How to fix a buggered bike…

Well, it’s not that buggered, it’s just old really.

I’m talking about my old DiamondBack (DB). My intial plan was to strip it of parts then dump it, but while doing this, Mum had the idea of doing it up so it worked, and sending it to Cambridge for my older brother. His current bike is very old and slowly falling apart. If it were me, i’d have improvised and kept it working, but he’s going to be a vet, and is busy in Cambridge and isn’t overly fussed about bikes / cycling. But anyhow, I also thought this was a good idea, so agreed to the plan.

One major problem was the fact i’d stripped the handlebars already. The flappy paddle shifters/brakes, which are a single combo unit, I’d taken from the DB, and put them on my youngest brothers bike (looks quite good), wired it all up – which took ages, so long i wasn’t taking them off again to go back on the DB. So i needed a 7 speed shifter. My intial idea was to use the 6 speed twist-grips shifters, and just have 6 gears out of 7. However, this was but a minor problem compared to the deraullier. I hit it when having fun on (or should that be off) black ice, so it’s rather very buckled. I thought i’d give it a go at straightening it. But, i looked at it, bent it this way a bit, then up like that, oh, back a bit maybe. It just wasn’t working, and then the hanger snapped – so it wouldn’t work at all.

I decided I needed more parts than I had at the time. I looked at the possiblity of getting one of the old crappy rust buckets from the science park, they were ment to be used by the employees to ride up to the shops or whatever but weren’t. Dad could get one for free, and I could use if for parts, Deraullier, shifters maybe, cables, deraullier hanger. This plan failed when Dad asked he was told there were none left, but he could see them out the back. While talking to his colleuges, one mentined he had some old dodgy things down the bottom of his garden. Yet another plan was hatched.

So, a few days later I took delivery of two beat up rustbuckets. Both only had their front wheels, but everythings else was there, rusty and not very good looking, but there. So I tooke them apart; brake levers, cables, blocks, arms; gear shifters, cables and deraulliers; handlebars; chains; a few bolts; suspension forks, and a middle suspension spring / damper system; light brakest and reflectors. Soon I had a pile of parts and two frames. The chains were badly rusted, the wheel treads were weathered and cracked, a set of brake levers were simply awful, so I threw those away.

Good news; one of the bikes had a 7 speed system. Bad news; the deraullier had been in a crash or something, and the deraullier cage was really badly bent. Still, I now had a 7 speed shifter if nothing else. The other bikes 5 speed deraullier was still good, but too small for use on a  7 speed set. But, it had a nice cage. I stripped both deraulliers down, used the straighter cage from the 5 speed to renovate the 7 speed, chose all the shiniest bolts and bushes and reassembled the 7 speed deraullier, at a later date i straighted the bent cgae out in a vice and have reassembled the 5 speed, though it needs a new jockey wheel.

I used the brake levers off youngest bros for the DB already. So I now had brakes, a 7 speed shifter and matching deraullier, and no hanger. I tried to work my way round the missing hanger, but with the DB’s frame thats not possible. A trip to halfords and £15 later I had a new hanger. I bolted it in place, perfect, now for the deraullier. On it went, I split the chain, unthreaded it from the old deraullier and through the new one. Selected the least rusty cable, threaded that through the shifter, mounted the shifter an the bars, threaded the cable down all the casing to the deraullier and connected it.

Here we go, pedal. Bit of a noise, but nothing I can’t adjust out of. OK, we’re in 7th, down to 6th – deraullier didn’t move. 5th, still nothing. 4th, it jumped into 6th. 3rd had it in 5th, 2nd on the shifter was 3rd on the cogs and 1st was 2nd. Dam, not too good. Oh well, new deraullier (relativly) new cable and shifter, first time, no adjustment, crappy changes were to be expected. Half an hour later, however, it still wasn’t working. i’d adjusted everything and still it was crap. I took another look at the deraullier position, hello… that top jockey wheels at a peculiar angle. squinting at various angles I realised it wasn’t just the cage that was bent. I took the deraullier off again, and went at it with several tools. It’s a spindle / pivot thats bent. No way to get to it without specialist tools. Bugger.

