Previous Posts
- Ready to go Tubeless? November 15, 2018Teocalli1797
Tubeless setup on Mountain Bikes is now pretty much the majority case, at least for the more serious recreational or sports Mountain Biker, but what about Road?
I first experimented with Road Tubeless in 2013/14. Initially I was well impressed and thought it was the way to go. I could see places where tyres had small slivers of flint/stone that are prevalent in my area where I had not actually flatted. Then I started to have doubts. First, it was hard to prove whether or not I really would have punctured if running a tube. Second I was finding some of the early tubeless tyres were actually quite porous, much like Latex Tubes they would loose something like 5psi per day and so need pumping for each ride. This was not leakage around the rim seating but the tyre itself, as I discovered one day when cleaning the bike with soapy water and noticed loads of micro bubbles around both tyres. Hopefully that manufacturer has improved things but it put me off their tyres – and they were not cheap. Third, I started to get punctures that, while not huge, simply would not seal. At the time I was running Schwalbe 1. I have to say that they were a fantastic ride, probably the best tyre I have ridden. However, I did find that I picked up too many flint and stone slivers resulting in punctures and getting those tyres off and back on to fit a tube mid ride was an utter ‘mare. The soft rubber of the Schwalbe seemed to pick up way more slivers than my mate running Conti’s and it always seemed to be me getting the punctures.
I tried an experiment with those sticky string kits. Not a good outcome. At home, I put some in a tyre that had punctured to try them. Pumped back up to 100 psi and after a few mins the string was simply blown out of the tyre – and I had left plenty on the inside – messy in the conservatory. Conclusion, that stuff may work for MTB pressures but not for Road.
Net I switched back to tubes with Vittoria Corsa (Gum Wall) and more latterly Vittoria G+ (again Gum Wall) both running latex tubes. The G+ give a great ride and genuinely seem faster than previous tyres as when I switched to them I started to set PBs all around my normal rides. My conclusion being that while the ride with Tubeless was great, the sealant technology was not there yet for Road pressures.
I’m starting to wonder now though whether it is time to try again. I run Orange Seal in my MTB with no issues – though I can’t say I’ve been close to puncturing since running that sealant – but I started using it mainly as it is supposed to last longer between having to be replaced and was less prone to Balling/Coral. There are now a range of newer sealants available, one of the latest being from Finish Line which is guaranteed to last the length of your tyre. I have not yet heard any reports on how effective it is but will run this on my MTB at its next sealant change.
So I’m really tempted to give it a go again on #1 but the thing holding me back is the lack of Gum Wall Tubeless tyres. Style counts! Vittoria make the Vittoria G+ Corsa Speed Tubeless Ready. I’ll bet that is a great tyre vs the ‘standard’ Corsa G+ but it is less puncture resistant.
Would the tradeoff actually work? Is it time to try again?
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Continue reading → - First really cold ride of the season November 11, 2018chuckp1816
Should warm up a little by the time I head out the door in ~40 minutes, but it’s still going to be f*ing cold! I know, I know … #9 … HTFU … but I still hate riding in the cold.
Continue reading → - The Softer Side by Wiscot November 8, 2018Teocalli1661
Photo: Hinault by Miroir du Cyclisme
In the unofficial professional (male) cycling Hall of Fame, the conventional wisdom puts Eddy Merckx on the top step of the all-time-great podium. (I say male, because if gender was ignored, Marianne Vos would be right up there). Fausto Coppi is on the second step and Bernard Hinault on the third. The Frenchman’s palmares are many and astounding in variety, matched by a personality that requires an equal number of adjectives: surly, angry, committed, bloody-minded, generous, selfless, arrogant, prideful, domineering, deceitful, loyal. Whatever words you choose, he was one of the hardest men the sport has produced.
Evidence? This was the rider who flew off a cliff in the 1977 Dauphine-Libere, remounted and won; the man who won the 1980 Liege-Bastogne-Liege in the worst conditions in modern times; the rider who punched protestors in the 1984 Paris-Nice; the rider who won the Tour in 1985 with two black eyes from a fall that smashed his nose; the rider who was, from the early years of his career, the undisputed “patron” of the peloton, and the ASO employee responsible for managing the Tour’s podium ceremonies who unceremoniously pushed imposters off “his” turf. Yet this was also the team leader who could be tremendously supportive of younger riders and who was a great teammate who gifted them stages or rode as a domestique for them from time to time – just so long as it wasn’t a race hewanted to win. (Just ask Jean-Rene Bernaudeau).
