Search results for:

Just sent off my form for the Midweek Sightseer 100k. My first audax!

I did this one last year. Saw parts of London that I'd never seen before and going on routes that I would not normally take. Was a great turnout and the cafe in Greenwich was packed. Hmm. Might have to do this one again.

I'll be up at Racer Rosa bicycles in Walthamstow E17 tomorrow building wheels from 11.00 ish. Drop in if you need any advice or help. And check out the lovely made to measure frames.

I was thinking about doing this one as well but haven't booked yet. Hmm if there is a risk of engineering works that's me out. Plus it'll take me almost an hour to cycle from Sydenham to Paddington. But I'm more concerned about the getting home when I'm pooped. Might do a solo L to B instead.

Nice one. Thanks mate. I was going to ask: is that £18 for truing a wheel?

It has been a while but the date for the next wheel building class is up - 27/04/2013. From 10.00 - 17.00 and costs £95 for the day. You get your own set of tools to work with i.e. truing stand and nipple driver etc. You can find more details on my site.

http://yogarup.com/wheels/classes.php

I can help with spoke calculations prior to the class.

Just did the Corinium CC Windrush Winter Warm-up 100k audax today. Bit on the chilly side and my feet were numb most of the time. There were also strong headwinds in the 2nd stage. But a very good turn out with over a hundred on the ride. At least it didn't rain. A pub in Little Barrington called the Fox Inn was doing pasta meals for the riders. They must have raked it in charging £8.00 for a tiny bowl of pasta. But after 76k I was ready for it and it was pretty good.

Only 3 controls and the first one was at 47k so it was nice to do a non-stop long stint. I was on fixed of course but there were a few other fixers too. There was a tandem and one guy on a trike.

Got the train back to London then cycled another 20k from Paddington to Sydenham. Nice to start the season early.

Thinking about this one at the end of November. Has El Supremo catering which I've yet to try.
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/12-409/#more

Next date for a full day's wheel building class is up. 24/11/12 which is a Saturday.

Did the Centurion Challenge in the Cotswolds last weekend. Aside from short hail shower the weather was pretty nice. A couple of killer hills but otherwise fairly comfortable. Perhaps I'm ready for a 200 now? I've also looked at the Stevenage one but have too much work coming in at the moment.

I signed up with Audax at the start of the year but only got round to going on a ride at the end of August. I think you just have to book yourself onto one and then start training. Then fingers crossed with the weather of course.

Blimey, two people have booked in already. Which means two places left.

Both balls are now gone.

Date for the next wheel building class is now up. Change to the previous format. Now it's a full day so there will be plenty of time to complete both wheels and have them checked. There will also be time to answer questions and look at spoke length calculations.

Saturday 27th October - 10.00 till 17.00

Full details here

http://yogarup.com/wheels/classes

OK, the bag has now gone.

You're welcome the saddles but I'm only home till midday tomorrow.

It's south east Forest Hill, Catford, Crystal Palace way.

OK, I'll get the camera out.

Hey everyone. Having a bit of a clear out.

• A couple of old ahead stems
  
• Planet x courier bag
  
• Specialised bg shoes size 8
  
• A couple of saddles
  
  
  

Collection only please for any or all of the above items. Everything is well used and worn but entirely FOC.

Can post some pics if you like.

Cheers. Arup

Hmm. OK. What I would do then is to slacken off the tight ones until the "bite point" (which I'll explain in a second) and then turn all the other ones an equal amount till you reach the same point. I have 2 bite points which I call the initial bite point and effective bite point.

The initial bite point is sort of finger tight. It will feel as though you will need to apply more effort than that to turn it further. The effective bite point is when the tension is just high enough to have an effect on the rim. This requires the spoke key. But I've mentioned the word "feel" which is qualitative rather than quantitative which is where the art side of wheelbuilding comes in. If you want to measure it then with double butted spokes it's about 9 on the TM-1 tensiometer.

This is what I would call the baseline tension. I will usually work my way up to 22/23 which is about 120kgF. Getting the nipples would the same amount is a good starting point but only assures even thread contact. What you will feel when turning the nipple is the torque and in the past I've often mistaken this for tension in the spoke or that there is a direct relationship but there isn't. When you've got the wheel roughly round, laterally true and dished centre you take the tension up evenly. So you might turn each nipple half a turn. But that doesn't increase the tension uniformly so you'll need to true again.

For the first 2-3 years I didn't have or use a spoke tensiometer but since having one my "feel" has developed greatly and working with the tension ranges has become more of a central aspect in my own wheel building process. But spending even £60 on a tool that will get very little use will seem like an extraneous expense.

Where are you based dude?

I'm in Sydenham, SE.

Bootiful, really bootiful. Route sheet was tricky though with 9 sections. Lots of cycle paths and routes along the river.

does anyone have a good (ie simple) trick for ensuring your hub logo lines up with you valve hole?

What I do is to hold the hub and rim in the position required so that when you look through the valve hole you can see the logo. Then count 2 spokes round to the left from the logo position and that spoke is then laced to the hole to the left of the valve hole.

Depends on number of holes and flange diameter. But if you lace just the two pairs either side of the valve hole and let the hub hang from the rim by the spokes you'll know if you've got it right before proceeding any further.

Did you bend them in? Once I've finished lacing I usually give the outer spokes i.e. the ones with the head in, a good squeeze so they don't have a curved path from hub to rim . Squeeze a pair on opposite sides of the hub fairly close to the hub and you get more of a straight line. See if that helps.

If you look at the left side of the photo and look at the horizontal lines crossing the holes then you can just about see the offset. So is it a left-handed or right-handed rim? I explain it in this video.

Left handed rim?

I find it easier to look at the rim from the inside. But my lacing method is a bit different and does not involve a key spoke.

I'm probably in but need to sort out childcare etc. I think I've missed the Groupon too. That bottle of wine better be good.

Yes I'm on it. Will be doing it fixed as always. I'm going to cycle to Clapham Junction and then the train to Twickenham. Then from there to the starting point. Getting trains really close means lots of changes. So adding an extra 20km isn't massive.

Estimated 75 people have entered the event according to the organiser. I'm just studying the route sheet now and getting excited. I've ridden through all these places before but not via cyclepaths so should be interesting.

I'm pretty sure it's the new 2011 version. I was checking the packaging on Friday but don't have to hand at the moment. I read about the difference between the old and new which was why I was checking. I did buy them brand new but they may have given me NOS.

How do you degrease and regrease them? Do you need to break open the seals? Do you use different greases for summer / winter? I read about people using lower viscosity or grease / oil mix for races or TT's and then re-greasing them with thicker grease for general use.

I guess I'll just run it for a while and see how it goes. After all that has gone into setting it up so far it would be a shame to scrap the idea without further testing. Audax next weekend so hopefully will have loosened up a bit by then or HTFU (sorry knees).