Fixed Gears: Raleigh Dakota

Fixed Gears: Raleigh Dakota: This bicycle belongs to one of my wife's best friends. It used to be her brother's bicycle - I guess early to mid 1990s with Biopa...

Raleigh Dakota

This bicycle belongs to one of my wife's best friends.

It used to be her brother's bicycle - I guess early to mid 1990s with Biopace type chainrings, thumb shifters and splatter paint. It is in pretty good condition too for its age - the paint is very good.  It  just needs some care now - new cables plus adjustments to the gears, brakes and bearings. And fit some easier tyres as it is mostly used on the road now.

And the finished article. I've left the cables until later as a barrel adjuster is missing from one of the thumb shifters and I'll need to source a replacement. Until then only six of the seven sprockets work. I'd forgotten how fiddly cantilever brake adjustment can be, and noisy too without any toeing of the pads! Fixed now, just a bike fit to do.

Refurbished workshop

I've finished refurbishing my basement workshop. I've added tool boards and lots of hooks for hanging wheels, frames and other stuff. Everyone should have one! (Stone table optional.)

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Repaired Trek Madone

About six weeks ago, I found a crack in the drive side dropout of my 2005 Trek Madone. Now this frame has been repaired a couple of times to fix cable stops that had become detached from the frame. But this looked a lot more serious. 

So, chapeau to Trek. They have removed the cracked drop out and inserted a brand new one into the carbon chain stay and seat stay. I don't know how you do that without damaging the carbon tubes. And all this was free of charge - including postage - under the lifetime warranty. Despite obvious signs of heavy use. No quibbles. Chapeau again!

John's Claud Butler - part 3

John's Claud Butler is finished. I had to wait a few days for a new front brake cable hanger to be delivered, but now all the work is done and this morning it passed a test ride. It's a few years since it has been ridden, so it's a nice feeling to get it working again.

This road is like...#1

The idea for this post started on Facebook with a discussion of UK climbs that might remind you of Mont Ventoux.

OK, so you need to add a good dose of imagination!

Great Dun Fell was the first suggestion, but I usually think of Castle Hill near Huddersfield as a contender. Obviously, the length and height gained are nowhere close to Mont Ventoux, but the silhouette of the castle on the top of the hill reminds me (slightly) of the observatory on the summit.

For me, the similarities don't end there. Castle Hill can often be spotted in views, although it doesn't dominate the skyline like Mont Ventoux. But you also see the summit and the castle as you can climb through the trees and farm houses on Lumb Lane, like you do as you ascend the mountain in Provence.

For the statisticians, Castle Hill via Arkenley Lane and Lumb Lane is about 2.8km long compared to 21.5km up Mont Ventoux from Bedoin, and the ascent is 150m compared to over 1500m. So the length and height gained is 10 times less, but the maximum gradient  is trumped with ramps on Castle Hill up to 25%, and surely steeper if you take the inside of the final hairpin. And the view? Well, I think it's special.

Next: Muur van Geraardsbergen (Belgium)

John's Claud Butler - part 2

I noticed this Reynolds stamp on the fork steerer.  No labels on the frame though.