Cycling UK Forum

Hello & Good Day,

any help with the following queries would be highly appreciated.

Having recently fitted a new wheelset to my hybrid cum quasi-tourer I decided to dismantle the old wheelset & attain some practice in the delicate art of wheelbuilding.

I duly downloaded the Roger Musson pro guide to wheelbuilding & constructed a reasonably exact version of his truing stand, albeit using 18mm MDF as opposed to the recommended (but non-existant) 20mm. It is actually a very good bit of kit & comes in at about £25 assuming you have the paint & various other odds n sods lying about in your shed. Actually, printing out the 100+ page guide used almost a whole printer cartridge thus add another £30 I suppose.

Anyhow, I must say the wheelbuilding process so far has been fairly successful I think, no major hitches, the basic 32 spoke, 3 cross pattern. Wheels still round, true & good for a spin. However, for peace of mind I decided to splash the cash on a subject tension monitor ex 'Petra' cycles which was speedily dispatched/received (VG service). Have recently done a bit of 'moonlighting' work & with the wife & kids away it won't hurt the budget too much.

From my limited experience of the subject, & only through casual research, I had a ballpark spoke tension figure of between 90-130 kgf as the 'norm'.

Well, when I checked my proudly assembled wheel I was surprised when the (brand new) tension meter gave relatively uniform tensions of between 155-178 kgf. The rims & hubs are unbranded but reasonable quality, & the spokes are bulk standard 2mm SUS plain gauge. I then checked my new wheelset, Sputniks on Deore hubs (ex SPA so hope they're good!) & obtained similar readings. Same same on my tandem wheels.

Now, the questions are:

a) are these tensions I am obtaining reasonably true, or is the gauge incorrectly calibrated?? It seems an awful lot of force on each spoke & it is right at the high end of the 'tabulated' Park Tool tension range. The spokes feel Ok though when squeezed. I didn't use a 6 foot wrench to tighten the nipples!

b) The instruction sheet says not to tamper with the calibration screw, send it to Park Tools who will do it for you for a reasonable charge. I don't think that's an option with postage etc. So, how to get a reasonable calibration. I have thought of lashing the rim to a beam in the shed, passing a spoke through a rim eyelet & then, utilizing the gap in my front teeth suspend myself from the spoke elbow & then measure the tension. It should read my weight (about 76kg) if I am thinking in the generally correct direction?? OK, there are probably better ways so am open to any inspired ideas.

Anyhow, that's it, thanks for your time.

I will be back at sea for early October for say 3 months so if anyone would like a 'borrow' of the truing jig or tension meter (cost of postage only) for the period Oct-Jan then send me a PM.

Thanks, Simon

I'm currently riding a cheap 3 year old Specialized Crosstrail with front suspension forks (even cheaper with no lock out). I've fitted a rear rack & 36 ltr rear panniers. Oh, and some nice wheels from SPA which are worth more than the bike (I'm saving for a good frame next, slowly slowly)

Although the whole set up is a bit heavy (& I will sometime buy a real bike) I have in the last week done 3 day rides of 75 mile - 100 mile duration each, around the Scottish Highlands (based from Inverness). Average speed has been in the region 11-12 mph so I haven't been setting any records but it's enough to get you places.

Some of the routes up here call for a little off road stuff if you want to avoid the relatively busy A82 & A9 so the SUS forks do actually come in handy at times. I've got a low enough gear to avoid having to stomp out of the saddle & get bounced off on the bigger hills.

Regarding fitting £35 rigid forks (from previous poster), I would say this is nigh on impossible as the dimensions of the SUS fork set up in way of length is a lot more than a standard fork. If you did fit these your bottom bracket would most definitely bottom out & I do not think pedalling would be easy in this situation!

With that sort of budget I would go for a Surly Long Haul Trucker, although I believe they are quite hard to source in the UK.

Maybe I haven't read enough postings on various websites, but I cannot recall any negative feedback on this bike.

Maybe it's a bit hefty but apparently it is very robust, & above all, comfortable.

Anyhow, that would be (& will be) my choice bike when all the kids leave home/get jobs/buy houses etc. Maybe I'll be in the ground by then!!

Buy a good one whatever you decide, all the best. Simon

You might be lucky Mr Riff Raff! My current rotation should see me on leave early June next year although I have found that best laid plans always tend to curve a little.

May is probably the best time up here when an atmospheric high pressure region somehow tends to drift across giving bright sunny but cool conditions. Coupled with the snow on the peaks can be a truely impressive sight.

Anyhow, just did a 100 mile jaunt (my first) in the direction of Fort William & back today, the hilly & quieter route South of Loch Ness & a bit on the Great Glen 'cycleway' which I would tend to steer clear of certain sections if you're running on anything but a mountain bike. I used the A82 on the way back as tree lined & tree routed paths get a bit depressing, not so much traffic & still alive.

Wife & kids home soon so better start cleaning the house, painting the windows, digging the garden, mowing the lawn......wish I was back at sea!

