb navigation and found that the turn-by-turn was not as useful in reality as I thought it was; due to the small screen size there is only so much information you can fit in. The neat thing is that you can have it in breadcrumb mode which shows you a plan view of the pre-planned route so you can see what angle you need to turn at the next junction, the turn-by-turn notification will pop up on top of this a bit before each turn telling you which way to turn. From the combination of the notification and the breadcrumb you can usually correlate it with the reality unfolding in front of you and figure out which is the right path to go down.
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The only real caveat of this is that turn-by-turn only really works if the software you use to create your maps supports it, <a href="http://www.ridewithgps.com/">www.ridewithgps.com</a> which is the one I use supports this when you output .tcx files and only when you plot your routes on road. On bridleways or off-road you are generally out of luck. However I have generally found that the turn-by-turn doesn't add all that much, the breadcrumb navigation by itself is really simple and clear and works much better than I originally envisaged.
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There are some other great features too about the navigation, once you have uploaded your route to Lezyne's GPS root website, then from your device onto the GPS unit, it runs independently. Once loaded onto the GPS unit it doesn't require a connection to your device, unless you want on-the-fly rerouting.</div>
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The Super GPS also features Strava Live, so as you pass through Strava sections on your ride it will notify you of your times. However as this is only available with a Strava Premium account I was not able to test this.</div>
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<h3>
Sensors and other features</h3>
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I've always been a bit of a facts and figures geek although I have never been the type to record my rides, partly because I didn't feel the need to but mainly because it would destroy the battery life on my phone within a few hours. Typically my rides can last 6+ hours so this was out of the question. However the Super GPS was able to record several 100km+ rides upload to my Lezyne GPS Root account, sync with Strava all on my iPhone and it would still have 70% battery life left! I was mightily impressed with it's endurance, I definitely believe the 24hr claimed battery life, certainly this would be helped by the small monochrome LCD screen with no touch and only buttons.<br />
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Apart from the basic speed/distance type stats, I always liked checking the gradients of climbs and descents on my old VDO M4 computer. However the Super GPS is compatible with the ANT+ and Bluetooth standards which opens it up to a huge number of sensor inputs; power meters, speed, cadence and heart rate just to name a few. As I was relatively new to this world of bike/fitness trackers this was a bit of an eye opener, my trusty old VDO computer only had a wheel magnet and an altimeter, that was it.<br />
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Initially I used the unit by itself without any sensors, however I found the speed and gradient readings a bit erratic, It turned out that the speed reading depends on a constant GPS signal which was disturbed by things like tree cover or tall buildings. I subsequently purchased a Garmin magnet-less speed and cadence sensor set, these little silicon sensors attach around the crank arm and hub shell and have movement sensors to extrapolate data. They are a lot less fiddly than the traditional sensors which require separate sensors and magnets which need to stay aligned to get readings.<br />
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Pairing these with the Super GPS unit was straightforward and they turn themselves on and off when they detect motion/stop, the Speed sensor achieved my goal of giving much more accurate readings which in turn increased the reliability of the gradient reading. The cadence sensor is somewhat useful to encourage me to shift down to a lower gear and spin a bit faster, also it's neat to see if my gearing is low enough on longer climbs. Typically most people would also use a heart rate monitor and a power meter, the latter however is quite expensive so I don't think I'll be getting one anytime soon.<br />
<h3>
Conclusion</h3>
At the time of this review, I have used the Super GPS now for 6 months on many rides of varying distance on and off-road. Since I have used it with the updated firmware, the Super GPS unit has been a bit of a godsend. Now I don't really have to worry about my phone running down, and it manages to stay on the entire duration of the ride with the breadcrumb navigation on screen. The best part of this is that I can just concentrate on riding and navigating rather than faffing about with my phone.<br />
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Now that it is winter, I am relieved that I don't have to stop to take off my gloves to use my phone's touchscreen, I have gloves which are supposedly touchscreen compatible however this doesn't work particularly well and is useless when wet. In addition, the physical buttons give you tactile feedback meaning you can be watching the road ahead instead of the screen which isn't possible with a touchscreen. For these reasons, tactility and reliability in poor weather I really am convinced by traditional buttons over a touch screen.<br />
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I've only encountered one niggle on the second day of the two day touring trip where I had to wait for the computer to load a route which was longer than usual, normally this takes a few seconds but this time it didn't load until a few minutes had passed. Otherwise the simple breadcrumb navigation has been totally reliable and meant I pretty much never had to stop on a pre-programmed route due to the Super GPS unit malfunctioning. Generally I have found that being able to load the route at the beginning of the day and leaving my phone in my jersey pocket the rest of the ride has been quite liberating.<br />
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The unit has also been reliable in all kinds of weather, even downpours. Lezyne says it is water resistant, not waterproof so it's not meant to be immersed entirely in water, it deals with heavy rain perfectly fine and hasn't seem to be affected in any way.<br />
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Despite the Super GPS being the top model of Lezyne's computer range, at £120 it is still less than half the price of many computers from Wahoo and Garmin . Given some of these do have additional functions and features, however the Super GPS represents extremely good value for those that want decent sensor integration and basic navigation.<br />
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Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-34630735051700558242017-10-25T12:45:00.001+01:002017-10-25T12:52:13.353+01:00South Downs Way in a day<div>
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I've always loved riding the South Downs Way, it's a somewhat "natural" path which is mostly bridleway with nothing too technical apart from a few gravelly descents. The full length of it stretches 160km starting at Winchester and finishing in Eastbourne on the edge of the English channel. I've cycled bits and pieces of the route, mostly the last 80km of it as it's expensive to get to the start at Winchester. However every year there is an organised ride to do the entire length of it in one day, this would be the furthest I've ever cycled entirely off-road but I decided to bite the bullet and do it.<br />
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<h3>
Preparation</h3>
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I'd read about people doing this route in a single go in the past and thought it was slightly mad! Total ascent is 3000m or so over mostly gravelly, flinty bridleway, byway and some singletrack. While there aren't any long grinding alpine style climbs, the 3000m of climbing is made up of many rolling hills, some of which are up to 15% inclines up to altitudes of 300m above sea level. There is a fair bit of descent as well, most of these are quite mild but some have pretty chunky gravel which would be challenging on a rigid gravel bike.</div>
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<iframe scrolling="no" src="https://rwgps-embeds.com/embeds?type=route&id=26041617&metricUnits=true&sampleGraph=true" style="border: none; height: 700px; min-width: 100%; width: 1px;"></iframe><br />
I signed up to the British Heart Foundation South Downs Way ride for July 15th, along the route they would have food and drink stops every 20-30km. Despite this I planned on bringing my own food for the ride, my guess would that it'd take me roughly 10-12 hours including breaks. <br />
<h3>
The ride</h3>
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As there would be a 5:30 start I arrived the night before and stayed at an Airbnb, I'm not sure if it was due to nerves or just an unfamiliar environment but I didn't sleep much the night before, at most a few hours. I woke up at 4:45am, had a quick breakfast and downed some electrolyte drink and headed to the start. The light was just starting to break and I headed towards the start line under the dusky glow of the sky.<br />
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The air was cool and moist with apprehension of the long journey ahead, the start line was a collection of nerves and excitement, last minute checks of tyre pressure and final twiddles and tweaks. I was the only person there with a drop bar bike, let alone a rigid bike amongst a sea of MTBs.<br />
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We set off on some singletrack from Winchester and it was pretty calm with most of us soothing our nerves with some chitchat. I found I was overtaking a lot of people at the beginning, particularly up hills as my bike would be significantly lighter by 3-5kg than most of the full suspension MTBs on the ride. The singletrack turned into some quiet backroads through farmer's fields and then back to bridleways.<br />
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The first part of the route incorporated some hills but these were still reasonably mild compared to what would be in the last third. Soon after overtaking many people I found people at a similar pace and settled into a rhythm.<br />
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Quickly I found out the advantages and shortfalls of riding a rigid bike on a ride like this, ascending I found the weight advantage and power efficiency became apparent, making me a little bit smug. Downhill or over rocky flat terrain is where I had people zooming past me on full suspension bikes, over time the lack of suspension and the comparatively small 45mm wide Rock'n'road tyres would be my downfall.<br />
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I packed quite a lot of food for the ride, usually on longer rides I try to include some food which isn't energy gels or bars, I find on long rides I get a bit sick of eating sweet sickly things and crave real food. One thing I found I should have packed more of is electrolyte drink as I was getting some calf cramps early on.<br />
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<h3>
The distance wears on </h3>
The landscape of the South Downs is mostly rolling hills of farmed landscape, varying from wheat fields, grazing sheep and pig farms. The terrain is mostly chalky clay with lots of limestone rocks and some flints dotted around. Towards the end of the ride my bike, hands, legs and face were covered with this fine chalky dust, luckily though none of the flints or rocks punctured my tyres.<br />
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Towards the latter half though, the lack of suspension really started to wear on me, my body was sore from the constant roughness of the terrain. Having ridden up to 80km of the South Downs Way previously didn't prepare me for 160km. Towards the end I wasn't even able to sit down over rougher parts of the trail and had to stand to be able to survive the rocks. This became much of a hindrance towards the end as I wasn't so much cardio-fatigued but just felt entirely beaten up by the terrain. Most other people at this point had full-suspension bikes or hardtails. I was often a subject of curiosity, people were genuinely interested in why someone would do this ride on a rigid drop bar bike with comparatively skinny tyres, maybe I'm just pig-headed or crazy or a combination of the two.<br />
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<h3>
The end in sight</h3>
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Towards 140km I was able to see Eastbourne in the distance, these last bits of the South Downs Way are punctuated by steep, rutted and rocky ascents. These are torn up by agricultural tracked vehicles and seek not only to test your bike, but your will to climb! I was at the point where I was wondering whether this was the last climb only to get a glimpse of yet another one further along. I was really glad though I had fitted the 34t chainring to the front, combined with the 10-42t cassette at the rear I was able to winch myself up these challenging climbs.</div>
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12 hours after I started I made it to the end, wheeling down the hill into Eastbourne seafront towards the red tents of the British Heart Foundation, I immediately crossed the finish line, wheeled my bike a few metres and dropped onto the grassy ground. It wasn't so much my legs or lungs were bust, but I just felt so beat up by the terrain, all my body was aching from constant pounding from the rocks and ruts of the landscape. This was a ride that I had not even considered realistically doing only a few years back, it would be the longest off-road ride I had done yet. Thanks for reading.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiElTrb4KdNWuFDx7dUO_u8vP1paw0BsSUIozkz9gCraZdlw-LE-5pbTN9lECM5G0mjTS90Pikuh_8D7mrw1xhfU464gRuVSubdWs3GrI2If6_NKi_0AUUceisY51ngvffKL3oLPlkuptNo/s1600/IMG_2625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="1077" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiElTrb4KdNWuFDx7dUO_u8vP1paw0BsSUIozkz9gCraZdlw-LE-5pbTN9lECM5G0mjTS90Pikuh_8D7mrw1xhfU464gRuVSubdWs3GrI2If6_NKi_0AUUceisY51ngvffKL3oLPlkuptNo/s1600/IMG_2625.jpg" width="640" /></a>Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-50113580666783897902017-07-18T22:01:00.003+01:002017-07-18T22:51:37.259+01:00Charge Plug Ti Part 3: 650B wheelset<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/charge-plug-ti-part-2-new-groupset.html">Continuing from Part 2...</a><br />
Part of the reason I bought a new frame was also to increase tyre clearance, the Bish Bash Bosh could only fit 700x40 or about 584x42 (650B) tyres. My aim was to be able to fit 2.0" MTB tyres on the bike, normally the tightest spot on a frame is the bit between the chainstays as this is where a lot of stuff is happening, namely the BB and crankset. The fork and seatstays are rarely a problem in this regard, the frame builder can really make these as voluminous as they want as long as they don't interfere with the use of the bike. The Charge Plug Ti measured at 54mm clear at the widest point between the chainstays, I did read however a lot of 2.0" MTB tyres come up undersize. So I decided to make the plunge and build up a 650B wheelset just to see if it would work.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF-gNMf0UEVd29QB4KOwZSA8Zt6FmP1jyt_lt6dPu02eAltPbDUokgVj06k2sd-h70ZKSJjCxK7ekL2bN72LcMiSHXcpy2AJP2ixjnv5Yzg7bkwPQjRQGAQK-flg_O9dUp3dsqB5ZG3gw2/s1600/DSCF9559+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF-gNMf0UEVd29QB4KOwZSA8Zt6FmP1jyt_lt6dPu02eAltPbDUokgVj06k2sd-h70ZKSJjCxK7ekL2bN72LcMiSHXcpy2AJP2ixjnv5Yzg7bkwPQjRQGAQK-flg_O9dUp3dsqB5ZG3gw2/s1600/DSCF9559+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The build</h3>
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The choice of components was similar to the <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/bish-bash-bosh-part-4-building-wheels.html">700c wheelset I built before</a>, BOR-XMD366 rims with Novatec rear hub and SP Dynamo front joined together with Sapim D-Light butted spokes.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxrRigLotvdUB6Vq9ierkQKa3C8dDcK4MEqK7b7jbmsclsAY4pVZBBTedHUmz6pqawGQu5Z-RK-9aWHYKd8_2KjZnOkmcsP_VGdcd-YiZzG_IIPzDNILeKe-IFT9dUM7IyiF3h5TMcAy4-/s1600/DSCF9562+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxrRigLotvdUB6Vq9ierkQKa3C8dDcK4MEqK7b7jbmsclsAY4pVZBBTedHUmz6pqawGQu5Z-RK-9aWHYKd8_2KjZnOkmcsP_VGdcd-YiZzG_IIPzDNILeKe-IFT9dUM7IyiF3h5TMcAy4-/s1600/DSCF9562+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Again the BOR rims came in at an honest 360g, some of the lightest alloy rims out there, particularly ones with eyelets. These built up really nicely last time and their quality was great which is why I decided to go it again.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDgzzrDF0CZwAf3HhXx28YluOTs0EF9aysF2MNmHwvSTWPLecNnghdmqbls1QBD7QEJJCTddAkIM8iBmrNwCmL9YcCiprh2NexrMgE40l-MQ0Rv9iyo0WPRKnwwnA0gIcNE67W8ASc9zPd/s1600/DSCF9566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDgzzrDF0CZwAf3HhXx28YluOTs0EF9aysF2MNmHwvSTWPLecNnghdmqbls1QBD7QEJJCTddAkIM8iBmrNwCmL9YcCiprh2NexrMgE40l-MQ0Rv9iyo0WPRKnwwnA0gIcNE67W8ASc9zPd/s1600/DSCF9566.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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One trick I have when assembling wheels is using a toothpick to insert and initially screw on the nipples. The size is just right so it fits tightly in the nipple hole. The Sapim nipples I used were the Secure Lock versions which lock on to the thread, these were quite good, however as I found with the previous wheelbuild, the consistency in sizing of the nipples isn't as good as DT Swiss; as I used my spoke key to tighten each nipple, each nipple felt a little bit different, some were a bit loose some were a bit too tight at the spoke key/nipple interface. The DT Swiss nipples I had used before always were consistent in their fit. Not an obstacle to building a good wheelset, but just an observation.<br />
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<h3 style="clear: both;">
First Ride</h3>
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Initially I fitted some 650b x 2.0" tyres which just cleared the chainstays, these were Maxxis Beavers which are more of a wet weather mud tyre and thus have some relatively widely spaced knobs. They were setup tubeless and measured at 47mm wide which gives about 3-4mm clearance each side at the chainstays which is quite tight! </div>
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Out on the trail though and it's apparent how grippy these buggers were, in thick slippery mud they refused to let go, off camber ruts were not an issue, and the extra volume helped roll over many obstacles which would have thrown off the 700x40mm Maxxis Ramblers I was also running. On the tarmac however they were pretty slow, particularly as they are more of a mud tyre so this was to be expected.</div>
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Time for rock'n'road</h3>
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Sadly however, the tyres grew over the course of a week and eventually measured at a true 50mm and I found that they had started to rub a bit on the inside of the chainstays. So I went ahead and ordered another pair of tyres, this time they were 650x43mm Bruce Gordon Rock'n'road tyres. These are a classic design that has been around for a while, developing a bit of a cult following along the way. Legend has it that they were based on an old Finnish tyre design originally in 700x47mm size, the Nokian Hakkapellita. These were originally made for riding over snow and general crap conditions, so really I guess these were a precursor to the 29er craze that hit the MTB world not long ago. The 650b version was released recently and are made by Panaracer in Japan, also tubeless compatible and skinwall!</div>
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It turns out that the 43mm width is nominal, and after a week they grew out to 44.5mm @ 30psi/2.0bar or thereabouts which is about as wide as I think you could realistically go on this frame.</div>
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The first ride on these was pretty impressive, they have the suppleness of a much larger tyre, not too different from the 2.0" Maxxis Beavers I had before. They tend to roll quite well even on tarmac with only a bit of buzz, on hardpack and gravel they grip quite well, considerably better than the Ramblers. Off-camber sections, tree roots aren't a problem, however don't be fooled, these are not MTB tyres.</div>
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I was disappointed that the 2.0" tyres didn't really fit in the end, the Rock'n'Road tyres aren't all that much bigger than the largest 700c tyres I could fit in there either. However the plus side to this is that I do actually prefer the nippyness of the smaller wheels, the toe overlap is virtually eliminated and the steering feels more lively with the lower trail figure given by them. There are some negatives as well, the BB clearance is noticeably less, a still respectable 290mm from the ground to BB axle, however I was finding I would strike rocks more with the 650b wheels. I still intend to run the 700c wheelset for more road related duties and have these at hand for off-road jaunts. </div>
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Anyway, that's all for now, thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next part of the build</div>
Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-91320313277449790162017-06-13T22:35:00.001+01:002017-06-13T22:35:12.498+01:00Charge Plug Ti Part 2: A new groupsetAfter a good 6 years on my Campagnolo Athena groupset, I started to feel I needed a change. It had served me well, however the hassle I went through with <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/bish-bash-bosh-part-7-teething-issues.html">chainsuck and chainrings</a> as well as lack of low gearing options suitable for off-road had me wanting something more. Also the allure of hydraulic brakes was somewhat appealing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2ARKzpvHHWS3-uaMRLdqdTVcFuXBBDndunxgXVFp9yQtonPbBzfUVLaeSGQkSKbYeC7kJJ3J8QwB5ALU1-ioHZe51yIXI5q_NPgMBofd08_wf71mg2j7EDULHgpkTKEjABscXjGxOTdK/s1600/DSCF9539.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2ARKzpvHHWS3-uaMRLdqdTVcFuXBBDndunxgXVFp9yQtonPbBzfUVLaeSGQkSKbYeC7kJJ3J8QwB5ALU1-ioHZe51yIXI5q_NPgMBofd08_wf71mg2j7EDULHgpkTKEjABscXjGxOTdK/s1600/DSCF9539.jpg" width="640" /></a></h3>
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Making the decision</h3>
