Thursday, 3 December 2009

Feeling pretty tired right now

Got home from work last night and no one was in so I grabbed my singlespeed prayed there was enough juice in my lights and went off to get a quick ride in. Nowt too tech just a run round the jumbles again and a chance to try out my new gear. Altura waterproof shorts, nice, kept my bum dry and I didn't really notice them very good. Altura Reflex windproof, seems pretty good so far £70 still seems a lot of money for it tho. Shimano MW80 shoes, good feet nice and dry and a better design for the ankle cuff means less water ingress. Definitely smaller than previous (same size) shimano shoes I've had but thankfully not too small. Ride wasn't 100% success tho, mid ride I was musing on the amount of stress shoe cleats get whilst gurning your way uphill singlespeed. Sure enough later on my right shoe/pedal developed an unnatural amount of float, loose cleat bolts but it was all downhill on road to get home so I kept going, a few minutes later there was a scuffing noise from back wheel, I stopped and got off (right foot still clipped in) and had a look. Rim brake surface has worn away and tyre was pushing the rim apart. Oops! I unhooked the rear brake and carried on home, where I had serious trouble getting right shoe unclipped. New wheel needed and cleats need sorting out but a fast 20mile ride done and I was back before 7. Only 235 more to go.

That's not supposed to look like that.

3 comments:

Julbags said...

Rim brakes! Bad idea. A friend has V's on his SS too and one night setting off his rim exploded like a gunshot, quite impressive but pretty terminal.

He rides disks on everything else so had gotten out of the habit of checking for rim wear.

Donk said...

To be fair I knew the rim wasn't long for this world. Never had an explosion, this is the worst I've had, rim normally deforms slightly first.
Rim brakes is a cost thing, 1 cheap wheel per year (my front wheels seem to last forever) plus a few sets of rim brakes pads costs less than the amount of disc brake pads I was getting through in previous winters. Plus I've a couple of sets of rim brake only forks for that bike.

Red Bike said...

I think you got off lightly there.
I've never managed to work out just how thin is too thin. Luckly they've always gone (with a VERY big bang) while I'm pumping the tyres up not while i'm out riding.