I’ve a friend at church who is a bike nutter, and has been for years. He’s the old 60-ish year old who can do 20 odd miles and still be up for more. Anyway, the dreaullier was shown to him, and he said he might have somthing similar in his shed. So hopefully, i’ll have a better 7 speed deraullier before too long. If not, i’ll consider a smaller deraullier and just wire it up so it gets 6 out of 7. Also the hanger is an issue, the deraullier must have the correct arm for the hanger. So I may not find anything suitable.

If thats the case, it’s back to Plan A – parts and dump. But I hope that doesn’t happen, it’s a good bike, faithful and sturdy. It’ll enjoy a simple life in Cambridge I think. So I hope i can get the parts needed.

We’ll see, the future is unwritten, what comes next is unkown.

Untill the next post,

Uncle Austin Wozzer

Farewell and Welcome Aboard…

I’m talking about bikes,

What else do i talk about, besides violence, weapons, japnese, sex, drink. Normal male mind really. But anyway, in this particular post i’m talking about bikes, of the pedaling kind.

First of all, I’d like to wish Fare Thee Well to my old DiamondBack S10. It’s almost 4 years old and had done over 1000 miles of the school comute; hard hack downhill, heavy on the brakes, rough roads (victoria) sharp corner on Woodshears. Then back up, racing up the alley, coping with the grass perfectl well, accelerating well out of the junction at the top, the long crawl up Clarence, mixing with traffic, blasting up Church Street (locals will know thats a fair hill) then rocketing along the Worcester Road to home. It’ll be sad to see it go. It’s long 19″ frame, its interesting rear suspension, those still good front forks (surprising for cheapy Suntours), creaky steering, rattly gear levers… ah good times on a good bike. I said “I’m going to keep riding it untill I ride it into the ground”, fateful words as it happens.

One cold and icy morning I literally rode it into the ground. Pulled out of my drive, down the road, thinking it’s bloody freezing, through the lights without a problem. Slotted into the right turn lane, slowed right down for a car, pulled away and round into the corner. Aaand rode it into the ground. Black ice is the most obvious explanation, hit it, lost the front end, dropped it. Another explanation is the new front tread i’d purchased and put on the night before, silly cheapy Halfords thing. New treads rarley grip that well, and perhaps the recently gritted, wet, smooth tarmac proved too slick for it.

Either way, I think I can say with confidence that i’ve written it off. After picking me and the bike up off the busy junction, I started off again, stopped again a few metres on and wrenched the rather buckled deraulier out of the spokes. I then limped all the way to school after bending the deraullier in such a way it just about worked. I got it so sit in 7th, and 2nd / 3rd (depending on the weight on the pedals) while the shifter was on 1 / 2.  Utilising the front deraullier more I got to school, locked up, swore once again, and limped (leg was hurting) into Sixth Form. After explaining to various people why my elbow was in such a blackened (tarmac gunk) and bloodied state, I (in a free lesson) went on various bike websites, and calculated that it’d cost close on £100 to fix everything wrong with it. It was only £150 when new, 3 years old, very worn, wouldn’t be worth £50. Not worth fixing then. Not with a very buckled quick-fix-bent-back-to-a-rough-position rear deraullier, worn chain, worn gears back and front, slightly bent brakes, and a slightly wobbly back wheel. And to make matters worse, I limped it up the Alley, along Court Road, and then the front deraullier cable snapped! So I had to plod home with two and a half gears depending which way the wind was blowing and how hard I wasn’t pedaling.

As good as my Giant XTC is, it’s not very roady. Using it to commute on roads just felt wrong. It’s troughbred off-road, and should be used as such. So, i just wanted a new commuting bike to take the DB’s place. So, I looked round a bit, a couple of shps had some interesting options. Looking to spend £200 or less on a decent bike is always a challenge. I considered ordering a Giant through BackOnTrack, Upton had a nice looking ClaudButler. But in the end, it was Halfords in which I ended up once again. Most bikes in our family are Halfords sourced.

