Search results for:

Running a pompetamine as a single speed, currently to remove/do any sort of rear wheel adjustments (or even if I had a puncture) I have to to loosen then disc brake mount in order to that I can slide the wheel sufficiently forward to have enough slack to decouple the chain/remove the wheel without it fouling on the caliper.

This is clearly not ideal as I have to go through the rigmarole of trying to find a position for the wheel (within the dropout), chain length/tension and caliper positioning that works (and reset up the bb7s, somewhat fiddly), this generally takes some time and swearing, I seem also to always end up with the chain slightly slacker than I would like.

Are there any solutions to this, I would like to be in the situation where I can change a puncture in less than an hour! I get the feeling that ultimately I would be better with a standard drop out frame and an eccentric bottom bracket to adjust tension, or the clever drop outs on the nature boy disc that move the caliper as you tension the chain (is anyone else producing a similar solution to this).

Facing a dilemma

Commuter bike is a flat bar Pompetamine with bb7s 160mm rotors I have been happy with these (take a little while to set up but then ok).

Nicer bike Genesis Vapour Disc (tiagra 10 speed) with hayes cx expert 160mm rotors, went to put mudguards on this today (after a little while in the shed due to winter and no mudguards) to discover rear brake is super stiff, not sure if lever, caliper or cables.

Going to drop Genesis into the local shop to see if they can diagnose/fix (and put mudguards on at the same time). I have found the hayes ok while they have been working (a couple of thousand km) but not yet had to do anything with them/even change pads and understand from reviews they are not 'favoured' as such I had thought about changing them anyway.

Hopefully there will be an easy fix; if not and I have to spend money having trouble deciding which of the following options is the best way to resolve...

Option 1: I believe the forum favoured calipers that would work with my levers would be a direct swap for the hayes would be TRP Spyre (~50 quid a caliper, thought to be better than the bb7) or HY/RD (~100 quid a caliper) if I want to pay a little more?

Option 2: would be to move the bb7 calipers (which have had a fair bit of use) to the Genesis and get some shimano mtb hydraulic disc brakes for the commuter ~50 quid an end for deore 615 (this seems an ok option?)

Option 3: Go full (shimano) hydraulic on the Genesis, but am I right in saying that as I currently have a 10 speed set up the most cost effective way to do this would be to buy a full groupset ie this 105 one for 500 quid and then sell/parts bin the 10 speed stuff, need to check my hubs are ok for 11 speed if going for this option.

Have I missed anything, opinions informed/otherwise as to the best option welcomed!

Well just keep playing at £2 a week, you should win within the next 54 weeks (year), pleasingly the £0.95 clips should be affordable even if you only win £25 http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/sks-secu-clips-for-front-mudguard-stays-per-pair-prod666/

I have the safety mounts (cheap to get a 2nd sks pair) on front and rear to aid getting the wheels in and out on my pompetamine.

Should tt style levers work with road bb7 calipers, if so is there anything I need to know? Got some bull horn bars I was considering trying and think I would, if its possible prefer tt style levers rather than the flat bar levers (sram via) I currently have. Would be good to know before I buy levers/start wrapping bars.

If you don't as you do the final 'tighten' of the quick release by closing the lever it seems (for me) to slightly skew the wheel/rotor from where you lined it up to. I tend to tighten most of the way with rotor aligned by eye, then hold the brake on and while still holding the brake lever close the qr lever. This seems to stop the wheel twisting and gets you a (hopefully) nicely aligned wheel and rotor. Sometimes takes a couple of goes. I imagine this is why thru axle is popular/may take over as (as I understand it) it solves these axle alignment issues.

Hold brake on while tightening qr lever seems to help me in maintaining alignment on wheel installation

Been enjoying the Extra on my commuter, thinking of buying an SMP for the best bike, only slight issue with the the Extra is that the nose is perhaps a littler wider than would be optimal and thus rubs slightly on my thighs (something I have found with several saddles). For people with experience of both is the Evolution a less padded narrower (at the front) Extra? If not are there any that are, or should I just get another Extra/lighter padded version (?) and see how the thigh rubbing goes.

That is pretty good I would say, you have to have something in there.

http://www.phdesigns.co.uk/minimus-down-sleeping-bag and other sleeping bags on the site are probably some of the 'best' money can buy due to high quality down/minimal design (for the lightweight bags), very well regarded in the mountaineering community and made in Stalybridge which is nice. The one I have linked is the one 'most' adventure racers go for, but is down so you need to be a bit careful about not getting it wet (pack in a drybag).

pretty good value vittoria randonneur pro 35mm here https://www.lordgunbicycles.com/en/vittoria-randonneur-pro-700x35-double-shielding would buy some more as spare for the commuter, but already got three spare in the shed.

Got the extra from Lordgun, prompt delivery would buy again etc. first trial run today seems encouraging comfort in the sitting area was good, though felt slightly wide at the front, causing some slight rubbing on thighs, gonna try a little more nose down for the commute home see if that moves things in the right direction. Basically just guessed as to initial test position especially as I needed to move the seatpost down about half an inch.

