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It was a real "Whoop Ass Wednesday" down at the Easts TT track, and with 2 geared bikes thrown in a "run what yer brung" has mixed up the fixed dominance. Having a fast and distinctly German flavour it seems (must be all that efficency they mysteriously possess), the Germans hold 3 of the five top places this time around.
Time(s) flies when you're TTing down at easts:
Mobidog: 2:07.29
Reeen: 2:08.13
Ehren Fried chicken: 2:15.44
Oliver Schick: 2.18.75 (full weight wheeler)
OKwithmydecay: 2.30.97
Blue Quinn: 2.32.12 (geared)Me thinks this is going to be a rapid summer with so many contenders nudging so close to the quickest times to date. Will the old stalwarts of the Easts TT triumphantly return to proclaim their dominance? Find out next week.......
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The weather's holding out and the stop watch awaits.......
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Listen to the voice of reason in the posts above- if those same six bolts can stop me and the bike from 30mph using a 180mm disc attached to the hub with 6 bolts then no way are you going to tear a sprocket off the hub.
Indeed. If 6xM10 (or equivalent AF sized) bolts can hold back 500+hp of small block V8 clutch plate onto flywheel then I'm sure 6xM6 or whatever they are will adequately hold back any forces in play on a bicycle. I'd even go so far as to say that this bolt on setup is probably stronger than the conventional lock ring setup.
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I got the cheapest one (Barley) and it's pretty good, roomier than I expected, and looking at it I was expecting something like a £70 price tag, not £40 (or £20 if you look around).
My father bike have panniers and I did feel the weight when cornering, and because they're pannier, the weight are not in the central of the rack (like on top, not on the side) which doesn't help it further.
The saddle bag however shift the weight nearer to your back, cornering is better with a saddlebag than a pannier, I can't explain to be honest, but it just feel like the bike is slighty heavier than it is if you filled the bag up, instead of feeling abnormal weight on certain area of the bike (such as pannier), it'll just feel like the rear part of the frame made of slighty heavier steel but the steeling is still fine.
You should get the carradice bagman to go with your carradice bag, it held the bag steady and stable unlike the current setup on my bicycle, I order the sport version as it's designed for smaller bag such as the Barley, it should hold the bag a little further away from the saddle so your thight don't hit it at certain time (note in the picture of my bike the saddlebag is closer to the seatpost, it's not bad at all, but you'll occasionally feel the bag on your thight when you shift your weight back a bit).
Where did you pick this up Ed? £20 sounds like a bargain. I'm looking for something to eliminate my messenger bag on long rides.
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I believe there is a Rodney Rude song about the Queensland Police......
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+1 for early start, was gonna say exactly the same. When we went to Cambridge the roads were a bit busy. There is less traffic at 7am, so the ride out of london is just nicer early in the morning.
**[/B]
[B]*7am Start
***1. Skully- Wools
- Hovis Brown
- hoonz
9am Start
- (46) Cornelius Blackfoot
- damo
- horatio
- hillbilly(I've never done this ride)
- miss_socks
- tika
- Lucky7
- mattty (i loves me fish n chips)
- joesmooth
- Gustav
- Churchy
- gabes
- yeh731
- Breeze
- Skully
- MR.NICE GUY
- marcom
- coppiThat
- Oliver Schick
22.Dilworth - (hoonz - moved to 7am)
- VeeVee
- Jaygee
- JAH tim-on-sea
- matt_ha
- AlienMo
- MURR
- Wools
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Last summer I was heading along Regents Canal in Islington, had just ridden up to Camden and back. Was a hot n sunny day, real nice. Took it easy due to the large amount of foot and bike traffic. Then I hear a sports whistle being blown in the distance up ahead, again and again, getting rapidly closer. 2 knobs on bikes scream towards & then past me and a bunch of peds with little children etc at what must be close to 30 miles an hour. Needless to say everyone was pretty pissed, cue shouts of "idiot, wanker" etc.
I don't know what their game was, but WABC. They probably ended up in the drink further down.
On bells, I picked up a good one from Two Wheels Good in Stokie a while back. It's dutch made, compact and has one of those tough rubber band type things to attach it to the bars, meaning it fits any diameter handle bar. Defo need it for the canal.
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I was expecting a much better thread when i read 'stripping'.
Indeed, pictures needed.