Halfords was dcently local, and had more or less what I was after. I also looked at, and seriously considered, road / touring style bikes. I tried to be interested and look at them, but they just didn’t float boats. Limited gearing, little or no suspension, silly little finger thin tyres. I always kept thinking back to a hybrid or mountain style bike; 21+ speeds, decent suspension, grippy 1.95 / 2.1 tyres. I, like my bike, am also a thouroghbred off-road machine. So those kind of bikes ticked more boxes in my opinion.

I didn’t even spare the Apollo’s a glance. Apollos are not brilliant bikes. Then at the 199 mark i came across two nicer options. A hard tail DiamondBack, and a blue Carrera Vulcan (the latest Vulcans have red paint jobs).

The DB had a chunky frame and red paint on the front at least. 21 speed, good; Zoom forks, hmm; Gripshifts, hmm; front disc; good; rear V, nothing wrong with V’s; Red paint, brilliant. OK, i don’t particularily like the shifts or forks, but otherwise good.

Now on to the Carrera. As i’ve said before Carreras are like Toyota’s Lexus to Apollo. But it shows. This Carrera was labelled the “Vulcan V Spec”, which meant it was your standard Vulcan, but with V brakes rather than discs. 24 speed, very good; SR Suntour forks, good; Sram 4 shifters, basically flappy paddles, so good; Dual V’s, nothing wrong with V’s, in fact these are Trekko which can be very good; blue, yes it’s a nice enough blue, but red’d be better.

I decided to go for the Vulcan. It had better everything, minus the colour and braking. But good V’s can be just as good as the cheap disc on the DB. Also, the DB had a cheap looking headset, and treaded steering cloumn – very hard to work with / on / get parts for now-a-days. The Carrera looked sleeker, it had more gears, flappy paddles (of a sort, those Sram 4’s are… different, shall we say), and i’m more used to working with / on V brakes. It ticked boxes nicely, and so thats my new commuter.

I bought it in the box, assembled it in 20 mins, and then rode it to work. I had to stop half way there to adjust the saddle. On the way home I realised there was somthing wrong with the front deraullier, and those forks are far too soft. So at home, i adjusted the end stops on the front deraullier till it changed properly and stiffened up the susupension, alot and it’s still quite soft. Well, we’ll see. i can always stiffen more, or get new forks maybe.

So I now ride a Carrera Vulcan V Spec for commuting.

Untill the next post,

Uncle Austin Wozzer

Plans for cycling

Basically, i thought i’d post about cycling.

I’ve done the odd “update” one or two lines in a general post. But it’s been a while scince i’ve posted under “cycle adventures” so, here goes:

A while ago, i posted about cycling to japan. Thats comming along quite slowly. If you remember back to that previous post, you may remember that my partner in this crime is none to fit. And her bike is crap. To that effect, i’ve plotted a few short routes to get her going, and me continuing to go. I look forward to riding with her.

Also, as i learnt today, the same person (whom i am going to call Pika) has a tandem!! It may be old, not too good and buried in a garage, but still… a tandem! Wow! We are soooo going to have to use it! And i don’t care what my best mate, Mat, says – namely “i wouldn’t be seen dead on it because it’s not cool” – it is cool and, well, WOW!

And in other news… a dude from Church has lent me a UNICYCLE!! I am going to try and learn to ride it, so far it’s not too brilliant, i can go forwards a couple of feet, if holding onto something. It’s not going to be easy, but just imagine, goign inot VIth Form on a unicycle! Fantastic! i’ll keep posting to let you all know how thats going!

And on the subject of bikes, Mat is aiming to get a Road bike when his old clanky hybrid gives up. Benni, a fellow Red Rider, is saying thank you and good bye to his faithful Apollo Excel. It’s served him well for years, 5 to be exact, and has now finally given up the ghost in a huge way – broken crank shaft, sterring bearings gone, and a cracking frame. As a bike mechanic, it’s always sad to see a bike ‘retire’ but the Apollo needs a medal for fantastic service! Apollo Excel, fair thee well!

Also (just keeps going on and on doesn’t it) my younger brother has hisself a new bike! He, with parental help, purchased a Carrera Vulcan (Halfords machine) mountain bike, and slapped a skinny pair of road tyres on it. The result is a bike with good suspension, large amount of gearing, good braking (discs) and all for on-road. Also, it’s red which makes it OK.

