Saturday, May 2, 2015

2015 Bicycles Network Australia (BNA) jersey

Here are two photos of me in the new BNA jersey that arrived in the mail earlier this week.



Sunday, August 4, 2013

An April 2012 Ride Revisited: Old Boboyan Rd & Grassy Creek Track

Set out below are some photos of a ride with Dot & Lex from Yankee Hat car park during Easter 2012, following some of the tracks visiting historic settlers homesteads such as Brayshaw's hut and Westerman's homestead.

The photos are mainly of the quality and state of the track we followed, ahead of an audax dirt ride in mid-August along a similar course.  There were some boggy areas not shown in these photos because I was concentrating on getting through or around those areas without getting wet !






















Sunday, June 2, 2013

Cantilever brake options




Below are photos showing the different styles of cantilever brakes used on our touring bikes - my  Surly 'Long Haul Trucker' (blue) and Toni's Thorn 'Sherpa' (red). 

The Surly has Tektro CR720 Mafac style cantilever brakes, which are used in combination with non-STI Shimano Ultegra brake levers. Rivendell ( http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/brc1.htm) refers to them as "high profile" whereas I described them as "wide profile".  I find that they have very good stopping power, superior to the Shimano R550 cantilever brakes I have on my old touring bike.

Rivendell also says  “...They set up easily as cantilevers go” but that’s not my experience, which is more in line with the following comment about this style of cantilever brake by CycloCross Magazine in May 2012:
  • “...the tried and true ‘Mafac’ style cyclocross brake is still the most predominant and effective option for all racing conditions. They provide plenty of mud clearance, the ability to remove wheels without opening them, and look damned retro-cool. The one thing they are not, however, is easy to set up.”
This is from an article about setting up this kind of brake:  http://www.cxmagazine.com/gut-wrenching-mechanical-mondays-brake-setup
 
To centre the cable I use an uphanger attached by way of a bolt through the centre of the fork crown (see the side profile in the 3rd photo below), rather than a cable hanger fitted into the spacers above the headset.  I think these are designed to prevent brake judder/chatter, which can be a problem with cantilever brakes. 

Because my LHT is the 60cm size & I have 5cm of spacers, the bare cable running down to the straddle cable mechanism would be quite long with a traditional type of cable hanger, so I thought it would be best to have something that stabilises the cable just above the straddle mechanism, thus the uphanger. 

I got the idea of using an uphanger when I saw a Cannondale cyclocross bike at a local shop back in 2010 (the CAADX 5 is the latest version of that bike).  I asked the shop to order in the same uphanger from the importer, which cost about $30 !  I later found that UK sites Spa Cycles and SJS Cycles sell much cheaper uphangers.




Toni's Sherpa uses Shimano R550 cantilever brakes in combination with Campagnolo 'Athena' ergopower brake/shift levers.  The brake cable is centred by a cable hanger embedded with the spacers above the headset (see side profile in the 3rd photo below).  Toni preferred these brakes to the Tektro model above because she didn't like the look of the brakes sticking out so much.





Saturday, February 23, 2013

Photos of Ernie Old from "By Bread Alone"










Ernie Old autobiography "By Bread Alone"

A few months ago I read Ernie Old's autobiography "By Bread Alone", published in 1949 when he was 75. Before returning the book to a friend, I scanned some of it including the photo below that appears on the dust jacket.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Bikes used on Murray River Tour

Our touring bikes during the train trip from Adelaide to the southern suburb of Noarlunga in early October 2012.  We rode over Wilunga Hill to Normanville and on to Victor Harbor and Goolwa, then followed the Murray River to Renmark.  From there we caught a Greyhound bus to Mildura and, a few days later, to Robinvale.  We then rode via Manangatang to Swan Hill, after which we rented a SUV to get back to Canberra in early November.

Mine is a Surly 'Long Haul Trucker' and Toni's is a Thorn 'Sherpa'.  Both have custom component builds.