Zangolin

Friday 1st Dec 2010

Ride with some friends at the southern end of the Malverns. Clear blue skies + frosty ground. Fantastic views.

Thursday 31st Dec 2009

Decided to go for a ride with an afternoon ride with number 2 child at FoD but as thing seemed to take ages to get sorted + it was getting darker changed to the local Hoff. Big light on both the bikes. 2’s bike kitted out with £200 worth, about £20 more than his bike cost. Great fun with lots of falling off!

Crazy video on a tall bike – brilliant!!

Rain, rain, rain, mud, mud, mud!!!!

Thanks to Luke for reminding me about this.

Symptoms:
1. Desire to wear a full face + goggles – even when riding round the back garden or to the corner shop!
2. Purchasing pads for all parts of the human anatomy (external).
3. Getting exited when I see duel crown forks esp. Fox 40s – have you seen the size of their stanchions!
4. No desire to ride up hill – just push.
5. Smoke roll ups (well not really – sound ‘downhillish’ though).
6. Knowing that a ‘dead sailor’ is not something you find on the beach.
7. Knowing that Peaty is a person + not your soil type.
8. Making your bike as heavy as possible.

9. Cutting your £60 Thomson post in half.
10. Having bars so wide that cars have to slow down to pass + walkers have to duck.

Tags: Goggles, Human anatomy

Mud – ok I know it’s not a bicycle  but it is me in mud a long time ago in my fell running days.

After a what seems weeks of washing mud of my bike after every ride + a particularly muddy episode on last nights ride enough is enough. Decided to go + ride one of those glorified giant mountain sized BMX tracks at Cwmcarn – so no Haugh Mud today. Got there about 4.30. Did the red xc route. First time there. Well impressed, blue sky, only a handful of riders about. Lots of pain before the pleasure, switch backs loads of climbing. Some nice techie + rocky climbs. Fantastic view across Severn Estuary. Big fast swooping descents. First class. Not really a BMX track – very natural track, loads of rocks. Best bit was no mud! not a spec on me – in fact the trail was dusty! I’ll be back. The 456 held up well + didn’t fall apart.

Bicycle Shaped Object – the blog

Flat pack bikes – don’t buy one!!!!!!!!!!
Just came across an excellent blog written by by Mark Brown, Director of the Association of Cycle Traders.

Mark explains the blog’s purpose:

“The aim of this blog is to provide an account of buying, building and riding Britain’s cheapest bicycle. We started this blog by focusing on a £70 bicycle sold by Asda, the UK’s second largest supermarket and part of WalMart the world’s largest retailer.”

The blog makes somber reading (+ watching) + really does make an excellent point of why it’s best to let a bike shop or experienced wrench set or build your bike up. While building is an important factor the other is the shear lack of  design  + poor compontent quality.

Giant had their launch of long travel bikes in Keystone, Colorado last week for a select group of global dealers. Here is a few links to various reports + pics.

Bicycling.com - http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2009/07/31/2010-giant-mtb-intro-gravity/

NSMB.com - http://nsmb.com/3210-preview-giant-2010-long-travel-bikes/

Velovert.com – http://www.velovert.com/Information_VTT/1940/Giant-2010-

Norwegian MTB website - http://terrengsykkel.no/index.php?id=2855

Reign-X frame is the one.

Tags: Keystone Colorado, MTB

How did it build?

Excellent delivery ordered frame Sunday evening from the On-One website – arrived Tuesday morning well packed in original frame box. Including postage was around £140.

The build.

First thing

Rear wheel axle would not slide in dropout. Tried old XT hub + my Hope Pro2 hubs (have slightly fatter axle) both no go. Had to get the file out + remove 1/2mm. Due to the dropouts being pressed there is a little bit of a “burr” which caused the problem. Forged dropouts would be better – but then again at £125 for a frame I’m not complaining. Rest of frame was good BB + head tube were nice + straight.

Cable routing

This was good for brake hose – zip tie design. The gear cable guides use are straight through design – so you have to use a fully covered cable all the way down to the mechs. Makes setting up the rear mech a bit of a faff. I like being able to check the tension of the cable with the open style guides. I would have gone for open on the top tube + closed/covered down to the rear mech.

Head tube is tiny – having just got a new pair of rather large + expensive Rock Shox Lyrik forks I shoved on as many spacers as I could without making it look like the leaning tower of Pisa. The aim is to use the forks on the 2010 Reign X frame I am planning to get in the autumn.

Overall paint finish is good – even got a set of bottle boses. Gear hanger needed a little tweaking with the aligment tool – that’s a given though on any new frame.

Tags: 456, Building Types, Business, Business and Economy, inbred, Leaning Tower of Pisa, on-one, Pisa, Recreation, Tourism, United States