And thats finally all the bike news i can think of! untill the next post…

Uncle Austin Wozzer

Weds 26th Marchy

One of Red Rider friends suggested we ‘do summat on wednesday’ – “k” thought I. And so sent texts and went on Messenger. Some time later I got friends organsed into a ride. Then my good friend, who’s idea it was to do something, then couldn’t as he had to with his dad to look at vans for his brand new second hand 250cc grasstrack bike.

So anyway, i went riding with the two other mates who came. Now, last Friday I also went riding, and explored a path from Foaly Terrace, and this path splits onto 4, all at once in what i refer to as a junction. your options are: back from whence you came; up and round goign back on your pervious direction; down to wherever it goes; and straight on and up. the last option isn’t brilliant as there be deep deep roots (impossible to cycle over) before hitting a 2ft shelf of rock, and on to a thin ldge round and lump of rock. We tried going ‘down’ at the junction to the ineresting path (as we had doubled back on ourselves last time to go up) this failed as the path petered out to become, well, the side of the hill. And then, for so bizzare reason, we tried the interesing path (stright on and up). With much pushing, lifting and struggling we got up the interesting path, which carried on. The path, basically, snaked everywhere, had huge dips, lumps, roots, rocks, brambles, thorns, (Definatly not bike friendly) and ended up just above Earnslaw Quarry. From here we zoomed to the car park, up the wyche and along the ridge as we normally do.

We then rocketed up and round British Camp in one of the valleys, brilliant fun by the way, befroe going back along Jubilee Drive. I then headed down the Wyche Road, along Foaly Terrace and through town. This was all into a headwind, not good. That coupled with Mondays route (25 miles) caused my legs to feel as if the were actually on fire!

Despite this the 11 point something mile route was fun (and i’m not doing that mad little path again, ever). Untill the next Cycle Adventure; Byeeeeeee!

The 9th day of the month commonly referred to as “March”

Upon the 9th day of March, the three “regular” riders when out on the hills for a ride.

The usual route from town, up the wyche, up the wyche steps, along the ‘ridge’, black hills, round the “top path above Black Hils Carpark”, and dooown into British Camp Carpark. and this is where the route differed from normal;

First of all, stright up the shorter path from the carpark, then along to where the ‘main steps’ are. from here we doubled back onto a path that took us back along, and a bit further up, then crawled up a reeealy steep bit of path. Once at the top of said path, we kept our altitude, and followed the curve of the hill, before dropping down a tiny path (literally as big as a tyre) of which i had to convince my two fellow riders that they were NOT going to die! then following the gulley round we came to the top of the path that goes down from the top(ish) to the dias/cave. From this position, we hurtled down the side of the hill once again ~(see 17th Feb ride wirte up)~ but with more grace this time! i.e. not sideways!

Once we’d all made it down, we all rode along the ‘top’ then down into the valley bit, before going back up the other side of aforementioned valley part to carry along the ridge. We then found the path the Riders we’d met on the 17th showed us. Rattling through the woods, hopping over the style, down through more woods, emerging at Gullet Quarry preceded our arrival at Castlemorton Common. We absolutly flew across the common, mashed through Welland, explored a farm track/lane which led nowhere, and plodded back toward Malvern.

Aaand, as an interesting finish, comign past the showground; i spotted a Kestrel or possibly a Falcon (not too sure). this prompted a stop, during which i tried to call the bird of prey to my fist. It didn’t come down from it’s telegraph pole, much to my disappointment. Ben then said “well, if it had it’d probably rip your hand open like that falcon did to your arm!” (breif but of history: when i was younger, i did a bit of falcon-ing and one of the birds missed my fist and landed with one talon on my arm instead of the glove, and then as it took of it took a slice of me with it!)

IIIIIn conclusion this ride was intersting and definatly worth repeating, whether we’ll see that bird again may not happen, but otherwise the route was good and definatley worth riding again!

what i dided on the 17th Feby

Sunday 17th feb, 9:30 ish, the three ‘regular riders’ (i.e. Austin, Adam, and Ben) went out for a ride upon the hills.

