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Campsite fun today. On a French coastal tandem adventure this summer. I always carry spare BB and Wheel bearings because the chance of getting replacements is so slim. 2500km in it was the first time I have actually had to replace the bearings on a trip. Had to buy a hammer to do it as I refuse to carry an "emergency" hammer.
Job took less than 10 minutes (that's 2 BB's on a tandem). Dust and sand seems to have really attacked them. They have probably only done 3000 on total.
All running smooth now for the next 1000km in the mountains
I actually rode my bike today, achievement! It's been on the workstand for months, for a broken spoke (needed to find new 26" spokes in Ireland, ended up getting them from the UK, then had to fit them, replace nipples, try to get the effing tyre back on, and off again, then new brakes, cut hoses to length, sort cabling... etc).
It was grand, don't know why I don't do it more often, lol
Tried, half heartedly, to fit some tires (Schwalbe Romy) to my new builds wheels. Got one bead on then gave up till I remember where I put my heavy duty tire levers.
Fitted a new tyre and rim today. Nice little upgrade and the bike feels much better already. Just need to get out for a proper ride and see how it performs.
Ended up giving my mate my old DFF and putoline (bought an official waxing machine but kept using putoline/DFF as it was already set up). Waxed my chain to show him what to do so it'll still be a while before I use the fancy waxer.
Tried, half heartedly, to fit some tires (Schwalbe Romy) to my new builds wheels. Got one bead on then gave up till I remember where I put my heavy duty tire levers.
Buy a Tyre Monkey and thank me later
I replaced my computer mount with one that has a light fixing underneath. Sadly it's getting to that time of year when a front light will be needed for my commute.
I bought and fitted some new wheels to the road bike (technically yesterday). The rear hub bearings gave up while away on holiday so not exactly planned. Own stupid fault.
I knew they were a bit rough. I decided not to risk tearing the hub down and rebuilding it until we got back in case it didn't play nicely, after all it'll just be a couple of hundred miles of riding, what could go wrong 🙄. Clunky, click, crack, wobble, crack, grumble, wobble...
Luckily (sort of) I don't like the OEM giant wheels and the plan was to replace after the winter with something a little lighter and less garishly stickered.
Picked up a pair of Ksryium S and centre lock rotors from South Wales Bicycle Company in Newport, which they had on the shelf. Not my first choice. I was going to have some hand built shallow rimmed wheels and I suspect I could have had them cheaper online (don't look 🫣). Much more importantly I was back riding today and that's worth a whole lot more when it's likely to be my only proper holiday of 2026 that includes both my sons.
The placing of a good quality T25 T handle in the spares box was, however, an inspired move as it made aligning to the new rotor position a doddle (anyone forced to do this with a multi tool will know).
I bought and fitted some new wheels to the road bike (technically yesterday). The rear hub bearings gave up while away on holiday so not exactly planned. Own stupid fault.
I knew they were a bit rough. I decided not to risk tearing the hub down and rebuilding it until we got back in case it didn't play nicely, after all it'll just be a couple of hundred miles of riding, what could go wrong 🙄. Clunky, click, crack, wobble, crack, grumble, wobble...
Luckily (sort of) I don't like the OEM giant wheels and the plan was to replace after the winter with something a little lighter and less garishly stickered.
Picked up a pair of Ksryium S and centre lock rotors from South Wales Bicycle Company in Newport, which they had on the shelf. Not my first choice of wheel but the shop was really helpful. I was going to have some hand built shallow rimmed wheels. Much more importantly though I was back riding today and that's worth a whole lot more when it's likely to be my only proper holiday of 2026 that includes both my sons.
The placing of a good quality T25 T handle in the spares box was, however, an inspired move as it made aligning to the new rotor position a doddle (anyone forced to do this with a multi tool will know).
Fitted a new inner tube to the rear wheel.Less of a ball ache than usual
Yesterday (& today) were meant to be final tweaks to bike & gear for this weekend's 517km "The Land Between". As it happens, I've had to bail as my Dad was taken into hospital yesterday afternoon, so I need to stick around & support him and my Mum.
But before we had that news, I'd noticed the other day that the headset in the gravel bike was a bit graunchy, so picked up a new set of bearings, and set about sorting it yesterday morning. Just as well I did (rather than ignoring it and thinking "it'll be reet"!)
Also noticed the BB was a bit loose - took it apart, bearings seemed OK, packed a load more grease in and reassembled the crankset and the play stopped.
I put some of the £60 Sonder Camino forks on my gravel bike
The main reason was to be able to use Race King 29 x 2.0 tyres as they did not fit in the original forks. Everything was pretty straightforward for my first carbon fork swap. The only thing I didn’t anticipate was the GT forks had an inbuilt crown race but I had a spare.
Logo’s don’t line up and some might not like the colour combination but I am happy, colour blind and also not fussed about such things
plenty of room
Thanks
My first thought when I put them on was that the rake was not right but they match up exactly with the old forks. I think the shape of the new ones plus a bigger tyre made it look closer to the downtube.
Convinced I had a creaky CSU - which weirdly comes and goes. Have previously greased headset bearings, checked stem etc so thought I better check my wheel bearings just in case. They were clean, smooth, but quite dry. Cleaned them out and whacked some grease in and put them back... first ride no noise but will need monitoring for a while.
Also had to pull my cassette off as on a previous ride a piece of twig (<2cm long) managed to get between the cassette and freehub such that if I stopped pedalling it would cause the chain to slip off!
Going to put a new derailleur on the full suss tonight stupidly mangled the existing one after i knocked the chain off the jockey wheel getting it off the car an tried to pedal. luckily I managed to bend it back and it survived the Coquet Classic after that but I definitely wasn't smashing through the gears on the pedalley sections.