Will be trying it on the commuter first normally ridden with unpadded clothing so will go for the (much) cheaper Extra, see how I get on and buy one of the less padded options for the best bike if the design works for me.

Extra being the padded option for 'casual' riding and Composit the less padded option for riding with bibshorts?

For @negaatio or @Paradroid or anyone else who has ordered from Lordgun, what did you do about the 5 digit postcode box on the address form? reading this thread has convinced me to try out a Hell

Holding the brake on while doing up the quick release helps me, otherwise the action of doing up the quick release can end up with the rotor being misaligned.

commuted on bb7s on a pompetamine for 2 years with minimal adjustment, still on original pads as well (at least 2500 miles).

Alpkit have come out with some new lightweight <2kgs tents Ordos and Jaran. No direct experience of them but I have seen the Zhota (bigger mountain tent) and it seems very impressive so if these are at all similar I expect they will be well worth the money especially as so much cheaper than similar offerings.

As a commuting tyre option feel I should recommend the vittoria randonneur pro I have been running them (32c version on a pompetamine) until I see the p*nct*re belt showing through and have had no p*nct*res in 2 years of commuting over poor terrain.

This includes passing a scrap yard which was the likely source of the piece of spoke like metal I pulled out of one of the tyres this morning (no deflation as of yet). The 120 tpi version also seem to roll well for me, especially as with looking around/patience you can pick them up for £10-15.

Are the Schwalbe Snow Stud (currently cheap on px) worth having around the house (on a spare pair of wheels) in case there is a period of prolonged snowiness (my commute is 95% on uncleared cyclepaths) or are the sufficiently inferior to the much more expensive marathon winter to not be worth it.

Definitely sure.

Sat morning I used the French stuff on a clean pan and no soot.
Sun morning used meths on a clean pan = soot.

Same burner and same stove.

Believe our purple meths is quite a lot lower percentage alcohol than the french clear stuff (sometimes found in the cleaning products aisle). Hence it doesn't burn as well and you get the soot. I found the french stuff similarly good, but did find the (to me) strong smell of tequila associated with it a bit off putting when making or eating breakfast.

http://www.wheelies.co.uk/p23122/No-Tubes-Stans-Cyclo-Cross-700c-Tubeless-Kit.aspx

Currently at half price might be of use to anyone not fancying the diy route and might also rival the price once factoring everything in?

Anybody used these?

Last time I was using velcro strap things I was surprised how there were no cheap options available, but these look good...

I have them, seem good quality but never been used as the straps were too thick to fit through the cheap pedals I bought at the time, which you think they might have mentioned given I was buying from the shop in person and both products are theoretically theirs. Have grown to like the strap free cheap pedals (I think made by VP and still going strong, untouched through ~3000 miles of commuting) I have hung onto the straps in case I ever have some compatible pedals, but could probably be persuaded to pass them on for the new price £5.99 though I will include postage.

[edit]Having read the above comment would agree with the above comment that £2.99 and no metal ring possibly a better first choice.

Assume, after deflating the marathon tyer, you pushed the bead into the rim's central channel?

Indeed, but a combination of ineptitude/inexperience (I rarely puncture, no idea why), probable weak hands and the shallow rim depth and velox cloth tape means there is not much central channel to work with. I am obviously going to choose to blame the rim central channel/cloth tape rather than myself ;-)

In my defence as a result of purchasing wheels, tyres wearing out and swapping tyre round I have uninstalled/reinstalled about 8 tyres in the last week and it was only getting the marathons off the a23s that caused me major grief.

According to internet wide rims are betterer.

Definitely sold on this, wide rims and tyres are great, especially to take in some pave/British roads/the bridleway shortcut I tried last night which became more xc than the track the map led me to believe.

The new A 23 is a tubeless ready rim and like pretty much all rims with a tubeless internal design, is a bit tight. You need a "compliant" tyre or a good set of thumbs/levers combined with a good technique.

Putting the summer tyres on was fine, they being much more compliant (still required a lever to get the last bit on). It was getting the marathons off that caused the main issue, it was ok to pop the bead off in one place, but then so tight as to make it very difficult to push the lever round to unseat the tyre/get a second lever in.

Reading up it seems the shallow profile means you are better off using thin rim tape rather than the Velox cloth stuff as the shallow profile of the inner bit of the rim, combined with thick(ish) cloth tape means you lose the channel in which you can normally 'drop' the bead into to give yourself some working room.

Some people recommend Kapton tape as being thin, good and in fact the same stuff resold in tubeless tape kits, so I might try that if/when the tyres next come off. Pleasingly (in hindsight having now found this out) I switched the Velox cloth tape on one of the rims, which had rolled away from some of the spoke holes, with a bike ribbon strip which I fortuitously had in my spares box.

Is talc'ing/similar the inner tubes worthwhile at all?

I think my wheels have the tubeless ready rim sidewinder if you want to give that a go

It seems they are, so I might give that a look when cyclocross season comes round, at the moment I am just looking forward to getting some road miles in and hearing the click of the Hope freewheel.