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The ride to Southend is the same day, maybe if we can set out a little earlier in the morning we could make it back in time to meet up.
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Is the square recepticle in the crank arm square still? How big are these chips? How badly was the crank creaking? Pics? Steel cranks are obviously more robust but you shouldn't have any issues with the ali ones if they are tightened properly. I find with cranks its best to lube up the bolt threads and then tighten the buggery out of it, over a period of a few days with riding in between. Had a bad experience with mashed cranks as a youngster due to underzealous tightening and find this method is fool proof.
You might get away with using it again, probably worth a try. I put a large ring spanner over the end of the allen key to do up mine (Have FSA Vero's too) getting a good foot or so of leverage and have had no probs. If i'd just used the allen key on its own I'd 100% expect my cranks to be ruined by now.
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I used a piece of copper pipe to shim my stem once as I was desperate to get the bike on the road and needed a shim when all the shops were shut. Worked ok for about 2 days then began to slip. I do not recommend this as copper is very malleable and squashes. I ordered a proper Ali shim and it works a treat. I've even shimmed a quill on a beater with a piece of steel food can. Was rock solid.
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Haha I had the same reaction when looking at a mate's MTB with that sort of suspension, still want to see a torsion bar system in use, just seen diagrams of them so far.
The only cars I know of with torsion bar front suspension are:
Morris Marina
Chrysler A,B & C body cars from the early 60's through to the early 80's.Many people are quick to put down a torsion bar system but the basic principle is the same as a coil spring (all springs twist when you compress them, thereby resisting the pressure, a torsion bar is simply a straight spring). They have a few distinct advantages including very low unsprung weight, effect of lowering the centre of gravity of the car and simplicity. On the chryslers at least you can even raise or lower the suspension with a rattle gun, meaning that the front end geometry is fully adjustable.
Leafs work great with a live rear axle and are great for towing or load carrying, and give a good ride too.
The link below explains some of the ideas and advantages behind the chrysler torsion bar and leaf spring set-ups, there's more to it than you might think.
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Right then, a smaller bunch of us this week but a select few had the minerals to lay down a time. Just goes to show that the TT can run each week irrespective of turnout. The Results are:
Blue Quinn 1:52.00*
Mobidog: 2:09.28
Hoonz: 2:18.58
Ehren Fried Chicken: 2:19.28 (The track pump was a welcome addition)
Somebody: 2:21.75
Ondine: 2:26.31*times with an asterisk may be high dubious and relate to pints rather than bikes.
Maybe a 40-50% TT participation rate among eastengers.
Nice one peeps.
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Inboard suspension...
....via hillbilly technology :-)
Apparently this is used on the late model corvettes. No idea how well it works but is probably surprisingly good.
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How tyresome
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If you're in London Tour de Ville are selling laminated leather double straps for £30 a pair. I've got a set and they're ace. I heard of someone (Condor?) selling something similar for £25 or something but I'm probably way off on where to get them.
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% trips made by bike is a lot higher there too.
Because they have adequate facilities and laws to protect the cyclists. All we need is something similar.
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True, but remember that all the speed cameras in the country didn't appear over night. It was a gradual rise and we are now seeing the backlash of this with councils like Swindon actually decommissioning all of them. On top of that, there was always the perception that speeders were a problem. Now, with a common perception that cyclists are the ones being unsafe, a move to legislate against motorists even more isn't as comparable.
I do see your point and how to deal with the arrogant driver attitude is probably the toughest thing in the line up of things to deal with concerning cycling safety. Maybe a gradual legislative approach would work? I guess there's no instant solution.
Time is key, I suppose if cycling is bigg'd up enough with all of the above (1-7) and the numbers rise to massive levels then the attitude will change by itself.
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this is a quote from the London Paper, when they had a poll asking if Boris should spend 11m on cycling:
"as a motorist i find cyclists to be troublesome at best and at worst they are downright dangerous.
the road is for CARS! get off out of it!"I find car drivers toublesome and downright dangerous. Cyclists are only dangerous to themselves an maybe a pedestrian. It is exactly this kind of attitude that we must fight, you can't reason with a fascist.
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Absolutely. But it's how you go about doing that. Rant and rage at them and slap them with legislation and they'll do exactly what we would, they'd revolt. It's a model that almost never works.
