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I have an Abus Granite 1000 Cable lock and its now getting to be a PITA to open and close. Really feels like you have to force the key to turn etc.
I've tried lightly oiling the key entry but it hasn't done jack. Any suggestions?
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Have to defend Brighton. The Fortune of War is a glory hole for suckers, tourists and clubbers. Lot of pubs here serve the standard london rubbish pub selection (Carling, John Smiths, Fosters etc) but loads have local beers, microbrews and more exotic beers on tap.
If you come again, definitely hit the Evening Star (home pub of the mighty Darkstar Brewery) - its right by the station. Has an amazing beer selection and the local Darkstar brews are fantastic. Some of the best beer in England!! Or the Hand in Hand in Kemptown, the smallest pub in England(?!?) with its own brewery.
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I'm a sucker for the Harry's.
[url src="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TRACK-FRAME-CLASSIC-BY-HARRY-HALL-NO-RESERVE_W0QQitemZ230127032213QQihZ013QQcategoryZ22679QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]Nice 60cm Harry Hall frame[/url]
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For the fakenger in your life. "Metro" Pac bag. You'll get loads of respect down the Duke with this puppy.
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I generally run something grippier up front like a Rubino Pro or GP4 to compensate for the poor grip of the Armadillo. It really helps and lightens the load considerably. I wouldn't advise running a pair of them, its just overkill and your bike is more likely to whip out from under you.
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2 best tires I've found are Specialized Armadillos and Bontrager Hardcases.
Had two punctures in about five years of using Armadillos (one due to a massive screw through the tire, one cause I was too lazy to pump my tire up). However, the Armadillos' handling really sucks when its wet, you'll feel yer backend slidding around a lot. Part of this poor handling is that they are especially prone to squaring off their profile (but all kevelar belted tires suffer from this to some degree) but part of this is just their design. Never heard of them causing spoke breaks or buckling wheels, sounds like a bunch of rubbish if you ask me.
The Hardcases have a little more grip to them and have a decent life span.
Also found Rubbino Pros are pretty grippy and offer a decent level of flat protection (but generally switch to a belted tire for the worst part of winter).
But as previously mentioned, even a good tire will do you no good if you don't keep it properly inflated.
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1bhp
have you got your hands on the soma's yet?
what'd you think?Nope, they took a while to ship 'em, so am still waiting. Will post a comment when they turn up.
Since learned that Mosquito Bikes in Islington are an official SOMA dealer and you should be able to get hubs, bars etc through them. Haven't been to confirm though.
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26.4mm is weird but not that weird. (ie http://www.sheldonbrown.com/seatpost-sizes.html
Seen Campy posts in this size as well as fair few NOS, 2nd hand and even new ones (St Johns Cycles has some in stock for example). I know Kalloy and others have cheapo posts in this size. But you'll have to be pretty patient to find something a little showy.
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Theres no bike pictures on that thread just brakes and a deraileur.
Sadly don't know much about Gazelles or Dutch bikes in general so not too sure what a common threading would be. But I do know that these were high quality professional raced machines so I would seriously doubt that a 1980s bike would have anything other than English or Italian threads. All I can suggest is getting the current owner to double check.
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Whats the frame? Unless its really old ie from 1960s or earlier, its unlikely to be something so weird.
I'd ask how does the seller know its 25 TPI? Get him to double check that fact as its not a even an uncommon thread size (French and Swiss are 25.4 TPI)
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'nother vote for Time ATACs. Haven't clipped out yet either on the track or street. Did unclip a few times with SPD (Sudden Pedal Death) pedals as well as experincing ImOnCrank stacking it into a bus shelter when he unclipped at speed on Commerical St(?)
Like all systems, check yer cleats and tension regulary.
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Stef_82 - if you still want the pad, my email address should be public. Drop me a line and we'll sort it out.
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I have a blue Reload top tube protector. Approx 16" long. Good nick though could do with a wash, maybe.
Would be happy to trade if for any decent cycling cap or a tt/aero bar end brake lever.
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Gear inches is an old timey method of talking about the ratio of your gears and give an idea of distance travelled per turn of the pedals. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear_inches. So 70 gear inches is approximately 48x18, for example (well its actually 71 something but its close enough).
Gear inches kind of stuck around with the track racing crowd and for riding fixed, its pretty much the defacto way of talking about yer gearing.