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Although the <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/trp-spyre-disc-brake-long-term-review.html">TRP Spyres</a> I had served me well, cable discs are only going to be so good. There were several choices, either stay with a 2x11 setup or go 1x11. To get low gearing a 1x setup with a SRAM 10-42t cassette would be as simple as changing the chainring. A compact road double would be harder to do this with, there was no easy off-the-shelf way to get super low gearing without changing the crankset. In the end I decided to go with a 1x11 setup, the SRAM Force 1 groupset. This features carbon cranks, hydraulic discs, a clutch rear derailleur and a 10-42t cassette. It was a bit of a jump in the dark as I had never ridden a 1x setup before, my biggest fear was finding that the gear jumps would be too big, on average they are about 16% change between each gear with a big 20% jump to the smallest 10t sprocket. Compared with the 11-32t cassette which has gaps 7-14% which are much smaller.</div>
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The new Force</h3>
After ordering it from Germany, it was now a waiting game until I received a nice parcel at work. The first thing I did, like any bike nerd was weigh everything! Overall the groupset was about 2.1kg not including rotors which is a little bit lighter than the old setup I had.. I was pretty impressed by the sleek black/grey finish of everything was very slick. The full carbon cranks were pretty slick, the chainring has a the narrow-wide pattern on it which helps to keep the chain stay put.<br />
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The rear derailleur has a clutch mechanism, in effect this is a damper which slows down the movement of the pulley cage and stops the chain bouncing around reducing chainslap and the chance of a dropped chain over bumpy terrain. The pulley wheels also feature the narrow-wide pattern which holds the chain on more securely.<br />
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The XG-1180 cassette is somewhat jewel-like in its intricacy. I hope this lasts a while as the replacement is quite pricy...<br />
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Installation</h3>
The installation was pretty straightforward with the only difficult part being the brake bleeding. I was impressed with the SRAM GXP crank, these are really easy to install/uninstall as it has a self-extracting bolt on the non-drive side which only needs an 8mm allen key. Compared to the Shimano and Campagnolo Hollowtech and Ultratorque systems, this is even simpler and quicker. The derailleur and drivetrain went on very easily with no issues, apart from a bit of confusion about the cable routing on the rear derailleur which was quite different to what I was used to. <br />
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Brake bleeding was the most difficult part, as this was my first time I had to watch the same instructional video over and over again about ten times! They came bled from the factory, but as I bought it from Germany it was setup as right lever rear instead of the right lever front I am used to, thus to swap from left to right you have to detach the olives and bleed it. I have bled car brakes in the past many times, however the SRAM system needs two syringes which you use to push/pull fluid in and out of the system. After an hour or two I had some nice firm brakes.<br />
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<h3>
Lights</h3>
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Now there was the question of how I install the lights, I had this idea from my <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/entering-fold.html">Brompton</a> where they used heatshrink tubing to clean up bunches of cable. The plan was the run the dynamo to front lamp run as normal up the fork blade, then for the front lamp to rear lamp run it along the downtube with the rear brake hose, then run it up a hole in the BB and up the seat tube then out the seat post. First this would require drilling a small hole in the BB, right next to the one meant for the cable guide.</div>
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I then drilled a hole in the rear of the seatpost and ran the light wire through...<br />
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Luckily the SRAM GXP bottom bracket has a plastic sleeve which protects the light cable from the spinning crank spindle</div>
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With the rear brake hose and rear light cable heatshrinked together it looks pretty neat. The only other cable will be the rear derailleur cable which keeps it pretty tidy.<br />
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Job done, I also bought a Schmidt SON rear light, these are quite pricy but they are super minimal and very nicely made. You can just see the hole in the back of the seatpost coming around, otherwise the cable is mostly concealed.</div>
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<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
First impressions</h3>
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Back to the groupset, I had a quick go on a mix of terrain and it's a huge change. The hydraulic brakes are a godsend, much better modulation and lever feel with less hand effort. The shifting is very crisp, the Double-tap shifting comes pretty intuitively although I probably need a bit more practice. So far I haven't found the gaps between the gears all that irritating, in fact the simplicity of the 1x system has a lot of advantages. The clutch derailleur keeps the drivetrain super quiet over really rough terrain, I never dropped a chain, not even once. It was nice to not have to worry about shifting the front, particularly as with the old setup I suffered from chainsuck and dropped chains. I didn't think I would appreciate the simplicity so much, but to have such a wide gear range with only the right shifter is fantastic. Anyway that's all for now, thanks for reading.</div>
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Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-68296373054671974442017-06-06T00:06:00.000+01:002017-06-06T00:06:04.028+01:00Charge Plug Ti Part 1: A new start<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdkrxIHVMrNAbh6jdyilQvet03ooPR2MfZ0Y56TkmX2nfz2p5kDMf2TzW2BP0W2gIQ4DRa1IXxQfEcFivfhIXyaQLNkxXwlJipHE20dExEDtdbgiqmKpi9__wh7LmQ9S7vT4BhQMZHFwQ/s1600/IMG_1536.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdkrxIHVMrNAbh6jdyilQvet03ooPR2MfZ0Y56TkmX2nfz2p5kDMf2TzW2BP0W2gIQ4DRa1IXxQfEcFivfhIXyaQLNkxXwlJipHE20dExEDtdbgiqmKpi9__wh7LmQ9S7vT4BhQMZHFwQ/s1600/IMG_1536.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<h3>
The new arrival</h3>
Since the demise of my Bish Bash Bosh, I looked at getting it repaired however it was uneconomical to do so, thus I decided to instead put that money towards a new frame. This time I wanted something with a bit more tire clearance and more durability. However I still wanted something lightweight along with these qualities, this ruled out steel and carbon fibre. I was very keen on the <a href="https://masoncycles.cc/shop/categories/bokeh-bikes">Mason Bokeh</a> which had the clearance for up to 2.0" x 650b tyres or 40mm x 700c, this was an Dedecciai triple butted tubeset with thru-axles. This was near ideal but the steep £1,150 for the frameset seemed a bit too much. <br />
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However browsing online I did stumble upon a 2016 Charge Plug Ti frameset for a few hundred less than this, after doing some research I found that someone had fit 57mm x 650b Schwalbe Big One tyres on one which piqued my curiousity. I figured for the price I didn't have too much to lose, and this would be my first titanium frame. It supposedly has the holy trinity of strength, durability and lightweight.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_IAw481yStEJw_QKkNPszo8FaFNcUmXQEE2hqcQ3ZhJzAP9Oum2S0y7phLlpX6FmWaER1a7Usuvk66k-Q5y3hV1SpjqVjfDiuuI9OdLbUJHqI9dP5JSLe5UKWoyu4VlEVhR8nIehzp1Ys/s1600/IMG_1479.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_IAw481yStEJw_QKkNPszo8FaFNcUmXQEE2hqcQ3ZhJzAP9Oum2S0y7phLlpX6FmWaER1a7Usuvk66k-Q5y3hV1SpjqVjfDiuuI9OdLbUJHqI9dP5JSLe5UKWoyu4VlEVhR8nIehzp1Ys/s1600/IMG_1479.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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My goal was to fit 2.0" x 650b tyres into this frame, however I wasn't sure if the Ti version had the same tire clearance as the aluminium I had seen with the Schwalbe Big Ones. I figured I didn't have too much to lose, as I could order it, measure the clearance and return it if worse came to worse. The box arrived at work and I took it out, the gap between the chainstays measured at 54mm which wouldn't be enough to run 2.0" tyres, I was slightly disappointed but decided to take it home anyway that weekend and have a think about it. When I took it out of it's packaging I was blown away by how good it looked, it really was a sight for sore eyes... This thing was really beautiful in the flesh and I made the choice to build it up, there was no turning back now!<br />
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The frame came in at 1,632g and the fork at 754g which was a little heavier than I expected but not too bad. The head tube is a bit old fashioned in that it is a straight 1-1/8", most bikes now have tapered steerers, this is probably also why the fork has an alloy steerer too as it is uncommon to see a full carbon steerer in a straight 1-1/8" disc brake fork. The other little peculiarities with the frame are that it has no provision for a front derailleur, no cable stops or anything. Not such a big deal but it also lacked the thru-axles that many gravel bikes have these days, instead it just has traditional quick release dropouts on both ends.<br />
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Checking the clearance, it just clears a 47mm wide WTB Wolverine and a 47mm wide Maxxis Beaver 2.0" between the chainstays with about 3-4mm each side. This really is a bit borderline as it may not be enough to allow for out of roundness and wheel deflection. Still this is significantly more than the Bish Bash Bosh, 45mm tyres should fit in comfortably with 5mm each side.<br />
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Oddly when I tried to install my brake caliper I couldn't thread the lower bolt in. Sure enough the fork's lower post mount was not threaded at all, very odd and this must have passed the quality control. In all honesty the fork seems not as nicely finished as the frame, the crown junction with the steerer looks a little unfinished.<br />
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Rather than return the frame and fork to get it tapped I just did it myself, all done in about 5mins. I installed the rest of my old Campagnolo Athena Carbon groupset and the wheels I built for the Bish Bash Bosh on it, to get the front derailleur to work I had to run a full cable housing run to it, as well as use a clamp on cable stop on the seat tube to get it to work. Everything went on pretty well, strangely it was kinda nice to go back to a metal bike, all the plentiful fittings on the bike were very solid.<br />
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<h3>
Back to the South Downs</h3>
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The first ride I decided to take it on was along the South Downs Way where I had my last ride of the Bish Bash Bosh, I was back to face the demon mud that devoured my drivetrain and frame! Thankfully the mud this time was not so plentiful and it was a lot drier. The first impression I got of the bike was that the steering felt pretty different to the Bish Bash Bosh, steering didn't feel as stiff, probably due to the quick release front end vs the thru-axle however it felt just as stable. The ride felt a bit more compliant and more lively, it seems hard to quantify and it may be just a placebo effect but it feels more springy than carbon but not any less stiff as far as I can tell. </div>
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I could also tell that the general fit of the bike was different, it wasn't until a bit later that I realised this frame was a whole size bigger than the Bish Bash Bosh! The geometry otherwise was generally very similar except this has a 55cm top tube compared to the 53.5cm top tube of the Bish Bash Bosh. Due to the longer top tube this bike has much less toe overlap and a more relaxed seat angle. It was my own mistake when I ordered the frameset that I got the effective top tube and actual top tube numbers mixed up. However having ridden it I think I actually prefer it this way. Later on I fitted a slightly shorter 80mm stem and this had the effect of shortening the reach but livening up the steering, now it felt perfect. <br />
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Stay tuned for more.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZtcLP3olOXkbhcF9E9hpsVtQ7-zoPiW1d1q_adEE5BXe2rkngs9bj9Na1_m_lL8NXirnTMkGGphdEe65i2si-_eOJnWQOHPXVB43pXvrI2eyFaAYOJvYC8fh4z6X-HVXaUSik06V3dBf7/s1600/IMG_1535.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZtcLP3olOXkbhcF9E9hpsVtQ7-zoPiW1d1q_adEE5BXe2rkngs9bj9Na1_m_lL8NXirnTMkGGphdEe65i2si-_eOJnWQOHPXVB43pXvrI2eyFaAYOJvYC8fh4z6X-HVXaUSik06V3dBf7/s1600/IMG_1535.jpg" width="640" /></a>Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-77909205494939817212017-04-25T00:17:00.002+01:002017-06-09T00:53:21.252+01:00Maxxis Rambler Gravel Tyre Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is no substitute for good tyres, no way of compensating for bad tyres. Simply put they are the only single component connecting your bike to the road, and there is no one other component that can affect your ride in such a big way. This is particularly true when you are on a rigid bike, as the tyre <i>is </i>your suspension. When I was building <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/betty">Betty</a> one of my biggest concerns was what tyres do I choose? The type of riding I have done over the years has changed a bit, particularly more off-road. Part of the reason I changed bike was to fit larger tyres to allow me to ride more surfaces away from paved road. One tyre cannot be the perfect tyre for all conditions, inherently they are a compromise.<br />
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When I originally built <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Phil">Phil</a> in 2013 there weren't many 700c high performance wider tyres, particularly in tubeless format, also most off-road tyres were narrow 33mm cyclocross tyres. Fast forward to the present and there is plenty of choice, particularly tubeless compatible ones too. Ever since I rode the <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/tyre-review-challenge-strada-bianca.html">Challenge Strada Bianca</a> I have been slightly obsessed with supple tyres, however as these punctured relatively easily I was also very keen to try out tubeless with my next build. Looking at what was available now, one of the most popular gravel tyres is the WTB Nano 40c, this is a bit of an all conditions tyre which isn't too much of a slouch on tarmac either. However I spotted that Maxxis was releasing some gravel tyres, in particular the Rambler which is a low profile microknob design which was tubeless compatible. At a quoted 380g these are the lightest 40mm tyre on the market which is what drew my attention. Also they have a finely threaded 120tpi carcass which meant it should give a supple smooth ride, at the expense of being a little more delicate. I went ahead and bought a pair, not cheap at £45 each, however surprisingly they came in lighter than the quoted weight, they have a very lightweight construction with a flexible sidewall, hopefully this will mean they have a supple ride.<br />
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Installation and Setup</h3>
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I had read that these were difficult to install as tubeless, these were going to be the first tubeless tyres I'd ever setup on the first tubeless specific wheels I ever built. As expected the tyre's beads were pretty tight and had very little give, but they slipped on with a bit of soapy water. I used Stans tape and did two layers to cover the valve holes on my B.O.R XMD-366 tubeless compatible rims, this took a little bit of practice to get it to cover all the holes evenly. After popping the tyre on the rims, I stuck a tube in it and inflated the tyre to get it to a more round shape as it was still in a bit of a folded shape from it's packaged form.<br />
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After removing the tube and popping on both beads, I gave the edge a quick spray with some soapy water and then installed the tubeless valve with a bit of sealant around the rubber grommet. A few quick blasts of air with the track pump and it seated almost straight away... I couldn't believe it was so easy as I had heard it could be difficult and had some CO2 canisters at hand but never ended up needing them. The rear tyre held air overnight without any sealant, the front wouldn't hold air without sealant however. I added a bit of Orange Seal to each tyre and swished it around, after this both held air perfectly.</div>
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After inflating it to about 50psi (3.5bar) and leaving it overnight to stretch out a bit, they measured at 40.3mm wide. This is on a 21mm internal width rim, having read a few reviews saying they come out undersized I was pleasantly surprised with it's trueness to spec. The knobs barely protrude from the tyre carcass and such the width of the knobs vs the carcass is about the same. <br />
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Compared to my old 34mm Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres that I ran before they are noticeably bigger. Doing the maths a 40mm tyre is about 1250mm² in cross sectional area and a 34mm tyre is about 900mm², which at 38% increase which is quite a bit. Now to test these out.<br />
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</h3>
<h3>
First impressions</h3>
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One of the first places I was eager to test it out was the South Downs Way, this is a chalky, dusty long distance bridleway dotted with gravel and lots of sharp flinty rocks mixed with some grass and some soft loamy soil. Initially I set these up at 45psi (3.0bar) and was impressed at how fast these were on pavement, despite having knobs these things really flew on the road. Don't get me wrong though, they aren't going to come near proper slicks and they have a slightly audible buzz on tarmac, but looks can be deceptive.</div>
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Once on the gravel they really came into their intended environment. I played around with pressure a bit and ended up dropping them to 30/35psi(2.0/2.4bar) front/rear, the recommended pressure is 50psi however I think this is far too much air and you can safely drop them a lot lower, as long as you aren't burping them you should be fine. Compared with my old tyres the first thing I noticed was the plushness of the ride, these were the first tubeless tyres I'd ever ran and I was very impressed. Lots of the small flinty, rocky parts it soaked up with ease. Transition to grass and then tarmac and they feel really fast and plush. However where they came unstuck was when there was damp, these tyres do not like any wet conditions at all! The rear just simply doesn't have the knobs to really grip, it slips which means you really have to weight the back wheel on muddy climbs.</div>
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<h3>
Slippery when wet</h3>
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One of the first times I tried out these out it was a rainy day in Surrey Hills, on some of the MTB trails they simply can't cope and are a bit dangerous when it's wet. Off camber sections of singletrack had to be taken at a snails pace and wet rooty trails were difficult to say the least, this is probably due to the lack of significant shoulder knobs. Not really a surprise as the tread on these is minimal. Even in the dry the tyres don't have the sheer stickiness or knobblyness to make it over more gnarly trails with big rocks and roots. Large roots and rocks tend to deflect the tyre completely, it simply doesn't have the volume or knobs to just grip and float over these.</div>
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Over grass they are quite fast, they have little rolling resistance and braking/cornering traction is good. Despite being out of their league in muddy conditions, they seem to clear mud pretty quickly unless it is of the clay type which I think would clog up even slicks! Ultimately though they are not meant for muddy or wet conditions, this is pretty obvious. Despite this they are still much better than slicks in these kinds of conditions!<br />
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Performance on tarmac is good, whilst not the stickiest rubber they have decent grip and only emit a slight hum but are really easy to push, you almost forget that these are meant for off-road. The voluminous 40mm (for a 700c tyre) soaks up pretty much anything you'd encounter on a paved road apart from giant sinkholes, potholes, ruts and manhole covers just disappear.</div>
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A visit from the fairy</h3>
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Their light weight and supple ride does come with a price, despite having the EXO puncture resistant casing they punctured a fair bit over the past 8 months. The sharp flints of the South Downs caused two punctures in one ride alone. However as I've set them up tubeless with Orange Seal sealant this isn't really an issue at all, all I have to do is let the sealant pool a bit, then spin the tyre around. Once the puncture is sealed the air just needs to be topped up and you're good to go. The first puncture I got was in the wet and it only lost about 5psi before it sealed itself and I kept on riding. I've never been left stranded by these tyres, nor have I ever had to resort to using a tubeless patch kit or god forbid an inner tube! However this has happened to me with other tyres and was relatively easy to do.</div>
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<h3>
Verdict</h3>
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After riding these for about 6 months and about 1000km, I really like these tyres, they really transformed the bike into a do-it-all machine. The Ramblers excel at their intended purpose which is a diet of mostly gravel, road and the odd bit of loamy singletrack. Just don't expect too much when it's wet or a rooty/rocky trail. Though they aren't the grippiest tyres, their best quality is their super supple ride and low rolling resistance. When you have them spun up they seem to be so easy to push, their plushness soaks up most small bumps. The casing is very lightweight and flexible which gives them their suppleness, much more than their 40mm width would suggest, they even feel better than some much larger 2.0" mountain bike tyres yet are much lighter and faster. However this comes at a price, they are somewhat prone to puncture. Set up tubeless with sealant this isn't really much of an issue as they work great this way and seal quickly and effectively. They really are a bit of a jack of all trades tyre, ideal for rides which are 75% road with 25% off-road to 100% off-road. So in short, get these if you want really light, fast supple tyres that are somehwhat delicate, suited to mostly dry conditions. Definitely recommended.</div>
Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-83842697779179633662017-04-19T00:09:00.003+01:002017-04-19T00:10:26.982+01:00Bish Bash Bosh Part 8: A muddy end<div class="separator" style="clear: s1600both; text-align: center;">
