Tag: fit

February 3rd – Also on the square, the tell-tale sign of a secondhand steed.

This road bike – a Carrera (Halfords own band) low end job – has been clearly bought by someone who’s a wee bit too big for it. The saddle is so high as to make the geometry look unsettlingly wrong, and the steerer – the fork tube the stem and handlebars mount from has been extended by a ‘suicide’ riser. This is a device to increase the height of the bars relying on clamps to keep it secure. 

Often the clamps slip or come loose, hence the nickname.

Finally, the flat bars are far from original.

People, buy a bike that fits, even secondhand. It’s a lot safer and comfier in the long run.

September 11th –  Near Lichfield, I met this perky, lithe young cat. Busy hunting crows, he wasn’t going to let me disturb his hunting mission, and he carried on as I watched, ignoring me until I called, whereupon he came and accepted ear and chin tickles.

A lovely cat and one I think someone adores very much.

March 18th – A bit of a tip for the Brooks saddle owners with a sheared tension bolt, as I suffered last week.

If your saddle hasn’t stretched much, it can be particularly hard to get the replacement bolt in – in the factory, the saddles are stretched on a hydraulic jig, so fitting a replacement can be a struggle to the home mechanic.

The problem is made worse because the pin isn’t threaded all the way up – and an extra 2mm of thread could make all the difference, and did on my saddle.

To make fitting a replacement easier, I took the adjusting nut from the new pin, and turned 2mm off the head on the lathe at work. It’s a steel nut, so there’s plenty of material left, and that 2mm allows the nut to be wound back clear enough to fit the pin with minimum leverage.

If you have this problem and don’t have access to a lathe, just find a handy local engineering company where someone will probably do this very quick task for a pint.

It could make the difference between doing the job yourself and having to return the saddle to Brooks.