Tag: charge

#365daysofbiking Springtime:

November 30th – I wondered how long it would be before this set of Rockshox forks suffered the notorious ‘sticky lockout’ problem. A year, they’ve been fine, the control on my bars reliably allowing be to make the suspension solid on road, then active on rough terrain at the flick of a lever.

Usually, it’s as simple as a corroded cable. Not this time. The damper gate appears to be failing.

Spares on order, and for now, a spring and a cable tie to assist the mechanism over it’s reluctance.

This must be the fourth iteration of these forks, all excellent on the whole, but all suffering lockout issues.

Time for a redesign, SRAM…

March 25th – Cruising down the canal, a great sunset seemed to be building up, and near Bridgman Street in Walsall, I stopped to capture the view towards Birchills. I was interested to note the colour balance change between the tow images, and that soon after taking them I discovered what happens if you forget to charge the camera properly the night before hand: it goes flat.

Ah well, never mind. That’s a great view, and you’d never think it was right in the heart of Walsall. Roll on spring and let’s have some leaves on the trees, then it’ll be even better!

July 12th – Shopping in Lichfield in the morning. The city was humming, and crowded with lots to see, including the local MP who was posing foppishly outside a cafe.

The parked bikes were interesting – that maroon ladies Oxford is an interesting beast, and very continental. Roller hub brakes, basket carriers, 3 speed and a dutch lock, it’s in good nick with an interesting front light. A real utility bike, and it looks well loved – it’s actually a far better bike than many of the heavy, cumbersome Pashleys and knockoffs that seem so popular with ladies at the moment.

The Charge single speed is an interesting steed, too, I’ve seen it about a fair bit. I had thought it was fixed wheel, but it’s fitted with a flipflop hub; this is fixed one side, and normal freewheel on the other. This one is set up on the freewheel side, so it’s not really the bike of a fixie hipster.

I often wonder how many of these fashionable bikes are sold fixed, and then flipped to freewheel within hours, never to be changed back… riding fixed is bloody hard.

That rust needs attention, too…

The sand sculpture of the dogs was ace, and seemed to be a busker style thing. You could see the work and skill that went into that – and like a sandcastle, to be ultimately destroyed. It was worth a few bob for the artist.

A great morning.

April 20th – One aspect of Birmingham that’s improving lots is its bicycle culture. It’s huge now, and growing all the time. It was actually a tough call today to find space in a rack – although the good weather will have bought a lot of fair weather cyclists out.

That Plug fixie is a modern classic – note the hardcore lack of brakes – and is clearly ridden a lot. At the other end of the scale, the classic 80s Dawes Kingpin folder was an eccentric delight. Not so delightful was the cannibalised Giant frame, left to bleach in the sun like dead animal bones after the vultures had stripped them clean.

A salutary warning about locking your bike up properly there…