Combing my hair….

To judge by media reports, the big cycling legal issue is cyclists running red lights. Lycra louts are running amok. Well yes, some cyclists do run red lights, but is this really the only narrative worth considering. How about the fact that any cyclist will tell you that they frequently have their rights abused. In the video above, proceeding straight along the bus lane I had right of way over the car turning left. At the last moment I noticed the indicator flashing and stopped. The car driver may have seen me and been prepared to wait while I passed, but it just isn’t worth the risk. Read the rest of this entry »

Just under a year since I got it, I’ve reached a 1000 miles on my Alfine Tikit. It has been a cold, icy winter and at times it has felt like you were cycling along the beach with the amount of grit and salt that has been spread on the roads. The bike has been out in the salt spray then back into a warm office and then back in the spray and back into a warm house on a daily basis since mid December. Ideal conditions for corrosion. Let’s start from the road up. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve ridden a few Audaxes and enjoyed all of them, but never longer than 200 km which strikes me as quite a day out in the saddle. I’ve enjoyed the camaraderie and the opportunity to meet new cyclists, and the routes are often carefully crafted to show the best of the local countryside.

I’ve never been tempted by the longer distances and particularly not by the killer Paris – Brest – Paris, all 1200 miles of it. It’s the talk of hallucinations and fall asleep while riding along which rather put me off. To my knowledge I have only met one person who has ridden it and she struck me as slightly bonkers. But I have to say that this video did make it appear to be quite a fun experience. Love the Twin Peaks music at the night-time feed station.

Glossop Road, photo by DrJoolz

The commute home was rather challenging to say the least. The snow hit just before the evening rush hour and gridlock followed. I managed to ride up from the station to West Street and was almost enjoying it -it was technically challenging to stay upright. From there it went downhill (metaphorically!). There was too little room between vehicles to ride most of the rest of the way. Brrr!

Meanwhile if you need a further reason to dislike cars, maybe they caused the credit crunch argues Wired magazine

Elsewhere the cycling web is abuzz with news of a new Shimano Alfine 11 speed hub. Most temptatious.

I believe that cycling safely in traffic means being part of the traffic. This includes occupying the lane rather than hugging the kerb and asserting your right to be there. This isn’t always easy and in hilly Sheffield you do have to recognise that climbing some of the hills requires a measure of defensive positioning – if you are moving at 7 mph and cars are passing you at 30mph there is little choice.

Descending fast needs good brakes. Initially my first Tikit caused me some concern in this respect, but with advice from the Bike Friday Yak group I swapped out the pads for some Kool Stop Salmons. Highly effective, but tough on the rims. The disc brakes on my Alfine Tikit are just the business, enabling me to confidently descend at speed. The importance of this is illustrated in the video where you see I need to leave a bus lane on the left, occupy the main traffic lane and then rapidly turn right.

The video was recorded at 8am on 29 January before it was fully light – a first test of the GoPro HD Hero mounted on my helmet. Quite impressed. It captures what you can see looking forward, but the vertical range of your eyes is far wider than the camera and when you look to the side your eyes swivel but the camera doesn’t!

This is a sign no cyclist wants to see. Particularly when your toes are telling you they have turned black and dropped off. Unfortunately this was our fate today on Tony’s Winter Warmer. It is not really that surprising, the deserted Peak District roads on a freezing January Sunday are great for cycling, not so great if you are running a cafe. The obvious time of year to close for a few days. Undeterred we pressed on.

Now some cafes have signs on the door to indicate that they welcome cyclists.

Read the rest of this entry »

GoPro HD Hero in place and ready to roll....

GoPro HD Hero mounted on my helmet and ready to video the commute to work. Well almost. The instructions with the camera are succinct to say the least and don’t explain what the coloured rubber thing is – it is a shock absorber. Anyway, without the benefit of the shock absorber I managed to film my commute to Sheffield station successfully and it looks good my computer. This is despite the fact that it was still relatively dark at 8am on a January morning. The problem now is to work out how to transcode the video so that it can be edited and uploaded to Vimeo. Attempts so far have resulted in files which are far too big.

Tout Terrain Boulevard, front wheel detail

I was in Tony Butterworths last week and Max showed me a Tout Terrain Boulevard which had been on trial with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. Currently the bike paramedics in Sheffield are riding Marin Point Reyes. This bike is seriously impressive, available with a Rohloff or Alfine hub, it is the attention to detail which struck me. The bike has an integrated rear rack and the rear light is dynamo driven with the cable routed through the rack. Similar attention to detail is in evidence at the front, with a small brazing for the cable guide on the back of the fork and mudguard eyes up the fork to avoid the disc mechanism. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately for the family budget) the bike wasn’t for sale. Apparently a belt drive version will be available from next month, needing even less maintenance. Could this be the future of commuting?

Although I enjoyed yesterday’s trip out with the CTC and am glad the snow is off the road at least, it was cold and the road was wet and the bike was gloopy at the end of the day. A little video to warm things up, while I make plans. Roll on spring.

Freewheel and cassette tools through the ages

I’m starting to wonder if Campagnolo have lost the plot. I should declare an interest. I am a lifelong fan – well so far anyway.

William Morris said: have nothing in your house you know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. A Campag equipped bike seem to tick both boxes. Twenty years ago I found I could afford a bike in Columbus SLX tubing with a full Campag Chorus groupset. Actually I couldn’t really afford it, but that’s another story. I got it anyway and it was a thing of beauty. The bike has now gone, rust never sleeps. But many of the Chorus parts were still in beautiful condition and made me quite a few quid on eBay. 18 months ago I bought a bike with the 2008 Chorus group. Still beautiful, still worked beautifully. However, it didn’t take long to see that some changes in the equipment market over the period are not necessarily for the better.

Firstly, as anyone who puts the miles in knows, taking care of and replacing the chain regularly is essential to protect the rest of the drivetrain. The Campag ten speed chain needs a special chain link extractor. List price £103. Ker-ching. Second, the original Chorus bottom bracket was effectively fit and forget – certainly I put thousands of miles in before it needed new bearings. The modern Ultra Toque bottom bracket unit may be lighter but certainly wasn’t as well weatherproofed and lasted less than one full season. I was rapidly gaining the impression that the needs of the professional rider was driving everything and the keen amateur was just expected to go with kit which was difficult to service and lacked the earlier robustness.

However the best was yet to come. In a move which was redolent of software industry practice, the 2009 innovation was 11 speeds. A narrower chain, a new chain tool (list price an even more eye watering £137) and no backwards compatibility. I have met no one who wanted this innovation. It might be age, maybe if I hung out with young roadies I would get a different impression, but I rather doubt it.

What Campag have now done, according to their director for the French market Christophe Soenen quoted in Le Cycle, is to stop production of their mid-range 10 speed chains – no Chorus, no Centaur – just a choice between the high end Record and the entry level Veloce. They’ve stopped making the 10 speed Chorus cassette, for the moment they have retained Centaur cassettes – which is good news given a Record 10 speed cassette will set you back two hundred quid.

Oh dear, maybe it is time to consider the rather less beautiful alternatives. That’s me in the corner, losing my religion.