A positive thread

[reohn2]

Another positive image:-

Click to enlarge

[pwa]

A couple of weeks ago the wife and I visited the Bolton area to walk around places we used to know and to visit relatives. While we were there we briefly visited Moss Bank Park, a place my wife remembers fondly from her childhood. As we were leaving I caught a glimpse of a bloke on a bike and, as we do, I eyed the bike to see if it was of interest. It was a Wayfarer. In Bolton. As we continued down the driveway I suddenly thought, I wonder if that was Vantage! A spooky feeling, a bit like having seen something that might have been the Loch Ness Monster or a Yeti.

[Cugel]

Another positive image:-
20191031_135012.jpg
Click to enlarge

Were you too embarrassed to allow the photographer to show you hanging in the barbed wire fence off to the left there after doing a hoogerland?

Cugel

[pwa]

That pic would be a good one for a caption competition.

[Carlton green]

By chance I met up with some local cyclists from a ‘new’ group that I didn’t know existed. That chance meeting resulted in joining in with one of their ‘Club Runs’; I seem to have struck lucky in meeting some really nice souls who enjoy a steady ride and places where tea and cake are served.

[reohn2]

Another positive image:-
20191031_135012.jpg
Click to enlarge

Were you too embarrassed to allow the photographer to show you hanging in the barbed wire fence off to the left there after doing a hoogerland?

Cugel

How did you guess?

[reohn2]

That pic would be a good one for a caption competition.

What's yours?

[pwa]

That pic would be a good one for a caption competition.

What's yours?

The Dulcolax kicked in sooner than the cyclist had expected.

[reohn2]

That pic would be a good one for a caption competition.

What's yours?

The Dulcolax kicked in sooner than the cyclist had expected.

[pwa]

I have just pressed the button for a new Spa Titanium Touring F&F to replace my Thorn Club Tour, which has been bothering me with a few age related issues for a couple of years now. Things stuck in it (BB and seat post) which I could probably get out eventually, but I've been there before and frankly I get fed up with the corrosion issues. And deeply corroded cable stops, a small enough problem but one which on previous frames has been incurable. Temporary fix after temporary fix. So titanium it is.

I already have a Spa Titanium Audax frame so I know what I am buying into. The main thing I look for is saying goodbye to rust. Any weight loss is very much secondary. A welcome by-product.

I did mull over a disc brake switch but I have so many nice bits on the Club Tour (put there by me rather than Thorn) that a frame transplant appeals more. Sticking with the cantis that I already get on with. And the tyre width range of a tourer fits the places I want to ride.

This will give me a little project over the winter, slowly building a bike. And trying not to go OTT with the budget for the little bits and pieces i won't be swapping over.

The Missus has been informed.

[Cugel]

I have just pressed the button for a new Spa Titanium Touring F&F <SNIP> . . .

It's a relief that you haven't "pulled the trigger on" rather than "just pressed a button" in your acquisition. A relief because Yank violence talk gets right up my anti-Yank prejudiced nozzle.

*****
I like cantilever brakes well set-up although having acquired a bike with hydraulic disc brakes I felt the need to tweak the cantis to have less of a difference to their detriment in any comparison. The thread about cantilever brake set up elsewhere is useful but I would suggest also (from experience) that two other improvements can be made to make the cantilever braking better - improvements that are not to do with the canilver arms et al themselves:

* Get some wheels with coated rims. I have an old pair of Mavic ceramic rimmed wheels now somewhere between 25 and 30 years old, still unworn i' the rim after gawd knows how many miles. More to the point, they improve braking response significantly, especially in wet weather. The modern equivalent is "exalith" rims I believe.

* Consider also (if you have the room for them) sissy lever on your bar-tops, if you have drop bars. Good ones can also improve cantilever braking, especially when going down the steeps and you need plenty of brake lever pull from your mits but also to keep as much weight as possible on the back wheel.

Apologies if you already know all of this.

Cugel

[pwa]

I have just pressed the button for a new Spa Titanium Touring F&F <SNIP> . . .

It's a relief that you haven't "pulled the trigger on" rather than "just pressed a button" in your acquisition. A relief because Yank violence talk gets right up my anti-Yank prejudiced nozzle.

*****
I like cantilever brakes well set-up although having acquired a bike with hydraulic disc brakes I felt the need to tweak the cantis to have less of a difference to their detriment in any comparison. The thread about cantilever brake set up elsewhere is useful but I would suggest also (from experience) that two other improvements can be made to make the cantilever braking better - improvements that are not to do with the canilver arms et al themselves:

* Get some wheels with coated rims. I have an old pair of Mavic ceramic rimmed wheels now somewhere between 25 and 30 years old, still unworn i' the rim after gawd knows how many miles. More to the point, they improve braking response significantly, especially in wet weather. The modern equivalent is "exalith" rims I believe.