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Rattlebag ... think singlespeed freewheels come off with a pin spanner
As TheBrick pointed too, freewheels normally have a series of notches, you've got to get the right tool to mate with the notches; work just like with the splined cassette tools but fewer notches.
Its not always easy to find the right tool. Some patterns are very common but even major manufacturers (like Shimano) will use weird patterns on occassion.
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Witcomb Cycles do rechroming when they do restorations. Speak to Barrie, he could probably sort it out for you or give you some contact details.
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Was going to recommend the Hozan lockring spanner and a wheels manufacturing chain whip (which is a cheaper combo than the DA tool stateside), but the Hozan is dead expensive here. Dread to think how much the Hozan lockring pliers are.
My main problem with both the DA tool and the Wheels Manufacturing whip is that is hard to slip anything over them for extra leverage. Had a number of 'stuck' cogs that really were a PITA to remove with these tools.
31trum - you can run a fixed cog on the freeside of your hub but its not advisable, as theres no reverse threading for a lockring. You pretty much need to follow the suicide hub method, by loctiting the cog and a bottom bracket lockring on. I would advise against it personally and keep your eyes peeled for a fixed/fixed hub.
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Nice spec'd 55cm Bianchi Pista (Record track cranks, large flange DA track hubs)
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Ha went and ordered a Soma hub last night and of course, today I get an email from Gromada about their hubs. So if you're interested, see what you make of this:
"We make the hubs only for available. At the moment we production only silver hubs.
It is make from alloy 7075 T6 (the hardest alloy), The bearings are sealed cartridge. The rear hub is flip flop 2 x fixed. We production hubs with 36, 32, 28, 24, 20, 16 holes for spokes.The medium size flange is 75 mm high, the small 55 mm, We production
the hubs about typical track standard width 120 mm, and for road and MTB frame 126 mm, 130 mm 135 mm.
The the rear medium flange cost 98 euro, the small flange cost 69,5 euro.The shipping 1 hub to UK cost 10 euro."
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glow:i don't think bianchi pista's don't have track geometry...i think they are leaning towards road
Actually, they have the same geometry as the pista concepts (a proper piece of 'track' equipment). They're really decent bikes for the money and really good intro track racing machines (with a few mods).
Compare Concept to std. Pista. You'll notice the angles are the same.
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I started by being given an old 10speed who had been severly abused. Stripped off all the crudy components, bought a very cheap track hub and built a new wheel. Rode it every day for a year until I could afford to by a 'track' frame.
I would also suggest getting something with a fixed/fixed hub rather than a flip-flop hub. You can still run a freewheel but if you go fixed permenantly you have some protection from striped threads and it makes trainging/racing easier.
I am a little confused as to why the Condor pista is not a track style frame?!?! Seen quite a few folks race on Condors down at Herne Hill and it looks just like a track bike to me (abet a modern looking one). But then I'm confused often by the way people throw terms like 'proper track frame' around.
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I have your address, best not to post such things in a public forum; my email address should be visible. Will post on monday
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The police may be fat and slow, but they have radios and friends:
http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/the-long-arm-of-the-law
It used to be more fun but they edited out all the details and dubious bits because if you get arrested its best not to incrimate yourself on line :)
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Big aye-up to Judah and his very sweet Don Walker glitter bike.
Its pretty special:
LFGSS
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This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
So the SOMAs finally showed up. Not that impressed with them (partly cause the Royal mail charged me 15 quid in customs and 'international clearance fees' because the seller was honest)... ahh!!!
Anyway back to the hubs. The bad things:
1) Don't like the hollow axles. Didn't think it would annoy me but it does.
2) The fixings (nuts and serrated washers) feel cheap.
3) The bearings are cheapo 6000RS? (can't quite make out last letter but it may be a 'l' meaing they're single sided) which don't last when its wet - bearings are stamped Joytech, so I'm guessing thats who really makes the hub.
4) The threads are full of burrs and are poorly finished.
Which granted says nothing about the performance but it says a lot a lot about the 'premium' nature of these hubs. As far as I can tell, these are just rebranded generic Joytech track hubs (very similar in finish to the St Johns Street basic hubs at 40 quid a pair). Would love to be proved wrong.
The good things:
1) They're quite shiny - better finish than most cheap hubs, nice rounding to the flanges too.
2) They have the word SOMA screened on them.
3) They were still cheap.
But like all things, the proof is in the riding, so I best get these built then.