February 25th 2019 - Jack Taylor Super Clubman Birthday Ride

After my complete blowout last weekend at the tour of East Lothian audax still a painful memory, but thankful for the ride in Stephens (Velo) company and then the welcome of a place to stay on the way home from Brian, all was not lost. Just one of those rides I suppose where I should have been more prepared and look after myself better when travelling down.
This weekend I had a couple of things to sort out that kept me off the bike yesterday but thankfully today I got a few hours at least in on the Jack Taylor. I really needed to get the Jack Taylor out as being away last weekend meant this was the first time home to take it out to celebrate its birthday. This was on the 12th Feb and originally built on this day in 1982 according to the build records Ken Taylor kept and now shares with the JT group.
Today wasn't too far and there was of course the obligatory coffee stop. While I followed the coastal roads westward I took a few detours off road and found a couple of nicely secluded tracks that led to some nicely hidden spots in a couple of wooded areas. One of these was just along a usual stretch that I have used for years and knew of all the tracks on the old estate along the shore as I used to live just a couple of minutes away in the same village. Today though as I rode by I looked up and there were a couple of trees missing on one stretch of backroad, this stretch has a rise up from the road heavily wooded but behind the trees are the old walls of a long gone estate and it's grounds. Today though I could see part of a huge wall, another partly fallen and some really lovely shaped trees partially hidden up over the rise. The weather wasn't great up here today being dull and cloudy but that just gave it a bit of atmosphere. I decided I would climb up and have a look and maybe take the bike up if possible.
Was glad I did as it was a really beautiful secluded spot hidden away from everything, walled on all sides except the section now exposed due to the trees down. I have been through this small estate grounds on everything from Stumpjumpers to my Mercian and never seen this part and judging by the complete lack of any sort of rubbish, plastic wrappers, cans etc, then neither had anybody else been here for a while.
I took a good few photos as usual and sat and ate Jacks birthday Haribo before thinking I better hightail it home. Though while sitting quietly I had two Seka deer come to a stone door just a  few metres away and just stood and stared until my phone camera clicked and then they were off along with the Buzzard that had been sitting on the other side of the yard watching me. 
A good more direct cross country route seen me home before dark with a nice ride behind us and some new short local trails to explore.
I also took the majority of the photos on my iPhone as my camera batteries died after the first few so a good chance to do a comparison as I take my phone with me usually so after seeing the quality I am not sure I need my camera along as well. Not too sure yet.

Jamie

Monday 4th February 2019 - New Bottle Cage for the Big Dummy

Arrived home to find the postie had delivered my new bottle cage for the Big Dummy. It's a PDW Owl Cage.
I originally went to buy one of the Always Riding water bottles from their shop then seen they were on sale and also spotted they had a couple of the Owl cages well reduced.
I had been meaning to buy one of their bottles for a long time as the design is really nice and I could always do with a new bottle as a few of my older ones are leaking around the lid/spout. I also kept meaning to get an Owl cage for the Dummy but again just never got round to it as I had a normal cage on there so it was never a priority, then when I went looking a while back I noticed there were fewer to be found as PDW came out with newer designs. The same goes for Caleb wanting a PDW lucky cat cage, they are hard to find but he really wants one as he has a Chinese lucky cat in his room and generally just loves cats. Thankfully Pascal at Always Riding is trying to order him one.
I went to put them in my basket but at the checkout it just wouldn't go through, remembered in the morning to give them a ring and was told just order the cage at the reduced price as the bottles are free if you buy a cage as they are already packed with the cages. Ended up getting the Zefel bottle I wanted with the Owl cage I thought I had missed out on for less than the price of a bottle. Bargain! 
Sometimes it the little things ;)
And remember to check out the good people at http://alwaysriding.co.uk
Jamie

February 3rd 2019 - Fresh Snow, Playing on the Big Dummy and sled

 It has been a nice family type day of riding today as we woke to a little bit more fresh snow so Caleb and I thought we better make the most of it in case it goes away too quick.
So it was out with the Big Dummy and down from the loft came the good German sled, dusted off, hooked up and off we went. We did a few miles around the local roads and laneways playing as we went. Hoping to make the most of it before any traffic mushed it up. A nice time to ride, Sunday morning quiet, the snow seems to make it even quieter. Then we headed back home and picked up mum and the dog and went back out. I just kept riding the Dummy sometimes with the boy on the back and sometimes enjoying the lightness without him :)  It was pretty nice out, quite cold and a good bit of snow coming down on our way home, but now I was getting a bit wetter and the snow wasn't lying as crisp as it was earlier and it was making things a bit slushy once a car or two had been on it.
We headed home to warm up, dry out and have a bit of lunch.
After lunch and a bit of snowman building in the back yard and with the weather becoming sunny though without much real heat, Caleb and I headed back out but this time solo, Caleb on his Frog and myself on the Pugsley. The temp was up slightly and clearly the nice snow from the morning was slowly receding and turning slushy and wet on the road outside the house. So we needed to make the most of it and spent our time looking for laneways and tracks that were still snowy and unslushed by any traffic. Caleb had a ball despite not taking his gloves and also being on his semi slick tyres. He did really well, managing some thick boggy stuff as well as some really icy patches. He only had one small off and that was just when he was coming to a stop and the front wheel went away from him sideways and he just sort of lost balance, though I do admit I was worried about him coming off as he was speeding down the laneway through all the slush and ice, but he was fine, my nerves not so much :)
Not many miles at all but just a good family day playing in the snow. Due to being right on the coast we don't often get much so we try to make the most of it when we do.