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A little while ago I went on a ride with some friends along the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Downs_Way">South Downs Way</a>, this is a bridleway that tracks the ridge line of the South Downs, a string of hills that run east-west along the southern part of England. As you would imagine from the picture above it's a seamlessly never-ending run of rolling green hills, sheep and gravel. In the summer, the ground is dry and chalky with some sharp flinty rocks, in the winter and after rain this turns into a thick claggy mess, some of the stickiest mud I've ever seen.</div>
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Apart from the crazy amounts of mud you can see above, I managed to rip off my rear derailleur by snapping the hanger. I suspect this happened because not long ago I got a stick caught in it which bent it, I subsequently bent it back straight, however it being aluminium means it probably work hardened and became brittle. Thus I had to ride home in single speed mode, this meant tackling 10% dirt climbs in 50 x 20t which wasn't much fun. Add to this that it was difficult to get the chain to stay in gear without the derailleur, it took a lot of trial and error to find the neutral gear where it didn't want to move. This meant breaking and joining the chain several times which weakened it to the point that it broke every few kilometres... not a good day!<br />
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After this I put the bike away and it wasn't until the next weekend that I cleaned it up and had a good look at everything. The derailleur hanger was easy enough to replace, however on closer inspection...<br />
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I found that I had rubbed through the NDS chainstay, the tyre always cleared this but the buildup of mud over time must have been abrasive enough to go through 2 layers of carbon. Nothing too structural or mega critical however I don't like to take chances with things like this. Having enquired about the cost of repair, it didn't make economic sense as I bought this frame on clearance and repairing it would be more than buying one brand new.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR26uQejPzGpnJNmV0b_mVVZ9ETgL_1vhQR6_cZrjyK1Bky9bPkDi7GpwRUllY88OgHwOAy4VCeZBjf8YUHyGBmtqaLJCnK17VZaOuyWGGTYFTxbxtJYXC9ytrGQU9mXxMTCWKH-IUhGg9/s1600/IMG_1638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR26uQejPzGpnJNmV0b_mVVZ9ETgL_1vhQR6_cZrjyK1Bky9bPkDi7GpwRUllY88OgHwOAy4VCeZBjf8YUHyGBmtqaLJCnK17VZaOuyWGGTYFTxbxtJYXC9ytrGQU9mXxMTCWKH-IUhGg9/s1600/IMG_1638.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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At this stage I will try to sell it to recoup my costs. This was my first foray into carbon fibre and let's say it wasn't a great one. I will likely look for a new frame with a bit more clearance, particularly one that can run larger 650b tyres. Stay tuned for more...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF6ho3dUh1VRU7JozvIcdNEOIWpuoE1ikdGdsrtvGdAH_ZsH4VjVTj7SLppcRUihA9Adc2T5dYkD5jnMXjfbViyZKc5PnnQaCiDUgr7Z8wwsqyTV5ptgIbeW9IPgaAdxMaSVh35k01gMap/s1600/IMG_1334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF6ho3dUh1VRU7JozvIcdNEOIWpuoE1ikdGdsrtvGdAH_ZsH4VjVTj7SLppcRUihA9Adc2T5dYkD5jnMXjfbViyZKc5PnnQaCiDUgr7Z8wwsqyTV5ptgIbeW9IPgaAdxMaSVh35k01gMap/s1600/IMG_1334.jpg" width="640" /></a>Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-12806280364525207142017-02-19T22:51:00.001+00:002017-02-19T22:51:39.554+00:00Entering the foldI've been riding <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/postmaster">The Postmaster</a> and before that <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/charles">Charles</a> for a total of about 5 years now, both bikes shared the same basic parts, traditional English commuting bike with 3 speed hub gears and drum brakes. Even though they were a little bit different from each other they were like brothers. As much as I loved commuting on them both, I managed to <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/an-unfortunate-end.html">destroy Charles</a> and there has been a persistent problem with the headset on The Postmaster which I have been unable to get parts for. The other thing is that the ethos of these bikes is basically slow and steady and I decided I wanted to change that.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdVSUeN4OCryACPrUUxlOh9y-c_5ZYdD-u6yJ1emmsWUJxHAG5WM0jC8MhRdhFd95SFdYP-XU2-rckrCtrSaRxs_BPrFQPvvL1SFF-t2y9l3Z4EAOef_2_IrrooZqLazHBu6ZvwWX254G/s1600/DSCF9411+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxdVSUeN4OCryACPrUUxlOh9y-c_5ZYdD-u6yJ1emmsWUJxHAG5WM0jC8MhRdhFd95SFdYP-XU2-rckrCtrSaRxs_BPrFQPvvL1SFF-t2y9l3Z4EAOef_2_IrrooZqLazHBu6ZvwWX254G/s640/DSCF9411+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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A matter of time</h3>
Which leads to the title of this post, Entering the Fold. I've always admired Bromptons and have considered getting one several times in the past. The compactness of the fold and the sheer ingenuity of the design and how well integrated and refined it is has always impressed me. When I was looking for a flat to purchase about a year ago, I fretted over being able to store all my bikes, in particular if a flat had no bike storage facility I would have no other choice but to get a Brompton. Finally what made me pull the trigger was this...<br />
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For the past five years, every day when I arrived at the work on my bike, I had to enter the underground carpark and lock it up there, then walk for about 5 minutes to the other side of the building to get to my office upstairs. There was no other secure place to lock it up otherise, this meant every day I would waste 10 minutes walking to and from my bike, this may not sound like much but it added up to 50 minutes every week, nearly a whole hour! Also if I decided to go out at lunch or after work nearby I would have to decide whether it was worth walking to my bike, unlocking and re-locking it and walking back.</div>
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Pulling the trigger</h3>
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Over the holiday break I decided it was time, I was sick of wasting time and I felt I should take advantage of the cyclescheme in the UK. This basically is a government scheme where they let you spend up to £1,000 on the retail cost of a bike then pay it back over 12 months as a salary sacrifice tax free. So basically of that £1,000 you pay back only the cost before tax which is about 2/3rds. I figured my time was worth more than that over the course of several years so I went ahead with it. I had always wanted a Brompton, the appeal of a portable bike that you could take into pubs, cinemas, the tube and buses was too tempting.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMWzGY-WB_l3qHM_7SPy_OL7SYui-uHaa93NO-3nKrnMlVfqSrS77otLrvMDiCjJ-WbELez66E3GL06vWhhOuyruoxd1szFbqBH2i7dK4Rbr9-tWfGXfy01XNLB0v8Zu2XqOcwsE1ysQwx/s1600/DSCF9419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMWzGY-WB_l3qHM_7SPy_OL7SYui-uHaa93NO-3nKrnMlVfqSrS77otLrvMDiCjJ-WbELez66E3GL06vWhhOuyruoxd1szFbqBH2i7dK4Rbr9-tWfGXfy01XNLB0v8Zu2XqOcwsE1ysQwx/s640/DSCF9419.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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So I got this guy, it's a 2017 Brompton S6R with dynamo lights which is quite an odd combination. Normally you can customise a Brompton on their website and choose colours, fittings and accessories, however this is a black edition one which meant that you could only buy it as a preconfigured bike. The Black edition is a purely cosmetic thing, the stem, handlebars, cranks, hubs etc are black and that's it. I had to search high and low to find this as these are limited edition and the black editions tend to disappear quite quickly off the shelves. </div>
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Let's take a minute to decode the Brompton model designations. When I describe the bike as an S6R this means three things. The first letter describes the handlebar as <i>S </i>which is a Sport model with a flat bar which is the most aerodynamic and least flexy handlebar. The <i>6 </i>denotes the number of gears, it is a slightly oddball 2x3 system with a two-speed derailleur setup mated to a Sturmey Archer 3-speed hub. The <i>R </i>denotes that it has a full rack on the rear. This model also came with a Shimano dynamo setup with Busch and Muller lights, however I have already swapped the Philips Saferide headlight and tailight I had on The Postmaster onto it. Originally the bike came with a telescopic seatpost which has a smaller seatpost inside the main seatpost, this is meant for particularly tall people (taller than 6'0" or 183cm). However I've since swapped this for the standard seatpost to save weight but also because the telescopic seatpost has two sets of seatpost clamps which I found rubbed on my inner thigh which was a bit annoying.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_qFdi2N5qFnH6z8Yavq0yEJOZphw-dgCrve08cTefdtxMRizBcGsVswka1g1FKb5xG7joX1PGOTmABsQszjFiixszs6M-lh-EvFvxrgtZOYKkstL4wA-6mS1Mehs4Uw_WqW8FaV34mqKV/s1600/DSCF9420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_qFdi2N5qFnH6z8Yavq0yEJOZphw-dgCrve08cTefdtxMRizBcGsVswka1g1FKb5xG7joX1PGOTmABsQszjFiixszs6M-lh-EvFvxrgtZOYKkstL4wA-6mS1Mehs4Uw_WqW8FaV34mqKV/s640/DSCF9420.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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First Impressions</h3>
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Prior to this I had ridden a Brompton before only briefly, it was my old landlord's one and it had the M-type handlebars which is a more upright one shaped a bit like an upside down moustache. I distinctly remember it being pretty flexy and slightly odd to ride. However I managed to test ride quite a few different setups and quickly preferred the S-type handlebars which have significantly less flex and a lower more racy position that I am used to from my road background.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5mbZa8YWvDsxo_hGBcHwwKu_kq2amoHb2I9SX7v_m19O4m2Em5aFmZh77mqUSjqGwfTTS5hyuaElsw-I699TgnadtFZFe9_Ta6gqrE_HktYeagIYbQRnQenYehsU2NxdUG1FuGCGjGw7/s1600/DSCF9434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5mbZa8YWvDsxo_hGBcHwwKu_kq2amoHb2I9SX7v_m19O4m2Em5aFmZh77mqUSjqGwfTTS5hyuaElsw-I699TgnadtFZFe9_Ta6gqrE_HktYeagIYbQRnQenYehsU2NxdUG1FuGCGjGw7/s640/DSCF9434.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rear triangle folds underneath the bike and also acts as a suspension pivot which has a shock absorber which attaches to the seatpost clamp</td></tr>
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As this bike was an off the shelf configuration I managed to get it quite quickly after ordering it, right out of the box the bike worked beautifully, the dynamo lights worked great and I was able to ride it home. It took a few tries to fold and unfold it without stopping to think and quickly became second nature, although admittedly even now I'm pretty slow at folding it. The riding position was pretty aerodynamic with the bars and saddle almost level, this combined with the 6 speeds makes it quite a zippy bike compared to what I was commuting on before. I noticed that now I arrived to work having a little sweat on my brow...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKvejil-BOp-r1tATE7HE8SzgY2fv4H49eTK7spEFqBsI0RIwUxGDorKckHGlKpg8hEZdGtQeRSiEpO9-T77GiRSGkvSlisPwSUW7XrpQmvtwvw8Rkte2sPrQsp4oICM23LqcIlZEHmO-/s1600/DSCF9441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKvejil-BOp-r1tATE7HE8SzgY2fv4H49eTK7spEFqBsI0RIwUxGDorKckHGlKpg8hEZdGtQeRSiEpO9-T77GiRSGkvSlisPwSUW7XrpQmvtwvw8Rkte2sPrQsp4oICM23LqcIlZEHmO-/s640/DSCF9441.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bike folds the frame as well as the base of the stem using two clamps</td></tr>
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Admittedly the best thing about the bike is the accessibility, not having to worry about locking it and using less space to store it. I was able to straight away fold it up and enter a pub or restaurant, which felt very liberating. The Brompton is generally unmatched when it comes to folding efficiency, for several reasons. Many many years ago when it was being conceived, one of the original premises of it was to fold it so that that the greasy drivetrain ends up sandwiched in the middle, in addition the nose of the saddle becomes a convenient handle for it, and when tilted sideways slightly when dropped also happens to be the centre of gravity of the folded package.</div>
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I managed to not only to save time by avoiding the long walk from the carpark, but also by riding to work in a shorter period of time. On average I would estimate it's a few minutes faster over about 10km mostly due to the additional gearing and more aerodynamic riding position, I could average a higher speed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWseJy1TDp2cxdSjNzShpRBkVgVLEfvanUOSnVDTen4pu4mANWlAPnKRqqyqJ2t9EBkzEStUOXpKotRJF3hihkA3a1wvIlMlDroOTWB0L33cyEbL-PaiNsyXvp37dWgWlKUv5PyiDDDPya/s1600/DSCF9428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWseJy1TDp2cxdSjNzShpRBkVgVLEfvanUOSnVDTen4pu4mANWlAPnKRqqyqJ2t9EBkzEStUOXpKotRJF3hihkA3a1wvIlMlDroOTWB0L33cyEbL-PaiNsyXvp37dWgWlKUv5PyiDDDPya/s640/DSCF9428.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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One other thing I always liked about Bromptons is the luggage situation. As any long time readers of this blog may know, I'm a big fan of carrying things on bikes, and this is no exception. Bromptons have a luggage block attachment point on the headtube which is separate from the steering. This means you don't get the odd effect of having a bag swinging around with your handlebars.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6u5MEOuUEsn9Bm8Hoaihg4aBFg3XDiPn3J7PavIc4uyWxHBitsm3sVg81cz2wq1bLr55gPZ5CHDkIjUHyyfxN9Ak8siY_ihvPDSHNuA2KU1oQ4RoNQApR5_LCczFhk12Hm226PSqEwFr3/s1600/DSCF9449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6u5MEOuUEsn9Bm8Hoaihg4aBFg3XDiPn3J7PavIc4uyWxHBitsm3sVg81cz2wq1bLr55gPZ5CHDkIjUHyyfxN9Ak8siY_ihvPDSHNuA2KU1oQ4RoNQApR5_LCczFhk12Hm226PSqEwFr3/s640/DSCF9449.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The luggage block fixes onto the frame with two bolts</td></tr>
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There are plenty of different luggage options for Bromptons, some made by the Brompton company themselves to other manufacturers such as Ortlieb and Carradice. I needed a bag which I could take what I normally would fit in my Ortlieb City Roller panniers I was used to using on my previous commuting bikes, the capacity of which is about 20L. I initially had my heart set on the Ortlieb O-bag which was developed in conjunction with Brompton but in the end decided to go with the Carradice Stockport bag. I initially though I needed the Ortlieb because it was 20L, however once I saw the Stockport in the flesh it was about the same size or bigger than a messenger bag I occasionally use so I decided to get it, despite the Stockport being 16L. Also I'm a bit of a sucker for Carradice stuff having owned a few of their saddlebags in the past. The Stockport bag is of a much nicer appearance and finish that what I have seen in the past with their products.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRx_pHg3K-cQZMeTahuzPRL6tZKwkMrCOPiyaQqbYxvoFFs91eFAT_KLovuwPvF2svXdREP79jPilH00Gm4NtbRhCQhxtp5z_1SW5ZlowG_o9pkn61cITrdHzjxB4sHYQtKUU15OrEyjhW/s1600/DSCF9450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRx_pHg3K-cQZMeTahuzPRL6tZKwkMrCOPiyaQqbYxvoFFs91eFAT_KLovuwPvF2svXdREP79jPilH00Gm4NtbRhCQhxtp5z_1SW5ZlowG_o9pkn61cITrdHzjxB4sHYQtKUU15OrEyjhW/s640/DSCF9450.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi17ShhMztyFMevwPqxw-PYW9nOlRcoQYJQlaF7GRILNX-vtieXZ1Fz0nzaigLKDT_SnIzphlu9jrdM9iO-3fSXNI4nO7cV0QDcEFDTYHgRjvEI5RfKOYz6z_Vbm1qhHwKr6sy7GGm-MCco/s1600/DSCF9452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi17ShhMztyFMevwPqxw-PYW9nOlRcoQYJQlaF7GRILNX-vtieXZ1Fz0nzaigLKDT_SnIzphlu9jrdM9iO-3fSXNI4nO7cV0QDcEFDTYHgRjvEI5RfKOYz6z_Vbm1qhHwKr6sy7GGm-MCco/s640/DSCF9452.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The Stockport bag requires a separate aluminium frame made by Brompton to interface with the luggage block, this also conveniently includes a handle. The exterior is the classic waxed cotton duck fabric with a tartan interior lining and black leather straps, nice and classic looks which wouldn't look out of place at a work meeting. Combining this with the rack means you can carry a fair bit of stuff on it for such a small bike.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbYPpUSeoANJoHQDghqxDp-wHohvfWU7cyFvhtoX5KHrZbUhfUYHG8Mu2UfMBuWyK2gla92Bs5Y3_bTkr_dSsUQYl_u_0nDYFRPqf88fkzwVEna8HybmucALu6oi4usDmTY188tVsRxlv/s1600/DSCF9458.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKbYPpUSeoANJoHQDghqxDp-wHohvfWU7cyFvhtoX5KHrZbUhfUYHG8Mu2UfMBuWyK2gla92Bs5Y3_bTkr_dSsUQYl_u_0nDYFRPqf88fkzwVEna8HybmucALu6oi4usDmTY188tVsRxlv/s640/DSCF9458.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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Funnily enough with a bit of weight over the front wheel the bike feels less skittish, initially when I test rode Bromptons I felt they were a little twitchy. The luggage setup on Bromptons is great though! When you attach the bag it clicks into place and is released by depressing a lever on its underside. The shoulder strap tucks into the subframe handle and away you go. It's just so easy to remove and then fold up the bike, then you're ready to go enter a pub or restaurant.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdRhspSP8_FwSL46H7RlIdFhyphenhyphenMY0O1BzNB3wk7G4gBClRJY42iQDNXOFXyKSMz-WZy5yYNleQi60vD3fcidviQMelEad0PRGhmlXaglCgb1nfUFSYYQTuLwui3nrvjhJaBl90HmgaAuMxs/s1600/DSCF9448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdRhspSP8_FwSL46H7RlIdFhyphenhyphenMY0O1BzNB3wk7G4gBClRJY42iQDNXOFXyKSMz-WZy5yYNleQi60vD3fcidviQMelEad0PRGhmlXaglCgb1nfUFSYYQTuLwui3nrvjhJaBl90HmgaAuMxs/s640/DSCF9448.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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A shopping trolley with pedals</h3>
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I'd seen this done before but now have experienced using it this way myself. As you can see in the picture above in the semi-folded position with bag attached it becomes a shopping trolley. The wheels on the rack (known as Eazy wheels) allow it to be rolled along with the handlebars. For the commuter this is godsend. This is what attracted me to the Brompton in the first place, the well thought through design and refinement which you don't find in many other folding bikes.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24SmB9ta-ed32IsMriVcj15y3VtoQT3G6AgrGTeO0gUF9FkZejW08qHMGfIyakuzY0OfKnKuPsWxMcAjuBBTr84Vlcyd6s8l4V2t7txpIAxC_2KjsjhA6POiYNaQqNEv-aEul9RDCpv6W/s1600/DSCF9459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24SmB9ta-ed32IsMriVcj15y3VtoQT3G6AgrGTeO0gUF9FkZejW08qHMGfIyakuzY0OfKnKuPsWxMcAjuBBTr84Vlcyd6s8l4V2t7txpIAxC_2KjsjhA6POiYNaQqNEv-aEul9RDCpv6W/s640/DSCF9459.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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After you've done your shopping the bike unfolds and you're off. One change that has been made to the later Bromptons is an adjustable insert in the seat tube which stops the seatpost at a predetermined height which you can set, this saves time and hassle as you always can be sure it's at the correct height for you.<br />
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Drivetrain</h3>
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The drivetrain on the Brompton is somewhat unique, the 6-speed version employs a special wide range version the the classic 3-Speed Sturmey Archer hub combined with a two speed derailleur. This creates 6 evenly spaced gears which gives a 245% overall range which is more than enough for most commuters. However the downside to this is that this means you have a two gear shifters, and if you want to go through the gears sequentially it means every second gear is a double shift. However this is made slightly easier due to the redesign of the gear shifters in the 2017 Bromptons, these are a bit more like the standard Shimano Rapid-fire MTB shifters which are slung under the bars. Prior to that Brompton's shifters had thumb levers which stuck up above the bars in a slightly awkward way a bit like two pairs of rabbit ears.</div>
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Where there could be some improvement in the drivetrain is the derailleur shifting, the Sturmey Archer hub has a driver with two sprockets on it. This is shifted by a sort-of derailleur which is a C shaped channel which rotates on the chainstay guiding the chain towards one of the two sprockets. The chain tensioner doesn't move sideways like a conventional derailleur, rather the two jockey wheels slide on their spindles either way. It works reasonably well going from the bigger to smaller sprocket, however it sometimes doesn't shift particularly well from smaller to bigger sprocket. This is particularly true when shifting under load or when it's quite dirty. Normally on a derailleur system shifting up to a larger sprocket under load happens quickly and smoothly if it is a modern ramped sprocket. However on the Brompton, despite being ramped it tends to struggle a bit and needs backing off on the pedals to allow it to catch the larger sprocket. This may be due to the 3 tooth jump from the 13t to the 16t sprocket and/or the derailleur design or maybe even the Sram chain which doesn't have chamfered outer plates.<br />
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However the Sturmey Archer hub shifts quickly and precisely like I'm used to, it just needs a very quick backing off of the pedals while it shifts in a split second which I'm used to. Overall I think the six speed option is pretty neat, although I may want to improve the derailleur shifting at some point and may look into getting the ratios a little bit closer as I find the jumps a bit big when really putting down the power.<br />
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<h3>
Little surprises</h3>
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One of the really great things about Bromptons is the little things, in particular is the accessory tool kit. While not cheap at just under £50, almost every nut and bolt on the bike can be turned with this. Also it includes a patch kit and tyre levers, and best of all it fits snugly into the frame...</div>
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<h3>
The ride</h3>
Overall I'm really happy with the bike and it's already saved me a lot of time and been extremely convenient. It's significantly faster than my older commuting bikes. The steering is a little twitchy at first but I quickly got used to it, in fact I almost prefer the nimbleness in the city. When it's up to speed it feels quite stable too, every morning I go down a hill and hit 40+ km/h, at the bottom the stock brakes pull it to a stop quickly, they are actually quite good. When it is a bit wet their power is somewhat reduced, however compared to other rim brakes I've used the stock Fibrax pads perform quite well in the wet. <br />
