Got my back yesterday. Rear tire replaced and middle chain ring replaced along with all my bearings greased, gears nicely indexed, two new spokes, brakes bled and wheels re-trued.
Fitted my new pedals when I got home, first thing I did. There are a little harder to clip out of then my last pair, but am sure with enough time there will loosen up, and before any one asks I have changed tension screw as far as it will go.
But over all the bikes running nicely now lets see how long it lasts till I break something again,
Definitely looking forward to getting back on the trails.
Filed under: General — Tags: bike, pedals — Antony Delaney @ 4:36 pm
As I mentioned in my previous post I managed to break my old pedals (Shimano M520). Today was the day I found time to drop my bike off to the shop, to get fixed plus a full service (inc getting my wheels re-trued.)
While I was there I decided to get a replacement set of Shimano M545. At first glance there do feel a dam site heaver then the M520’s but do look and feel a lot more solid. When I get my bike back which should be some time next week, I will try out the pedals and give you my thoughts on them.
The last ride I had must of been 2 weeks back, up in Ilkley and I don’t care what the rest say, we got lost. Managing to get back to the pub just before last orders, and before you leave a comment Andy. I payed you back with a curry and beer. Next time let me know that we will aim to try and reach a pub after. Then I will bring some money
I don’t know if this is some kind of recorded but 4 out of 6 of us managed to get a puncher on the same stretch. Don’t help that none of us had lights and it was 10:45pm in the middle of what I would call no where. Well, as well as needing to replace the inner tuber it looks like am going to have to replace a few spokes. One broke and at least one bent.
I have been told that I could ride on this and the wheel should be fine but me been me, the word “SHOULD” does not fill me full of confidence. After all I don’t want to replace my wheel(s) if I don’t have to. I say wheels as you can’t just get one you need a matching pair .
To top it all off I broke a tooth on my middle ring yet again. I think this time I might just leave it be. Am sick of replacing it each time,and before I forget I busted up my pedals so I will need to get a new set of them.
I am hoping to pop my bike into the local bike shop tomorrow get the back wheel sorted and get a full services done. I guess its due.
We’ve been out a local route for weekdays, this means we can spend more time riding (did I really say that).
First time round we met half way up Alters lane (Bingley) starting from our own home, then from my house and then on the third run from the bottom car park of St Ives, as you can see from the data the rides about 13.5 mile with quite a bit of off road, there’s a fast of road section behind what’s locally known as the Flappit, this can be fun as there are different worn tracks so if your doing it at speed you can get caught out. there’s also a section off Ryecroft road that’s entertaining, though still needs more exploring and you can finish with the run down the bridleway at St Ives nice and dark with all the trees.
You’ll also note the data we’re collection, we were going to get a GPS system but found a little I got-U device from Maplins, just a simple GPS tracking system that you can download data from to your PC, but as you can see with the right software it’s fab and all from less then £40. We had to use another peace of software called topofusion to get the elevation data.
13.81 mi (5.72 mi uphill, 5.50 mi downhill, 2.59 mi flat)
1817 ft total ascent (1596 ft descent) - 8.0 % uphill grade, 6.1 % downhill grade
2:25:13 total time (2:10:28 moving, 0:14:45 stopped)
0:09:26 pace (6.4 mph average speed, 38.5 mph max speed)
8.764 difficulty, 34.407 effort
Several events are organised for Leeds bike week next week 14-22 June. Have a look at the link I just added for more details. There are also a few useful maps which can be used anytime.
Filed under: General, Outings — Antony Delaney @ 8:40 pm
Thank fully the Weather held out for our ride to Norwood on Saturday. It was not a route as we would normally do but more of a technical route. I got to say it was challenging shame it was not longer.
Then again we did take the red route, there was the option to take the black route or the double back route. But not been as experienced as some I did find the red route challenging enough.
I sure am looking forward to going back again. Next time am hoping to do better.
here is a short video of the fun we had
(sorry its not on the bradford biking account I forgot the password)
Got my bike back from the Local Bike shop today with my new fork fitted(RockShox 2008 Revelation 426 Air U-Turn & Pushloc ). I did get a call from shop saying there were unable to fit my breaks onto my new fork and had a choice of either new breaks or get an adapter.
As a lot of you might know I have had nothing but problems with my old Avids. So i got them to change them to a new set of “Hayes Disc Brakes El Camino”.
Pretty sweet looking system if you ask me. my only gripe was that the front break was not fitted correctly, but was a simple mistake and was easily corrected.
so anyway back on track. first impressions of the fork well its….. wicked sick! there:
light
React to every small bump
smooth, very smooth almost as smooth as me
loving the extra travel even though its thrown my bikes geometry out, which is no big deal as the fork does have U-Turn so I can adjust the travel when needed.
Here are some photos of the fork in the box when it arrived.
I will of course let you all know how it went on my first ride with these forks.
Placed an order in for some new forks at my local bike shop today “All Terrain Cycles”. Cost me a little more then I was hoping for but am sure it will be well worth it, shaving off a good 680Grams off my bike which is more then I expected.
I should weigh my bike to see the total weight of it, would be interesting to find out.
I am also hoping to find a good use for the pushlock as I don’t lock the fork as much as I should do, as well as that am hoping Iv made the right choice to go with air over coil. As soon as there arrive I will of course let you guys/girls know of my first impressions of the fork along with some photos.
And when the forks are fitted I will also let you know how I thought there preformed on the trials.
As I said said before in a previous post I went and bought my self some SPD’s for the first time.
Today I put them to the real test and did a local route with Andy P,Matthew and Julie. Even tho I fell a stunning 4 times which i might add is unusual for. I cant really blame the new pedals, but its more likely to be just me. Most of the time it was my back wheel spinning out in the mud.
My real concern was not been able to clip out when needed, but out of some miracle I managed every time, and to my surprise some times I did not have to think about it
So far am enjoying been clipped in and it sure is helping with the long hills.
I have been debating for a while now to either go clipless or not. Well on Thursday Matthew convinced me that was the way to go. So I went out and ordered some cheeps clipless pedals(thank you Matthew for picking them up). I have never doubted that there where better then platforms and gave you more power while cycling but I was not confident about the idea of been attached to the bike and not been able to put my foot down when needed. So far its been going okay and I have had a few close calls and just managed to clip out. I am a little nervous about the ride on Sunday been the first off road route I will of done with clipless. Tomorrow am going to be cycling into work. so I hope this will help me get used to them. I am expecting a few painful falls. Lets see what happens.
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