Jamie

9th January 2019 - Claud Butler Electron Update

I have had this Claud Butler Electron in the loft now for what from memory must be close to 8 years at least. It was given to me in it's current state by Dave from the Macretro crew from retrobike forum. We have ridden together for many years before this though mainly off road on our retro and singlespeed mtbs with dave having a huge preference for early GTs, Zaskers etc.
He gave me this frame after a ride one time along with a chainset, handlebars, Weinmann Vainqueur 999 brakes, a TDC bottom bracket etc. It was all a bit rough and needing some love which is how I like these frames and Dave being similar to me in size thought this would be my size. I had a few other things on the go so it just got partly dismantled and put away. With one thing and another it has just stayed up there covered and while not forgotten, just waiting for the right time, until recently.
Over the last year or so a gentleman and friend by the name of Chris from retrobike forum has restored his Claud Butler Electron 5 as a project for his son to help with. Chris is very well versed in all things Claud Butler and has a shed full of beautiful restorations to demonstrate his handy work. Chris had been helping update and compile the register of frame numbers and models from various sources to give a clearer picture to dating the vast array of machines made over the years.
He had asked me if I could get him the frame number from mine along with any other information and he would try and give me an accurate date and also log it. He had remembered from a good while back that I had mentioned it in the loft.
While I did try roughly to date it when I got it from the numbers and the catalogues available I thought it was a plain gauge frame with 531 forks from about 1969/1970. The decals made it hard as all that I could find had a white section on the downtube with the Claud Butler decals on this, whereas mine has the gold CB decals onto an unbanded downtube. The paint looks original, though very rough and scraped/chipped it is a very nice flamboyant blue but a lot of the smaller decals are barely legible. Mine has the frame # 69778 on both the frame and the fork.
So it was a very pleasant surprise to hear back from Chris with a specific date and description. Here is part of what Chris wrote

'Definitely and without any shadow of a doubt from the first half of 1976 probably May or June as the last 5 figure frame number we have found is 70712 and we believe they got to 71000 by the end of July 1976 before changing over to the 6 figure system that always started with at least one 0 for the rest of the production numbering for both CB & Holdsworth up until 1985.

What you have was the best/lightest Electron made, as although this 10-year-old design had been in the range from 1966, it was only produced using Reynolds for the first 7 months in 1976. and although 'only' 531 plain gauge, it was considerably lighter than the Prugnat used for the previous 9 years!
What also makes yours a little more unique is the decal scheme, it was only mid 1976 that they dropped the white panels (see Frame 66735 attached) and instead just applied two pairs of Olympic bands.
See spec below from a 1976 sales leaflet and also a Cresta in the post July 1976 -1979 livery style.

My opinion? Defiantly worth a respray and some decals from Steve at H.Lloyd Cycles.'

So while there are still no plans for it at this time it is good to know what it is, especially as it is full 531 and to have the dates for the right timeline as well. As it was given to me there has never been any plans to give it away or sell it as I have always had the plan to get to it one summer and maybe repaint it myself and who knows, maybe in a few years that could be a project for Caleb if he is still into helping me with that sort of thing .
Anyway I just thought I would put it up here and share.

Jamie

07 January 2019 - Coast Ride Jack Taylor + Build date confirmation

I was out this afternoon for a jaunt round the coast before meeting Heather and Caleb at a friends next to Dunnett Beach.
Weather turned nice after lunch and while I have been riding the Jack Taylor in this setup for a while I really must get round to stripping it down and changing components to more suitable pieces. With this in mind I was riding along trying to figure out what to change, to make it far more usable than the Dura Ace 8 that is currently on it. It is great kit but more for racing than the more relaxed touring/randonneur type riding I enjoy these days.  I have some stuff stored away waiting but really just deciding on gearing and chainset. The stuff aside is some Nitto B36 bars and Nitto stem, Stronglight A9 headset, keep the Mafac racer brakes but use my Mafac levers.
Anyway it was a nice meander without really having any destination in mind when I set out. Just enjoying the sun despite the cold, sun is always good even if the temps are still around 2 degree.

