Be Excellent To Each Other

I can't work out how to read it. :-)
Anyway, I had to check the map a lot. And the tyres were cold. And some of the climbs were singletrack over fist sized loose rocks. And it was windy. I was out alone. Today wasn't the day to upset the locals.

Hahahha!

Seriously, I'll be quicker next time, as I won't be stopping at every junction to get my book out to find out wehre to go. And I won't be riding alone, so will be able to afford to take a few more chances (if I'm by myself, I will walk the trickier downhill bits in case I fall and be all alone on the moors until rescue arrives).

That first climb is a pig, though. I'll get to the top without pushing one day. It's the bit right near the start where the gradient ramps up and then only relents very slowly.

Strava is ace.

16.1 mile and 1,513 feet in climbing.

Was down in Dumfries this morning so had a play at Ae on the way home. Took the hardtail & did one of the XC runs for a change. http://7stanesmountainbiking.com/Ae/Ae-Line-Trail

Most of it feels a bit more natural than trailcentres usually do, but it doesnae always flow well. The descents would have been more fun on the bouncy bike, but I'd never have been able to get round the bloody place with it & some of the far off sections were pretty damn cool. Most memorable being The Edge*, proof that I'm happier on a bike than my feet. Fear of heights never bothered me despite the threat of a >20ft drop down to the burn if I fucked up.
*It says in the guide that there are trees that hide the drop, but they're no there. Ae's a working forest so presumably they've felled them.

That looks fantastic. I might have to plan a trip if I ever get time off. I'm going on the Bingley loop on sunday and see if i'll be quicker. Orange Fives seem to be the weapin of choice around the trails here, but I'll overwinter with the voodoo as I love it.

I did the 16 mile loop again, yesterday, with my friend. It took the same amount of time as when I went by myself, but I think this is down to us bimibling along the canal towpath and chatting on the road bits. Or it was a recovery ride. or I'm sandbagging. Pick one.

Anyhoo, I'm going to stick clipless pedals on the VooDoo now, does anyone have any experience with Eggbeaters, would I need to change my cleats?

Aldi have some cycling stuff on offer this week.

Wee bit tired after this one the night. Took a bit longer than it should have as well due to the moon being my only decent source of light for long enough.*

The view north from above Greenock was awrite anaw.



*Sun set around mile 14 & I'd forgot my brighter than the sun torches. A pair of wee strobes for the road don't quite cut it up the moors (or up the wee back roads back to Largs for that matter, but I was shiting myself less on them)

That's fucking brilliant. I clicked on the thread for the hell of it, but I'm not normally in here.

Others like me should see this, so I'm nomming!

Cor!

Cheers, I'll stick it in the photies thread with the view east over Loch Thom.

EDIT: Done. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7168&p=706698#p706698

Wiggle have a sale on.

SPDs (with cleats) are £18.99 and you can get a pair of shoes for £44.99.

So, that's £63.98 to go clipless.

Mine will be in white. naturally.

This offer is still on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... d-20081868

I have an option of taking a Reynolds 531 based road bike. I have had a brief look and changing the shifters, cassette and tyres+ would be c£150. I think that getting a whole bike (c£400) with these things already on it is a better idea, NO? 531, though...

+ I want 9 speed indexed lever shifters, not 6 speed non indexed down tube shifters

EDIT: ignore all above, it is 500 tubing.

The super lovely & super expensive Privateer magazine has a nae badder of an offer on just now. http://rouleur.cc/bundle--privateer-issues-29

#tab2" class="postlink">Picking this up tomorrow

First things to change are the pedals. I want to put proper road clipless pedals on it, but that means buying another pair of shoes and cleats. So I will spend £20 and get a pair of SPDs from wiggle to have one pair of shoes for all bikes. Except the tandem. Jesus, I'm a fucking idiot. And the bar tape appears to be of the same color as the frame and things. Which is not correct. So I might get bright pink on one side, and bright green on the other. it should last the coast to coast at the end of may, but I intend to stick a couple of hours going up hillls a day after work on it to push the stamina. MrsA seems to be happy with this. She threw some saucepans on to the floor in celebration and shouted about the fact we are getting married.