Maybe see you next year, all the best, Simon

Hello,

I'm an Englishman (East London), been resident in the Highlands for a number of years, spend most of my life at sea but have recently returned home (a bit before anticipated time due company relieving schedules) to an empty house - the wife & three kids are on holiday in the Philippines upto August 5th.

Anybody passing through requiring any assistance or possibly a place to stay for the night (for the price of a good bottle of something) & who is not a psycho then feel free to call 01463 717596 landline or 07756992610 mobile.

After August 5th then the house is full again so make the most of it!! The reason for this post is that I passed a couple of young German tourists today towing their kiddie in the p******ng rain heading for a local campsite & I thought, "poor bu%%ers, I know where I'd rather sleep tonight!!

Anyway, for marital harmony am thinking of leaving the sea after 30 years & spending more time with the family, possibly running a cyclist friendly B&B so this could be construed as a bit of market research,

anyhow, it's upto you, all the best with your ventures,

Simon

Don't worry too much about it.

I spend more than half the year away on a rusty old Chinese gas tanker around Asia - away from the bike, & the only real exercise is a few brisk walks round the deck.

When I come home it takes about a week to get the bike muscles back & then I'm flying again like a bird...well, not quite but it sure feels like it!!

Still trying to get the kids as enthusiastic as I am and the old tandem is certainly doing the trick.

Keep the old pecker up & all that, a lot worse happens at sea,

I've just done a 70 mile half day beautiful ride in the Eastern Highlands & absoultely loved it,

All the best & get well soon, Simon

I recently enquired as to the estimated wait time for a set of Sputnik rims on Deore hubs & was advised 'about one to two weeks'.

Ariving home for the weekend this Friday night my neighbour handed over a box containing the said wheelset which had been delivered during the week. All told, less than one week from ordering to delivery. Pretty good service I'd say......

I wish now that I'd asked the SPA fellow on the phone if the desired wheelset would be compatible with an Altus rear mech, Alivio front mech, Deore triple chainset & 8 speed Shimano HG50 cassette. I've recently changed from 7 speed Megarange cassette to 8 speed 11-32 with cheap Shimano rapidfire shifters off E-bay but it all seems to work OK with a couple of chain links removed. Now the wheels are worth more than the bike so will adapt my security principles to reflect this!

Thanks SPA, all good so far

Simon

Kwackers talks a lot of sense here.

As a serving seafarer, adhering to the International Regulations for preventing Collisions at Sea i.e The Rules of the Road, the common dictate is to keep as close as practicable to the starboard (right) side of the channel, & pass 'port to port' or 'red to red' or 'left to left'. There's a bit more to it but that's the general jist.

As a once great seafaring nation, our country is steeped in maritime tradition & much of what happens at sea is for good practical reasons. In days of yore when you steered a ship with a ruddy great wheel it was a lot easier (for the predominate right handed hairy rectummed sailor) to press the right hand down a bit i.e alter course to starboard to avoid imminent collision. So, for me also my instinct as a right hander is to keep to my right, where a small yank on the handlebars on my stronger right side will see me good. Psychologically & thus physiologically easier.

Having just left Xiamen in China on a pretty big LNG ship bound for Hong Kong, transitting very heavily trafficked shipping lanes & wondering frequently whether the little coasters & fishing boats would get out of our way, I can quite honestly say that a collision with a little pushbike would not cause me too much undue concern. We have too many rules & auditors in our working lives, Oh for more people like Kwackers who I would resonately respond a 'good day to' whether we twatted each other or not on an enjoyable ride on a cycle lane. Sad sad UK with too many little Hitlers.

Soon be home, back on the bike & starting to worry whether I'm on the wrong side or not (I don't think!)

All the best, Simon

Depressing thread. Lighten up. I've worked nearly 30 years at sea in the Merchant Navy, foreign flag, multinational crews, majority of whom are Filipino (and generally a happy bunch). Pensions? what are they? I think I've accrued 2700 USD in an Hong Kong bank from a former Japanese employer. An old Indian electrician I once sailed with said his pension plan was to put his final months salary on a rank outsider at the bookies, if it came in then cigar & slippers, if it lost then he'd terminate...!

I have just bought a small parcel of beach land in the Philippines (4000 USD) where maybe I will kick back when life gets too boring. If I run out of cash then hopefully the kids will help. If not then I'll return to sea & carry on with life as do most 'unfortunate' people who have the misfortune to be bought up in the 'Third World'.

Sometimes we can plan to much & most definitely we will never have enough in our 'pot'. There are plenty of opportunities in Asia for retired fit cyclists to convey passengers in modified tricycles if anyone is interested? I like, & would prefer to stay in the UK but unless I can afford it then change beckons.

I always thought pensions in the UK were derived purely to support the old war heroes of our once glorious empire & deservedly so. Who has really surpassed their feats & hence earned the divine right to a state assisted retirement in our most recent history.