Starting at the Fountain, we peddled up the Wyche, up the Steps, and along the ridge, down before going round Jubilee Hill, keeping along that path round (and down!) several hills we ended up on a path above Black Hills car park, down a major slope, over to British Camp.

Here, things got interesting. Firstly, at the shack, we met another group of weekend cyclists of whom one member lives opposite my house. Then the Red Riders hit Brit Camp, but instead of going down and round past the reservoir, or along the ‘low’ path to Clutters Cave; we scrambled straight up the side of the hill and rode round the Camp in one of the gulley’s – which in the frost was brilliant fun! – and ended up above the stone Dias and the Cave, well above. Here we saw the riders from earlier, who got over the dilemma of getting down the hill by going straight down the side of the aformentioned hill! So, as stupid as we are, followed their lead. I, that is Austin, went first being the most mental with the best bike hacked it down the not-much-off-vertical slope. After some immense speed and being very thankful for my forks, i stopped just pass the Dias and watched my fellow Red Riders preform the same feat. Adam came first, sideways the begin with before straightening up and letting off the brakes came zooming down to stop next to me. Then it was Ben’s turn! He stared off sideways and wobbled slowly down, with all the assembled cyclists yelling “don’t brake!” and “leave off the brakes!”. which he did and came down at considerable speed.

From here near Clutters Cave we decided to join forces with the other riders we’d met. We all rattled along and over the hills right on the end, past Brit Camp. After one majorly immense route down through some woods, over a style, more woods, brambles, and large rocky slopes, we ended up at Gullet Quarry. Here the other riders went off further, but the Red Riders chose to cut off and go home. From Gullet Quarry the three of us ploughed across Castlemorton Common, through Welland, left at Hook Bank, and past the Showground, to Peachfeild Road, and to our respective homes from there.

Overall, this was a brilliant ride. The other riders were friendly and have now shown us a really cool route from Brit camp down to Gullet quarry/Castlemorton. Which the Red Riders will definitely do again!

This Ride Write Up was brough to you by Uncle Austin Wozzer

3rd Feb – Castlemorton Route

Today (3rd febs) i went for a cycle with two of my Red Rider friends;

After ploughing up the Wyche, we hopped onto the ridge and rattled our way down to Black hills car park, round the corner to Brit Camp (where Adam opted to turn round as his handle bars made funny noises as they turned and pulled to whichever side was the most annoying). Ben and I soldiered on up to Clutters Cave (freeezing winds) a monster down hill soon followed and there we were, hacking accross Castle Morton Common, COWS!! There were cows across the road, not just one or two but about twenty odd, we managed to squeeze through. Ben and I flew through Welland, past hook bank, and past the Three Counties, and home.

All round it was about 15 miles and it’s a route i’ve done plenty of times before, and each time it’s fun, interesting and often a challenge. The run from Clutters Cave to Peachfeild common was one of the best i’ve ever done, ‘part from the cows Ben and I maintained a good speed and didn’t stop (went slow through cows)

Looking forward to more cycling in the future!

30th Jan 2008 – Fun in the Mud

   Today, 30/1/08, i went up on the hills with my fellow Red Riders. There were 3 Red Riders on this ride; Adam, Ben and me. We all met up at the wyche cutting, and then proceeded up the steps to the ridge, from there we followed the ridge along until the path branched right, going right we hurtled down the hill through loads of mud! Several mudy puddles later we found ourselves on the black hills, a few rocky down hills, a gate or two, and a sneaky back route that almost got Ben killed (lol not literally) and we were in the Black Hills car park. There we fixed Adams puncure he had aquired earlier, after that was done we set off once again.

   Round to British Camp, down past the resouvier (and a load of deep puddles woo hoo!) we then ended up on Castle Morton common. A fun road with bits where you fly followed, and after a breif encouter with a cow we were on a main road through the common. it was on this road Adam and I tryed to chase a motorbike. Keeping close togehter we blasted through Welland, left and the junction by hook bank, up and round, then past the showground, and left into Peachfield road.

   Here we split up, i went along St Andrews the up through the town centre, along the Worcester road to link top (where i live) and thus i arrived home, covered in mud. and overall it was brilliant fun!!