When I was reading up what to get when we were building up our Surly Long Haul Truckers I came across the Hollowtech II’s. I did only find good reviews about them and everyone I spoke to highly recommend these bottom brackets.
I have now cycle just a tad over 5,700 miles on my LHT, mostly commuting, touring to come. But yesterday I started to feel some play when pedalling. At first I was thinking that this was the Crank Brothers pedals which were playing up again. They were so I swapped my pedals over so that I can fix them later, thinking that that would be it of today’s fettling.
Though today I decided that it was about time to give the Surly a good scrub behind the ears and a check over, since I got rather dirty when swapping pedals yesterday. While scrubbing I found out that the Hollowtech II was rocking and that the left hand side, or is it leg?, bearings were very loose, or rather gone. I could move the whole thing around very easily and there was much black grime, muck, dirt which felt like there were metal bits in it.
I’m sure that I fitted …

Over the last year or so I have used my Ortlieb Bike-Packer Plus (Rear) a lot.
Mainly to carry my work stuff to and from and of course touring. I fondly called them “bags of evil” simply because you keep putting stuff in them, extra lock and a brick and some tools and a brick and extra layer as it might be cold tonight when going home and that brick you forgot, now did I take a lock might as well just put one in to be sure etc etc. And the pannier just takes it and you end up with all that stuff you don’t need to take.
Since I do carry heavy things in my panniers and rest my Surly Long Hall Trucker against the wall with pannier as the wall support I have already worn a hole in the pannier. Might resort to the classic repair job with some duct/gaffa tape to stop it wearing thin where it is rubbing.
For some reason the spacers or grippers (as Erin and Sam call them) are starting to fall out of the hooks, when taking the pannier of the racks.
Erin and Sam of “A honeymoon to remember” fame over on …

A few weeks ago I blogged about Ghost visitations and since then we have had more.
First it was my Surly LHT that had its back wheel playing up, then Peli’s Eva front wheel and now Tuesday night Pia was haunted.
Eva hasn’t been used for a while and as normal the tyres were a bit soft the front was a bit more than the back. So we pumped the tyres up to see if there was a visit and a few minutes later the front tyre was well soft. So Peli took out the inner tube and set upon fixing the one that was p*nct*red. As you do you pump the inner tube up and look, feel, smell and listen for air coming out but nothing. So Peli pumped it a bit more, nice and big now and still nothing to find, she then let it hang on the door while checking the tyre for cuts and splinters and then fitting the new inner tube. Two or so hours later nothing to see on the “supposed flat” inner tube, go figure.
Tuesday I dug out Pia my MTB come around the town commuter and because I haven’t used her for …

I really thought that in my line of work I was exempted. Surely, I bring in more people in everyday to the fold, so there are
more new cyclists for them to visit, and more cyclists to bring them offerings? My little way to keep them happy.
But no …
Yesterday when I was getting Stella (my fixed bicycle) ready for the summer (I simply haven’t been on her since I got the Tank, my Surly Long Haul Trucker last year) I got the pump out and while I was at it, I thought that it would be a great idea to check the Tank over since it had been a while since I last checked its tyres. The pressure was only 5-10psi under what I normally run, so not too bad. It was a quick top-up.
But, this morning when I rolled the Tank out of the front door, I noticed that the fairies had paid a visit. A quick check, and the tyre wasn’t totally flat, so I decided that I would just top it up and hope that it would last until I got to work. I’d fix the visitation in my lunch break. But half way there I had to …

A few years back when I decided to go clip less, I search for something that was easy to clip into and easy to learn to use. I don’t like the “proper cycling” shoes as you can’t just jump off your bicycle and have a walk as you please, so I was looking for MTB style cycling shoes. Out of them all stood the Crank Brothers’ eggbeater, since they are four sided and also looked cool and simple.
Four sided : The four sided design made them extremely easy to learn to use. Simple to clip in, no flipping the pedal around to be able to clip in, e.g. just put your foot down and you are clipped in. The four sided design also meant that if you walk around in your cycling shoes or get mud on the pedals, the mud will just fall right off and you still can clip in.
Look : the eggbeaters just looks way cool, great design and the feel of them is like something that will last long and can handle a beating.
Simple : Being new to the game of cycling clip less and cycling shoes, back then, they looked well simple compared …

I was at a friends place today helping him out with some computer problems, as payment I got two rather knackered looking Brooks saddles. My friend have found them on dumped bicycles or on bicycles left outside to rot. He was thinking that he could use them for a wee bit of art work and have now painted them black. But then figured out after I said that I was looking for a new saddle that I might have some use for them if I could save them.
After a little clicking around on the Brooks website I think I figured out that they are a B66 and a Team Pro.
The B66, is the most knackered one, the steal railings looks ok with a bit of rust and dirt here and there. Though the leather is dead, looks very brittle and cracked up, therefore I don’t think the leather can be saved.
The Team Pro, looks like it can be revitalised if I can get the pain off without damaging the saddle. It does have some scrapes and looks a bit rough but I think some proofide would do some wonders. The tightening screw looks in a bit knackers but …

Today is the sad anniversary of the departure of Sheldon Brown two years ago.
I have never met Sheldon but I have heavily used his website and learned a lot from reading it. If I’m asked where is a good place to learn about bicycles and how to maintain a bicycle, I always send them to Sheldon Browns website.
We are all alive just so long as someone remembers us.
The above quote I totally agree with and I will use and will pass on Sheldon great work to others, thank you Sheldon.
LINK: Sheldon Brown

I managed to change the dead ball bearing in the HOPE hub and what can say.

The other day while cycling home from work. I heard and felt the loud noise of what seemed to be a screwdriver being put to a bench grinder coming from my rear hub.

I tried out the Dinotte 600L light this summer and it was just too bright, the reflection of the road was like looking at the light of an oncoming car, even at a medium setting!!! And other lights I looked at looked a bit “flimsy” and couldn’t easily be detached.