The World is ending next year I've been informed so why worry.

I bought a bottom of the range Specialized Crosstrail a couple of years ago for around 300 quid & it's still going well. Riding on & offish road around Inverness. Not a particularly good looking bike but it fits the purpose well. The cheaper model has V brakes but I believe you could get discs within your budget. European maybe it ain't!! Look at Evans website under hybrids, I believe they still produce this model. Supplied tyres were 700 x 45 & not bad. I've taken it on a few quite long bike 'n' hikes i.e the trail ran out so I lugged it over a few hills & found another trail - not lightweight but not excessively heavy. Easy to upgrade if that takes your fancy. And the name fits perfectly - tada! Hope that's of help, all the best, Simon

A golden elixir distilled in Scotland, liberally imbibed sometimes helps,

available at all good Off Licenses, usually without prescription.

Hope this is of help?

I know of a good route up in the Scottish Highlands down a 'private' road to a dammed (or is it damned) Loch (Monar?). I think the place is Glen Strathfarrar & the road can be accessed from a little village called Struy. There is a small public carpark at the start of the route & the lady in the gatekeepers house will open the gate at any daylight time for cyclists / tandemists. Obviously the people who live in the Glen (not many) have keys to the gate & also upto 25 cars (i think) are allowed in in any 24hr period - mainly for bagging Munros, bog trotting, huntin' n fishin' etc.

It is a very quiet & scenic route upto the loch, a little hilly in places (the last half mile or so was a bit steep) so if you need it dead flat then it would probably not suit (excuse my ignorance of your mode of transport). I recall the distance from gate to Loch & back as about 30 odd mile so this route would require a few repetitions. The singletrack road was in pretty good nick as of March this year.

Anyhow, apologies for not being too specific but I'm stuck on a boat off Taiwan at the moment, & our internet connection is pretty awful (lucky to have one at all really) hence I can't google at leisure & my memory is slowly receeding! But there is no pain! (which song does this allude to?) The route starts from near Struy, which is on the small B road between Inverness & Cannich. Hopefully you will be able to make some sense of the afore with some small further research. Good Luck in your attempt & hope you're successful.

I am a long legged 5ft 11, the wife a shade under 5ft with little pins. We bought a Viking Tarantino, which I realise is somewhat looked down upon by true tandem aficionados. Frame size is a perfect fit although I cannot remember the exact dimensions. Aluminium frame, shimano acera gearing, Tektro V brakes, eccentric (is that the right word?) BB, basically all low end stuff but perfectly rugged & reliable. All components easily upgradeable if that is your fancy.

I use it for the school run mostly, firstly the 13 yr old daughter, then home to take the 8 yr daughter & 4 year old son. The 8 year old sits with her feet resting on the crossframe clear of the pedals & the 4 year old in a plastic Halfords child seat clamped on behind. The 8 yr old could nearly reach the pedals if it weren't for the fact that I can't lower the saddle right down with the kiddies seat clamped right beneath it.

The wife (a total non cyclist who has the balance of a sailor ashore for the first time in donkeys) thoroughly enjoys our regular shortish jaunts & we've never yet had to get off & push - taking in some fairly hilly routes around the Highlands. I must say it has definitely built up my forearm muscles, with the missus & nipper in the back seat there is quite a heeling moment & at slow speed when you start to list.....

Anyway, for a shade under 500 quid it has given remarkably good service & would wholeheartedly recommend for any couple who didn't want to spend a fortune on the more marketable brandname models.

I have used Evans on-line several times & rather boringly I am afraid to admit they have been very good.

Three bikes have been purchased via online sales over a period of a couple of years, nothing extravagant - all sub 500 quid & all arrived within a few days of ordering. A variety of other accessories & components (saddle/pedals/chainset/tyres etc) have similarly been dealt with efficiently.

I even tried their 'pricematch' guarantee on a set of Schwalbe tyres which I saw for about half price elsewhere. They matched the price no problem. I then asked myself why I hadn't just bought the tyres from the original vendors site - I think once you get good service from one retailer then you tend to stick with them, not out of any loyalty as such, just purely out of familiarity.

I would honestly prefer to support my LBS, & even wouldn't mind paying a few extra quid for the service, however, they can be a miserable bunch at times & while spending 7 months each year at sea, I don't do miserable on my time off. Admittedly, it must be tough to survive nowadays as a small time retailer.

I've quite a lot of experience with the ferocious midge & can make the following informed observations/deterrents from previous research:

Do not stop - anything above a brisk walk is too much for the little darling's wings

Do not breathe - CO2 emissions are like a magnet to the midge

Smoke stogies - CO they don't like

Evaporate hydrocarbon vapors around oneself - acts as a narcotic & puts the midge into a drunken stupor

Thus, whilst transitting West Coast routes during the summer months I have found it beneficial to hold ones breath, douse oneself liberally in petrol, light a giant cigar & keep on pedalling.

Boom Boom said basil,

Regards, Simon