I also received a bit more information on the Jack Taylor this past week from the JT appreciation Facebook page. The only real information I had was pretty scant to be honest as the previous owner Adam, who I gratefully got it from had purchased it secondhand many years ago when he was at University in Durham. The owner he purchased it from had owned it from new but that's about all Adam could tell me. He did a good few miles on it in his earlier days but then he put it away in the chicken shed where it stayed until I took on the job of putting it back into use. The build date I had from the frame and fork numbers was from the excellent Bluebird Jack Taylor website. Well it seems that Ken Taylor had been speaking to one of the members and had loaned the build books/ledgers for what looks to be all the years to allow them to be photographed and put online for the members to see and use, and sure enough there was the Super Clubman #7885 with a build date of 12/02/1982, 21 inch built by Norman.  The Bluebird site had it down as a 1983 so it was good to get a correct year date but even better was getting the specific build date.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend.

Jamie

January 2nd 2019 - Happy New Year! ride - Long Haul Trucker

I managed to get out on the LHT this afternoon, first time for what feels like ages. I fitted my lights as I needed to see that they still worked as they will be my backups for the Puffer and also to sort the lights generally as I have entered the Musselburgh Tour of East Lothian Audax in Feb so no doubt there may be a bit of winter bleakness/darkness there as well. Still undecided about the Scottish Borders Randonee in March but that is more just down to logistics but am definitely sorted for the Feb.
I fitted my front Cree light to the mid fork mount as this is my backup for the puffer but it is my main commuter  headlight for the Trucker and I mount it on a Nitto stub mount that screws into the mid fork mount. The battery is for the Trucker just sitting in my handlebar bag. This will change soon for the Trucker as I am building up a wheelset with the SP Dyno hub and dedicated front light. My other lights that I can use on the Trucker are the super bright set that Chris Troutie made for us in the Fatty Owls team for the Strathpuffer 24 hour race. These are fabulous lights and are definitely my 'good' set. They get used on rides when I am in the dark proper and for long periods, they are like car headlights, can't miss seeing them but they also light up the road a long way in front, such a great depth to them.
I went out along the coast and down a few dead end tracks to the shore off of the main road out towards Mey as I was looking for an old croft that someone had mentioned, didn't find it but still had an enjoyable ride. Was very cold as the temps really dropped the last few days but again, still nice to be out riding, better than no ride.
I will also give a big shout out here to Carradice as well. My rear trunk bag that I have used for a long time on the LHT, as well as all my other bikes with a rack, had started moving about on the rack and loosening off the Velcro tabs that hold it on. It's seen many years of abuse in all weathers and while it is worn with the tags off the zip pullers etc I think it still has a bit of life left and besides I like it as it fits everything perfectly. I contacted Carradice to see if they could repair it they said they could but it that the issue would be that the original Velcro is sewn on and it would destroy it to take it off but it needs the stiff side of the Velcro to be sewn onto the tab that's already there as that is the section that will just be worn. The lady said that to be honest anyone that can sew could sew them on for me and so it probably wasn't worth sending it down and then postage back plus they would have to charge me.  Just before I went back to Oz last month an envelope arrived with the pieces inside, free of charge. I thought that was really good of them especially as they could have tried to sell me another one. Really pleased, so now my old carrier will see a bit more action. No more bungee strap to secure it as some may have seen in recent photos. It was heading into town to get the train to head to the Brevet from Brians house back up to Caithness that it ejected from the rack on a bumpy road whilst fully packed. Luckily the car behind stopped right behind it and waited while I ran back to retrieve it from the middle of the road.
I do have a Carradice longflap as well so I am not just being tight :)

Hope everyone else has had a great New Year and wish everyone a safe and happy 2019

Jamie

December 25th 2018 - Christmas day ride. Jack Taylor

Merry Christmas/ Happy Festive season to all out there in cycling land and those beyond as well!
I really hope everyone has had a nice day and spent it in the company of family and those you hold dear.
For myself, well with little Caleb on the go since the early hours it has been anything but boring. Presents coming from everywhere for him so it took a while to get through the unwrapping process itself :)  
I did prize myself away for an hour later this afternoon to get a few miles in on the Jack Taylor. Just nice to get a bit of quiet out on the road. Heather was relaxing while she could and Caleb was engrossed in a new game.
So I took my opportunity to get out for a few relaxing miles. Dry but damp and cool with no wind. The Jack Taylor is always a nice feeling ride but it seemed to be in its element today just rolling along looking at the scenery being in no rush to get anywhere, and after the BD with sidecar, the JT  certainly felt light and nimble :)
Nice to get a Christmas ride in even if it was fairly short. It was enough to reset the mind and enjoy the rest of what is always a happy time of year in our house.

I also had confirmation of the Jack Taylors build details when one of the great guys on the Jack Taylor bicycles facebook page posted up photos of all the frame ledgers that he borrowed from Ken Taylor. So a build date of 12th February 1982 and built by Norman Taylor. 

Jamie