Sunday 26th November 2023 - Jack Taylor Super Tourist - wet coastal ride

 Out again today and seen as how it hadn’t rained yesterday or this morning, I thought I would be fine to take the Super Tourist for a few hours round the coast before winter closes in and the roads are too salty and too wet. For winter the Super Tourist will get tucked away and the Super Clubman comes back to the fore. It’s already battle hardened to the northern winter, meaning it's patina is well waxed. 

The roads here have been wet and damp for the last month with the salting of the roads already well underway. Certainly not the best environment for anything let alone polished or chromed metal. 

As can be seen, I didn’t get too far before the rain came driving in off the sea.

I managed a bit further than last weekend before it got me, but just meant longer pushing into the headwind home. At least I got few hours out and about and christened the tourer in the rain. First rain it has ever felt. 

I love riding this one but still needs a few tweaks. Mainly just the front derailleur as I hadn't swapped the cable out yet and then properly adjust as I am sure that will sort it. I will most likely fully strip it over the winter and grease, service and adjust everything at the same time.
It handles really nice and I am sure with a front load on it, it will really come into it's own. Just a shame the weather has been so dreadful up here lately so have not had much chance to take this out, let alone get away for a tour. I have been riding my Super Clubman but must admit with this being so spotless, I didn't really want to ride it on the gritty, greasy roads. I am glad I did. 

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Jamie

Home to dry off in the kitchen 

5th November 2023 - Bullitt Ride

 After a very wet and windy couple of weeks, today was quite nice, sunny for the most part but still cold with the roads not drying out much at all. I don't think they will completely dry now for a few months. 

I had a few things to get done this afternoon and one of those was to visit a friend where my Royal Enfield is parked up until my new shed is built, this has now been delayed and not likely to get done until next spring, but the Enfield is tucked up with his bikes, with battery out and now on trickle charge. 

It was a good excuse to load up the Bullitt with some tools and a bike cover and head out. While it is just up the road from home I made sure I went way past and travelled the long way round as it was such a nice winters afternoon. The sun was quite low but was oh so bright in the clear afternoon sky. The quiet backroads on a Sunday afternoon suited the Bullitt perfectly. No hauling to get to work or carry cargo from town out to home, this was a Sunday afternoon meander, enjoying the ride for the pure fun of it. 

Hope you have all had a nice Sunday as well. 

Jamie 

 

Shortly after I was home this is what the sky looked like looking northward

17th October 2023 - Pugsley ride with Brian - Strathpeffer/Ben Wyvis

 Well I did manage to get down to Brians on the Tuesday and it was a glorious day. Very glad I did too as we all know how the week ended. Here in Scotland it was major storms with gale force winds and lots of flooding from Wednesday on.

So for my two weeks off work I managed 3 days that weren't raining or gale force winds. They were utilised for riding and the other days I was very productive, not least of which was plastering, sanding and painting  while Heather was away for a few days. Now of course I would rather have been riding and most likely would have been had the weather been better so at least that jobs out the way. I did manage to progress  a couple of builds and even sold my Midnight Special frame before I had even built it. It did go to pay for one of the recent purchases and I also have my old BMX for sale as well. Trying to be good and one in, one out. 

Anyway, Brian and I decided to get a few miles in around Strathpeffer and follow some sections of the Strathpuffer and join them up with some of our preferred trails. While lovely sunshine was out most of the day it was still quite cold with snow clearly visible on the high ground. Lots of water lying from the previous weeks rain but the trails were pretty well drained. 

The Pugsley ran really sweetly around the hills with the gearing making such a different feel to the bike. Not in the way I imagined it would either. After so many times racing here and just trail riding with Brian all over Ben Wyvis, I was surprised that along these sections I didn't feel much, if any faster but what I felt was that going up the big fire road climb that it was a bit easier and while not faster, I think after a few laps, I wouldn't be as fatigued and so over that timespan I would go further. But after ten or more years singlespeeding I did feel like I was cheating :)  

We of course stopped at the Deli in Strathpeffer beforehand and had lunch and cake ;) 

Jamie 

16th October 2023 - Surly Pugsley - no longer singlespeed, now geared - Testing/shakedown Loch More

 For me being on holidays from work for two weeks, well the last week has been rubbish up this way, gale force winds, rain, as can be expected when I have my holidays booked.

Great time with the family but riding, not so great, though I have been keeping up with jobs in the shed and maintenance, even sorting an upcoming build.  

I spent Saturday afternoon finishing off putting gears on my Pugsley!!! I know, I know, obviously I have had some sort of breakdown as it has been well over ten years  i think since I ran gears on a modern off roader, and put a 1X9 setup on it. I already had the XT hub running the singlespeed so I swapped it out for a 12/34 cassette and kept my 32 ring on the front. I have secretly had a 9 speed long cage XT mech for it and a Microshift thumbshifter since about 2012 or so it just took me a while to get round to fitting it.
I did this for several reasons, 1 to make it a bit more versatile and to generally just change it round after riding it singlespeed exclusively since I built it 11 or 12 years ago now. Also as Caleb is just about outgrown his Baby Fatty On One and he fits the Pugs, then he will just get the Pugs and I will ride the 1X1. He is used to gears and will utilise it better with than without.

