Tag: Tech

#365daysofbiking Slightly unreal

September 23nd – Another late night at work and there was little for it but to grab a takeaway on the way home – and thin pickings on a Monday meant calling in at Walsall Wood.

The rain had been back and I managed to tuck the homeward commute in-between periods of rain.

I thought I’d give the phone a chance to display it’s prowess with it’s lauded night mode on St John’s Church, Walsall Wood.

Oh my goodness.

This is odd. I’m not sure if I like it. There’s a lot – and awful lot – of HDR there. It seems almost unnaturally sharp. But it’s visually stunning. I have no idea what to make of this at all.

Close up the quality is not great, I have to say. These images were ever destined for social media though, and I’m being way too critical.

But blimey, there’s a thing to experiment with…

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#365daysofbiking Picture this

September 20th – An old favourite but a new camera, well sort of: The new iPhone is being touted as having the ‘best camera in any smartphone yet’ and having a new one, I’m interested to try it.

Over the years, as the technology improved, more of this journal is phone images – either by convenience, of because the phone was immediately to hand. But they’re no substitute for a decent camera – the physical limitations of a phone camera are just too great.

There’s no doubt that the pictures this device takes are excellent. But the seem a little harsh – since the physical mechanical constraints of a small camera in a thin unit are so great, the real art of this thing is in software. It’s goo, but I think needs softening a little.

It’s still absolutely remarkable though, have to say.

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#365daysofbiking The night in my veins

September 7th – I headed over to a silent, deserted Chasewater not optimistic that I could get decent results out of the new camera.

However, having been in this position before, I thought I might sort it out and get used to the foibles of the new device.

The G5X is actually great, and I think it was mastered. Apart from the toad shots, where a bike light was used for illumination, all of the images were taken in almost total darkness by a variety of means and mode settings.

I think I’m getting used to it.

Riding back along the canal after being scared senseless by a stag crashing through the scrub at Anglesey Wharf, I nearly squished poor toad, but it obliged as a model before I popped him into the hedgerow for safety.

I love the night, it’s a lot more beautiful than people would tend to think. Nosey, unsubtle deer excepted.

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#365daysofbiking The lateness of the hour

August 30th – Yet another late night. Catshill junction provided another good opportunity to find out how to get the best out of the Canon G5X mark II.

I’m beginning to like it but still not confident that what I capture is what I want.

I loved the effect of the garden lights and LED street lighting. That really has made urban night photography a different game.

In this late hour it’s hard to explain just how dark these scenes actually were.

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#365daysofbiking A decent buy

August 7th – I’m always interested when I spot a new bike in any of the client’s facilities I use. This Halfords Carrera is a typical, mid range trail bike. Competently designed with mass market but decent looking equipment, including suspension forks with crown lockout and hydraulic disc brakes, this was obviously a new steed for someone.

It’s a nice bike and shows why Halfords sell a lot of bicycles despite the variable quality of their shop staff – particularly as regards technical knowledge.

I did, however, wince at the way the bike was locked. That really isn’t a great way to use a D lock and extension cable…

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#365daysofbiking Brand bland

May 10th – One of the odder brand crossovers of the last few years has been Land Rover branding bicycles.

Company 2×2 Bikes designs distinctly average mountain bikes and sells them under the Land Rover brand, hoping presumably that some of the off-road cachet is gained by association.

Looking at this one in a customer’s bike shed, it’s a decent, if unremarkable low end steed: Better than a bike-shaped object one would buy from a discounter but not great either.

I’d have expected a bike badged with this brand to be something unusual. I wonder if the bikes are less prone to breakdown than their 4×4 stablemates?

An oddly bland product with a strange association.

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#365daysofbiking Feeling groovy

March 27th – The front brake has been quite noisy in recent days, and is juddering a little, yet the pads are fine.

A quick inspection in the bike shed at my destination showed the reason: The front disc it now severely worn and is starting top ripple on hard barking. The wear surface itself is about 60% of its original width.

A new disc will be about £25. Time to get one ordered I think. It’s seen some life, that one.

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#365daysofbiking Good tradition

March 2nd – The first Saturday in March is always the Erdington Bicycle Jumble, run by North Birmingham Cyclist’s Touring Club.

Sadly, last year it was cancelled due to heavy snowfall, and as a consequence, suffered a little for numbers this year – and I was a little late.

But it was still good to meet old friends and acquaintances, remember old bikes and old riders. The memory-jog provided by some of the stuff there cannot be understated.
A fine, traditional social event I’m pleased to see continuing.

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#365daysofbiking Brake spring broke

February 5th – I have absolutely no idea at all what’s happened here at all.

It started at the weekend – a rubbing on the front disc brake on my current bike of choice. A light rub, no more that a tickle.

As the days progressed it got worse, and defied my attempts to adjust it away.

In exasperation, I removed the brake pads, which were OK at about 60% remaining.

The leaf spring that keeps them off the disc however, was broken. This was allowing on pad to rub.

An easy, 30 second replacement. But I’ve never had a spring fail like that that hasn’t been worn on the disc as the pad ran down.

This is most peculiar. I shall keep my eye on things in case it’s something significant.

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#365daysofbiking On the rebound

January 11th – I’ve had a winter of mechanical problems with the bikes, and one has concerned suspension.

Forks with suspension can be a blessing and a curse, and the ones I use have a sealed air spring with a hydraulic damper, and several adjustments – air volume, pressure, slow rebound, fast rebound – all of which significantly affect the ride.

If you don’t have suspension tuned correctly, you can lose a lot of efficiency in compressing the forks with every pedal revolution. The ones I use can be locked out to make them rigid in use on road, but that’s only half a solution.

Since the forks have had work done, they’ve lost all my fine tuning and I need to start from scratch, so I’ve cheated on the lengthy process of dialling them in – I’ve borrowed a Shockwiz.

Shockwiz is a small electronic gizmo (a bit smaller than a matchbox) that is cable tied to the fork, and connected by a small hose to the air spring valve. It uses pressure and other sensors to detect the motion of the forks over a variety of riding conditions, and it just sits there, logging the data.

With a brilliant companion phone app connected via bluetooth, you set various measurements and chose what kind of profile you want, and over successive rides, the app will make recommendations on adjustments to make, and request you ride certain surfaces – like bumpy trails or whatever.

You adjust, then restart the process.

Within a few rides you get a fantastic ride that really is what you’re looking for – often by telling you to make adjustments that are counter-intuitive.

Shockwiz is very expensive, but if you can borrow or hire one like I did, it’s a godsend. A month or more long process sorted in a few days. And probably far better.

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