Motorists hate speed cameras. They are everywhere. A few laws toughing up penalties for hitting cyclists and pedestrians and maybe a right of way type legislation liek in Norway? Hardly a real inconvenience is it? Only if you're in the wrong. I really don't see this as such a massive hurdle.
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If only this were true.
Alas, much to my chagrin, Daily Mail readers are afforded equal rights as constituents to the politicians that create and legislate the laws that we live by. They won't have to concede anything, they can just vote in people who will change the laws back. If you say fuck them then they'll vote against your propositions. In politics and the law the only people that you can fuck off is an absolute minority and in this situation, that would be us.
Maybe so, but when did you last vote on one specific law? Once laws are implemented, they are rarely repealed. Yes, Daily Heil readers are afforded equal rights, as they should be. However, these should not trump the need to protect the most vulnerable road users. We as cyclists may be a minority, but a rapidly growing minority. Ignore us at your peril. Even BoJo, a tory who probably reads the daily mail appears to be on the side of the cyclists. The government is looking for ways to decrease traffic & public transport congestion, get people active, reduce pollution and go "green" as it were. Cycling presents at least a partial solution and the government knows that - cycle to work scheme for example. The odds for change are better than they have ever been, and it would be silly to not take the opportunity. Strike while the iron's hot and all that. We will get nothing of value if we don't big up the cause just because someone might not like what we are doing. Organisations like Greenpeace would be nowhere near what they are today without the pioneers sticking to their guns and principles.
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[quote=The Seldom Killer;787771]I can't say I agree with this approach. Away from traffic lights I like the legal status of a vehicle with equal rights. A special legal treatment for cyclists undermines this principle and feeds the Daily Mail mentality. What is needed is a format of road structure and associated laws that puts all road users on an comprehensible equal footing regardless of the type of vehicle they use. If that format then favours use of a bicycle then all the better. [quote]
RLJing is a contentious issue, some I jump, others I don't depending on the intersection (blind corners, congestion etc)
Equal footing be ok in a world where us cyclists were as heavy as and as fast as motorised traffic. A 35 ton truck is not the same as a 12kg bicycle. I firmly believe that the most vulnerable road users need to be protected via a range of measures from the dangers that the least vulnerable and heaviest road users present. I don't see how you can have equal footing and then favour the bicycle. What is needed is a few separate laws to protect the cyclists and pedestrians. The whole point of having laws in the first place is to protect people from wrongdoing. There are already specific laws to various modes of transport. You need a HGV license to drive a HGV for instance. I say fuck the daily mail mentality, if someone wants to think that way then goodluck to em. We have a right to be on the roads and not be intimidated by these fascist idiots. Once the laws get changed they'll be forced to concede and eventually it'll become second nature.
Somewhere on here I saw I think Smallfurry talking about the laws in Norway, +1, bring it on. It's a good way us cyclists can get our foot in the door, so to speak, and may make many motorists think twice on that risky manouvre.
I see a big transition period happening at the moment in this country with general attitudes towards cycling and with successful campaigning, laws, facilities, training and road design it can be changed for the better, maybe inside 15 years. But it ain't gonna be all Holland overnight.
edit: I agree with all points 1 to 7 above.
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^^Indeed. The road is wet in those photos, the mechanics must have been pushing it a bit too hard through that bend. Wonder if they got the sack?
It's always a risk road testing customers cars. My brother is a mechanic, much of his work involves tune-ups, performance mods and tuning after engine builds etc, so in order to get it right you have to put your foot down or the problems don't surface. Trick is knowing a couple of good safe roads for this kind of thing and not caining it indiscriminately.
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Would be interested should the sale fall through on the wheel.
LFGSS
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of fixed gear and single-speed cyclists.
I have worked on construction sites day in day out in the recent past and there's all sorts of highly dangerous activities going on, much more dangerous than riding a bike. Lifting tonnes of material and equipment, petrol saws, jack hammers, nail guns, high voltages, falling risks etc. It still gets done despite H&S and insurance problems. I would have thought that if all employees using the bikes read and sign up to a comprehensive method statement involving the safe checking over/riding/locking the bike it would be covered for H&S issues. Insurance would no doubt have to come under employers liability or some such, wouldn't have thought the risk would have been anything too major. Statistically you are probably more likely to be injured or killed whilst using the company car.