Hinault was one of the best paid cyclists of his day (and back in the day, that salary was a pittance compared to today’s stars), but like many top riders he had sponsorships to supplement his income. Patrick shoes and Look pedals were two companies that paid the Badger to use their gear. However, in 1988, two years after his retirement, he perhaps surprisingly put his illustrious name and tough guy reputation on the line by endorsing a nice little line of gold jewelry. It might not have been quite the chunky, masculine accoutrements that might have been expected, instead it was a tad on the dainty side if truth be told, but time has a gentle way of softening the harder edges of youthful bravado. Long before Michael Matthews earned his nickname “Bling”, the Badger was way ahead of him. So what’s the moral of this story? Every coin has two sides, but they all go in the bank.
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Continue reading → - Ronde van Vlaanderen November 7, 2018Teocalli1809
Ronde van Vlaanderen
I’m trying to persuade myself that I really don’t want to ride the RVV cobbles again in 2019 – but somehow the memory of the pain fades and that was such a nice hotel we stayed in in Kortijk, a day out in Brugge and I’ve yet to go to the Wielermuseum Roeselare. Anyway, who is planning on going in 2019? I’m guessing Chris will be dragged there by his son.
Continue reading → - I think I found my next bike November 7, 2018chuckp1804
Totally non-compliant with The Rules!
Just wanted to check in with y’all. I will do my best to participate and contribute to the conversation. But I can’t access the site from work and when I get home and on weekends, I just get caught up with a lot of other stuff (which sometimes includes riding!) As appropriate, I’ll post any articles I write for PEZ. I’ve got a review of a documentary of British track riders Team KGF (now Team HUUB Wattbike) that I’ve been asked to write, as well as a review of “The Comeback: Greg LeMond, the True King of American Cycling, and a Legendary Tour de France.
Teocalli – Kudos and thanks for the effort you’ve put forth to keep the flame alive.
Cheers y’all!
Continue reading → - Eroica Limburg November 2, 2018Teocalli1802
Early Bird tickets for Eroica Limburg are on sale 1 Dec to 31 Dec. Saving Euro 10 on the entry. Anyone else planning on 2019?
Continue reading → - Reactive Adaptations by Teocalli November 1, 2018Teocalli1755
Photos by Teocalli
Starting back in 2002/3 I had the good fortune to be granted the first of what proved to be a number of Sabbaticals from work in the IT/Telecomms Industry to teach Adaptive Skiing (teaching people with disabilities). I had been teaching Adaptive Skiing for a number of years from the UK and by a strange set of coincidences had become one of the first batch of people to become qualified to train and examine Adaptive Ski Instructors within the BASI (British Association of Ski Instructors) system. As a result, I wanted to broaden my horizons beyond the UK scene and was successful in getting accepted to teach at the Adaptive Sports Centre in Colorado. The original intent was just to go for a single season. However, the consequences were that we ended up buying a winter home there and spending a number of seasons teaching with the ASC.
During my time there I also went through the PSIA scheme and successfully qualified as Trainer/Examiner within that system too. It was truly a privileged and life changing experience for me and resulted in building some long term friendships with people I worked with and others who I taught during my period with the ASC.
One of those people is Jake. I had the pleasure to teach Jake on some of his early ski lessons and subsequently, over the years, we have spend quite a bit of time skiing together on some of the nutty terrain that Crested Butte offers in the Back Bowls.
There seems to be a significant number of people who visit Crested Butte and end up living there for some period of time. So much so, that it is a local saying that people go there to visit but end up staying. Jake fits that scenario.
So what does this have to do with On The Rivet and cycling? Well, I invite you to watch the following video that introduces a different sort of cycling. Please also take a little time to access the links following the video.
I leave Jake to introduce himself below.