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The downside of small wheels though, as I already knew from owning a Raleigh Twenty for a while is that they don't tend to roll over things as easily as larger wheels, hence you really feel bumps and road irregularities a lot more. The rear suspension goes some way to taking the edge off that, however I have the firm block installed and at 68kg weight I probably don't weight enough to warrant it. Many users fit the firm block to avoid excessive bobbing when pedalling. The stock Brompton Kevlar tyres that I have fitted advise you to inflate to 100psi (6 bar) which is excessive for a 35mm wide tyre, I found for my weight about 70-80psi (5 bar) is about right. In summary though, when riding a Brompton you sometimes forget you're on a folding bike, it rides surprisingly well for a bike that folds up so small, just avoid the potholes!<br />
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That's all for now, I'll probably write another post on it pretty soon. Thanks for reading.<br />
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<br />Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-55393060567037655802016-12-24T18:43:00.001+00:002016-12-24T18:43:45.583+00:00Bish Bash Bosh Part 7: Teething IssuesIn a previous post <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/bish-bash-bosh-part-5-campagnolo.html">I overhauled the bottom bracket bearings</a>, now it's time to change the worn original Campagnolo chainrings for new ones. To start off with, the cranks I have are 2010 Campagnolo Athena Carbon models which are different from the later years. They only made this groupset in this form for one year, as I was to find out what should have been a simple swap turned into something much more complex<br />
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<h3>
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<h3>
The Problem</h3>
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After six years of use I was starting to get some problems with my chainrings, occasionally shifting down into the small ring would cause chainsuck. Usually this is caused by worn teeth, slowly the chain rollers wear into the teeth and they start to take on a profile similar to a shark's tooth. This causes the position of the chain on the chainring to change over time which means that when shifting down, the chain will not detach from it and it gets driven into the chainstay. Also after 6 years of mostly road riding it really was just time, otherwise I would wear the chain and other drivetrain components more quickly</div>
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However, one would reasonably assume a consumable part like a chainring would be easily replaceable. Not so with Campagnolo, particularly as their bolt pattern is proprietary and not interchangeable with other brands. Firstly Campagnolo decided to hide one bolt hole behind the crank arm and then they decided to offset it 2mm which makes it incompatible with every other chainring on the market. Secondly, they changed the design of the bolts and inner chainrings a few years after my cranks were released. Instead of the conventional two piece chainring bolts, now the inner chainring is threaded and the bolt screws directly into it which is actually kinda neat. However I was not sure whether I could get away with just replacing the outer chainring which was worn and using the original bolts.</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
New Rings</h3>
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So I ordered the chainrings, a pair of Stronglight CT2 rings which are meant for Campagnolo 11 speed cranksets. This is where the first problems started. I tried using the old style bolts with the old chainring and this didn't work, there was too little thread engagement because the outer bolt sits too far out on the chainring as you can see in the picture below. So then I ordered the Campagnolo new style chainring bolts FC-SR200.</div>
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<img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBhcxDyG8Xs6XFL0TwA0Buxw4Ym_T-g4vzDJF2jLAIyo6PQgiFkBWZlAg01WqAQmS5EG0H2H3nrxMlstZFP5-u7L7lJBjKkMWlfDbxC9HLfZnSe22998sBl-DsoQUrPHNC0iP7dwaVi_s/s1600/DSCF9181.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">The FC-SR200 chainring bolts can be seen on the left with the new style inner chainring which has a smaller threaded hole. The older style bolts are on the right and you can see they are two piece. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSldAI36_FTeQtRaEafPKLGpG4nwYfBa78nVq_-Pz1U5T0ccr5V3xL_S-KXiaFHdFCXiy-do-LZg15hNPSeHlIotQM-6Vj2l0v6nXrZY82kq1URfDs3V1HzX2eAHUyKGWmWEQ02HvgNSxk/s1600/DSCF9177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSldAI36_FTeQtRaEafPKLGpG4nwYfBa78nVq_-Pz1U5T0ccr5V3xL_S-KXiaFHdFCXiy-do-LZg15hNPSeHlIotQM-6Vj2l0v6nXrZY82kq1URfDs3V1HzX2eAHUyKGWmWEQ02HvgNSxk/s1600/DSCF9177.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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You might think that it would be pretty straightforward now to fit these, however it wasn't so simple. You can see in the photo above that there is a pad on the underside of the crank arm where the fifth 112mm BCD offset bolt sits. The thickness of this pad means that the chainring needs an offset cut into the chainring surface so it will sit flat. The Stronglight one was not enough and it made the big ring distort when tightened down. You can see in the photo below the gap made at the chainring holes when only this fifth bolt is tightened, it should be dead flat.<br />
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So what to do? I milled down the pad until it sit nice and flat.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1FP1tgHYzJV6eYFb6_RTEXMGnBpuy9ub_WAvaEWBNiHmCsATDlxnL9qMdDPt8O3kO8fC2oqc-mpwxILbi2SNFldNYGkTvLWi7HEivGC8hSmmq_-4KXNiP7OYx-AbR6jtIjjiKTRrjgv6O/s1600/DSCF9188.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1FP1tgHYzJV6eYFb6_RTEXMGnBpuy9ub_WAvaEWBNiHmCsATDlxnL9qMdDPt8O3kO8fC2oqc-mpwxILbi2SNFldNYGkTvLWi7HEivGC8hSmmq_-4KXNiP7OYx-AbR6jtIjjiKTRrjgv6O/s1600/DSCF9188.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Now with the pad milled down both chainrings sit nice and flat on the crank.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxDrPEBD2PbitVOAtk9NqB20lNlTdDeFRwui9-jpJ3Q9ixp_SsmXBkXWFpHls6gE6tsDcDUYbKCySLWxqSqC_Lt2XVHaVLN8LPufUbGl_idHa9mQhpnTxw__qWq_pyigc7DKbvtfFfU3Y/s1600/DSCF9182.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvxDrPEBD2PbitVOAtk9NqB20lNlTdDeFRwui9-jpJ3Q9ixp_SsmXBkXWFpHls6gE6tsDcDUYbKCySLWxqSqC_Lt2XVHaVLN8LPufUbGl_idHa9mQhpnTxw__qWq_pyigc7DKbvtfFfU3Y/s1600/DSCF9182.jpg" width="640" /></a> <span style="text-align: center;"> </span><br />
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<h3>
One Little Snag...</h3>
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Now that was sorted I thought that was it, job done. Doing a test ride they seemed fine, except for one thing... The chain suck is even worse! Even with a new chain the chain constantly gets sucked up by the small ring! It happens when shifting down to the small ring, particularly when there is a bit of load on the chain. The old chainrings only did this when they were worn after 6 years of use. This is infuriating and it's made a dent in the bash plate of the frame. Even if I try to always pedal lightly when shifting down which was what I normally do, it will still jam occasionally. Although sometimes it is unavoidable, I will get caught needing to drop to a low gear and accelerate suddenly and it will likely jam.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5UuMSnyF_h9GzALipuHWNJvdrhrwUzeghpePpgNqMwNT7PT2_wz2g_T4JIb97LchtodpMDfSR_JrFKr-qbKMlGuLbeVtYaJdyUJochQPLSgXOMrJZxqvUaGwIFy57unDoV_oBvnR1HkcH/s1600/IMG_0809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5UuMSnyF_h9GzALipuHWNJvdrhrwUzeghpePpgNqMwNT7PT2_wz2g_T4JIb97LchtodpMDfSR_JrFKr-qbKMlGuLbeVtYaJdyUJochQPLSgXOMrJZxqvUaGwIFy57unDoV_oBvnR1HkcH/s1600/IMG_0809.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Secondly the big ring sat too far inboard, it would rub on the big ring's shift pins when running small-small when the chain is at the greatest angle, again this never happened on the old chainrings. I had to use 0.6mm spacers to space out the big ring to prevent this from happening.</div>
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I'm not sure how I can really fix this without changing out the chainring, I think the phasing of the teeth between the chainrings is off which causes the chain to jam. One solution is to file the offending teeth back slightly however this is less than ideal. The amount of modification I've had to do to even get these to fit is frustrating. That's all for now, stay tuned for more. Thanks for reading.</div>
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Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-89850546455736352042016-11-26T22:56:00.003+00:002016-11-26T22:56:36.078+00:00Bish Bash Bosh Part 6: Putting it all together<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGZsD8NsgCySr7DbNVayw0yUiVPaGbm6wXLxBw0azRLD7TzLcpJOjX16xSMx0gp46SPirU1FaLGnJv9SoDmzIJbG3JwnoGnEnaXcktbcV5r9Y7SasMDsy3v6RbS8JJd6zRv40NUcgx-ST/s1600/DSCF9121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwGZsD8NsgCySr7DbNVayw0yUiVPaGbm6wXLxBw0azRLD7TzLcpJOjX16xSMx0gp46SPirU1FaLGnJv9SoDmzIJbG3JwnoGnEnaXcktbcV5r9Y7SasMDsy3v6RbS8JJd6zRv40NUcgx-ST/s640/DSCF9121.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now that the wheels are done, it's time to start putting it all together on the frame. First let's run through some of the bits and pieces I have for the bike. I mocked up the frame without the wheels to get a feel for how it would look.</div>
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Cockpit</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQMYMXhU5sxmZmy_B2PpkNCgqchYvup0KbLyQW5nHDTCTAfRPmh5RbcRjTZ4JYWrcaiQDMoUznygKPn_uEuwcRO5ORVcpKyLPustGqrvEyfj5o3iEWbFTibXR42-fFYHg6WSjakhyxT10/s1600/HB8230_1920x720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQMYMXhU5sxmZmy_B2PpkNCgqchYvup0KbLyQW5nHDTCTAfRPmh5RbcRjTZ4JYWrcaiQDMoUznygKPn_uEuwcRO5ORVcpKyLPustGqrvEyfj5o3iEWbFTibXR42-fFYHg6WSjakhyxT10/s640/HB8230_1920x720.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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One of the biggest changes I have made compared to my old setup is in the cockpit. Instead of keeping my old bar and stem (a 42cm wide compact drop and 80mm stem) I'm moving to a flared extra wide handlebar and a longer stem. When I was building <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/jackyll">the tandem</a> I bought a 46cm wide bar for it as the size and weight of the bike demands more leverage. I got so used to this that every time I went back to my single bike it felt... a bit too narrow. Particularly off road I felt that the 42cm bars didn't really give me much control over bumpy terrain. After a bit of shopping around, I ended up getting the Salsa Cowbell 3 bars, these are very much a standard road bar with a 12º flare to the drops. They are also extra wide at 46cm measured at the hoods, so at the drops they are about 52cm which is going towards MTB width. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEPBhicG753R30vslcQuOmpk4SmgKnD2DNX4kcvRXsIdqH9moNH58VvcaR1lcXzM5G0nRJeStHpYRKBMEw82tQ95S-eChaOJtPA0QuwH4fFb_jhlUezjDWdYCzv8YeOsqKMXzPlIIfFJ1/s1600/DSCF9175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEPBhicG753R30vslcQuOmpk4SmgKnD2DNX4kcvRXsIdqH9moNH58VvcaR1lcXzM5G0nRJeStHpYRKBMEw82tQ95S-eChaOJtPA0QuwH4fFb_jhlUezjDWdYCzv8YeOsqKMXzPlIIfFJ1/s640/DSCF9175.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I swapped for a 100mm stem as the reach of these bars is about 20mm shorter than my previous bars so overall the fit is about the same. I chose the Fizik Cyrano C5 stem, nothing too fancy but reasonable weight and looks nice and feels stiff with a square section and Torx bolts on the faceplate.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD4iqM02AAl6R2f9P0RGhHG6xADxu5PsxIQ6hEwG1PYm3dzCJvND78QU_XArLkECDrW75hZ7V5ullfmXtP_t45g_WLg-tIM2B-kzoIifJH5Olfj06x69ebFnZV5CtIg18lhS8sSTz0qJRu/s1600/DSCF9091.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD4iqM02AAl6R2f9P0RGhHG6xADxu5PsxIQ6hEwG1PYm3dzCJvND78QU_XArLkECDrW75hZ7V5ullfmXtP_t45g_WLg-tIM2B-kzoIifJH5Olfj06x69ebFnZV5CtIg18lhS8sSTz0qJRu/s640/DSCF9091.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Fizik bar tape to match the stem. The bar tape is the tacky variety so it has a synthetic rubbery feel to it with a lot more cushion. In the past I have always preferred more thin, less cushioned tape however I'm going to give this a go as off-road a bit more cushioning would go a long way.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkcOt2watxAOicRyji-fsFT9cALQScl4eqOtDlIWBjgXQ1uXRxUQ3_6ohyphenhyphenxjedDSAM5YQH0sTJ1YGCWEsxgvrV2fUCuvwwkda5P3BAaS9mOgQR4M8duR_mObMZlU054-5CdMiAXubOLKM/s1600/DSCF9089.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkcOt2watxAOicRyji-fsFT9cALQScl4eqOtDlIWBjgXQ1uXRxUQ3_6ohyphenhyphenxjedDSAM5YQH0sTJ1YGCWEsxgvrV2fUCuvwwkda5P3BAaS9mOgQR4M8duR_mObMZlU054-5CdMiAXubOLKM/s640/DSCF9089.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Lifeline 1.125 to 1.5" tapered carbon headset. This was only £20 or so, at nearly half the price of the FSA one. It features TH Industries bearings, and these sit directly into the frame. I mentioned before I was a little cynical about integrated headsets, however I was willing to give them a chance, time will tell! Lifeline is the house brand of Wiggle.co.uk, still the finish on this is quite good and features carbon top caps<br />
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Other bits</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHWzwWEJqwehYrV4bkz7SqpuVp2qFi_SZ47Ih-1j3mrXBTbwCYtCHJRill_rsYJiA-UeMYzn0Mkys0UTJESfq981qOV_erwyZ7gYZ0loOB5O0CTRbEwKymwG3roujLYNGJFTgwIdieLH0/s1600/DSCF9101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHWzwWEJqwehYrV4bkz7SqpuVp2qFi_SZ47Ih-1j3mrXBTbwCYtCHJRill_rsYJiA-UeMYzn0Mkys0UTJESfq981qOV_erwyZ7gYZ0loOB5O0CTRbEwKymwG3roujLYNGJFTgwIdieLH0/s640/DSCF9101.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now onto some carbon fibre goodies, from Procraft, a seatpost clamp and a front derailleur braze-on adaptor. I was a bit wary of using a derailleur clamp on the carbon tubes, so at least this one spreads out the clamping force more than the typical aluminium ones you see. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDgnez1shI3FzoDUmGIpe_VK-uNBDIdxi5eHx7QsVOx39_Wpzwiizz-KcvX18lGdAC1POGeE3ezgKaNoh6mlDChvXFyldKk697uNxy8rVQZotSuHTlWM55lwZ0oswfhXexdkV9DTmREvIc/s1600/DSCF9376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDgnez1shI3FzoDUmGIpe_VK-uNBDIdxi5eHx7QsVOx39_Wpzwiizz-KcvX18lGdAC1POGeE3ezgKaNoh6mlDChvXFyldKk697uNxy8rVQZotSuHTlWM55lwZ0oswfhXexdkV9DTmREvIc/s640/DSCF9376.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I also got a pair of carbon bottle cages too, admittedly mostly for the bling factor but also for the light weight.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxS3mEhKLXe5lYAfPDq03zaI3d2K0v3CgZjTzvZ3q-NCOtfD_kl83Ad5aFVOiOcShGMbHtyeULjDHvKaJ5XpW998FEhDgEm2lhglj7K4xeh9eRDIH15QfkRhiuEznh8mXLpw4oPVw-Elb/s1600/DSCF9377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqxS3mEhKLXe5lYAfPDq03zaI3d2K0v3CgZjTzvZ3q-NCOtfD_kl83Ad5aFVOiOcShGMbHtyeULjDHvKaJ5XpW998FEhDgEm2lhglj7K4xeh9eRDIH15QfkRhiuEznh8mXLpw4oPVw-Elb/s640/DSCF9377.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1q85s-GQeZbQEBLx5YsB7oNLcanxloxhQa2b_LxOH4kRU1MIlF2HhAuztnv8Zf1JB5IoAR6O4Co89XjTwe9GipL_zWwwkl1WoNQMyM7FNrDtgLOZykCBG9BLW8Tf0sndHfVA2AxPtFH3s/s1600/DSCF9379.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1q85s-GQeZbQEBLx5YsB7oNLcanxloxhQa2b_LxOH4kRU1MIlF2HhAuztnv8Zf1JB5IoAR6O4Co89XjTwe9GipL_zWwwkl1WoNQMyM7FNrDtgLOZykCBG9BLW8Tf0sndHfVA2AxPtFH3s/s640/DSCF9379.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I replaced my ageing saddle bag with a Ynot tool roll. This is made from Cordura and wraps around the saddle rails with a buckle. Big enough to just fit a spare tube, tools, tyre levers and a tubeless patch kit. Hopefully won't ever need to use the tube!</div>
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Assembly</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Q4pc8aFXjn1RQ-BYs67NquvLcrhrMcD3ZHWL94EIRaDMVubUf-rvbXB30TwzBprV9l4ecFUNTekdbc_aI7OMZVKX2KGsUIqD8xIGh1Yb6OvnMIGzjgURFwFR9o3gRLDZBJCP2PqGdLzA/s1600/DSCF9050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Q4pc8aFXjn1RQ-BYs67NquvLcrhrMcD3ZHWL94EIRaDMVubUf-rvbXB30TwzBprV9l4ecFUNTekdbc_aI7OMZVKX2KGsUIqD8xIGh1Yb6OvnMIGzjgURFwFR9o3gRLDZBJCP2PqGdLzA/s640/DSCF9050.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Thankfully there wasn't really much to write about the assembly as it all went on pretty easily. The wheels fit without any hitches and the whole drivetrain went on smoothly. No unexpected situations popped up, the headset just dropped in and cutting the carbon fork steerer was actually quite easy, it just required a new blade and some care.<br />
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The only thing I did have to do differently from the past was to use a torque wrench, in particular any part which clamps onto carbon must not be overtightened, otherwise you can risk damaging the frame. I used carbon paste on the seatpost before inserting, this helps create friction between it and the frame's seat tube to prevent it moving around as well as preventing corrosion. </div>
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The internal cable routing was actually pretty easy to deal with, you can see in the picture above that there are plastic inserts which guide the derailleur cables. There isn't any conduit for these cables inside the downtube but removing these guides makes it much easier.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIll2LAcafbL9qkaif3K6AJSyBLyKjmpqk7X1kACt0nGfCB2zXV6qWtzO0N1xHZnLE2WKgz7jC1gcl9aeTH8Jl1y1d3x3fHQDrx-z7Klqc53mSmmsXahU6DSetwT-UkvRIS8GN4Fn00xDF/s1600/IMG_0653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIll2LAcafbL9qkaif3K6AJSyBLyKjmpqk7X1kACt0nGfCB2zXV6qWtzO0N1xHZnLE2WKgz7jC1gcl9aeTH8Jl1y1d3x3fHQDrx-z7Klqc53mSmmsXahU6DSetwT-UkvRIS8GN4Fn00xDF/s640/IMG_0653.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I took it for a quick spin in the park near where I live, and all I can say is that the difference is really noticeable. The tyres feel amazingly supple and cushy, I think it isn't just the 40mm width but also the fact that they are tubeless. Surprisingly, the steering feels significantly stiffer and more direct, this combined with the wider and flared drop bars makes it feel super confident descending on dirt. I just point it in the direction I want it to go and it just plows right through most terrain. I will have to write up my full impressions once I take it out for a proper ride. Thanks for reading<br />
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Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-4318337397829377692016-11-16T23:41:00.003+00:002016-11-16T23:43:38.621+00:00Bish Bash Bosh Part 5: Campagnolo crankset bearing overhaulThere is something appealing to me about building a bike up from a bare frame. The process of fitting and installing every part onto the bike means you have the utmost control and knowledge of every working part. The groupset I will be putting onto this bike is the same groupset I have had since 2010 which <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/campagnolo-athena-gruppo-zonda-wheels.html">I originally reviewed here</a>. It's been about 6 years since I bought it and I have covered countless distance on it, in the process I've replaced the rear and front derailleur when I built up Phil and <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.com/2014/09/campagnolo-wi-fli-wide-range-gearing.html">converted the gearing to fit an 11-32t cassette</a> two years ago.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGTCT92oNZnMR8r4A7BNarVgYRYaquoFLjaAxpz30WNV2ppOhijqLqOFc8JMDVpblXIbtxMH9UgcxtynlOkTRPuQHEltfML6WI61O0Ef0l7tsym8i1PbOIj2xAbWRUJEm4sgmYqp1BVFgs/s1600/DSCF6230+-+2015-01-30+at+18-02-35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGTCT92oNZnMR8r4A7BNarVgYRYaquoFLjaAxpz30WNV2ppOhijqLqOFc8JMDVpblXIbtxMH9UgcxtynlOkTRPuQHEltfML6WI61O0Ef0l7tsym8i1PbOIj2xAbWRUJEm4sgmYqp1BVFgs/s1600/DSCF6230+-+2015-01-30+at+18-02-35.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Wear and tear</h3>
Over time the cranks have slowly come to the 5-6 year old age where things start wearing out. I knew the bearings were on their way out a while ago when <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/servicing-campagnolo-ultra-torque-cranks.html">I relubed the sealed bearings.</a> They needed to be replaced, however this would require special tools to remove the bearings. The Campagnolo Ultra-torque cranks are unique in that the bearing itself is attached to the crank not the bottom bracket cups like Shimano or Sram.<br />
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<img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOV4GKkYHgzxFY_c59zmJZsL0u2d9RhfH-xT_I1yYaGG49JCFh_z-EjQ2LG8dEAHXuOQoEk1-Uq1aaAoyve2bi3Qz0E1FhU3I4Elxo49ErCdMvoBn5-PdoBCDS8UqC3xpRrLHgA0noYE2c/s1600/DSCF5429+-+2014-11-11+at+21-40-20.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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One of the consequences of this design is that you are required to use a bearing puller to remove the bearings from the spindle, you can get a dedicated one for about £50, however after doing a bit of research I found you could use a £9.50 one perfectly fine. It is the Yato YT-2515 and only needs mild modification to the claws, they need to be filed slightly sharper to be able to fit in the gap between the crank and the bearings.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9F6jtpVXY8gsn8uz5AOWa7f_HOAeEJxrzTh8Ld-h6bDFSZvF4LtghLNgaLnE2KhLJ3x5oK3EUzZlOuh4F7T7tlRM_iYvhIut5sNjzq54cj9YaCDNx__M6-xAkCMzY1Eej4ogEU8oAB8o-/s1600/DSCF9130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9F6jtpVXY8gsn8uz5AOWa7f_HOAeEJxrzTh8Ld-h6bDFSZvF4LtghLNgaLnE2KhLJ3x5oK3EUzZlOuh4F7T7tlRM_iYvhIut5sNjzq54cj9YaCDNx__M6-xAkCMzY1Eej4ogEU8oAB8o-/s1600/DSCF9130.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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Secondly you need a tool to press the bearings in place, the spindle diameter is 24mm so I used a 28.6mm pipe with an inside diameter of 25.4mm. This allows you to hammer the bearing into place </div>
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The picture above shows you what's needed:<br />
- Bearing puller (Yato YT-2515 shown)<br />
- Short bit of pipe with an internal diameter of 25mm or so<br />
- New set of bearings (Campagnolo Part No FC-RE012)<br />
- Set of Campagnolo Ultra-Torque cranks<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2l-mZvioqIVjpesd7PwzOBCbaKaSJFbsIgW7FXE6rZ3IvrgEq1uhJeqDJIuiwJiBnuikUYOvvGUwtJMctPRqge9mIe-yqOxYbEPvEWHraKy6wg9xEzqUYg2s1qlwpARmJcfTCS1F4Mq_e/s1600/DSCF9124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2l-mZvioqIVjpesd7PwzOBCbaKaSJFbsIgW7FXE6rZ3IvrgEq1uhJeqDJIuiwJiBnuikUYOvvGUwtJMctPRqge9mIe-yqOxYbEPvEWHraKy6wg9xEzqUYg2s1qlwpARmJcfTCS1F4Mq_e/s1600/DSCF9124.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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1. Removing the bearings</h3>
