Well I have had my new baby for 16 months now. I’ve been meaning to give an update, and an email from a forum reader has prompted me to pen to paper so to speak.
First the question from KWK01 – drop handlebars. No problem at all I much prefer drops to straight bars, we had SJSC comfort bars on Mikado our triplet and I never really found them comfortable. The Diacompe 287V levers with the V brakes work well and I have had no problems with braking. The extra bar for the gear changer provides a bit of extra space for computers, lights etc. Ger changing is no problem normally, although at times I feel as if I am holding the changer “awkwardly”. That I thinks gives rise to the occasional problem when very wet and cold I sometimes feel as if I haven’t the strength to change gear. That seems to be the only problem I have had in terms of drops, although it may be just a feature of the gear changer and other riders have the same problem with straight bars. I suspect for the reason just stated I have noticed rubber on the gear changer seems to wear out quickly.
Other problems – I did have a seal go on the back wheel leading to ingress of salt causing the gears to partially seize – the symptom was riding up the Beacon Hill and to and from the local mill loaded with flour, in low gear it felt that the gear was not engaged and slipped. SJSC were very good and had the wheel shipped back to Rholoff for fixing – no problem since. That was in May and since then we had a wet three week tour of Danmark including several salt water drenchings on ferries. Rather post the wheel back we chose to drive down to SJSC, it was returned late by the post 2 weeks later. We should off had it back in the middle of the second week, SJSC sent it back next day , but after 3 days we gave up waiting and collected it from our nearest depot. Whilst I was without my baby for the two weeks, I hijacked Ceri-Siân’s baby.
Punctures – I found the Tour Guard were not puncture resistant so I gave up on them and replaced with the Marathon plus tyres. I did have a puncture in the first week of them but that was a side wall one after riding through glass. I have had none since.
The only other is very minor, I had the double LED rear light holder. That mounts the lights side by side, but the overall width is wider then the normal SJSC rack. I kept losing the cover glasses so I wired them on. When I finally broke one when I caught it I re-engineered the rear lights by a “normal” and a “low profile” SJSC rear light, so that the lights can be mounted one above the other.
As for the good points she performed wonderfully in Danmark I was very heavily loaded for a three week tour, see:
http://www.team-triplet.com/TTSite/2005DK01.htm I used all gears, yes even gear 1. Sjælland Odde (the peninsular on the NW corner of Sjælland is a bit like Jersey with the coast road going up and down, which is where gear 1 was used.. When I when out for light rides, like my late evening and early morning rides on Ærø I flew along. It was on Ærø that I noticed the effect off the dynamo. My winter commuting to work, I had ridden with lights either on or off so I did not notice a drag. However as it started to get dark on Ærø, I put my lights on, and at 20mph plus, I felt the drag of the dynamo!
In all I am well pleased with my baby. The problem with the gear seizure I put down to bad luck. The problem is I am starting to get “half bike disease”!
PS I still haven't given my new baby a name!
