Sunday 24th January 2021 - Big Dummy and Caleb on the Sled! Snow!

 Well as luck would have it I laced up the rim last night for the front of  the Big Dummy with the Dyno hub. I haven't got the trueing stand as I usually rely on Brian for either trueing or borrowing the stand, but lockdown being lockdown I may have to rig something up in a pair of forks, at least for this front one.

Anyway, I laced them up last night sitting in front of the fireplace thinking a bit of snow yesterday and the forecast now for rain so will put the fat tyres, fork etc away for another time. Only to wake up this morning to a good bit more fresh snow. Not a huge amount considering we are on the coast but more than enough we could go out and play. 

So the semi fat Dummy once again got a reprieve and headed out to tow Caleb around of his sled.  This Dummy is such a fun bike and as Heather said, Caleb will soon be big enough to ride it himself and I just love it even though there is no real need. So it will not be getting sold anytime soon. 

So we spent a good while out in the field on the tracks toward the beach and up and down the road which was best as it was compacted and the sled just glided. Great fun. 

Yesterday we had a bit as well and while no riding I did manage to get the dog out into town with me so we went for a walk up Thurso river, then played in the snow at home and late on we went to the beach across the fields from home. Tide was coming in so it was snow down to the water.

Hope you all had a nice weekend and manged a ride as well. 

I seen Brian was out on his Pugsley playing in the snow as well. Shame we can't travel mate otherwise I would be there with you on one of the days at least. 

Thursday 21st January - Big Dummy wheel build - Ready to go!!!

 Hi all

No riding for me as super busy at work but have a couple of projects on the go and one of those is finally to pull the Fat front and back off the Big Dummy and put together the wheels that have sat waiting to be built for a couple of years. Not really been the need before this but now that Caleb is on the tandem and his own bike, then the Dummy needed to be re assessed to see whether there was still a useful place for it in the fleet. We all think there is as we all love it, but obviously like this summer onwards it's use has been solo and very utilitarian. So to make it more practical I am taking the Fat off and putting the new wheels on with Surly ETs in the large 26 x 2.5 high volume jobs. 

For rims I have a new set of Rigida Sputniks in 36 hole laced to, front SP D8  Dyno hub and the rear I will lace to the Alfine 8 that is currently on it. Hopefully get the front built tonight or tomorrow night after work. 

The hub and rims have been sitting in the loft for a long time and after riding it the week before last on a commute I thought I need it to be more efficient and so looked for how I would want it set up. This I think will give me the absolute best of both worlds for on and off road of the type of riding I do. Though with this set up it will be more efficient on road where it will now get used a bit more than before. The Fat tyres really made it hard work on some tarmac. Ordered the tyres from the guys at Bikemonger the other day and then was glad I did as when I looked around everyone else was sold out. They arrived today and I am now even more enthused to get them built and get out on it. The tyres are the grey sidewall, tubeless ready version though I wont be going tubeless on the cargo bike, but they look nice. They also came wrapped in a couple of Surly junk straps which again is nice.

Jamie

January 17th 2021 - Long Haul trucker Coastal lockdown ride -

 Seeing a good few social media posts here in the UK showing people are still getting out and about riding locally despite the return of lockdown restrictions here in Scotland and the UK as a whole. As much for the head as the legs these days. 

For me I am still at work as normal for the weekdays, classed as essential worker, and so while I can't go too far I am desperate to ride by the time the weekend comes especially this time of year when it is difficult to commute. More so this year with lockdown and also with no Strathpuffer 24 hour race to spur on the motivation and push you out to do night riding, it makes the weekends rides much more important. 

Well for the most part it has either been solid ice up here or pishing rain, neither great for getting out and about, with the exception of the Pugsley that can handle the icy off road and along the local shoreline etc. 

This afternoon, after a morning of hail and heavy rain there was a period where the sun came out and things were looking brighter. So I thought I better take the opportunity while there and get out for a ride round the coast on the Trucker. I decided on the Trucker as it is perfectly set up for the wet weather and is always a joy to ride, regardless of conditions. I also wanted to play about with my tyre pressure for a bit and really evaluate my tyres. I have run Schwalbe Marathon Duremes (26x 2.0) since I built it about 10 years or so ago and have kept using them as they are great tyres. I have thought about changing them over to the Rene Herse Rat Trap Pass 26 x 2.5 which are supple sidewall high volume + tyres. They have been getting good reviews and thought it might be good for a change. The tyre plans come about as I am in the process of swapping out the front end and hence the tyres on the Big Dummy which is getting a set of Surly ET 2.5s when I finish building the wheels, hopefully this week. Just need either Brian or maybe Sam in the shop in town to double check the Alfine when I am done. This will take the Big Dummy back from a Fat bike back to almost a +plus size which hopefully will give me the best of both worlds. This will make it more usable I hope and let me find it's new place in the fleet now that Caleb is either on the tandem or his own bike as it is no longer the child hauler it has been built and used for. Nobody in the family would want to see it go but it needs to find a new purpose as otherwise it is a sizable investment sitting doing nothing. Not that I look at any of my builds like that but it is a sizable investment in this. This came about as I didn't want to put it straight back to the usual skinny front end but certainly for solo work that it's now doing and mainly hauling shopping etc the full fat is just such a drag, whereas hopefully with the ET's in 2.5 I can use it more often to commute and still be good off road. We will see.  I will keep the Alfine on the back and will put the dyno SP hub up front on a set of Rigida Sputniks I have in the loft. 