Today the weather was good and so this afternoon I took it out for a bit of a shakedown and play on the dirt roads to the west around Loch More and south in the flow country. Good afternoon for it as it stayed reasonably dry, just the odd little shower but with a good bit of sunshine poking through. The Pugsley ran fine with the gears being spot on and more just tweaking the cockpit a bit as I have put the Geoff bars back on as well. I was surprised by the Microshift thumbie as it felt a bit loose on the mounting but tight on the indexing, but in use it was one click each time and straight into gear, very precise, very solid feeling. Am going riding with Brian tomorrow, most likely around the Puffer track trails so that will be interesting as while we ride there regularly as well as at the Puffer, I have only ever run singlespeed so that will be fun.
Here is a couple of photos.

Jamie

9th September 2023 - Jack Taylor Super Tourist - Service and Ride out Loch More

 

Yesterday I did some maintenance on the recent incomer to the fleet, the Jack Taylor Super Tourist. Then of course I had to get a test ride in to make sure all was good. ;)

While the bike had less than 20 miles on it when I bought it, the grease was good when built or even first sold but that was 30 years ago, so needless to say the bearings and grease were a bit on the dry side. The original owner had greased a couple of points before I picked it up as they knew I was riding it the next morning at the JT ride in Stokesley but it seems to have been mainly pivot type points, not the headset, stem, seatpost etc. He had greased the front wheel bearings/axle so I thought they would be fine but as I was loading it into the van I noticed the cups were loose. I did reset them and add more grease but will change the bearings this week as obviously the 25 miles I put on it at the JT ride did the roundness of the bearings no favours. Anyway, I reset them and they worked fine and spun like new I think I will change them out for peace of mind.

I changed out the tubes but left the World Tour tyres on as I didn’t have any 35mm tyres and unfortunately I can’t get the Jack Browne 33mm ones from Planet X. I can still get World Tours like these but they don’t seem to be in the same 35mm version, seem to all be 32mm. Anyway they will need changed soon as they have a few cracks now. They did last surprisingly well on this mixed terrain undertaken today.

 

The more I work on and ride this beautiful machine, the more I keep finding small details that stand out. Usually not noticed until either viewed while riding or make sense when you start to work on it. Things like unbolting the front wheel and the low rider rack rails are positioned in such a way that the wheel drops straight out, no undoing guards or racks etc, once out this shows how neatly the wiring for lights and dynamo are hidden away within the rolled edge of the stainless guards, obviously the wiring is put in there when the guards are first rolled, the neat little window on the back of the front light that allows you to see that it is working, the Campagnolo vertical rear dropouts so that the wheel fits in the exact same spot each time so the dynamo needs minimal freeplay to be either on or off. It’s the little things.

 

After all this I was itching to get out as the forecast up here was for rain in the evening and then rain through Sunday so it was now or never.
A route out towards Loch More and Altnabreac taking in the singletrack tarmac as well as mixed dirt would test it out nicely. This was evenly split between rough singletrack tarmac, some heavily embedded blue metal logging truck dirt, of which I always do only what I have to, and some estate roads which are usually not too loose and two smoothish tyre tracks. I rode it sympathetically on the dirt but didn't baby it as my Super Clubman handles this stuff no bother. Happy to report this one is just as comfortable, stable and well handling and just a pleasure. They dynamo lights work brilliantly and there is no drag on it that I could tell on it either. Just a steady hum from it working away. I was well pleased.

 

I will have to put some proof ride on that B17 Brookes, as while it may be unused, it is 37 years old and I think it must of come from a cow made of concrete! Though I am sure a bit of proofride to soften it while it shapes will do the trick.

Oh and those safety levers on the brakes, which I have never been a fan of in my younger days,, they are great on the dirt, really nice when you are going quick and then hit a rough patch and don’t want to loosen your grip to reach for the levers.

 

So after coming back off the dirt loop I thought I would take the road all the way to the dam just a few miles further on before heading back. I looked to the west as I rounded a bend and seen the storm coming, rolling clouds with a red/pinkish hue. A couple of quick photos and then turning back to the north east I time trialled the miles across the plain back. Stayed dry too!

 

One issue I did have, and that was with the front derailleur which is a Shimano 600 Arabesque, the same as on my Super Clubman and runs a Stronglight chainset with 50/40 chainrings. When I rode it at the Jack Taylor weekend I couldn't get it to change onto the big ring, thought it needs a bit of adjustment as cables might be stretched. I adjusted it with the high and low screws when I did the maintenance yesterday and worked fine but on the road the chain rubs regardless of which gear on the cassette it's on, either the outside or inside edge of the front derailleur. In the middle gear it is just a tiny chinking sound but definitely a rub in the others. I did think it's weird it isn't working together but then realised it is new and when I picked it up it was clear the chain had never touched the big chainring. Will investigate further as it should work with a 50 tooth ring on a 2 X 5 speed. When looking down at it while riding it is a very narrow cage with not much to spare so will need to be setup just right to work without touching. May just need a slight realignment.   

 

Well pleased is a massive understatement. Now for a fully loaded long weekend to Inverness and back via Tongue and Altnaharra.

 

Jamie 

Jamie

10th September 2023 - Some documentation relating to Jack Taylor Super Tourist + Trying the Ostrich front bag.

 Yesterday before heading out onto the ride I thought to try my Ostrich front randonneur bag and see what I still required for fitting it. I need a Nitto stem decauler and should be good to go. It's certainly a bigger size than I am used to but should be perfect for an overnighter. 

Jamie 

Documentation that came with the bike