If you are using the Yato puller, give the claws a slight sharpening using a file.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidpqAvdd-r-naXZmj1o8AqFij-GyXV1SUSVgRV-CI407Y7f-lFxS6bmDOUOw9qqXl2ZkSO58lQV1CzRSPqtbqSSdLJ14r8RMiNktHnCZsawlhfY-kxJFwZsNbh3upeF47Xo83hvRhOca7y/s1600/DSCF9125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidpqAvdd-r-naXZmj1o8AqFij-GyXV1SUSVgRV-CI407Y7f-lFxS6bmDOUOw9qqXl2ZkSO58lQV1CzRSPqtbqSSdLJ14r8RMiNktHnCZsawlhfY-kxJFwZsNbh3upeF47Xo83hvRhOca7y/s1600/DSCF9125.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Start with the non-drive side crank arm. Once you can fit the claws between the gap, use a coin or similar on top of the axle stub. Turn the puller to free the bearing, it is a press fit but should come free without too much effort.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCLLlMCGp2sj6An2DqmDSMjF2_AJ8G4EIlD9x3wsjV7kliBjR5BHGrCHpmPNV2I72-lCD-3Gj1ut2hhWyxon9lurOGWGDWc-Q0GzSi0aJOTiE_UsD4Kd1VQ83EEf8QqN_jIV3I6e8jlgDI/s1600/DSCF9126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCLLlMCGp2sj6An2DqmDSMjF2_AJ8G4EIlD9x3wsjV7kliBjR5BHGrCHpmPNV2I72-lCD-3Gj1ut2hhWyxon9lurOGWGDWc-Q0GzSi0aJOTiE_UsD4Kd1VQ83EEf8QqN_jIV3I6e8jlgDI/s1600/DSCF9126.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Ta da! The old bearings were pretty ruined on the non-drive side as they were exposed to more gunk flicked up by the front wheel. The black ring sits between the crankarm and the bearing giving it a bit more protection from the elements.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiljeANJWTSsaaxHf6NE0oLeOmh7NRQRgC22j-QS4RIEg6xFJoRC-zD2lB2bUJ1DtTTNDegkBeK0MMTfRwI4MfGIrhUbNYSiS-6mohyyumkkdNcvfSP1Cc63mpGP1lyJ2QqPDk4Bye_03s-/s1600/DSCF9127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiljeANJWTSsaaxHf6NE0oLeOmh7NRQRgC22j-QS4RIEg6xFJoRC-zD2lB2bUJ1DtTTNDegkBeK0MMTfRwI4MfGIrhUbNYSiS-6mohyyumkkdNcvfSP1Cc63mpGP1lyJ2QqPDk4Bye_03s-/s1600/DSCF9127.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Now onto the drive side cranks, these have a circlip that holds the bearing in place, this must be removed before attempting to remove the bearings.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqGCjZJl9s2UpA9d3li8FIbRQYKVIgOeByvESFysdqxpImQPNdrd9xZVla7FgQ98NyJL_iWltLbdezzgtjdf2cMzWe8OzSXjpr6k9A3bN4FG60b20FLNCUzKipthyphenhyphenHnv68lPAD8BobZ3Lt/s1600/DSCF9128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqGCjZJl9s2UpA9d3li8FIbRQYKVIgOeByvESFysdqxpImQPNdrd9xZVla7FgQ98NyJL_iWltLbdezzgtjdf2cMzWe8OzSXjpr6k9A3bN4FG60b20FLNCUzKipthyphenhyphenHnv68lPAD8BobZ3Lt/s1600/DSCF9128.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Use the same method as on the non-driveside cranks to remove the drive side bearings.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPh3VaNLDKr2MqnsradxbZLnxdUEVWwCNFrEQ_nQWx1uoOstv8uwz8K8vFy1M1g12K_W40cMt6Hbeh5yHffYyLKQZvdqbZXQj7glGoddahi20kdXZZk8GVJfNgWAufc4BCUdu7pZ4OXFTS/s1600/DSCF9129.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPh3VaNLDKr2MqnsradxbZLnxdUEVWwCNFrEQ_nQWx1uoOstv8uwz8K8vFy1M1g12K_W40cMt6Hbeh5yHffYyLKQZvdqbZXQj7glGoddahi20kdXZZk8GVJfNgWAufc4BCUdu7pZ4OXFTS/s1600/DSCF9129.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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All clear! Now onto the next step...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKQ-qdRhfd9whQAvc9UvpyZr2lsVLB4chyphenhypheng53qdLJjgX5uwVyMy34IEMvHg6I4XtPcGcm7MoZh_qmKfP70JbbUO5lT-5UDaxTxsPfH4eStAb8zOAY9bN9ddpth6GBTDZpNMvQYLNgWKH3/s1600/DSCF9131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKQ-qdRhfd9whQAvc9UvpyZr2lsVLB4chyphenhypheng53qdLJjgX5uwVyMy34IEMvHg6I4XtPcGcm7MoZh_qmKfP70JbbUO5lT-5UDaxTxsPfH4eStAb8zOAY9bN9ddpth6GBTDZpNMvQYLNgWKH3/s1600/DSCF9131.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<h3>
2. Installing the bearings</h3>
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Now you have the bare cranks, give the bearing surface a little bit of grease, then slip over the black dust seal making sure it is seated properly and clear of the bearing seat.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdOxFmg5Doe-0zGM4pgk8ZQ7ANUMrzh-WA32PYRx2FNKO7Rs0asg9C2KK5xmmLV8eWgDMJZNvbGKTsIiK-yZ1JtI3Tjt1cJ-nb4-hF4924VStiEchZLTFxGs4TP7hwkYhxJLip4ahg3SQn/s1600/DSCF9134.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdOxFmg5Doe-0zGM4pgk8ZQ7ANUMrzh-WA32PYRx2FNKO7Rs0asg9C2KK5xmmLV8eWgDMJZNvbGKTsIiK-yZ1JtI3Tjt1cJ-nb4-hF4924VStiEchZLTFxGs4TP7hwkYhxJLip4ahg3SQn/s1600/DSCF9134.jpg" width="425" /></a></div>
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Place the new bearing onto the axle and place the 25mm ID pipe over the bearing, using a mallet or similar tap the bearing into place until it is seated properly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRyZgp1eIa0wf78HSpTf2TyRNMFllRHoNiWC3dMcma2Twv_0DqrUZOGwginNY9IyGcMHnlTRfUT6YZhZlVUo7ELN-_VvbnPbFVIVNB6DEdhb2Qvz00DAQd7Fv115fSWU_MU0TeHbE7M2Yw/s1600/DSCF9135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRyZgp1eIa0wf78HSpTf2TyRNMFllRHoNiWC3dMcma2Twv_0DqrUZOGwginNY9IyGcMHnlTRfUT6YZhZlVUo7ELN-_VvbnPbFVIVNB6DEdhb2Qvz00DAQd7Fv115fSWU_MU0TeHbE7M2Yw/s1600/DSCF9135.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Repeat the same process with the drive side cranks, don't forget to replace the circlip on this side!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVFSun4ZbrZxZgJlgtLTU0td7GghztssAJYlVhzsKg7YJVmMlxSqtFwjUJrJaDSm1xIQ316ckMf9znPWccuVdVj9aWfd3FoFNgIGOLS_3pRQGtOlCd02Q9Y1EBQD_I-CG8Tm2npk9U-jX/s1600/DSCF9137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieVFSun4ZbrZxZgJlgtLTU0td7GghztssAJYlVhzsKg7YJVmMlxSqtFwjUJrJaDSm1xIQ316ckMf9znPWccuVdVj9aWfd3FoFNgIGOLS_3pRQGtOlCd02Q9Y1EBQD_I-CG8Tm2npk9U-jX/s1600/DSCF9137.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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All done! Now the bearings are done the cranks are ready for action. Thanks for reading.</div>
Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-52897975875914129062016-11-02T23:29:00.000+00:002016-11-17T00:15:28.701+00:00Bish Bash Bosh Part 4: Building wheels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4gtuxJ87WzKantb64FWYYsJrmwDxEn8v1Kp9R86qNupUbijP4gaPgq9Qe9Xw0CUY0lbY5nFtdKGXgnBV2RmJzdIPlhko8tTxDZ8Y5P2PGc0odcxV7-UbdmknYE-3PZ4fsor_er7BXKgBz/s1600/DSCF9102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4gtuxJ87WzKantb64FWYYsJrmwDxEn8v1Kp9R86qNupUbijP4gaPgq9Qe9Xw0CUY0lbY5nFtdKGXgnBV2RmJzdIPlhko8tTxDZ8Y5P2PGc0odcxV7-UbdmknYE-3PZ4fsor_er7BXKgBz/s1600/DSCF9102.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now one of the most important elements of the bike are the wheels, particularly if they are handbuilt they can be one of the most single time consuming tasks. I've build about 6 sets of wheels at this point, all without a spoke tension meter. I however spotted the Park TM-1 Tension meter on special for £35 which is about 1/2 price so I just went ahead and got it. Also for good measure I bought a torque wrench as well as the Bish Bash Bosh frame is carbon and you should be very careful not to overtighten fasteners or risk damaging it.</div>
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<a name='more'></a><h3>
Spokes</h3>
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Previously I discussed the hub and rim choice for the build, the missing part from this was the spoke choice. This is one reason why I like building my own wheels, you get to chose every single part of the build to perfectly suit your needs. Previously I have used double butted spokes. Double butted spokes are thicker at the ends and thinner in the middle to put material where it is needed. Not only are they typically lighter but they also have a bit more give so can actually build a more resilient wheel. Previously I have used DT Swiss competition which are a double butted 2.0/1.8mm spoke. These are readily available, reasonably light and strong. They are an almost standard spoke to use. However this time, as I was hell bent on a sub 9kg bike I had to go that little bit further...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuyJmtHmyAT3L105xjGYZRQcQzLqDelgGhCfxcsdJmmiO92bPr__nYim-uYGKXXnhoxGkNO_2U1mEyh7i4vUuSzrk5qF3g6cJcwr4gjtbQ0uwFFQt064dKLgKLm1jZqoYGY3s3U4PqgFdZ/s1600/DSCF9228.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuyJmtHmyAT3L105xjGYZRQcQzLqDelgGhCfxcsdJmmiO92bPr__nYim-uYGKXXnhoxGkNO_2U1mEyh7i4vUuSzrk5qF3g6cJcwr4gjtbQ0uwFFQt064dKLgKLm1jZqoYGY3s3U4PqgFdZ/s1600/DSCF9228.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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I looked into the DT Revolution spokes, however at 1.5mm thick at the centres I've read that they aren't the strongest or stiffest spokes, also their price is significantly more. Alternatively I looked at Sapim spokes, the CX-Ray is a popular high performance spoke which is both light and aerodynamic, however they are also extremely expensive. The Laser is also a similar price but similar to the DT Revolution. However there was the Sapim D-Light which is somewhere in between these, it's a double butted spoke which is 2.0/1.65mm. What kind of weight difference is there? Well compared to a standard 2.0/1.8mm spoke the Sapim D-Lights would save about 80g on the wheelset which isn't insignificant. Also importantly, they aren't much more expensive either so why not? I'd never used Sapim spokes either, I'd always used DT Swiss in the past. I did however use the Sapim Race 2.0/1.8mm spokes on the drive side rear with the D-Lights </div>
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Spoke nipples form the crucial function of not only connecting the end of the spoke with the rim but also facilitating the truing and tensioning of the wheel during the build and in the future. Alloy nipples have a reputation for rounding out more easily as well as tending to seize due to corrosion. They are marginally lighter however I generally prefer brass nipples for the serviciability and durability. Luckily the D-Lights shipped with Sapim brass nipples. One note though, was that compared to DT Swiss nipples, I found there was noticeable variation in their fit. I had trouble fitting the Park Tool spoke wrench I had over some of the Sapim nipples, some were perfectly fine. The same spoke wrench never had any problems with the DT Swiss nipples I used in the past.<br />
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<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The build</h3>
The great thing about the rims I discussed previously is that they are asymmetric, this helps a lot with both disc braked front wheels and 11-speed rear wheels. A strong wheel is built not by strong components alone, but by a careful build as well as a good balanced, even tension in the spokes. Over the decades as wheels have gained more speeds, the amount of uneven offset from drive side to non-drive side has increased significantly. Enough so that it isn't unusual to see a rear wheel have 50% less tension on the non-drive side to balance it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdP-CfetJziw-9fvpiAsQOjYOXU-j0IcP4Z9lbLPyR6Uvy6tRz1Ab2iAmjyvaKpsvUkdIbUaI4fa9tA7oZrNpU3N2Ph46P4q8cwFKR6ajbOYgyaQGBORMpgqSw3NTmXS_9JQ0u8Pz6nU3J/s1600/offset-asymmetry-rims-features-spec_22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdP-CfetJziw-9fvpiAsQOjYOXU-j0IcP4Z9lbLPyR6Uvy6tRz1Ab2iAmjyvaKpsvUkdIbUaI4fa9tA7oZrNpU3N2Ph46P4q8cwFKR6ajbOYgyaQGBORMpgqSw3NTmXS_9JQ0u8Pz6nU3J/s1600/offset-asymmetry-rims-features-spec_22.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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You can see in the picture above the difference an asymmetric rim makes, essentially the bracing angle of the spoke is closer to being symmetrical which means spoke tensions can be closer to even on either side of the wheel. The BOR XMD-366 rims I am using have a 1.4mm offset, on the rear it will be offset to the non-drive side and on the front disc wheel it will be offset to the drive side.</div>
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Before ordering my spokes I have to plug the dimensions of my rims and hubs to figure out what length I have to order, the calculator I use also gives you the theoretical spoke tension difference between drive and non-drive. Using the dimensions I input, the front wheel has drive side spokes at 88% of the non-drive and the rear has non-drive side spokes at 62%. If I had used a symmetric rim the figures would be 80% and 56% respectively.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqowDA2PvDXzLvLJ5WB-jwCSicklbcdxrA4MndW0hlyp6CZ_ga7jlr675K-owTZZ4KAXdZSgQkGFPDXUaZmXqhgnl7QhgBTI9gLCLXQgEtOMjW82PZGGrE7scvWQb5Q3GY3dwNico8GGq/s1600/DSCF9145.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqowDA2PvDXzLvLJ5WB-jwCSicklbcdxrA4MndW0hlyp6CZ_ga7jlr675K-owTZZ4KAXdZSgQkGFPDXUaZmXqhgnl7QhgBTI9gLCLXQgEtOMjW82PZGGrE7scvWQb5Q3GY3dwNico8GGq/s1600/DSCF9145.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I laced the wheels 3x front and back which is pretty standard for disc brake builds. For those with a keen eye, I've laced the wheels with the leading spokes on the inside, which I realised after and reversed so they were on the outside. This doesn't make a huge difference in reality, however having the leading spokes on the outside for a disc brake wheel means that under braking, the spokes being loaded are also the ones with the elbows on the outside and are thus stronger.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcAsXoYj9aZ7jzK16ja-oI2g3qm891dWy0SCfIsxiW7RxQv7mxtTzURCEPZlHo6ss_aXU1FzTKo6jCFnY2x_tYfN_b7jh6CR-sMf_gK9P1qQOWwtgj9-BPh7H5bMaouSGw-xWxl1dYx1H/s1600/DSCF9147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJcAsXoYj9aZ7jzK16ja-oI2g3qm891dWy0SCfIsxiW7RxQv7mxtTzURCEPZlHo6ss_aXU1FzTKo6jCFnY2x_tYfN_b7jh6CR-sMf_gK9P1qQOWwtgj9-BPh7H5bMaouSGw-xWxl1dYx1H/s1600/DSCF9147.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Weight including quick release and adaptor is 1,103g, without it is 1,009g which is pretty good for a 32h dynamo disc braked hub.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmhCIXVGVB9BFLHnUbWJofAkRcraSo_OPYXYBjSNfIea_vGqyBL3o1KubiWi-oiaKEowVw76_5mpAHytcjgAxSV0QgZSnRcZMWH0tZisUvUVIjild7y6KtXZnA6ESW_sjvjtScsdMuWkgx/s1600/DSCF9148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmhCIXVGVB9BFLHnUbWJofAkRcraSo_OPYXYBjSNfIea_vGqyBL3o1KubiWi-oiaKEowVw76_5mpAHytcjgAxSV0QgZSnRcZMWH0tZisUvUVIjild7y6KtXZnA6ESW_sjvjtScsdMuWkgx/s1600/DSCF9148.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The rear came in at 867g for a total weight of 1,876g which is about 330g lighter than the <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/project-phil-part-2-wheels.html">set I built for Phil</a> which is a similar build. <br />
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Tubeless install and final tensioning</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWscsot5Qc8ERUuyMN3MDhLNAMxbXXAY6jbcO0oOCInTFrT6XktXzswUz5ucATewyn0cqEHiED6xAzsfRDlOTdlUAOPklA6zTrYF02IW0cuE6ThLzUCqQxUNOAqHGXqK8iDWo6FsXJMbSL/s1600/DSCF9150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWscsot5Qc8ERUuyMN3MDhLNAMxbXXAY6jbcO0oOCInTFrT6XktXzswUz5ucATewyn0cqEHiED6xAzsfRDlOTdlUAOPklA6zTrYF02IW0cuE6ThLzUCqQxUNOAqHGXqK8iDWo6FsXJMbSL/s1600/DSCF9150.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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The next step after tensioning was installing the tubeless tape. Initially I used a 5m roll of BOR branded tubeless tape, pressing it down into the channel making sure there were no bubbles, overlapping the tape around the valve hole about 15cm either side. I managed to install the Maxxis Ramblers on quite easily with a little soap and water, the beads popped into the rim hook very quickly with just a track pump. The rear wheel sealed quite nicely only losing a few psi over night with no sealant. The front wheel however would not seal properly, I ended up retaping this one with Stans tape and it was fine. A trick I found was to put a little bit of sealant around the valve when inserting it in the valve hole.</div>
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One thing I did read about was that tubeless road tyres with carbon beads like the Maxxis Ramblers have a noticeable effect on spoke tension. Apparently the carbon beads are so tight they compress the rim and reduce the spoke tension, requiring a tightening up to get it back up to normal. I measured it using my Park TM-1 and found it dropped about 20kgf.</div>
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Speaking of the Park TM-1 Tension meter, I've found this tool almost invaluable. The ability to systematically sample and record the tension of every spoke means you can straight away get an overall picture of the tension in the wheel. The TM-1 is a very simple tool which has three pins which push against a spring giving a readout from which you convert on a chart. It's likely not the most accurate tool, however it is still much better than just guessing from tones. Also Park Tool has a web app called <a href="http://www.parktool.com/wta">Wheel Tension App</a> which you can put your readings into, it then converts the readings into kgf and gives you an illustration of the whole wheel tension.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdpp2stMPUr6vsWpPClQDwhmractlMKpM2hm3s6mQbBHgE27xvk9gXNCvs3dn3031Dz-sjOvxJ3WM5kFu8VCYn0yMRypXm0baHdS2qHFNRADRfvjAFnjZsbZvJE4neryLmIt3G6ZvECzX/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-10-29+at+01.32.51.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKdpp2stMPUr6vsWpPClQDwhmractlMKpM2hm3s6mQbBHgE27xvk9gXNCvs3dn3031Dz-sjOvxJ3WM5kFu8VCYn0yMRypXm0baHdS2qHFNRADRfvjAFnjZsbZvJE4neryLmIt3G6ZvECzX/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-10-29+at+01.32.51.png" width="632" /></a></div>
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I found this extremely useful as you can be extremely systematic about the wheelbuild, previously I would obsess about getting the wheel straight, however with this tension meter and the app I was able to both balance the tension as well as straighten the wheel. </div>
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In the end the spoke tension I eventually reached was 117/102kgf on the front and 81/127kgf on the rear wheel non-drive/drive respectively. The tension differences were pretty much spot on from what I had calculated beforehand.<br />
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Now the wheels are done there are still the brakes, drivetrain and other bits and bobs to do. Thanks for reading.<br />
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<a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.com/2016/11/bish-bash-bosh-part-5-campagnolo.html">Continued in Part 5</a></div>
Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-29265752892954642332016-10-28T22:03:00.000+01:002016-10-28T22:04:35.078+01:00Bish Bash Bosh Part 3: Rims and hubs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Following on from the <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/bish-bash-bosh-part-2-tyres.html">previous part</a> where I talked about tyres, this chapter covers the wheel components. I normally choose the rims and hubs first so I can measure them to then be able to order the correct length of spokes. The intent of this build is a 1,800g dynamo hub disc wheelset which is tubeless compatible and with a wide profile to better support the tyres I want to run.</div>
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<img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-G8zXFEDi-_RwgoJZDIjBPxC6Ww1Lq4GohZ_rb_GgSSfUbvqhCqBDXfINZ8wFTmzNDg7FN7up6wIgJrTcXqJaSwRwgfCSozfPaeZVbPhOMvxHORPqSUfccShAVVi2Zp_JnWwHch5dBeZQ/s1600/DSCF9115.jpg" style="color: #0000ee; text-align: center;" width="426" /></div>
<h3>
Rims</h3>
The rims had to serve several criteria, they needed to be tubeless compatible, lighter than what I used before on <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/project-phil-part-2-wheels.html">Phil</a> and preferably meant for disc brakes (no brake track). The rims I considered were Stans Crest, Velocity Ailerons and DT Swiss RR411. However each of these had a compromise, the Stans Crest had a reputation for being light but a bit too fragile, the ailerons were a bit too heavy and the DT Swiss were a little too narrow at 19mm internally.<br />
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Eventually I stumbled upon a brand I never heard of before at a German bike shop website. <a href="http://bor-germany.de/en">BOR Germany</a> is a wheel/rim manufacturer not well known outside of continental Europe but used often by pro racers. They are not cheap however they are very light and they have lots of great features such as eyelets, tubeless compatibility and asymmetric spoke holes. <br />
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Eyelets are seldom seen on many modern racing rims but they help distribute the load from the spoke nipple which prevents cracking, the asymmetric holes help build a stronger wheel by creating a more evenly dished wheel. I went with the <a href="http://bor-germany.de/en/product/129-xmd366-29er-380-g">XMD-366 29er</a> model which is meant for XC riding. At 380g they are on par with the Stans Crest and about 100g lighter than the H Plus Son Archetypes I used before! The width is 21mm internally which should give a more supportive base for wider tyres.<br />
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They are quite pricey at 99€ per rim however I managed to find them for 70€ each, although with the plunging value of the £ this is still expensive. Nonetheless despite the seller sending me one wrong rim, I got a pair of them eventually. They came in at exactly 380g which is extremely light and comparable with carbon fibre rims!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI7WTTRjMjB7M_aI3z0f6lGtaVS7AcB9skd68IeI6EpkS4Ij215I-V2fpOJsqWUqJNDoHyYOjpGR7TXhdenz8rhehbS67kigVcvOqEZHU8DCTOSm6x-sYQz3ppbarAFP9tHv8Uvl4R3PHq/s1600/DSCF9112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI7WTTRjMjB7M_aI3z0f6lGtaVS7AcB9skd68IeI6EpkS4Ij215I-V2fpOJsqWUqJNDoHyYOjpGR7TXhdenz8rhehbS67kigVcvOqEZHU8DCTOSm6x-sYQz3ppbarAFP9tHv8Uvl4R3PHq/s1600/DSCF9112.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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The construction is beautiful, very nicely finished with a subtle laser etched logo on them. The valve hole somewhat misleadingly says <i>Max pressure 3.0bar </i>despite their website saying it could handle about 5.0bar (~80psi). I emailed BOR about this and they confirmed that the 3.0bar warning only applies to very wide tyres and that 5.0bar was fine for narrower tyres. Surprisingly the rims are not welded at the joint but instead are pinned/sleeved, however the joint appears to be of very high quality as I could barely see it compared to other pinned/sleeved rims I've seen before. Typically a lot of manufacturers use welding at the joint of the rim as it creates a seamless appearance, this is also usually used on more high end rims as well. However what I've read is that in practice it makes no difference.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4JMBBEkeWrjetzBIPVdCQD2FjzCSMM10BjOkLDW3w0sbEfcd6Ji5_fmXX3ExQNaAAQ9tXVu9HBJjL_mFX2XNe9lqoyhBXbPmTRBv64e9L7FVeLywr-Hwg9a8MxpaJS9WY139pQmLBu4D/s1600/DSCF9103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4JMBBEkeWrjetzBIPVdCQD2FjzCSMM10BjOkLDW3w0sbEfcd6Ji5_fmXX3ExQNaAAQ9tXVu9HBJjL_mFX2XNe9lqoyhBXbPmTRBv64e9L7FVeLywr-Hwg9a8MxpaJS9WY139pQmLBu4D/s1600/DSCF9103.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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They came more or less bang on 380g for both rims, again the quality of these rims is fantastic... I guess you get what you pay for.<br />
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<h3>
Hubs</h3>
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The hub choice came down to several factors. As the frame utilises a 15 x 100mm thru axle on the front and a 12 x 142mm thru axle on the rear (standard on better MTB's). Both hubs would need to be compatible with this. The hubs also needed to have mounts for disc brakes and the rear hub would need to be 11-speed road compatible. Lastly the front hub would have to be a dynamo hub.</div>