* Consider also (if you have the room for them) sissy lever on your bar-tops, if you have drop bars. Good ones can also improve cantilever braking, especially when going down the steeps and you need plenty of brake lever pull from your mits but also to keep as much weight as possible on the back wheel.

Apologies if you already know all of this.

Cugel

The new frame is, as near as makes not difference, a like-for-like, so apart from new cables and blocks it will be a case of taking stuff off one frame, cleaning it up, and popping it straight on the new one. (Usual fingers crossed on that). I have a brake system that works well enough for me, that I am used to, and which I just want to replicate. I have used a hydraulic disc and it is a different beast altogether. I can see how if you use hydraulic discs then go back to cantis you will find the cantis underwhelming, and certainly needing full use of the hands at the levers. But cantis are what I use most of the time, so when I approach a steep narrow lane in Llysworney in the rain I know the "quirks" of the brakes, and I am ready to pull the levers back hard. And while it takes a lot more effort with the hands, I can generally get the back wheel to skid on that hill, in the wet, which means that even with a hydraulic disc brake I would have no more effective braking at my disposal. The maximum braking you can do is what the tyres will take.

My rear rim is a well used but hardly worn CSS one. The front is just a plain LX17, but when it wears out I have an old CSS rim that will pop on as a replacement. I believe the spoke length requirements are almost identical. So I take your point about coated rims.

Interrupter levers are something I like, not to be confused with the "suicide levers" of old. But I am not sure I have enough room to spare on the bars with the other things I sometimes have there. Your point about body position is good though. I am sure you are right about that.

This new frame commits me to cantis (or vees) for the future, which is something I have thought about and accept. But the world outside is moving over to discs so I will be future-proofing by stocking up on things that might become scarce. CSS rims being top of the list. If somebody who knew nothing about bikes asked me how they should spend their own money on a bike I would probably not direct them down this route. This is a grey haired bloke stocking up on the stuff he knows while the world beyond is doing something different. And I like that.

[rmurphy195]

I have just pressed the button for a new Spa Titanium Touring F&F to replace my Thorn Club Tour, which has been bothering me with a few age related issues for a couple of years now. Things stuck in it (BB and seat post) which I could probably get out eventually, but I've been there before and frankly I get fed up with the corrosion issues. And deeply corroded cable stops, a small enough problem but one which on previous frames has been incurable. Temporary fix after temporary fix. So titanium it is.

I already have a Spa Titanium Audax frame so I know what I am buying into. The main thing I look for is saying goodbye to rust. Any weight loss is very much secondary. A welcome by-product.

I did mull over a disc brake switch but I have so many nice bits on the Club Tour (put there by me rather than Thorn) that a frame transplant appeals more. Sticking with the cantis that I already get on with. And the tyre width range of a tourer fits the places I want to ride.

This will give me a little project over the winter, slowly building a bike. And trying not to go OTT with the budget for the little bits and pieces i won't be swapping over.

The Missus has been informed.

Or perhaps a little grease or vaseine on the seatpost, BB threads etc from new? (and take then off and put 'em back every now and again) Much cheaper!

[pwa]

Or perhaps a little grease or vaseine on the seatpost, BB threads etc from new? (and take then off and put 'em back every now and again) Much cheaper!

Of course. The most intransigent bottom bracket I've had was installed by Thorn Cycles with (my former local bike shop proprietor informed me) with very little grease. The left cup never came out, in 18 years of use, and I got around that by using the same bottom bracket model and keeping the old left cup. The bottom brackets I have installed myself have had generous amounts of anti-seize grease, the coppery stuff, which I use on all sorts of things.

Seatposts are more tricky. I've had trouble with them slipping and grease does not help with that. But I do try to get a film of grease in there.

The new titanium frame has arrived and it is exquisite. Everything about it has aesthetic appeal. I may spend more time looking at it that riding it. Brushed finish with logos blasted on, so no stickers that will peel off.

[Cyril Haearn]

Cooking sprouts, smells good, reminds me of Grannys Kitchen
Taste great with just bread + butter, cooking enough for tomorrow too
..
Bleat: at the wholefood store they cost 9.5 times more than at cheapstore
One is used to paying double for organic food, but nearly ten times as much?