The Rat Trap Pass tyres will just mount onto my standard rims on the Trucker though I will have to size up my guards. My current Marathon Duremes come in at 43mm wide whereas the Rat Trap Pass come in at 53mm which is just above what Surly recommend, I have seen a few of these running on LHT's and they seem fine even with 60mm guards. They are a higher volume/sidewall. 

Anyway here are a few photos of my enjoyable ride round the coast, just pootling for a couple of hours enjoying just being out and riding. Like most in this lockdown as time goes on it is getting harder to vary the close routes  to home and to try and keep it fresh. So apologies if they all start to look the same :) 

Jamie

January 3rd 2021 - Flying Scot Tandem ride - 1st for 2021

 I am so enjoying the long weekend and having a great time with the family starting the year off in a good way. 

It looks like most are trying to do the same with their riding judging by the cool photos being posted on the various forums and social media the last few days. 

Well this morning I put together Heathers pizza oven and we fired it up as you have to fire it for about an hour at temp and then let it cool before wiping clean and then ready to use properly, so we did this in the hope the weather stays nice, ie; not raining and we could have pizza for dinner. 

Once this was sorted and we got a few other things done I thought after riding solo the last few rides I would see if Caleb was up for a run on the tandem, which was a silly question really. So we were all suited and booted tandem out, tyres pumped and with the sun shining we were ready to go when all of a sudden from over the roof where we couldn't see, it started bucketing down, a quick retreat to the shed for 10 minutes while I cursed the seldom dry road now absolutely running with water. Oh well, bright side was as least it stopped which meant we could still ride :) 

Didn't go far just a loop of about 10 miles to keep the legs spinning. Was definitely nice to be back out with the boy just cruising along. Tandem was running nicely and I have still to strip and overhaul it but plenty of time left for that. I have an idea that winter isn't yet upon us properly. 

So a lovely ride then home to fire up the pizza oven and see how it goes. Heather had mad the dough earlier and the sauce she makes is always lovely but after the first one where I got it sussed for temp and how much to open the flu we soon had the most beautiful pizzas for dinner. A little while to get to temp, then a bit to keep it consistent with feeding it wood and then just a couple of minutes each pizza. 

So how good a day is that, long weekend with no work tomorrow, a great ride with my boy and beautiful pizza with the family!  

I really hope tomorrow is dry.  

Great start to the year and I really hope everyone else is having a good one too. 

Jamie

January 2nd 2021 - Shakedown ride on Mercian King of Mercia Tourer.

Today I decided to take the Mercian out as the weather finally got a bit better this afternoon. 

Not the best shakedown conditions being mid winter on wet or damp roads and the main thing needing finished being the mudguards, but I was really keen to get it ridden and sorted and see if the difference between the two Mercians geometry wise, was really noticeable. 

I had originally planned just to go a couple of mile along the road and back as the main road was reasonably dry and quiet of traffic as well. 

The bike was riding really sweetly, gears were fine, position was fine with everything just quietly rolling along. I ended up turning inland and taking the long back roads home, the only problem being that they were a bit wetter and I had to pass through a farm that had a good bit of silage runoff seeping across the road. Most was fine, or so I thought until I got home and removed my jacket to find road grime sprayed up my back. Just glad I had my jacket on. 

Anyway home just on dark after a really nice ride with the Mercian handling really nicely and finding while I have a few things to tweak, like changing brake pads and the hoods, the mains things like contact points, seat, pedals etc were all spot on and comfortable. A good start. 

The geometry differences between the two KOMs is quite noticeable on the road. While they are only small differences on paper in geometry and chain stay length I think the fork rake difference combined with the chainstay length are what makes this feel more comfortable again, especially on the less than ideal roads around here. These are just some initial thoughts and time will tell if they are in the ballpark. 

Home just on dark so a quick wash, the bike and myself and then some lovely soup to warm up before dinner. It was cold but not icy. 

Hope everyone has had a nice start to the New Year. Here's hoping it gets a bit better for all of us. Stay safe. 

Jamie