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The front hub was a relatively easy choice as there are only really two dynamo hubs on the market that are compatible with a 15mm thru axle, there is the <a href="http://www.nabendynamo.de/produkte/son_28_15_en.html">SON 28 15 disc</a> and the SP Dynamo PD8X. The SON model, as with all their hubs is very expensive at about 270€, the SP Dynamo is about €120 or so... less than half the price but still quite expensive. </div>
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Funnily enough the SON dynamo is not only twice the price but also weighs 40g more. The SP-PD8X Dynamo hub came in at a light 423g and also comes with a 9mm quick release adaptor axle.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bT0P32flDvEGqYuH-V9XaUFKt3kjwT9dsCARYcjlba5F_a8ymbB4ho__xnblfYUVPN9rq3BstJHGv258KRZAX8WaRTFMOvtcPeYGbAvDgWBbh8a4KVuHy0IXprxpeBZ2LolrZFNR5U2P/s1600/DSCF9099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bT0P32flDvEGqYuH-V9XaUFKt3kjwT9dsCARYcjlba5F_a8ymbB4ho__xnblfYUVPN9rq3BstJHGv258KRZAX8WaRTFMOvtcPeYGbAvDgWBbh8a4KVuHy0IXprxpeBZ2LolrZFNR5U2P/s1600/DSCF9099.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The rear hub is the same brand as what I went with before, Novatec. They are one of the larger OEM manufacturers of hubs in Taiwan and make lots of hubs which are then rebranded, they also make their own branded line of hubs which are generally very good value and very light. I chose the D772SB which like the front hub is also able to be converted to 9mm quick release. It's 11 speed compatible and features 4 sealed bearings, very similar to the <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/project-phil-part-2-wheels.html">D712SB that I used before</a>. I dug around for a while and eventually found it in a not so common matte black finish which matches the front.<br />
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Next part I'll cover the wheelbuild itself when I put these bits together with some spokes, thanks for reading!</div>
Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-54025752521928981182016-10-23T18:20:00.001+01:002016-10-28T22:04:16.810+01:00Bish Bash Bosh Part 2: Tyres<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg37Nk3V5iP7mi2d5Jv7uO77qXc9W_6xJP3Ib3HP9xZZT8YT927qp3_UUekC3GnUn6VCdBQmJLFKgEz7N3TTtOFySPagIof7BBcZDsBBSZD3y27URuE9gH4oB_lyaciqpd2EunK38O49AyA/s1600/DSCF9157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg37Nk3V5iP7mi2d5Jv7uO77qXc9W_6xJP3Ib3HP9xZZT8YT927qp3_UUekC3GnUn6VCdBQmJLFKgEz7N3TTtOFySPagIof7BBcZDsBBSZD3y27URuE9gH4oB_lyaciqpd2EunK38O49AyA/s1600/DSCF9157.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Probably one of the most important components on a bike or any road going vehicle for that matter are the tyres. They are the sole part of the bike that interfaces with the ground and can absolutely make or break the feel of the bike. Previously I had run 30mm wide slick <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/tyre-review-challenge-strada-bianca.html">Challenge Strada Biancas</a> for road and 35mm Schwalbe Smart Sams for off-road duties which barely fit the frame. The Strada Biancas were fantastic tyres, extremely supple and grippy however they suffered from punctures. The Smart Sams were so-so tyres, not particularly supple and average grip.<br />
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What am I trying to achieve?</h3>
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In short, better off-road capability and a smoother ride with less punctures... doesn't everyone?<br />
I've become more interested in wider more supple tyres generally as well as off-road riding. The market has grown significantly in this regard in the past few years since I built <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/project-phil-part-5-tyres.html">Phil</a>, now there are plenty of tyres that fit the bill.<br />
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I was spoilt by the suppleness and smooth ride of the Challenge Strada Bianca but didn't want to deal with the punctures, so in my mind the solution is to go tubeless in conjunction with sealant. All else being equal, you get a more supple ride too with tubeless.<br />
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What about 650b?</h3>
Another factor that went into my consideration was wheel size, disc brakes allow more flexibility in wheel size choice as you no longer have to worry about the brake surface of the rim matching the brake mounts on the frame. Many disc brake bikes have the flexibility to mount 650b or 700c wheels, also the rolling diameter of a 50mm 650b tyre is about the same as a 32mm 700c tyre. The possibilities for off-road tyres would be opened enormously with 650b as there was a huge amount of choice of MTB tyres.<br />
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I considered this for a while, the frame clearance would allow about a 2.25" x 650b MTB tyre in the front and about a 47mm wide in the rear, but in the end stuck with 700c as I wanted to be able to fit more road oriented tyres in the end. Going with 650b meant I would only be able to fit wider tyres, narrower 650b tyres would be too small and the ride height of the bike would be lowered noticeably which could cause problems. I figured anyway I could always get a second set of wheels in 650b purely for this purpose.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Choices</h3>
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The tyres that met these criteria were numerous, I settled on having a two pairs of tyres, one for off-road and one for road. For the off-road tyres the first ones I considered were the <a href="http://www.wtb.com/products/nano">WTB Nano 40c's</a>. These were really popular with the gravel crowd and had a nice smooth micro tread that would roll fast. I wasn't really too interested in a full on MTB tread, rather something that would be suitable for loose over hard/hardpack type conditions. There were also the <a href="http://www.schwalbe.com/gb/offroad-reader/schwalbe-g-one-allround.html">Schwalbe G-Ones</a>, however I decided that these had too little of a tread and would be insufficient. In the end I settled on the <a href="http://www.gravelcyclist.com/bicycle-tech/review-maxxis-rambler-40mm-tires/">Maxxis Ramblers</a>, these were extremely light for a 40mm tyre at 380g and had a supple 120tpi carcass and a not too aggressive tread. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1QTa4eoTNQsC_GpGmMdOeXLv_erwL8Ys6YRgxdJTg3y7HwLjN605cGCBz35YRtu24LIKOKuYLyz6xhDdlYacS9njwpySrk-lJ2v72FtDzeNic6RzhWmx1Gx6rfC5OnPCmf4qQxVipaXJN/s1600/DSCF9123.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1QTa4eoTNQsC_GpGmMdOeXLv_erwL8Ys6YRgxdJTg3y7HwLjN605cGCBz35YRtu24LIKOKuYLyz6xhDdlYacS9njwpySrk-lJ2v72FtDzeNic6RzhWmx1Gx6rfC5OnPCmf4qQxVipaXJN/s1600/DSCF9123.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<h3>
The Rambler</h3>
They came in at 370g which is 10g lighter than claimed! I fitted them with tubes and inflated them to get them into the right shape ready for mounting tubeless. I had read elsewhere that they come up a little undersized, however after inflating and leaving overnight they came up to about 41mm @ 70psi and 40mm when inflated to 30psi. Although it's not massively wider than the 35mm Smart Sams I had before you can see the difference below.<br />
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The Bish Bash Bosh frame is meant to clear 40mm tyres and I had measured it beforehand when I was considering 650b. Definitely the fork has plenty of clearance, you could easily go up to a 700c x 45mm tyre even. </div>
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The seatstays had plenty of room too, however this isn't usually where the pinch point is.</div>
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This is where it is usually tight... the chainstays have to fit the crankset and the tyre side by side. There is about 5mm clearance either side of the tyre so not much room to go larger. I was a little disappointed by this, as I originally entertained the idea of fitting 2.0" x 650b tyres however it looks like the largest 650b tyre that would fit the chainstays would be about 47mm. Still this is plenty of clearance for my purposes, and I'm well aware this is not a high-end frame meant for a 650b conversion.<br />
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So far so good! <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/bish-bash-bosh-part-3-rims-and-hubs.html">In the next part I discuss the wheel components...</a> Thanks for reading<br />
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Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-13123897745774648062016-10-07T00:08:00.001+01:002016-10-23T18:43:05.563+01:00Bish Bash Bosh Part 1: New directionsIt's been three years since I originally built <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/project-phil-part-1-frame.html">Phil my do-it-all bike</a>. The aim of that was to build an all rounder, the kind of bike that suited the kind of riding that I have always liked doing. Before the industry caught on, there were plenty of people like me who did not race and had no interest in doing so, but were somewhat stuck between ultra racy road bikes with skinny tyres and full on nomadic tourer type bikes, there was nothing really in between.<br />
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Several things have been happening in the bike world, the popularity of road bike disc brakes and a general trend towards bikes more real-world practical bikes have increasing converged to bring forth many more different types of bikes. This has spawned the current bike genre of the moment: what the industry calls <i>Gravel</i> or <i>Adventure</i> bikes. Disc brakes allowed bikes to be designed for larger tyres without any compromise in braking performance, these larger tyres allowed riding to go beyond what cyclocross and touring previously defined.<br />
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This is all great, and I've had a great few years riding my Croix de fer, it's taken me to <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/le-tour-2015-part-1-back-to-alps.html">The Alps</a> up and down mountain passes and gravel tracks, it's gone up <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/back-to-lakes-part-1-wrynose-pass-and.html">Wrynose pass</a> in The Lake District up and also around forests in <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/surrey-hills-and-winterfold-forest.html">Surrey Hills</a>. However over time, I have started to feel that there could be several things that could be better. <br />
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What am I trying to achieve? Originally when I built Phil I also looked at frames which had more clearance, although I didn't think I needed all that much, however that's changed as I have recently become more interested in off-road riding. Secondly, I originally chose a steel frame as I wanted maximum flexibility for luggage, however I have rarely carried panniers on the bike and usually make do with a backpack. I have never been much of a weight weenie but I figure if I can drop a few Kg with not much compromise, why not?<br />
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The next step</h3>
This led to where I am now, I had entertained the idea of a carbon fibre bike for a while. I had my eye on several bikes and wanted to swap just the frame. Eventually I was browsing Planet X's website and saw they had the Bish Bash Bosh frameset on sale for just under £400... This is about the same price as the Genesis frameset was originally. However the next day the special vanished and I let it linger at the back of my mind for the next few weeks. Luckily the same special popped up again suddenly and I pulled the trigger. There was a choice of three colours: anthracite, green and orange. I liked the bright colours however the logos were a bit too garish on them, so I went with the anthracite which was the most subdued.<br />
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Unboxing</h3>
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The frame was pretty well packed with plenty of foam and a sturdy box. Despite the box having a dent in it, the frame was nice and sound. First thing to do of course is weigh everything!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihrwkR0TpNU3SI-BYr8RJAfUXe8CoVrtoSHDIOukpCdKqqHCOEAj6HWXSXw0n1HGQTxNq616nGCM8_opJ8f5BhcwXieXn6tHILzhqqSNZdjg49b-S6bSfiuSTGHm0e4S95brOiedmEIMNh/s1600/DSCF9027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihrwkR0TpNU3SI-BYr8RJAfUXe8CoVrtoSHDIOukpCdKqqHCOEAj6HWXSXw0n1HGQTxNq616nGCM8_opJ8f5BhcwXieXn6tHILzhqqSNZdjg49b-S6bSfiuSTGHm0e4S95brOiedmEIMNh/s640/DSCF9027.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The weight was less than I thought it would be, this looks like it could be a very light bike. The frame is advertised as 1,250g for a medium size and I have a small. Weights are as follows:<br />
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Frame: 1,164g<br />
Forks: 496g<br />
Axles: 164g<br />
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<h3>
Missing in action</h3>
No bike build can happen without missing bits or the occasional mishap. Mine was a missing part, and as I wasn't familiar with thru-axles I had to do a bit of research and have learnt a bit in the process.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_egfpKzMnDAQ4UJtWxLL5ZryZxe_LggRTWhC30BY6JgOLN_lZnIeh10XZezayhqjcF1-xxeLhg3WluEHovZjQYxkWDruEA_hSn8zDDrFauFO-jEGhYGzPbJ2shonlGXm1jD_0Us8kc1i/s1600/DSCF9041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_egfpKzMnDAQ4UJtWxLL5ZryZxe_LggRTWhC30BY6JgOLN_lZnIeh10XZezayhqjcF1-xxeLhg3WluEHovZjQYxkWDruEA_hSn8zDDrFauFO-jEGhYGzPbJ2shonlGXm1jD_0Us8kc1i/s640/DSCF9041.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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After unboxing everything I put thru axles into the frame as I had never had a bike with them and was curious at how they worked. I wondered though why the drive side dropout was not threaded like the fork one... Turns out that the wrong axle was packaged with the frame and that it should have included a nut insert that sits in the dropout held in place by the grub screw you can see above.</div>
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After a few emails with planetx.co.uk they sent me a correct axle and I was able to insert the nut into the dropout and thread the axle in properly. Despite that I had heard Planet X has poor customer service, I experienced the opposite. They were helpful and kept track of my case and in the end I got what I wanted. Thanks!<br />
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<h3>
Frame details</h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0B71QsKn25T1jPRmu-OcenjFUC7fUg-bP2SUqQhIEIBSwhC7CClGt_TTEI8xgOyOLiTKzz3RINSBRx_jXSjB0sjRfj9YNZm68ItsQ9JELjV19_50ZHL15Pqz26ecIUZCD-DD2raA2_133/s1600/DSCF9043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0B71QsKn25T1jPRmu-OcenjFUC7fUg-bP2SUqQhIEIBSwhC7CClGt_TTEI8xgOyOLiTKzz3RINSBRx_jXSjB0sjRfj9YNZm68ItsQ9JELjV19_50ZHL15Pqz26ecIUZCD-DD2raA2_133/s640/DSCF9043.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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The frame is made from Toray 800 carbon fibre, the headtube/steerer is designed for a 1.12"/1.5" tapered steerer, the headset is integrated so the bearings fit directly into the frame without cups. I was a bit cynical about this previously however after some more googling I didn't really hear of too many horror stories with integrated headsets ruining frames.<br />
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Although I am now more convinced about integrated headsets, I'm yet to be convinced by press fit bottom brackets. The bottom bracket is a standard threaded unit on this frame which is a good thing. Ironically the latest trend in bottom bracket standards takes the dimensions of press fit bottom brackets but adds threaded cups which prevents the common creaking associated with press fit bottom brackets.<br />
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The seatstays give plenty of clearance, it's a touch tighter around the chainstays though as it needs to fit a standard road double crankset. Going by measurements, it looks like you can fit about a 700 x 42c or a 650b x 47c You can see here that all the cable routing is internal which is a nice touch as it makes the bike look a whole lot cleaner. Also the threaded bosses on the rear of the dropouts are actually the mudguard attachment points which require an eyelet to be screwed into it which are quite stealthy.<br />
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Although it doesn't state that racks can be fitted to the frame it looks like there are some bosses on the seatstay for them... Note the hidden boss for the mudguard mount, very neat!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqwke2Qe8_pAlP7e4HA3pYVonGfnXbuK3K80DtrZLyg9J4aizm4UBawWh1UC2ma0RjD5HRYv5xzKJVW-FuINv3pohij-MhdfU40BZM85ipetxL8ael9zme48kujM2zLEq35SrzU7qQX9lW/s1600/DSCF9056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqwke2Qe8_pAlP7e4HA3pYVonGfnXbuK3K80DtrZLyg9J4aizm4UBawWh1UC2ma0RjD5HRYv5xzKJVW-FuINv3pohij-MhdfU40BZM85ipetxL8ael9zme48kujM2zLEq35SrzU7qQX9lW/s640/DSCF9056.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga-_ca1XI8QI0qcOHjboWUTmN5Y9_8-pYQ-xokG6uVT9pgLGGCHHKXOAeJOOf8NZnRevqHOaZiEU4j7lze3BMyGyqeD0au_acOUDKdT12EAUUSYot9Egz0UBefoRTLsf84QUlOJ3dvJj0a/s1600/DSCF9052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga-_ca1XI8QI0qcOHjboWUTmN5Y9_8-pYQ-xokG6uVT9pgLGGCHHKXOAeJOOf8NZnRevqHOaZiEU4j7lze3BMyGyqeD0au_acOUDKdT12EAUUSYot9Egz0UBefoRTLsf84QUlOJ3dvJj0a/s640/DSCF9052.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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The head tube is bare carbon to fit the integrated headset bearings. The head tube is a fair bit taller than the Genesis at about 140mm.</div>
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That's it for now. I'm quite happy with this frame, given that I was able to buy it for at the same price (or cheaper) than many steel or alloy frames it was an absolute bargain. The plan now is to swap over most of the parts from <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/project-phil-part-1-frame.html">Phil</a>, however I'll need to build a new set of wheels and I would like to tweak the cockpit slightly with wider, possibly flared drop bars which give more control on dirt. <br />
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<a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.com/2016/10/bish-bash-bosh-part-2-tyres.html">Continued in Part 2...</a>Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-73517472369535783502016-08-25T00:44:00.001+01:002016-08-25T00:44:40.067+01:00The Peugeot Remixed Part 2: Drivetrain<div style="clear: both;">
Now this was to be the main purpose of this upgrade, namely it was to lower the gearing to allow climbing up hills and also to overhaul the whole drivetrain to make it less noisy and draggy. Originally the bike was equipped with a 10 speed derailleur setup and the intent was to replace the rear wheel with a 7 speed cassette setup and change the lower chainring for something lower.<br />
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However my partner who owns the bike was quite fond of the original Stronglight chainring pictured below with the 5 sided star pattern in the picture below. This eventually led to abandoning the idea the derailleur setup for a hub gear...<br />
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<h3>
Choices</h3>
What started this was the desire to keep the original chainrings on the bike, but the simplicity, low maintenance and ability to shift gears whilst stationary which mostly drove it. Add to this that the overall cost was similar and this was not a hard decision to make. The hub that was settled on was the Nexus 8 speed, in particular the SG-C6000 which is the model with roller clutch so the hub is completely silent without the freewheeling sound. The hub came with a grip shift style shifter, this is the type that fits over the handlebars and requires the cylindrical grip to be rotated to shift gears, a bit like a motorcycle throttle. However this wouldn't really fit with the handlebars and it was a bit too plasticy for a classic bike so the Alfine 8 speed trigger shifter was chosen which in theory should work with the Nexus hub.</div>
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Setup and installation</h3>
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I've been fiddling with bikes for a while now, and I know very well now that fitting new parts ot old bikes is never particularly straightforward, there are likely to be surprises where things don't fit as you may think. However the thing I knew from the outset was that the hub spacing would need a bit of a tweak. The Nexus 8 speed hub is 130mm spaced from the factory, I had done my research and was aware that it was possible to respace it to at least 126mm. The Peugeot, being an old bike 5 speed freewheel bike has a 120mm rear end spacing. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocV-k-8mOnB1u1OnIvw0D14zKYGbugrCUFm9X2QKsoqi6YNcTKRqy_yTV_0URMTqrxYAQ2nEGeL8MrR7ENUS7G4DGAfKoygIp64B5d147HwCsXsKIS_HUxj4NGy4nBj7wBPdeJgC0vPlO/s1600/DSCF8850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocV-k-8mOnB1u1OnIvw0D14zKYGbugrCUFm9X2QKsoqi6YNcTKRqy_yTV_0URMTqrxYAQ2nEGeL8MrR7ENUS7G4DGAfKoygIp64B5d147HwCsXsKIS_HUxj4NGy4nBj7wBPdeJgC0vPlO/s640/DSCF8850.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The first thing to do is to remove the non-drive side locknut and dust cover, as this is the version of the hub meant for rim brakes, the dust cover reveals a spline type fitting meant to mate with a roller brake. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtD9P6swkHYmQyj9MFwpaBM98Npw6ujwBUA_SZx76GYJyOoifMgyq8JDTxUzsJXelnNKs5ErBvrURyWUJ0yu24NLLGGp_iAhayb_Q9N0OKdj5lkXfiHuFfRTi5MLkpG2qfxjK2UDr-QwKn/s1600/DSCF8851.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtD9P6swkHYmQyj9MFwpaBM98Npw6ujwBUA_SZx76GYJyOoifMgyq8JDTxUzsJXelnNKs5ErBvrURyWUJ0yu24NLLGGp_iAhayb_Q9N0OKdj5lkXfiHuFfRTi5MLkpG2qfxjK2UDr-QwKn/s640/DSCF8851.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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There is a second locknut behind this which has a step in it meant for a bearing cover to fit into, I removed this and was left with the bearing cone which you can see in black below. I found a replacement locknut which was a lot thinner and threaded this on, this made the overall spacing about 123mm which would mean that it should go right in without having to cold set the frame. By the way, the Nexus axles are a bit different to Shimano hubs in that they are 9.5mm diameter and a 26tpi threading.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKdAIllMdSEcCBGlN9JX6qQ0On6GduW7dSRp8nXb0mSWuC_ZdseBFLekl8oK7RdVLHqxF1-w4frEfLHkXx9UZJukRbYK8WLti3mI3ejwkvdS8MbobAnUxUSLb3ZuUPcSXJQFYWrTMZhOk/s1600/DSCF8863.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKdAIllMdSEcCBGlN9JX6qQ0On6GduW7dSRp8nXb0mSWuC_ZdseBFLekl8oK7RdVLHqxF1-w4frEfLHkXx9UZJukRbYK8WLti3mI3ejwkvdS8MbobAnUxUSLb3ZuUPcSXJQFYWrTMZhOk/s640/DSCF8863.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzogrdzMZv8SVLZNBJnIoWb4ZlCeLsn-xUC2G1cHQ0LInbDJjtiylJDkQ69dfa0eWZE1pPrSoOLLx500ZGJ3rf5xOF3MsQ4sSChLa_CjqWJBGfptRuDwqzIP2-fvacaokDcXOQkzZisRt0/s1600/DSCF8865.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzogrdzMZv8SVLZNBJnIoWb4ZlCeLsn-xUC2G1cHQ0LInbDJjtiylJDkQ69dfa0eWZE1pPrSoOLLx500ZGJ3rf5xOF3MsQ4sSChLa_CjqWJBGfptRuDwqzIP2-fvacaokDcXOQkzZisRt0/s640/DSCF8865.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">The wheel went in without any trouble and no stretching needed! The supplied anti-rotation washers went in fine as well without any modification to the dropouts.</span><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrBN3NPWxKWTM28qaippehzy2gg3it07cuG2sOJxoY_x5wnpJbNxXmoWUIH_3lrgjqDgfeyy9Gs8sAkcEVMu9jDSEk3EUFxHSbs5Q2eOaco3OzAme7z1T9uSF-c3k-M5ng4sZKlHbN3kFL/s640/DSCF8867.jpg" width="640" /></span></div>
