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I took a trip back to 2018 and rode the billboard today. Who needs aero when you can draft your mate on their new plastic Trek aero thing? Of course I caught he knapping and out sprinted him to the village sign. Only once mind. A fun 26miles was had by some.
(I did take my turns on the front, they were just slower)
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It’s April the first! So off with the winter tyres, 27.5 x 2.1 Teravail Sparwoods and on with the spring tyres, 650b x 47 Teravail Washburns. As normal I used the packet of “tubeless setup magic” that comes with every one of their tyres and I pulled off the old tyres popped on the new ones, with just my thumbs. Left in the jizz that sits on the tape and pumped them up with the track pump to 40psi and well that’s it no drama, no swearing and no leaks all pretty boring to be honest! I’ll top up the sealant tomorrow.
Onces I’d swapped the tyres I thought I’d put on the new discs and fit the new pads.
Because I’m tight I’ve used a pair of Shimano MT800s that were on the shelf and got some Sram wet and extreme pads from Merlin’s for £18 a set.
It’s pissing it down here so a test ride isn’t going to happen before we head out for the day tomorrow, but it’ll be fine.
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Cheers ref the pics, but who would have 7 fgss bikes in their collection?
There are still the single speeded SWorks tricross, the Raleigh Esquire (pub fixie skidder), the Pashley SS Guv’nor and the SSMTB from the other shed to be taken into consideration :D
Maintenance isn’t too bad along as you do it when it needs it, rather than save a few up to do at once. -
I got in a bit earlier from work today so set to with sorting out the new wheelset. First job was to remove the tubeless tape that was on them as it was only half stuck on and wouldn’t restick even with a heat gun. Luckily I had some DT Swiss tape left over from the last set, so no biggy. I then went to the bit bin and found some ‘nice’ purple valves. Not only are they too purple, they are also too long, but hey I’ll be fine.
I then popped the WTB horizons on. For shame WTB don’t supply ‘tubeless setup magic’ with their tyres, so it took a bit of effort and a lot of squash/pumping to get them to seat. I also discovered that the rear tyre did indeed have a flint hole in it, as expected after my jizz up the back incident on my last coastal expedition. Anyway that sealed itself and the tyres stayed up. So win win.
I then swapped the cassette and discs over and went for a spin.
TBH I don’t think they weigh much less than the Mavics that have the Teravails on and they don’t feel much different either, but I think that’s more about how good those Mavics are. They are much much much better than my old WTB wheels and were cheaper. So. Win win there too.
So there we have it. They look ok, they don’t weigh much and they ride nicely.
Would I spend £800 on them? Well no I wouldn’t, but for £250 I’d say they are a bargain.
Now for the money shots…
Oh, the irony of light weight carbon wheels on the Surly isn’t lost on me 😂
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On Sunday I finally got round to replacing the notchy external BB on the Kish for a new square taper one and binned the old 105 cranks, the spindle was badly worn and popped on the TA ones I won on the bay.
I rode to work Monday, Tuesday and today a total of 47miles. Coming home today there was a strange noise coming from the BB pedal area. Well the DS crank arm was hitting the chain stay. Was it my massive power output or the fact that the cranks appear to be made of cheese? Shit a brick! I bent it back by standing on it! So off with cranks, but hold on. The extraction threads were shot, so out with the dead blow hammer. Anyway there are now some shitty messenger cranks and a Surly chainring getting me to work tomorrow.
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In todays news I nearly cut the top of my finger off cleaning the Chain on Liz’s Planet X getting it ready to sell. I went for a road ride on the Midnight Special and got called a “poof” because it’s light lilac (pink) and I was wearing pink socks and a black jersey with pink skulls and crossbones on it. Still I managed a solo 50 mile ride at an ok 17mph + average, (not to bad on 650x47 horizons at 35psi) so not a totally shit day.
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Today I went out on the MS. I pumped the WTB Horizons up to 2.75bar and put Liz’s bar bag on, threw in a few bits of the MiLs awesome flapjacks and filled the drinks bottles with water and headed off. It was dry, but the roads were still wet from last nights storm. After 54km, 346m of climb and 1hr56mins I was at the beach at Dunwich and outside the cafe. Which is where I stayed as it had just shut. I ate some flapjack and headed back for home. I overtook a couple of roadie types going up a hill. I was overtaken by a chap on a TT bike on the bypass. I ate some more flapjack. I got home, I made dinner for us all. Chachouka with a nice soda bread loaf. In total I rode 110km, climbed 620m, was out for 4hrs3mins, ate 3 flapjacks, drank 1250ml of water and averaged 27.1km/h. I also got 45 medals on The Strava, but strangely this no longer excites me. The Surly didn’t miss a beat and I’m really starting to wonder if I need my road bike.
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I really should bring a bike on my next East Anglia trip, looks like some nice riding.
As regards needing a road bike? If you use it, have space to store it, enjoy riding it, then keep it, if not, then move it on. It's just a bike, can always be replaced (I know this from many many experiences). -
TBH I needed it, I’m in a bit of a dark place at the moment and taking yourself out of things is good sometimes.
You should make the effort to get there, it’s a nice ride from the city, other than a little bit along the A12 it’s only short and is a 30/40mph section so not too bad.
Oh and I must find that book :)
JDog
greytyke
Josh
adder
greeno
jontea-
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About
DefTraps by Chaley
Posted by
@Chaley
I rode the Midnight Special into work today and the new person, a person who doesn’t own a bike! (I didn’t know they existed), anyway they had just finished their online diversity training and asked what it identified as? Is it a mountain bike that identifies as a road bike or a road bike that identifies as a mountain bike? I said non-binary, fluid and that pronouns are so 2022.
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