Stable is now:

1 downhill bike
1 Cross country bike
1 tandem
1 road bike
1 full suspension bike in bits awaiting assembly.

Shitfucks.

Might be an idea to join BC for the 10% Halfords discount & 12% off at wiggle.

If you're no bothered about the third party insurance, then Bronze Race membership works out the cheapest at £15.
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/membership

Lovely. Thanks, buddy! I shall do that.

Yay! I have removed the bell and all the reflectors.

My first impressions are good. It is tiny, though, and steers very quickly. I like it. It can stay in the dining room.

I have This, a DiamondBack that looks like this one and a Peugeot road bike I can't find a picture of. I love my bikes, and me and friends go out on ours almost every weekend in the summer

First time out in 6 months this morning. Did 800 feet. Jesus i am out of shape. Strava log available if you want a laugh but it was on a new route on a new bike...

So, new chain on after the old one snapped.

Now the rear gears skip if lots of pressure is applied on the pedals , but only if the front set of gears is on the middle. Use the top or bottom gear and the rear remains well behaved.

Worn cassette on rear or something else?

Yes, the teeth will have worn to the old chain, so a new chain will not fit as well. Options are stick with it until it wears in, or splice a couple of links from it into the old chain. Or replace cassette.

Went for a ride on the voodoo. Took a minute from the big climb. I think i can take another two, but not yet.

Cassettes don't look expensive but I see people online going on about "compatible chains". Surely a chain is chain right? Or will my "Amstrad" chain refuse to work on a "Sinclair" cassette (if you see what I mean). i.e can I just buy any cassette?

If I recall correctly you need a nine speed chain for a nine speed cassette, 8 for 8 etc. To replace a cassette you will also need a chain whip.

Ah, cheers. That should be fine then.

I did a cassette two years ago. Had no need of a chain whip as I fixed an old chain into my vice and did it that way.

Worth gambling a chain on

You use an old one. In fact I have one specifically for this. Work splendidly last time and free free free.

New 9 speed rear cassette ordered from Amazon because I can't face going back to the local bike shop as its staffed by a man who looks like Syd Little and another who looks like a weasel. Also they overcharge by a factor of x2.

Embdy that needs/wants a set of tools for their bike(s) might want a look at the £25 set at Lidl from Thursday. If it's the same sets as the last few years then it's pretty much the Ice, Edinbugger Bike Co-op, etc. sets but rebranded & ~£30 cheaper. Not workshop quality, but if you use the tools properly they seem to last fine & how many bikes do you look after anyway?

Ooh, thanks! I shall investigate further! Also, PERFORMANCE UNDERWEAR!

Excelelnt! Gloves as well! Thanks, Wullie!

Just spent half an hour on the phone for what I had thought was meant to be a two minute call because my order details had been lost but that's it sorted now and I'm getting a beautiful new bike
They said it would be about five working days so I can't wait! I got a mountain bike because I'm mental. I have a vague notion that maybe I'd like to take it on trails so I decided just to get one that could do that we'll in case I ever actually used it for that, rather than get a hybrid or road bike and wish it was better for trails. Spent £500 on it and got the Pinnacle Ramin 1 from Evans cycles.

That looks pretty spiffing.

I'm really excited Jen got a bike a couple of months ago and has been going out on it quite a lot and taking the dog with her, so Willow has learned to run beside the bike on her lead and totally loves it. So I'm going to do the same when I get mine and then on our days off together we can all go out. My nephew (Cookie on here) has a decent mountain bike as well so hopefully in the summer we can do a wee day out to Glentress, we'd been planning a trip down there to visit the GoApe centre anyw ay. Yay!

Looks no bad that. Gies a shout when you're going to GT & bear in mind that if you're just going to ride bikes* then Kirroughtree** is better, quieter & closer.
*As opposed to climbing around in trees too.
**Near Newton Stewart.

PS. Me & Jen were talking earlier about going a pedal round the distilleries on Islay. If that doesnae get you to stick at it then nothing will

New rear cassette on. The old one was indeed worn but the skipping is still happening in the same gear ranges. Grrrr!