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The sprocket goes onto the hub much like the Sturmey Archer hubs, there are a few tabs on the sprocket that mates with some slots on the hub and a circlip fits into a groove which holds it in place.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoVWkg3iv6bMHquRlECjRQnfASG4bSLCjiZFDdyYKHjSbU75UNm-dnmnNsOKM1t_aoc3EtqNIxHCJImLx5cehvF0lnj8wQfj7XlCnGVBpW5p0p_rZj9742YBqdofqlhUEZWFbIArcnLwQ8/s1600/DSCF8866.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoVWkg3iv6bMHquRlECjRQnfASG4bSLCjiZFDdyYKHjSbU75UNm-dnmnNsOKM1t_aoc3EtqNIxHCJImLx5cehvF0lnj8wQfj7XlCnGVBpW5p0p_rZj9742YBqdofqlhUEZWFbIArcnLwQ8/s640/DSCF8866.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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A little trim</h3>
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As you can see from the picture above, there is a fair bit of axle still sticking out now, as I have removed the locknut and exposed more thread. As the axle nut is closed on one end I can only tighten it so much before it bottoms out, so out comes the hacksaw...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZRNHN-JBon7utWS6I8qYKyNN19wF4V1-BOftwe37ua8EvVvhtkQnt0VHVrJuiucQSAa-2Q4xu0FtOzQOSXAVH1UP7P2qVhSQjqUIkEKQYmPo2fgy_nGvKa9HL0YrPqsI9pxhm9uz67S8/s1600/DSCF8871.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifZRNHN-JBon7utWS6I8qYKyNN19wF4V1-BOftwe37ua8EvVvhtkQnt0VHVrJuiucQSAa-2Q4xu0FtOzQOSXAVH1UP7P2qVhSQjqUIkEKQYmPo2fgy_nGvKa9HL0YrPqsI9pxhm9uz67S8/s640/DSCF8871.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8a6piKBJsGAbwcW_5-nE_LlaOncYkyxlT4a5ptpRp0mke4pPYUpmRAqIEtE-mR0pIZsFigxKW5JXimCFL4epgAJMQk4UCMxM3UcNWIuh7iXHSQ1ANTdL5_PN3BepZMtlA4whs7LoofkzI/s1600/DSCF8872.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8a6piKBJsGAbwcW_5-nE_LlaOncYkyxlT4a5ptpRp0mke4pPYUpmRAqIEtE-mR0pIZsFigxKW5JXimCFL4epgAJMQk4UCMxM3UcNWIuh7iXHSQ1ANTdL5_PN3BepZMtlA4whs7LoofkzI/s640/DSCF8872.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZOdx0PlUrGntVDwiV6xxCWX4KLTk7nLgaynuBvmaJ8Ys7ncVL8g2RzzQroyT5anNbiYfu3EIk3OiEKYsWqTjb-DUO2Bk7wZRSUhtNKOXwH8YNUFnmpKCtZ1-G05-OFYV9NiKQbV1p1t3G/s1600/DSCF8883.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZOdx0PlUrGntVDwiV6xxCWX4KLTk7nLgaynuBvmaJ8Ys7ncVL8g2RzzQroyT5anNbiYfu3EIk3OiEKYsWqTjb-DUO2Bk7wZRSUhtNKOXwH8YNUFnmpKCtZ1-G05-OFYV9NiKQbV1p1t3G/s640/DSCF8883.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I ended up removing about 10mm of the axle until it was about the right length, now everything was in place and it all looked like it could have come out of the factory like that.</div>
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Shifting setup</h3>
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The stock twist shifter would not fit on the porteur style handlebars so we elected to go for an Alfine trigger shifter, this is styled much like the Shimano Rapidfire shifters, so there are two levers, one for the thumb and one for the index. Having done some research though, I realised later that the Alfine 8 speed reversed the direction so it is low-normal; in the presence of no cable it defaults to a low gear. The Nexus 8 is the other way around, however they cable pulls for each gear are more or less the same.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiElbYFs3gdTyC0ppAGXltTDMa2VnyVYhoDzRI2wwgUuRsMxWEU-xLGWYLH2XLHzs3aNi_UE7GpkHS6SrRON7zvc7UyzfXvvszG_lXbXWJf-er3dnP5kf0rogqgOlRx8vztm5LVSBlE2gxC/s1600/DSCF8892.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiElbYFs3gdTyC0ppAGXltTDMa2VnyVYhoDzRI2wwgUuRsMxWEU-xLGWYLH2XLHzs3aNi_UE7GpkHS6SrRON7zvc7UyzfXvvszG_lXbXWJf-er3dnP5kf0rogqgOlRx8vztm5LVSBlE2gxC/s640/DSCF8892.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
The other thing I realised that was different was that the cable ends. Because the Alfine is low-normal the shifting cassette rotates the opposite direction and therefore the nut at the end of the cable is also the other direction. In addition the Alfine hub has a rubber boot, presumably because the cable runs slightly upward at the end instead of downward like the Nexus, water could accumulate in the low spot of the cable and cause rust and seizing. Just using the Nexus nut on the cable worked fine.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnq3C_JTePoEY-fnbOUTBq-_PRVYfAySnmzBpIlDXv-GX3mF7ma-fJk9UspeFZxddOpBF82JxzbzQr5UpAY5R6eQEtzmkkuItGs06uwXBwj6u73PVyuINm89bQHlpV-vNkvYgCy9yeM1yo/s1600/DSCF8923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnq3C_JTePoEY-fnbOUTBq-_PRVYfAySnmzBpIlDXv-GX3mF7ma-fJk9UspeFZxddOpBF82JxzbzQr5UpAY5R6eQEtzmkkuItGs06uwXBwj6u73PVyuINm89bQHlpV-vNkvYgCy9yeM1yo/s640/DSCF8923.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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The shifter was setup at the elbow of the handlebar which allows shifting when in more of a tuck position. Luckily everything worked fine with the Nexus hub and Alfine shifter, the only difference is that the gear adjustment is set in gear 5 on the shifter (which is actually gear 4 on the hub), all the gears seem to work fine.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6_8SeBf94AFHQjIJKhkzBRLkqSCFtat4xwXBVYs_Pq-pOn16_bjAhjzRY2e91ZbqjHr45noMEc-Kf6ifKCXQQRX4USBm4DBovNdIYvZzqYnngaelLQy4RdxBuHVlKfFvuiAYtWNmj0WU/s1600/DSCF8898.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6_8SeBf94AFHQjIJKhkzBRLkqSCFtat4xwXBVYs_Pq-pOn16_bjAhjzRY2e91ZbqjHr45noMEc-Kf6ifKCXQQRX4USBm4DBovNdIYvZzqYnngaelLQy4RdxBuHVlKfFvuiAYtWNmj0WU/s640/DSCF8898.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The stem was replaced with a vintage Milremo unit we got with <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/jackyll">Jackyll our Jack Taylor tandem</a> which just needed a light sand to fit in the steerer. The French steerers are 22.0mm whilst the standard British size is 22.2mm, this means you just need to sand enough to remove 0.1mm from the stem shaft.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNcPNx7d5BwmqWHkHrtd1IB7wDTnCQ2giLQGhpH5g2_6PAXxMSTgo7GMIVBeI4xjE9eYhAYb1I_tWE3TQfJsNsz_w7wwAVKlkyU2QfU49ySu_P2W_222FZUuVoqq2-y9JNERHV7I4GwjwD/s1600/DSCF8913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNcPNx7d5BwmqWHkHrtd1IB7wDTnCQ2giLQGhpH5g2_6PAXxMSTgo7GMIVBeI4xjE9eYhAYb1I_tWE3TQfJsNsz_w7wwAVKlkyU2QfU49ySu_P2W_222FZUuVoqq2-y9JNERHV7I4GwjwD/s640/DSCF8913.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPOPG750YknKNaCpz26q2KJ2txSvrv4t8kz-eo7jDiKR49oRwAp4fQzmS69yDpyWqbvFL8mRJgde74rYkYQ_MX13hFf3qq1uNPhRhVje1xm48xqooMT7rxiPlAUoSNQlVBl9LlNQsJ1RY/s1600/DSCF8917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPOPG750YknKNaCpz26q2KJ2txSvrv4t8kz-eo7jDiKR49oRwAp4fQzmS69yDpyWqbvFL8mRJgde74rYkYQ_MX13hFf3qq1uNPhRhVje1xm48xqooMT7rxiPlAUoSNQlVBl9LlNQsJ1RY/s640/DSCF8917.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Bar tape on and cork stoppers for bar plugs as we couldn't find the right bar plugs to fit.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHiHlYKaVROXy9i-0jPUQX7hHthCMpN6C95PoWdBvdNe9dv1K3s56JUQzvSWU3Hcv4ahth5xS13B-_Gkoy3vweZmxBNuoAVOc1-XlDWkzdr0U8NP_H3sRZhUN1k7IMNYkW9ZZ43l5kx7B/s1600/DSCF8922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHiHlYKaVROXy9i-0jPUQX7hHthCMpN6C95PoWdBvdNe9dv1K3s56JUQzvSWU3Hcv4ahth5xS13B-_Gkoy3vweZmxBNuoAVOc1-XlDWkzdr0U8NP_H3sRZhUN1k7IMNYkW9ZZ43l5kx7B/s640/DSCF8922.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmyw8lhAkJVweaWzqiebStRZWpN3xds-pVEL8V4CdCTOoYFKHkWBbG9Jb_YY8Djz1sM7rbzMrmJHDJv5U5HuokI4A8JvhYqipCE4teNrNB4qS8yOft8HBImATT_lQ8vC9UhfV-kyVoWDJ/s1600/DSCF8926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYmyw8lhAkJVweaWzqiebStRZWpN3xds-pVEL8V4CdCTOoYFKHkWBbG9Jb_YY8Djz1sM7rbzMrmJHDJv5U5HuokI4A8JvhYqipCE4teNrNB4qS8yOft8HBImATT_lQ8vC9UhfV-kyVoWDJ/s640/DSCF8926.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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Conclusion</h3>
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All done! The hub works beautifully with very quick smooth shifts, even under load which a Sturmey Archer doesn't do at all. The bike now rides along very quietly, getting rid of the derailleurs got rid of the chain slap and the noise of the pulleys. My partner now has much more confidence to go down hills as the brakes actually work. Also she loves the ability to shift when stationary which is perfect for commuting. I'm quite impressed with the Nexus hub as it was really reasonably price and the sophisticated design inside is light years ahead to Sturmey Archer's which is what I'm used to.</div>
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Thanks for reading</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Icu-f69uYGVU_Z70j4O6LG7vMipBVJLF4iuT-cCXF3h4UniCcxXn-jb0xEjxZHkRqMPmstKyFFc_mkkBs6zAJPT3EvzM_b6jWUQvFR0X3GtUsjx0uE_zC4lpfwiK1TuX8E2EiNe8ifoo/s1600/DSCF8920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Icu-f69uYGVU_Z70j4O6LG7vMipBVJLF4iuT-cCXF3h4UniCcxXn-jb0xEjxZHkRqMPmstKyFFc_mkkBs6zAJPT3EvzM_b6jWUQvFR0X3GtUsjx0uE_zC4lpfwiK1TuX8E2EiNe8ifoo/s640/DSCF8920.jpg" width="640" /></a>Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-47490585182849751682016-08-19T00:31:00.000+01:002016-08-25T00:44:54.984+01:00The Peugeot Remixed Part 1: Cranks and stoppingA while ago on this blog I featured a post on a <a href="https://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/the-peugeot-time-machine.html">Peugeot Mixte</a> time machine. This bike had barely been ridden since the 70's, however since then it's been used for my partner's daily commute. It's been very reliable and has already undergone some modern upgrades such as new tyres and a new hub dynamo and LED light setup. It would have been nice to have kept the original dynamo however it simply was beyond repair, as well the cost of a hub dynamo was not much more than a decent sidewall dynamo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5oy26AZDWwQJ48EAEGK48qYqg8qcNkpSZAJqfeRGh3UD8NIuFky_EMmXGdMKf6zV5E7Ey71EGsX-ckWmd0GoNiuJoK9A59kk8Z_CXFssF19erzQcD36A8Ut7jCr3XEm0pq_MZzPHTVmU/s1600/DSCF4466.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5oy26AZDWwQJ48EAEGK48qYqg8qcNkpSZAJqfeRGh3UD8NIuFky_EMmXGdMKf6zV5E7Ey71EGsX-ckWmd0GoNiuJoK9A59kk8Z_CXFssF19erzQcD36A8Ut7jCr3XEm0pq_MZzPHTVmU/s640/DSCF4466.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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She has started a new job recently which will involve a longer commute, and wanted to sort out many little niggles with the bike that had developed over the past few years. Initially she felt that pedalling it was very draggy and inefficient, possibly due to a worn bottom bracket or something in the drivetrain. So she made the decision to overhaul the entire drivetrain, in the process lowering the gearing as the lowest gear (38 x 28t) was not enough for some hills in south London.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9lLprAmNE0ewVowtFDNdEnc7U-VPsugcg1LRZfBtr3BpzapwvHhIPCIuIg4hqnOFQlFXEw5lbDNpCdMl5u4CTXuJsoCiLifUf5K4EaaasMMVxI-uf-zDA-JFFLOOoTZzG1SR5oyBqQ6f/s1600/DSCF4409.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9lLprAmNE0ewVowtFDNdEnc7U-VPsugcg1LRZfBtr3BpzapwvHhIPCIuIg4hqnOFQlFXEw5lbDNpCdMl5u4CTXuJsoCiLifUf5K4EaaasMMVxI-uf-zDA-JFFLOOoTZzG1SR5oyBqQ6f/s640/DSCF4409.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<h3>
Cranks and bottom bracket</h3>
So the first port of call was to take off the cranks to put on lower geared chainrings and overhaul the bottom bracket. This was not so easy as all old Stronglight cranks require a crank extractor which is specific to their brand pre-1980. I already have the Spécialités T.A. 23mm extractor so why not get a the Stronglight one which is 23.35mm... Yes the measurement is very close however if you use one in the other you will ruin the threads and never be able to remove the cranks!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8OYCEPeEtJfjBvtbPQ7SrFheegBXDg9GiAqamBeNp7G8AVTJyrS_kszGQOQ_Js_7YGfVKxgywARpiwtQPpm0Braq0ONE5TJkzYNMRwhnFQ-_hxGV-bWJMOart9ZLt3BWDwsKa9gBj9aOB/s1600/DSCF8861.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8OYCEPeEtJfjBvtbPQ7SrFheegBXDg9GiAqamBeNp7G8AVTJyrS_kszGQOQ_Js_7YGfVKxgywARpiwtQPpm0Braq0ONE5TJkzYNMRwhnFQ-_hxGV-bWJMOart9ZLt3BWDwsKa9gBj9aOB/s640/DSCF8861.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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We removed the cranks with the correct tool and took apart the bottom bracket, it was in very good condition, with only some minor nicks on one cup. However we decided to replace it with a sealed unit to cut down on maintenance. We settled on a Velo Orange French threaded sealed BB, the other option would have been a threadless BB however I'm not too sure how secure they fit in the BB and the price difference wasn't much anyway. It's quite a nice unit, spins very smoothly and is very light partly due to the hollow spindle.</div>
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The other minor thing we needed to do to the cranks was tapping the pedal threads from French to English (standard) threading. I already had the taps for this, it was the first time I'd ever done it and it turned out to be quite straightforward. You just have to make sure that the tap is started straight and the rest is just like any other thread tapping. <br />
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The chainrings were also removed, originally we set out to change the original 42/48t Stronglight ones with 34/48t Spécialités TA. However my partner really didn't like the fact that she would have to change from the unique looking Stronglight chainring to the comparatively mundane looking T.A. ones, more on this later when I discuss the drivetrain, for now onto the brakes...<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Brakes</h3>
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The brakes that came on the bike were Mafac Racers which are at best s<i>peed modulators. </i>They do slow the bike somewhat but don't really bring it to a stop in any reasonably hasty manner, also their setup is a little fiddly. I've played around with these brakes on many bikes, and to be honest I'm not a big fan, the arms are much too flexy and actually deform if you brake very hard which ruins any brake pad alignment. I've only ever used the centre bolt mounted versions with a connecting bridge, you can however fit the swingarms directly to the frame with braze on studs but these are uncommon.</div>
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We decided to just replace these with modern Tektro dual pivot calipers with cartridge pads. This simplifies the setup and upgrades the brakes to modern standards. The model used was the Tektro R559 which has a reach of up to 75mm which was just enough for the longer reach rear.</div>
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Setup of brake pads alignment is drastically simpler and more precise only requiring an allen key, adjusting pads on the Mafac usually involves an adjustable wrench for bending the arms to achieve sufficient toe-in to prevent squealing. The calipers also have a quick release which means removing wheels is much quicker than with the Mafacs, which have a sort of quick release but isn't too user friendly.</div>
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Now the crankset and brakes are sorted... all that is left is the gearing. Originally we set out to merely upgrade it but we eventually went in a different direction completely. </div>
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<br />Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-29445345205391039622016-05-13T21:30:00.002+01:002016-05-14T19:05:15.736+01:00Jackyl the tandem Part 10: The rear wheel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGNlQ49ErJlpRP2BcfFnW14kGglStSDTPIieMA04aZXgzh5q-Y4AQSkeNs7bsH53OCj-c5D4t9cZVHo2__n13-XiJ7ioEhm_WW9YCAUyEjmQ7cMFnwPAqqZWLr4tMVPXdkegxldzu3HsR/s1600/%253Cuntitled%253E+006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJGNlQ49ErJlpRP2BcfFnW14kGglStSDTPIieMA04aZXgzh5q-Y4AQSkeNs7bsH53OCj-c5D4t9cZVHo2__n13-XiJ7ioEhm_WW9YCAUyEjmQ7cMFnwPAqqZWLr4tMVPXdkegxldzu3HsR/s1600/%253Cuntitled%253E+006.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Continuing on from my <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.com/2016/05/jackyll-tandem-part-9-tears-for-gears.html">last post</a> where I went through the decision process and preparation for the new rear wheel, this is where I get to put it all together. I have now built about 6-8 wheelsets now and I feel reasonably confident doing so, having made a few mistakes before (not using enough tension) and learnt from this. I'm a bit of a sucker for good tools, but the one thing I was missing was a wheel truing stand. I could buy one off the shelf but a decent one is not cheap, and having just spent a tonne of money renovating my house I was a bit short on this front. I did however have a spare bits of oak worktop lying around that I could use...<br />
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So I decided to make a truing stand out of oak. The design is very simple, a heavy timber base with two arms sticking out of it, one arm has a sliding dropout to accommodate for differing axle widths. <br />
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All glued together, I was going to attach the feeler arm to one of these but haven't gotten around to it. Instead I just used a square edge sitting on the base of the stand which worked somewhat.<br />
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The wheel has been laced up and needs to be tensioned, like the front wheel I built it 3 cross, there isn't really much point in 4 cross in my opinion . Luckily now both the front and rear wheels use exactly the same spoke length so I don't have to worry about carrying more than one length of spare spoke, fingers crossed I won't break any.<br />
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I was a bit worried that the Velocity Atlas 650B rim had been damaged as it was sitting in storage for 9 months under lots of my random heavy things. However it was perfectly fine and trued up nice and straight. During tensioning you tend to true it as you go along, initially you true in the radial plane; that is to make sure that the rim is in as circular as you can get it. I used to find this difficult but now I was able to get this rim nice and round, the side to side adjustment is reasonably straightforward.<br />
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The Shimano FH-HF08 hubs have nice thick flanges, and the DT Swiss Alpine III triple butted spokes have extra thick heads which fit nice and snug into them. This needs to be a nice strong wheel, I want to be confident that it will support the tandem fully loaded with luggage and all, and it feels like it will fit the bill.<br />
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Out of curiosity I weighed these and they came out at 1360g for the rear wheel and 860g for the Arai drum. Not a particularly lightweight wheel, but it is built to hold two people and their luggage!<br />
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I fitted the cassette and drum to the rear wheel and installed it. The shifting on the back worked near perfectly straight out of the box, the front however was a different story. I had trouble getting it to shift into any of the chainrings, initially I thought that the chain was too narrow for the front derailleur cage and bent it a little bit to make it narrower. However it turned out that I hadn't installed the caps on the gear cable outers that went into the bar end shifters, this caused the cable to come loose when tension was applied. Once this was fixed it worked beautifully, I suspected it was something other than the cage width as the 10-speed chain is only 1.5mm narrower than the 7-speed one.<br />
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I had a quick ride around and certainly the 10-speed cassette has much wider range and smaller steps between each sprocket. It's about as good as it can get now with the new middle ring too. The indexed bar end shifters do make gear changes a doddle even though they don't quite have the vintage cool of the Suntour shifters. The drum brake is also so far so good, although I haven't had a chance to really test it out, it is certainly much much smoother than the old one. Sadly, this may be one of the last posts about the tandem build as it's almost all completely restored now.<br />
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Thanks for reading.Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-9414492981903550012016-05-13T19:28:00.000+01:002016-05-14T19:05:50.443+01:00Jackyll the Tandem part 9: Tears for gears<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since originally purchasing our Jack Taylor tandem AKA Jackyll in March 2015, we have replaced almost all the worn out parts and restored the bike to working order. Originally it came with oddball <i>north road</i> handlebars, a worn out drivetrain, wobbly wheels and rumbly bearings. One of the last outstanding items to be fixed was also one of the most important, the rear wheel. This is doubly important on a tandem as not only does it determine what gearing you can run but it also influences your braking choice. Due to all these functions, building a new rear wheel and getting everything to work together was not so straightforward.<br />
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<h3>
The original</h3>
In a nutshell the original wheel had seen much better days, the bearing cups were gone, the drum brake was ineffectual and caused a judder sometimes when engaged, the 7-speed freewheel was limiting and prone to cause axle breakage, the old worn rim was a hookless design which would prevent higher tire pressures being used and to top it off some of the spoke nipples had seized and prevented the wheel from being trued from it's wobbly state.<br />
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<h3>
The replacement </h3>
When I had replaced the <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/jackyll-tandem-part-6-wheel-trouble.html">rumbly front wheel</a> I purchased a pair of the Velocity Atlas rims as 40h 650B rims are particularly difficult to come by and had to be specially ordered. After I built the front wheel the other spare rim was sitting there alone in my storage until now... These are the specs of the wheels:<br />
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<h4>
Front</h4>
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- Shimano HF08 hub respaced to 110mm with Wheels Mfg. solid cromoly axle<br />
- Velocity Atlas 650b 40h<br />
- DT Swiss Alpine III spokes and brass nipples<br />
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<h4>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqT7NJNE4BNgrvsz_bXlb2tTWeEynY3WILAQ-di4vFbVtTX9WEebTzB6kDu3Y12bDVLJ0jlccFjMB9MDHYWQL74T9CUtwSpifK0sJxaqAGUo2w8deE77jOufUS53B-n8j54rFbhBLK1OOD/s1600/%253Cuntitled%253E+015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqT7NJNE4BNgrvsz_bXlb2tTWeEynY3WILAQ-di4vFbVtTX9WEebTzB6kDu3Y12bDVLJ0jlccFjMB9MDHYWQL74T9CUtwSpifK0sJxaqAGUo2w8deE77jOufUS53B-n8j54rFbhBLK1OOD/s1600/%253Cuntitled%253E+015.jpg" width="640" /></a></h4>
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<h4>
Rear</h4>
