Author Topic: RIDES 2018 — add yours here  (Read 65278 times)

John Saxby

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #60 on: March 13, 2018, 12:33:07 am »
Serious bizness, for sure, Andre.

Deliberately mixing my metaphors here, but the hole in the ozone layer seems to be coming home to roost. We're told that it's gradually closing, but also that it may persist for another generation.

We members of the Spotted Tribe, freckled ones like Rod Laver and meself, are especially vulnerable.

I was paddling once with our daughter in parc de la Vérendrye in W Qué, a few hours north of Ottawa. On a bright summer morning, about 9:30, I stopped the canoe, rolled my shirtsleeves down and buttoned them at my wrists, closed up my shirtfront to just below my neck, turned my collar up, did the ritual anointment of sunscreen, pulled my cricket outfielder's hat down lower, and Meg said, "Dad, we were never meant for this--we should be paddling in Scotland!"

rualexander

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #61 on: March 13, 2018, 04:09:19 pm »
"......we should be paddling in Scotland!"

Haha, easy to get sunburnt paddling here John.
Couple of photos from my two week walk/paddle across Scotland in 2009 :



Andre Jute

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #62 on: March 13, 2018, 11:00:09 pm »
Picture-postcard perfect, especially that middle photo!

John Saxby

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #63 on: March 14, 2018, 06:12:20 am »
Brilliant in every way, Rual!

Never saw skies like that on my hikes in Scotland...should I buy a camera like yours? ;)

John Saxby

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #64 on: April 01, 2018, 07:48:52 pm »
Some notes from my first ride of 2018 in Ottawa -

In the week before Easter, I completed cleaning and reassembling the Raven after the looong flight home to Ottawa from Queensland. Reckoning that I was no longer in danger from acres of Australian glass, I swapped out the Marathon Supremes for Compass Naches Pass 26 x 1.8 tires, and made a couple of shakedown rides, totalling about 70 kms.  With a long list of household maintenance chores and less-than-encouraging weather—the last two weeks of March have been cold, with daytime highs at most just above freezing, and nightly lows in the minus teens—I haven’t had much spare time for cycling.

A week ago, I rode south along the Rideau River to the little village of Manotick, an enjoyable 2½ hours there and back. The Rideau River is the basis of the northern section of the Rideau Canal, which stretches from Kingston on Lake Ontario to Ottawa. It’s a good-sized but gentle stream, flowing more or less south to north, falling into the Ottawa River just east of the centre of the city. Manotick, once a village and now a southern suburb of the city, was built a century and a half ago around rapids and a grist mill, like so many small agricultural centres in Ontario. The Rideau often floods its banks, but this year, the water levels are more manageable, the cold March weather easing the runoff from melting snow.

In the central part of the city, just south of the Experimental Farm and Carleton University, the Hog’s Back Falls are a pretty sight – see photo #1 below. Twenty kms further south, in Manotick itself, a bend in the river is a resting spot for Canada geese on their annual trek north.  When I was there, a big V of migrating birds had just landed, some fifty or so, gossiping and grumbling as they do about the headwinds and unseasonable cold. They a reassuring sight and their honking overhead is still an evocative reminder--almost magical, for all its familiarity—that spring really is coming. (See #s 2 & 3 below.)

I had a decent chili-with-garlic bread for lunch at the Creekside Bar and Grill, and headed home for another round of maintenance bits and pieces. The Compass tires have very supple sidewalls, and roll soooo smoothly, that even facing a headwind, I am in my 11th gear much of the time.  In recent years, since Manotick has “graduated” from pretty wee village to Desirable Suburb, the old two-lane highway leading to it has been upgraded, and now has paved shoulders for most of its length. This means that we cyclists now have a north-south route allowing us to leave or enter Ottawa without having to share a lane with motor traffic. I was pleased to see that there was very little trash or sharp pokey things along the roadside, as well.

Taking a short cut through the Experimental Farm, a a couple of kms from home, though, my front wheel went squirrelly, and my expensive trick Compass tire went slowly flat. Dang! I stopped in the lee of the wind beside a whitewashed barn wall and changed the tube. There was no obvious cut in either the tire casing or the tube. This was the 2nd flat this spring, however—I had had a very slow (overnight) leak a few days earlier, after a short 30-minute ride to and from the Farm. Maybe the saying about Alfa Romeos, back in the day, applies to Compass tires as well?—“Fast but fragile.” My experience is limited to the 26 x 1.8 Naches Pass tires, but this March I have had two flats in 60-some suburban kms. Combined with one puncture (on the rear) in 200 kms past summer, that gives me three in less than 300 kms. None of the punctures was catastrophic for either the tires’ tread or their inner casing (in fact, I have not been able to see any damage at all), and the Schwalbe Superlight tubes showed only pinholes. Still, a flat every hundred kms or less in a PITA.

What then, I wonder, is a “reasonable” standard of durability? (Helpful answers do not include, "How long is a piece of string?")

  • My three Schwalbe Supremes (26 x 1.6), by comparison, have together done about 9,000 kms since October 2014, with the only puncture being one in Australia in late February this year. (Earlier in 2014, two Schwalbe Supremes succumbed to sidewall abrasions and cuts within six months.  In September 2014, a tire specialist in Berlin told me it was probably just bad luck. My experience since then suggests he was right.)
  • I’ll continue to use the Compass tires for day rides, for a while at least, so see if it’s just more bad luck.
  • But for touring, I’ll stick with the Supremes. These still have some good mileage left on them.