Re-index the gears?

Been fiddling but not been getting very far. Needs more time and patience from me.

But today I could get a little closer to those two minutes. I suspect I can find some more time when it lessens out, but I was on my own and enjoying the view.

NINE speed cassette? Cripes.

I've finally found someone who cares about bikes, so my Dawes XC1.4-except-on-a-new-frame is now tickety-boo. I was expecting at least £99 because that's the super-ultra-mega-deluxe-dismantle-and-re-mantle service but he rang up and said "you did quite a good job actually, so £30." Unfortunately he serviced Helen's bike too, which I expected to be £30 but ended up £135 because she's done nothing to it for a decade so all the bearings, the freewheel, the chain and the rear cassette were shot.

Then it turned out the indexing on my rear derailleur was fucked so it changed up from the select gear, ground a little and the chain would jump. He came and fixed it for free (reckons he must've knocked it on his way bringing it back to me, plus a chain link had popped half-off, which was probably my cack-handedness in swapping over but I kept quiet), and now it's buttery smooth. Yay! Still too fucking cold and windy to commute though.

The skipping problem is down to the front cogs not the back. So down to Halfords to buy all the tools and parts needed.

Cost, 80 quid. That's for new front cogs, some gubbings that go inside the frame* + 2 tools that I apparently need.

Get back, get the allen bolt off one pedal, snap my allen key with the other. Go to another set of allen keys, but the fucker won't budge.

Down to B&Q and they have no suitable allen key adaptors for my 1/4 inch socket set. So have to buy a new 3/8 torque wrench + the allen key things for it. Total 47 quid.

On the plus side, the new torque wrench got the fucker off within 10 seconds. And I guess such a tool is an investment for life. It's certainly much better than my 1/4 wrench.


* MaliA will know. The bloke in Halfords said that given the mileage and the fact I had the thing apart anyway, I really should replace it. No idea what it does. It's like a cartridge that sits between the two pedals.

Bottom bracket.

That's the one.

Been an expensive day all in all. Want to try and keep this bike on the road for another year if I can. It's done a lot of miles!

Did 30 miles on the road bike today. Actually enjoyed it.

Mrs W and I struck out on the bicycles tonight, cycled up to the start off point of the Alyth Hill tracks (actually going on the tracks requires being fit) and got tired going up hills and wheeeeee going down hills. it was nice! I picked up a second hand ladies "rampage" for her a while back (£50) and we recently got a saddle from aldi (£8) on the understanding that she could upgrade to a decent bike with suspension if she got into it. My giant xtc-4 frame is lovely to ride, nice dimensions for me and weighs nothing at all, but the parts are getting a bit worn since I've had them since I was about 14 and just change them from frame to frame. The good old rock shox psylos are well shot now, lock out dunt work (as usual with them) and the dampers are shot but I cant bring myself to give them up, everything else is too big and clunky or too light for me and I just bottom them out straight away. whats a good replacement for psylos then? otherwise all good, race face chain ring and crankset with all the paint rubbed off, SRAM chain which I havent changed for yeeaaars and everything else is a mixture of shimano LX and XT which has lasted incredibly well. hope mini front brake (good but squeaky) juicy rear (not as positive feeling but not squeaky). I think the thing I've replaced most on it is bloody wheels, I keep mashing them into funny shapes, even mavic D521s which I should not be able to damage with xc riding (what is what I do mostly).

I seem to have gone off on one a bit there, anyway, point is riding bikes = good. and I need to do it more and get fit and that. yeah.

Oh and MaliA, ace tandem, I imagine falling off that would get complicated quickly. good luck

Can't get the cartridge out (yes I know on the drive side you go clockwise to undo it). Got it undone on the left hand side but the drive side is jammed tight.

Not sure what to do now really. Been out there an hour trying to get the fucker undone. It's now on a second soaking of WD40.

Am using the trick of using an allen bolt + washer to hold the adaptor in. This works a treat but the fucker still won't undo.