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by simonineaston
26 Feb 2024, 12:33pm
Forum: Cycling Goods & Services - Your Reviews
Topic: micro review… Firenze sensamo
Replies: 0
Views: 780

micro review… Firenze sensamo

So after years of use, the pair of Schwalbe marathon green tyres on my Brompton started, literally, to show signs of wear, ie the green dots. Rather against my inclination I fitted a pair of Firenze sensamo instead. They stayed on for about 6 weeks before I concluded that the marathons have better grip, better puncture resistance and a much much tighter fit. Thus the sensamos are gone. The one quality where they did feel a bit better was rolling resistance, but that could have just been down to inflation pressure!
To be honest, if I didn’t spend most of my cycling time on Bristol’s currently filthy, glass and screw littered urban roads, with their often colossal pot holes, I might have been tempted to keep them on longer, but after the third p******e, I lost patience and went back to marathons…
Just thought I’d let you know what I thought of the Firenze - I’d give them a wholly unscientific 3 out 5 and pop them in the box marked, “would probably try them if I saw them at a bargain price!”.
by simonineaston
26 Feb 2024, 11:09am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Guitar Players - Is It Hard?
Replies: 31
Views: 1539

Re: Guitar Players - Is It Hard?

If my own excruciating efforts are anything to go by, the longer you play, the better you get. It’s simple muscle memory. I did loads of hours learning simple rocknroll strumming patterns (jez quayle on yt) and was really happy in the way I improved. Old joke: starry eyed tourist in Manhattan, to gnarly old beat cop “excuse me officer how do I get to Carnegie Hall?” Beat cop replies, “practice, practice, practice”…
But truth to tell, I’m just as happy putzing around with guitar parts to make painted replicas - here’s the most recent - George Harrison’s ‘rocky’. Next on the list is Jimmy Page’s dragoncaster.
by simonineaston
26 Feb 2024, 9:13am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Guitar Players - Is It Hard?
Replies: 31
Views: 1539

Re: Guitar Players - Is It Hard?

All I’m saying is there’s a shed load of great yt channels on every style of playing, so even if you’re as resoundlingly bad at playing as I am, you can absolutely have great fun trying, in the privacy of your own home. Plus there are hundreds of decent guitars out there on fb marketplace at bargainateous prices suitable for learners.
by simonineaston
25 Feb 2024, 2:23pm
Forum: Electrically assisted pedal cycles
Topic: Bosch 36v - bigger, better, longer
Replies: 8
Views: 502

Bosch 36v - bigger, better, longer

As some of you may know, I’m thinking about bunging a hub motor on my Moulton. The Brompton already uses one powered by Bosch’s 36v tool battery packs. So imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered just now that Bosch offer a 6ah variant of the 4ah pack I’ve had for the last 7 years, and that they weigh the same. I thought I’d share this in case it’s news to you too, dear reader.
(Unkind commentators are likely to point out that the weight benefit will be mirrored by the purchaser’s wallet being considerably lighter too, after purchasing said resource…)
link to bosch’s page here
by simonineaston
24 Feb 2024, 9:09am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: What colour is your bike?
Replies: 26
Views: 1042

Re: What colour is your bike?

My Brompton is orange, as is its front-mounted pannier as is the D lock that clips on the seat post. It is tempting to imagine that I call it Jaffa…
by simonineaston
20 Feb 2024, 1:57pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Shimano Capreo
Replies: 1
Views: 320

Re: Shimano Capreo

Capreo rear mech.s and more especially, cassettes, may be of interest to owners of such Moultons that used them, if they’re keen on keeping the original parts. The groupset’s cassette / hub combo were used on the AMs for a few years, between 2002 and 2010, I think.
Capreo-related factoid is that Doc Moulton himself cooperated with Shimano, in the development of the cassette.
by simonineaston
16 Feb 2024, 9:57am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?
Replies: 920
Views: 862620

Re: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?

nice! I keep thinking about a rescue doggie but decide over and over again, it wouldn’t work out, what with living in a flat an’ all. Other folk in the block have dogs which seem to suit - a near neighbour used to train ‘teenage’ guide dogs, not the puppies, but the young ones who were just starting their training journey. I applied to volunteer for Guide Dogs UK but they rejected my application hay ho… maybe it was A Sign!
by simonineaston
16 Feb 2024, 8:03am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?
Replies: 920
Views: 862620

Re: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?

What it is with this one is this. Back when the referendum took place, our cultural preoccupations were different to what they are now. Now, getting on for a decade later, our subconscious minds are busy trying to process different stuff, which is increasingly dominated by the awareness of existential threat. As a consequence, we are beginning to behave in ways associated with fin de siècle, only this time on steroids.
We’re beyond sensible actions like all pulling together in order to do what’s best for the country and humankind in general. Instead the Majority is no longer silent, but instead rush about doing crazy things such as buying huuuuge SUVs and voting for Trump.
There’s only one really effective way to overcome this widespread awfulness, which is to go for a nice bicycle ride.
by simonineaston
15 Feb 2024, 3:59pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Water cyclists friend.Filter jugs?
Replies: 34
Views: 2058

Re: Water cyclists friend.Filter jugs?