One final tech note on the Raven’s FSA Orbit XL II headset:  When I reassembled my forks after unpacking my Raven from its air journey halfway around the world, I inadvertently mounted the upper bearing cage upside down. This made it impossible to get to fit the bearings properly. My local bike shop advised me to check if the race was mounted upside down.

FSA/America sent me an exploded diagram by return email within about 2 minutes of my asking for one. The diagram is attached below (#4). Look closely at component #3, the upper bearing cage, and you’ll see that the radiused edge of the cage should be on the downward side.

I had taken the precaution of holding headset components 1, 2, and 3 together with a ziptie, along the neighbouring spacers, T-bars and stem. Inevitably, a few escaped when I unhooked the ziptie. In the future, I’ll know, rather than guessing, which side of the bearing cage belongs where.

Best wishes for springtime sun and gentle winds!
« Last Edit: April 01, 2018, 07:54:49 pm by John Saxby »

jags

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #65 on: April 01, 2018, 08:08:20 pm »
`Class photo's Rual And john just class.
Anto. 8) 8)

Danneaux

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #66 on: April 01, 2018, 09:31:34 pm »
What lovely photos, John!
Quote
One final tech note on the Raven’s FSA Orbit XL II headset
<nods> You're not alone with the questions about FSA Orbit XLII headsets. Others have found the same. For example:
http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=11320.msg82171#msg82171
Thorn's FAQ on the topic is real helpful:
http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/sandbox/thorncycles/fsa.pdf

Glad you're back in the running.

All the best,

Dan.

playlord

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #67 on: April 01, 2018, 10:09:37 pm »
Oops! Just saw this thread. Been posting mine on General: apologies.

Here's today's from the Isle of Bute. It's always quiet here even though the ferry trip to the mainland (Wemyss Bay) is just 7 miles. There's a railway station too at Wemyss Bay and the train journey to Glasgow is less than an hour. Bute was popular in the 1960s for Glasgow folk, who'd visit its main town, Rothesay. These days, we see just the occasional holiday maker as most head farther north to the fashionable islands like Skye.

Population here is just 53 people per square km. Almost all local drivers respect cyclists and once out of Rothesay, traffic is rare, even on national holidays. This was taken about 2pm on one of the islands 'main' roads.  Arran's northern hills in the background.



Andre Jute

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #68 on: April 02, 2018, 12:52:11 am »
You cannot ever go to all the places you want to see, but it surely helps to have friends skilled with their cameras. Thank you, gentlemen.

martinf

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #69 on: April 02, 2018, 09:08:15 am »
What then, I wonder, is a “reasonable” standard of durability? (Helpful answers do not include, "How long is a piece of string?")

For touring on-road, I'd want at least an average of 1,000 kms between punctures. So far my wide Schwalbe Supreme and Dureme 26" x 50 mm tyres have done much better than that, IIRC 3 punctures in about 12,800 km.

Wear is good as well, none have yet worn out, my longest-running Supreme has over 9,000 kms of use.

Schwalbe Supreme are more fragile than heavier expedition tyres, but for my type of riding I reckon the risk of losing a tyre to sidewall damage is offset by the better rolling resistance. I don't bother carrying a spare, because I reckon I could find a 26" x 50mm tyre fairly easily anywhere in Europe.

I have 16" x 32 mm Kojaks on one of my Bromptons. These are acceptable for me for touring on good roads, where their improved rolling performance over the tougher Schwalbe Marathon alternative outweighs the more frequent punctures, but not for urban commuting as they puncture too often in that environment. I carry a spare folding 16" x 32 mm Kojak on tour with a Brompton, because it is easy to destroy these light tyres and they are not easy to find in bike shops.

John Saxby

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #70 on: April 02, 2018, 12:24:59 pm »
Thanks for this, Martin. On your 26 x 2 Supremes, what is their actual inflated width?

(My 1.6 Supremes measure 39 mm inflated, and the Compass 1.8s are a hair under 40 mm, not even close to the advertised 45.7.)


John Saxby

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #71 on: April 02, 2018, 12:28:10 pm »
Quote
today's from the Isle of Bute

Super photo, playlord!  Love the hi-viz jacket for a splash of contrasting colour. I'll have to get meself and Osi the aven up to Scotland before too long...

jags

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #72 on: April 02, 2018, 04:33:35 pm »
super photo playlord  looks cold tho. :'(

martinf

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #73 on: April 02, 2018, 07:09:49 pm »
Thanks for this, Martin. On your 26 x 2 Supremes, what is their actual inflated width?

I've found that inflated width varies a bit between individual tyres,  mine fall in the range 46 to 49 mm.
All measured at fairly low pressures, between 28 and 35 psi.

John Saxby

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Re: RIDES 2018 — add yours here
« Reply #74 on: April 02, 2018, 09:23:40 pm »
Thanks, Martin, that's helpful. Expect that I'll replace my 1.6's after this year, & am inclined to go with the 26 x 2.00 Supremes, though they wd require new mudguards.

(All my current tires -- the 1.6 Supremes, the compass 1.8's, and a pair of Maxxis Overdrive Elite 1.75's -- fit nicely within my 52mm Velo Orange alloy Zeppelins.)

Cheers,  John