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Continue reading → - “When is it right to forgive a cheat?” October 26, 2018davidlhill1690
fascinating article in today’s The Times. At the unveiling of the route for next year’s TDF Armstrong was written out of the narrative. Yet Virenque was there who was “central to the Festina affair”. If I could post a link here I would. (Admin – here is the Article)
Continue reading → - Hands Down by Wiscot October 25, 2018Teocalli1651
Photo Laurent Fignon by Bike Race Info
Today we call them clipless pedals. They scare a lot of newbies to the sport who fear that they won’t be able to get their feet “unclipped” in time to avoid a potentially nasty and embarrassing fall. So long as the brain and one of a rider’s ankles/feet are somewhat coordinated, releasing a foot from a clipless pedal is as easy as, well, falling off a log. Today’s shoes even come predrilled with holes to fit the wide variety of pedal/cleat designs out there, and the cleats all have some degree of float to accommodate foot pronation. It’s a tidy little package that guarantees both efficiency and safety.
But (as they say on late night TV,) wait, there’s more. Even setting up your shoe/cleat combo has never been easier. Just install six screws into two cleats, sit on bike, adjust as necessary and you’re good to go. Adjust the release tension with a few turns of a hex wrench. Getting in and out of pedals requires no hands – just the ability to coordinate brain and foot to engage, then twist an ankle to release. Simple, secure and effective.
Back in the day, it was not so. And I’m not talking 50s and 60s, I’m talking early 80s. Shoes were almost always all leather with laces. (Plastic and Velcro were radical advances back then.) You could have any color you liked so long as you liked black. The leather soles were smooth and lacked any kind of pre-drilled holes. The ubiquitous cage-type pedals had lovely shiny chromed steel clips bolted to the front of them and a long leather strap around the back to form the holy trinity of serious cycling. It was a matter of personal preference and style as to whether you ran your toe strap through the sides of the pedal or through the back plate; the latter was felt to offer a more secure cinch. Cleats (or as they were properly called in the UK, shoe plates) were nailed onto the sole. Not regular nails, but wee, fine, fiddly nails. They offered no play or float (just as the early Look style plates offered no play either). To make sure you didn’t bugger up your knees, you rode a few miles in the shoes “sans plates” and let the pedal mark the leather sole. Then you nailed your cleat on. If you didn’t get it right, you took out the wee, skinny nails and tweaked. Now all cleats come with some degree of “float” meaning that you can get your cleats close enough to a perfect position and still not wreck your knees.
Then you had to practice the fine art of learning how to use the toe of the shoe to flip the pedal, clip and strap around to slide your foot in and engage the shoe plate on the back of the pedal – without using a hand. Then you leant over to pull the strap tight thus securing your foot in the pedal/clip/strap combo. Release was a breeze under normal circumstances: reach down, flick the strap buckle and lift and pull back your foot. With practice, it became second nature. The biggest issue was if you took a spill: if the feet were strapped in tight, separating yourself from your machine could be tricky to put it mildly. (Ask Freddy Maertens about the 1976 Paris-Roubaix and Johan DeMuynck in the 1978 Giro d’Italia. Both took tumbles and required assistance to detach themselves from their bikes). There was the real possibility of twisting a knee or ankle if you crashed with the straps pulled tight. Then you really had to use your hands to get free ‒ or get help.
Clipless pedals are, of course, progress in a way. They are safer, easier to use and lighter. However, the fine art of the one-hand-on-the-bars, the other reaching down to flick the strap buckle is as redundant as the rotary phone. It’s just another little skill that has slowly vanished only to find a home at myriad Eroica events. Now, with shifters and brakes combined on the bars, and clipless pedals ubiquitous, there’s no need to reach down for anything except a water bottle, and that can be solved with a camelback (well, not really, but it’s possible). At the end of the day, we now live in a world where whatever hand isn’t on your bars is free to fiddle with your goddamn strava app. Progress comes at a price I guess.
Continue reading → - How to set up your Gravatar October 20, 2018Teocalli1496
Hiya, The site is configured to generate a Gravatar for you. To configure your own – 1. Hover your mouse over your logged in name (to right) 2. Click on Edit My Profile 3. Scroll down the screen to Profile Image 4. Click on Gravatar and follow their instructions Cheers, Teocalli
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