Just one more pearler from the nuclear processing site that definitely wasn’t Sellafield.
Once upon a time, there was a project that needed high access and so they did what builders do and hired the crane. Job fInished, the plant company came back to get it and asked if everything went OK. The on-site team agreed all had gone admirably but that the otherwise excellent crane might by now have become a little hot… and of course, the plant hire company responded by refusing to take it back. And that’s why there’s a very old and rusty unloved and unused crane languishing in the corner of the site, still paid for, week after week, by whoever runs the place these days!
by simonineaston
15 Feb 2024, 9:37am
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Water cyclists friend.Filter jugs?
Replies: 34
Views: 2058

Re: Water cyclists friend.Filter jugs?

one of my favourite stories from a fictional nuclear waste management facility that shares a lot of similarities with, but definitely wasn’t, Sellafield, involves the time the management became suspicious of the presence of a couple of old mattresses they spotted in the corner of one of the fitters shops. Suspecting that the night shift might be sleeping on the job… they planned a Night Raid. But they’d been wrong. No sleeping was observed, instead the fitters were super busy on an important project. They were fitting custom exhaust systems on their mates cars, using the ultra high quality stainless steel pipe stock normally reserved for the coolant in the nuclear reactors… the mattresses being vital for comfortable on-your-back welding.
by simonineaston
12 Feb 2024, 12:17pm
Forum: Off-road Cycling.
Topic: Views on shared-use paths
Replies: 44
Views: 2424

Re: Views on shared-use paths

I can see from the piccies that cycle travel as shown would be a pleasure. Much of what can be achieved depends on the base material… here in Bristol we still have a lot of tight lanes, some cobbled, often narrow, that doesn't make for the best green travel infrastructure!
by simonineaston
12 Feb 2024, 12:13pm
Forum: Off-road Cycling.
Topic: Views on shared-use paths
Replies: 44
Views: 2424

Re: Views on shared-use paths

..narrow pedestrian pavement, repurposed on the cheap by sticking up a few blue signs…
that’s a reasonable chatacterisation of many of the paths here in Bristol. In some ways we’re a victim of our own success in that much of the cycling infrastructure is oldish now - say 10/15 years, which means a lot of the signage is badly in need of a refresh - in fact my closest path into town has just received exactly that. 👏
Add to that increased usage and it's all a bit of free-for-all. There’s a cultural shift too, cos historically the relatively fewer cyclists had learnt the basic rules either from school cycling proficiency or else from parents. The demographic of users more recently is much wider - neither cyclists nor walkers seem aware of the usual conventions that were more widespread a couple of decades ago. Which is a polite way of saying that using paths that used to be quiet and calm has morphed into an experience that's far more stressful!
by simonineaston
12 Feb 2024, 9:10am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Deliveroo / Uber strike
Replies: 8
Views: 621

Deliveroo / Uber strike

I read that there is to be a strike by food delivery folk tomorrow. https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... SApp_Other
I see a lot of these guys here in my home city. They’ve changed the local biking landscape markedly in the past decade or so… and often not in a good way. But I can see that they're part of a thriving and successful sea change in the way mainly youngsters shop and eat.
Do we applaud them for their green approach to short delivery journies and sympathise with them having to be out on all weathers, struggling to make a living wage. Or are we appalled at their refusal to recognize red lights, cheerful delight in going the wrong way down one way streets and ability to whizz along at 20mph without peddling?
by simonineaston
11 Feb 2024, 6:59pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: The Schwalbe “marathon”…
Replies: 3
Views: 388

The Schwalbe “marathon”…

The marketing folks at Schwalbe got that name right, that's for sure! My last one went on back in summer of 2017… and we all know about the long long struggle it can be to put a new one on, specially onto a tiny wheel like my Brompton. Marathon indeed!
I set aside a whole day to psyche myself and get the bloomin’ thing on. But I need not have worried! The process was relatively painless. Lucky me.
So the reason for posting is just to recommend the Secret Ingredient of using a pair of tough, dirty, leather gloves that I use mainly when I’m at the food project warehouse I do some voluntary shifts for. Can't recommend them too highly - flexible enough so you can feel what you are doing and tough enough to save me from the expected sore thumbs, blood blisters and broken finger nails. Oh and the usual application of tightly cinched leather straps as I worked my way round, of course.
That's a Bingo! :D
by simonineaston
11 Feb 2024, 2:05pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Water cyclists friend.Filter jugs?
Replies: 34
Views: 2058

Re: Water cyclists friend.Filter jugs?

…British Atomic energy authority.
(although they probably have tighter security)…
A good chum of mine comes from Cumbria and many of his friends and relatives still work at Sellafield. Every time we meet up, we are regaled with a selection of humorous anecdotes that centre around the works. Loose security and management incompetence characterise many of the tales…