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- Shimano FH-HF08 hub 140mm spacing<br />
- Velocity Atlas 650b 40h<br />
- Arai drum brake<br />
- DT Swiss Alpine III spokes and brass nipples</div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Gears</h3>
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The other big reason to change to a cassette hub was the large choice of gearing available. The old hub only supported threaded freewheels which are limited to 7-speeds and a high gear of 13 teeth, which on a tandem can be quite limiting as flat ground speed can be quite high! I had a slight dilemma with the cassette choice however, I wanted to keep using the <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/jackyll-tandem-part-5-suntour-shifter.html">Suntour retrofriction shifters</a>, generally 9-speed with friction is the limit as it starts to get too finnicky with 10-speed. In the end I bit the bullet and went for 10-speed and bought a pair of modern Dura ace bar end shifters which have indexing. The speed and convenience that you can shift gears with an indexed system is somewhat useful when barrelling down a steep hillside with a fully loaded tandem!</div>
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I took this opportunity to fit a smaller middle ring as previously it was a 53/42/26t setup which meant the middle ring was a bit too high and too big a jump to the granny ring. The next step was to see if the chain would get stuck between the chainrings. The Spécialités T.A. Cyclotourist and other 50.4BCD cranksets have a unique way of attaching chainrings. The outer ring attaches to the crank arm and the inner chainrings are bolted onto the outer chainring with another set of bolts and spacers.<br />
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This means that there are a myriad of configurations available, you just need the appropriate spacers and bolts for single, double or triple setups. Previously when <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/jackyll-tandem-part-8-specialites-ta.html">I fitted the 26t granny ring</a> I used the slightly thicker spacers between the big and middle rings. This caused the 7-speed chain to get caught between them. I tested this with the 10 speed chain and it was worse, 10 speed chains are about 1.5mm narrower than a 7-speed chain so this was no surprise.<br />
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I already had a set of slightly thinner spacers and one set of thicker spacers (3.5mm). These needed to be filed down so I only had thinner spacers (2.5mm). As you can see in the picture below, now I had filed down the spacers, this meant the bolt that fixed the chainrings now sat proud of the chainring and didn't fix properly... this mean they had to be filed down too!<br />
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After all this I was finally able to reassemble the crankset. Hopefully I won't have to come around to this again, but I'm confident now with the thinner spacers it should work perfectly. The other part of the gears I had to fit was the Dura ace 10-speed bar end shifters.<br />
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<h3>
Drag braking</h3>
<div>
One thing that I have learnt about tandems since I bought one is that they tend to go downhill very fast... they pick up speed very quickly and stay there because of the increased weight and insignificant increase in air resistance compared to a solo bike. Because of this traditionally tandem bikes have had a drag brake, typically this was the Arai drum brake which was adapted from a delivery trike. <br />
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The purpose of this brake is to hold a constant speed down hills to prevent the tandem gaining too much speed and thus losing control. The Arai drum threads onto the non-drive side of the hub which is the same threading as a standard English freewheel/bottom bracket, the axle pokes through that and the backing plate goes over that. Other than that it is very similar to other bicycle drum brakes except for the fact that it is huge (120mm diameter) and has a lot of cooling fins!<br />
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The first thing I had to do to fit the hub properly was to narrow the axle. The rear axle spacing is 140mm, which is standard on older tandems, however the Shimano FH-HF08 hub was spaced to 145mm from the factory which meant I needed to respace and shorten the axle. You might be wondering what that is over the hub in the above picture, not to worry I just put a glove over the hub to stop any shavings from coming anywhere near the bearings.<br />
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Now it fits nice and easy straight into the frame. This was somewhat of a relief as it took me quite a while and a lot of money to get the drum and the hub, both long out of production and somewhat niche being tandem specific. </div>
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For those that might wonder why tandems have wider axle spacings, it isn't just to be able to fit a drum brake. It also gives the wheel more strength as it reduces the amount of dish in the wheel. Too much dish means that the hub flange (where the spokes attach) are too close to the centreline of the wheel and mean that they cannot give much sideways bracing. A wider axle spacing allows the spokes to be at more of an angle instead of vertical which makes for a a stronger wheel. </div>
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Now onto the next part where I actually build up the wheel... Thanks for reading</div>
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Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-54568242298226148252016-04-04T00:42:00.001+01:002016-04-04T00:42:18.732+01:00Last of winterHi all, I must apologise. It has been several months since my last post. In the last few months I have bought a house and have been very busy renovating over the winter. I have only recently begun to have a normal schedule at home very recently. It is starting to warm up now so I will be posting more regularly as well. Now, about this ride... not long ago it snowed over here in London, I thought what better way to enjoy it than to go for a ride in the north downs?<br />
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At this point I was freezing my feet off, as I had only just moved back into my house all my riding gear was packed up in bags and I couldn't find some of my winter specific gear like my winter shoe covers...<br />
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A few steep hills to go down...<br />
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Nonetheless the scenery was beautiful around Kent, you can see the oast houses in the distance<br />
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Thanks for reading, stay tuned for some more new posts!</div>
Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-45113361049201044792015-12-13T22:01:00.002+00:002015-12-13T22:01:50.741+00:00Breaking and Making Light Mounts<h3>
The Problem</h3>
So on my <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/postmaster">commuting bike</a> I've been running my old faithful Busch + Muller Lyt headlamp for nearly six years now, <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/raleigh-twenty-dynamo-light-upgrade.html">originally fitted on my old Raleigh Twenty back in Sydney.</a> The positioning of the headlamp was less than ideal, it protruded slightly above the level of the parcel tray so any large luggage tended to bear its weight on the lamp itself. Years of this lead to the mount finally cracking which made the wiring go a bit funny... Anyway, it was time to replace it and I decided to go with the Philips Saferide 40, this is the smaller brother of the <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/jackyll-tandem-part-4-turning-night.html">Saferide 60 which I fitted to my tandem bike.</a><br />
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This was mounted protruding out the front of my parcel tray, the Saferide 40 is a little longer than the old one so it protrudes about 10cm. Only after a few weeks whilst going through a gate I smashed the light and the mounting eyelet broke... Thankfully this didn't affect the wiring however, the electronics still worked fine. I knew all along that really it would be better slung underneath the parcel tray out of harm's way. No one sold anything like this off the shelf as generally dynamo lights are intended to be mounted on the crown of the fork. I'm no stranger to making custom light mounts like on Phil, <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-bar-bag-part-1-let-there-be-light.html">where I fabricated one from old brake parts</a> so what I decided to do was to 3D print one.<br />
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3D printing has crossed over into the mainstream, there are many methods of 3D printing and the method I am using constructs the object by breaking it down into many very thin layers of plastic. These layers are constructed by a head which moves in a 2D plane which streams out liquid plastic. As these layers are built up a 3D form takes place.<br />
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First Prototype</h3>
I work as an Architect normally so am quite familiar with 3D software and also we happen to have a 3D printer at my office. So off I went and I modelled one using Rhinoceros 3D which is a type of 3D modelling software.<br />
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The objectives were that it needed to be able to recess the light underneath the parcel tray, enough to prevent it from being knocked about again. It also had to clear the front tyre and allow for some angle adjustment. Also it has to be strong enough to last a while, the medium the 3D printer uses is PLA which is Polylactic Acid plastic, this is a biodegradable plastic. This isn't as strong as ABS plastic which is commonly used in industry however printing ABS requires different and more complex equipment.<br />
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So I designed a mount which holds the light in what you call a gimbal mount, it kind of looks like a birdcage, but it is meant to allow the light adjustment up or down and it is set back from underneath the parcel tray to protect the light from collision.<br />
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The design took a little while as this was really the first time I had used this modelling software, I have experience using other 3D software so this was a reasonably quick learning experience. After modelling I sent it to the 3D printer and loaded up the black filament... 2 hours later and I have my first prototype!<br />
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The webbing and extra material you see is called bridging, this is meant to be a temporary support for the work piece as it is being printed. It is easily removed after printing with a knife and some filing. This was done in a slightly quicker method which has less thickness and material inside, more for testing as I assumed I would need to revise the design.<br />
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The first problem I encountered was that the holes were full of webbing and I needed to use a drill to clear them out thouroughly, also a lot of the holes were a little small. Despite having measured a standard M5 metric bolt which I intended on using, it still came up a little small. What I was missing was a bit of tolerance space. The next problem was that the part just behind the top mount protruded too far back and any object on the parcel tray would bear weight on this part of the mount instead of the leather straps.<br />
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Secondly the gimbal mount part was a little too narrow to fit the headlight body comfortably and it interfered with the angle adjustment, also the top mount where it fixed to the parcel tray was a little bit too small and the bolt wasn't able to pass through easily.<br />
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Despite these problems I managed to mount it and ride with it, although I went over some bumps and I heard a crack sound... the mount snapped under the weight of some cargo bearing down on the back of it. You can see the construction of the mount as it is quite thin, it was set at 0.8mm outside thickness with not too much fill inside. PLA plastic is known for being a little bit more brittle than ABS plastic, and this demonstrated this. There isn't as much deformation before breaking as I would normally be used to with mass manufactured ABS plastic.<br />
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<h3>
Second Try...</h3>
Back to the drawing board, this time around I redesigned the mount so there was not so much offset. Also I scaled up the gimbal mount and bracket by about 10%. As I was a bit more certain it would fit this time, I increased the wall thickness to 3mm and increased the amount of fill material. This caused the print time to go up to 4 hours.<br />
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This mount turned out a lot better, thankfully the light fit into the gimbal perfectly and the angle adjustment worked with ease. The parcel tray mount also fit better and there was no interference with the luggage in the parcel tray.<br />
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So far so good, hopefully with the light a bit more protected I should be less likely to damage it in use. It still does protrude out about 5cm however it is much more protected than before, if there is a collision in the future I should be able to revise it again for the third (hopefully final) version.<br />
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Thanks for reading.Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1318315606520498015.post-89520624863842967282015-11-10T21:47:00.001+00:002015-11-10T21:47:10.098+00:00The Forest of Bowland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKauL3t4L3AfxZrfWdDYhj4KyGGztwLVojtGa7TS0Ux_Kf5u7w_uQbK-m0608JcF0RLdq7D3IN77ADR3XWekaeFm3iyMlnM_kiMRVNsIVLk2eNYoTmcPUhfgWR4i1SOYlUyNWKGjGzUod/s1600/DSCF7322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKauL3t4L3AfxZrfWdDYhj4KyGGztwLVojtGa7TS0Ux_Kf5u7w_uQbK-m0608JcF0RLdq7D3IN77ADR3XWekaeFm3iyMlnM_kiMRVNsIVLk2eNYoTmcPUhfgWR4i1SOYlUyNWKGjGzUod/s1600/DSCF7322.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Not too far from the Lake district is a lesser known area called the Forest of Bowland. It's a somewhat similar rugged, craggy windswept landscape however without the lakes. We decided to take our <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label//jackyll">tandem</a> in a loop around it's fells and valleys.<br />
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I was prepared for some hills as I knew there would be some 10-12% climbs in the area, we came well prepared with our new 26t granny gear <a href="http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/jackyll-tandem-part-8-specialites-ta.html">fitted the week before</a> for those sharp ascents. Pictured above is Jubilee Tower which is sited at the top of the climb from Quernmore.<br />
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Much of the landscape is mossy groundcover, penetrated by craggy volcanic rocks. As is normal in north-west England, it tends to rain quite a lot and despite it being a relatively sunny day we still managed to catch some precipitation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Tlq1df__pgiG2QUgckGoG79v2M57wldr4pnbls4ey1BMruZKv7pVCiEmPTTwbs4Y85JD8HGZcjHxDi1bXIPoXFu8R8H5X5NboMBUTkL6b4Y7ywfGE_91H0ImnOmsWcNxLUtcybiXnQOv/s1600/DSCF7350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Tlq1df__pgiG2QUgckGoG79v2M57wldr4pnbls4ey1BMruZKv7pVCiEmPTTwbs4Y85JD8HGZcjHxDi1bXIPoXFu8R8H5X5NboMBUTkL6b4Y7ywfGE_91H0ImnOmsWcNxLUtcybiXnQOv/s1600/DSCF7350.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
We then went down the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Cdiv%20class=%22separator%22%20style=%22clear:%20both;%20text-align:%20center;%22%3E%20%3Ca%20href=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKauL3t4L3AfxZrfWdDYhj4KyGGztwLVojtGa7TS0Ux_Kf5u7w_uQbK-m0608JcF0RLdq7D3IN77ADR3XWekaeFm3iyMlnM_kiMRVNsIVLk2eNYoTmcPUhfgWR4i1SOYlUyNWKGjGzUod/s1600/DSCF7322.jpg%22%20imageanchor=%221%22%20style=%22clear:%20left;%20float:%20left;%20margin-bottom:%201em;%20margin-right:%201em;%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20height=%22426%22%20src=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKauL3t4L3AfxZrfWdDYhj4KyGGztwLVojtGa7TS0Ux_Kf5u7w_uQbK-m0608JcF0RLdq7D3IN77ADR3XWekaeFm3iyMlnM_kiMRVNsIVLk2eNYoTmcPUhfgWR4i1SOYlUyNWKGjGzUod/s1600/DSCF7322.jpg%22%20width=%22640%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/div%3E%20Not%20too%20far%20from%20the%20Lake%20district%20is%20a%20lesser%20known%20area%20called%20the%20Forest%20of%20Bowland.%20%C2%A0It's%20a%20somewhat%20similar%20rugged,%20craggy%20windswept%20landscape%20however%20without%20the%20lakes.%20%C2%A0%20We%20decided%20to%20take%20our%20%3Ca%20href=%22http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/search/label//jackyll%22%3Etandem%3C/a%3E%C2%A0in%20a%20loop%20around%20it's%20fells%20and%20valleys.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Ciframe%20height=%22480%22%20src=%22https://mapsengine.google.com/map/embed?mid=z-WPKBkye9Fk.khwbPyPFgNZU%22%20width=%22640%22%3E%3C/iframe%3E%20%20%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Cdiv%20class=%22separator%22%20style=%22clear:%20both;%20text-align:%20center;%22%3E%20%3Ca%20href=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4G4l5Banr-R_-3Yf5PbBYmGcyyl1r8RbcxfzT86RQKwtOIvvBc5WOkNiZiadMzYG7kOhuAGh4-r_k6P9pVJLwKXcbGkTRn0z_3SsJhglGznJXmysxbZYfu1nPhH3ZlNV1gKNG3eDCl19F/s1600/DSCF7327.jpg%22%20imageanchor=%221%22%20style=%22clear:%20left;%20float:%20left;%20margin-bottom:%201em;%20margin-right:%201em;%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20height=%22426%22%20src=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4G4l5Banr-R_-3Yf5PbBYmGcyyl1r8RbcxfzT86RQKwtOIvvBc5WOkNiZiadMzYG7kOhuAGh4-r_k6P9pVJLwKXcbGkTRn0z_3SsJhglGznJXmysxbZYfu1nPhH3ZlNV1gKNG3eDCl19F/s1600/DSCF7327.jpg%22%20width=%22640%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/div%3E%20I%20was%20prepared%20for%20some%20hills%20as%20I%20knew%20there%20would%20be%20some%2010-12%%20climbs%20in%20the%20area,%20we%20came%20well%20prepared%20with%20our%20new%2026t%20granny%20gear%20%3Ca%20href=%22http://smutpedaller.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/jackyll-tandem-part-8-specialites-ta.html%22%3Efitted%20the%20week%20before%3C/a%3E%20for%20those%20sharp%20ascents.%20%C2%A0Pictured%20above%20is%20Jubilee%20Tower%20which%20is%20sited%20at%20the%20top%20of%20the%20climb%20from%20Quernmore.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Cdiv%20class=%22separator%22%20style=%22clear:%20both;%20text-align:%20center;%22%3E%20%3Ca%20href=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRkpE91PdEzj6WsyNJGCUP1-wPxosR-TUngHRgD-79mABBV3kbz3HDcDwfFzArUtUM6buaURePE5PuEGe_rTqANnU7NeGYIX6UCLu0WnEmQ8FAB5T2xYn5VXUUJNxnrGLYQPfUKxD0qU3p/s1600/DSCF7338.jpg%22%20imageanchor=%221%22%20style=%22clear:%20left;%20float:%20left;%20margin-bottom:%201em;%20margin-right:%201em;%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20height=%22426%22%20src=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRkpE91PdEzj6WsyNJGCUP1-wPxosR-TUngHRgD-79mABBV3kbz3HDcDwfFzArUtUM6buaURePE5PuEGe_rTqANnU7NeGYIX6UCLu0WnEmQ8FAB5T2xYn5VXUUJNxnrGLYQPfUKxD0qU3p/s1600/DSCF7338.jpg%22%20width=%22640%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/div%3E%20%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Cdiv%20class=%22separator%22%20style=%22clear:%20both;%20text-align:%20center;%22%3E%20%3Ca%20href=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5yXAcjuz1_SvZkYggRY7UVdJ6OLAVwjTKWC8f7MiWOwmSoobAdq6Zhu6fI7FSTV0jTsoIOpLYL2ylXedfYVFVd9h45DQhOpZrGCWzFH5lCkTyVeyet0mAldebUZFhNLDFM3WHgG5C2zza/s1600/DSCF7340.jpg%22%20imageanchor=%221%22%20style=%22clear:%20left;%20float:%20left;%20margin-bottom:%201em;%20margin-right:%201em;%22%3E%3Cimg%20border=%220%22%20height=%22426%22%20src=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5yXAcjuz1_SvZkYggRY7UVdJ6OLAVwjTKWC8f7MiWOwmSoobAdq6Zhu6fI7FSTV0jTsoIOpLYL2ylXedfYVFVd9h45DQhOpZrGCWzFH5lCkTyVeyet0mAldebUZFhNLDFM3WHgG5C2zza/s1600/DSCF7340.jpg%22%20width=%22640%22%20/%3E%3C/a%3E%3C/div%3E%20Much%20of%20the%20landscape%20is%20mossy%20groundcover,%20penetrated%20by%20craggy%20volcanic%20rocks.%20%C2%A0As%20is%20normal%20in%20north-west%20England,%20it%20tends%20to%20rain%20quite%20a%20lot%20and%20despite%20it%20being%20a%20relatively%20sunny%20day%20we%20still%20managed%20to%20catch%20some%20precipitation.%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Cbr%20/%3E%20%3Cdiv%20class=%22separator%22%20style=%22clear:%20both;%20text-align:%20center;%22%3E%20%3Ca%20href=%22https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvqgueOoKuT0oQCO2fmJPUOOkIWDzg-1-eE_gGn-UVCJoHoC0s84QOR8AqLcSYN0Gp9GWXfG4UDyQZ3GJdsq82Y7XcueSt4fiECZ2d8VgCwEa1FWfQnEAvsMvpvvpzvkS70ee-Dc1K2MOb/s1600/DSCF7343.jpg%22%20imageanchor=%221%22%20style=%22clear:%20left;%20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of Bowland</a> which is a small valley which lead to our lunch spot in Whitewell at a great country pub, <a href="http://www.innatwhitewell.com/">Inn at Whitewell</a>. After this we had to ascend up the biggest climb of the day, up Lythe Fell Rd near White hill. This seemed to go on forever and by the time we reached the summit the sun was setting. Even on our lowest gear of 26 x 32t we just made it up the top of the 12% climb. This climb was a bit of a surprise, as even though I had studied the route on Google street view, I was fooled by the elevation profile provided by the navigation software I was using. The profile simply was wrong and we had a lot more climbing than I realised.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90m_dLCO6lNHabaPhKZV2RTMGtwHbrgkVFgIfh4KywE5QbRK-wtNhp0iqIugWZChH0uoVcZ1ujHcuwWOTZGm4t2A4_S0DaZ5nHB4PpTFKlaibq2-3WROoY5zXk72bQXWd_vO8o93I5-Yo/s1600/DSCF7363.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90m_dLCO6lNHabaPhKZV2RTMGtwHbrgkVFgIfh4KywE5QbRK-wtNhp0iqIugWZChH0uoVcZ1ujHcuwWOTZGm4t2A4_S0DaZ5nHB4PpTFKlaibq2-3WROoY5zXk72bQXWd_vO8o93I5-Yo/s1600/DSCF7363.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
After this it was mostly downhill all the way to Lancaster where we navigated through back country lanes with only our dynamo light to brighten the path. There were quite a few fast descents which have always been somewhat interesting to do on a tandem with old Mafac cantilever brakes and a somewhat undersized drum brake. Nonetheless the Mafacs proved their worth despite being an old school low mechanical advantage design, the drum brake on the rear wheel is quite out of round so the brake tends to engage unevenly causing shuddering, still it was better than nothing and we made it down in one piece.<br />
<br />
Despite all this, it still descends beautifully and is very responsive to subtle inputs, its brisk handling somewhat defying its tandem bike size and weight. At the end of the day my bike computer said we had ascended 1300m and covered 90km. This was a tough ride, particularly when the sun was dying and we were too, heaving up that last ascent in the bottom gear and then descending through dark unknown laneways in the middle of nowhere. Nonetheless it was certainly a great ride, thanks for reading.Smut Pedallerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939627997312788346noreply@blogger.com2