Crumbly decals

Even before I'd started work on building the bike, before I'd even raised a hex key with determination, I noticed some of the rather lovely decals had started to flake off, like skin from a sunburned shoulder. I could have cried.

In the grand scheme of things, what's a decal? It won't stop the bike from working! However, I'd like the world to know that I'm riding a Surly, and I'd like my Surly to look its best.

Only one decal has crumbled - the left-hand (and therefore less visible clean side) "Cross Check" on the crossbar (I assume that crossbars became toptubes when they ceased to be horizontal. My Surly has a horizontal toptube, which makes it a crossbar), but it fell off with such ease that I do fear for the rest of them, particularly the lovely little letters going down the back of each seatstay and down each fork.

I sent an email to Surly in America via the website on Monday evening. (I really didn't think it would be good to contact Tredz, my retailer, about such a minor niggle, as it clearly wasn't their fault)

I received a reply this very day, 48 hours later, asking for a shipping address to send replacement decals, and offering apologies. 

Surly, I am impressed!

Test Flight

Not quite race-fit, as the front tyre punctured on the way home from the test flight.

Hardly anything of substance made it across from the old bike apart from the wheels, so it feels very very different.

Have to get used to operating downtube shifters again, feels very strange after so many years. New, smaller chainset means all my gearing feels different too. I was so used to the old gears I'd know exactly how many gears I had in reserve while climbing, and how near to top I was while descending. I'll have to re-learn all that.

The jury's out on the butterfly bars. I'm sure they'll be cool, but it's hard to know where to put them for best results. Where they go dictates length of brake cable, so it's important to get it right.

Awesome colour!

Schoolboy Error

Building the Surly, I left off around 9pm last night with "just" the cables to connect, watched a bit of telly, went to bed, and was awake again around 5am, so I got stuck in.

I turned the stem upside down to raise the bars and turned the bars around. This could account for it.

I connected both brakes, adjusted tension, clipped and crimped cables, and was admiring my handiwork when the phrase I teach the kids in Safe Cycling whispered into my ear "Don't get left behind!"

I'd connected the brake levers to the wrong brakes! (Right lever to rear brake, left lever to front; very continental!)

The bike is now built (just giving the wheels a polish) and that, I am pleased to say, is the only error to report, and fairly easily fixed.

work in progress...

The Surly is almost built! Just the chain and the cables and we're there.

It's been a good day. All has gone well.

Up early tomorrow for the few final things, then out for a ride, hopefully.

Surly

My Surly Cross Check frame arrived today. I was at work. My friend Pete had just texted me "is it here yet?" when Mrs H phoned to tell me it had indeed arrived. I really wanted to go straight home!

See the full gallery on Posterous

When I did eventually get home, unwrapping it was a joy. Beautiful colour - "Robin's Egg Blue" - bit like Bianchi but bluer. and nice bold fun graphics.

Tomorrow I need to borrow a headset press.

A friend in need...

My dear friend Carole Edrich is following in my tyre tracks (in reverse, if it's possible to follow someone backwards) and cycling from London to Pembrokeshire (and on via the ferry from here to Ireland) in a couple of days. I made the journey from here to London a couple of years ago, not long after Carole had been diagnosed with cancer. I cycled there to take part in the Breakthrough sponsored ride from London to Cambridge. A 290 mile ride to get to the start of a 50 miler... nice warmup!

Carole is doing to raise money for Cyclists Fighting Cancer. I have advised on the route, and how far I think she should try and ride, and will hopefully get to ride some of the welsh stages with her, work and weather permitting.

Please consider sponsoring Carole; her justgiving page is here. "Every Little Helps" may be the nauseating tagline of one of the most unethical retailers on the planet, but every little does indeed help causes like this. You all know how passionate I am about cycling, not so many of you will know that I lost my Dad to cancer when I was 12 years old. There was no cure back then. It's a different story these days, thankfully, and it's charities like this which are at the forefront of providing care for cancer sufferers. They really do need every penny they can get. I have worked for a charity which provides adapted cycles for disabled riders, and know only too well how expensive some of these machines can be. I also know what joy and independence they can bring, and that is priceless.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE, dig deep in your pockets, piggy banks, search down the back of the settee... any penny you can spare will be very well used.

 

Changing of the seasons

Today was my last day of Cycle Safety training, for this academic year.

Tomorrow we have the annual meeting at County Hall to decide who's doing what where next year.

I was hoping that by now I'd have landed either the Bike It Officer's job or the Project manager's job with Pedal Power, but not having been granted an interview for either, it was obviously not meant to be. Shucks.

I'm not too bothered (though I would like to know why) - I'm quite happy as I am. I can pick up some extra hours at Bluestone over the summer, and I can go back to teaching cycle safety next year. I can also get some much needed time to myself and time with my family. Win win win.

I've had solid work through may, June and July. Some weeks I've been commuting 25 miles a day for the whole 5 days - that's 125 miles a week just travelling to and from work. It makes the nearer jobs seem much much easier! In the midst of all that I threw in the Tour of Pembrokeshire, 60 miles of abject misery in relentless rain and driving wind.

Looking back on my first year as a cycle safety trainer - I love it. Deeply.

I have worked in 5 very different schools.

2 very small village schools.

1 very large school with a very wide mix of pupils.

2 schools with "bad" reputations (for different reasons).

I can't say I've found any of it "easy".

I have found it all deeply satisfying, very enjoyable and ultimately rewarding.

I now wish to train to teach National Standards, and extend my school base. Bring it on!

Paying attention

I gave the man in Tredz my email address:

"it's jimboharwood, all one word, all lower case..."

he wrote down Jimbo Harwood.

"No spaces..."

he wrote down JimboHarwood.

"There are no capitals..."

"Yeah, I know, that's just the way I write."

No email received so far.

Carpe Tedium

Phone message from Tredz picked up yesterday (Tuesday):

New frame ordered from supplier and will be delivered to Tredz (not here) by the "end of the week" (Not Wednesday then, as stated in the shop.)

When it arrives it will be shipped to me "as soon as possible" and SHOULD be with me "sometime next week" (Not this Thursday then, as stated in the shop.)

Life gets tedious, don't it...

Coincidence?

I think not!

I was reading the conditions of entry for the Three Peaks Cyclocross, a race I have always wanted to enter.

Rule 5 states:

• Only competitors riding cyclo-cross bikes with drop handlebars will be allowed to take part. Mountain bikes (or any other type of two-wheeled transport) are not permitted and anyone who appears (in the opinion of the race officials) to contravene this rule will be disqualified and/or prevented from taking part in the race.

Now, I bought some "butterfly" or "figure 8" handlebars when I was last in the local shop, as my wrists are getting painfully bored with "flat" bars, and the limited hand positions they offer. I do have a pair of drop bars, but don't really use them.

On closer examination of my new frame, I discovered that it has braze-ons for downtube shifters, and decided instantly that it would be a crime not to use them. It then occurred to me that, by taking the gear controls off the handlebars and onto the frame, I have opened up a whole set of possibilities for interchangeable handlebars.

Inadvertently, I have also opened up a whole new can of worms vis-a-vis the rear wheel! Because the downtube shifters are non-indexed, it matters not a jot whether my rear wheel has 6,7,8,9,10 or even 11 gears! As long as the chain is adequate for the cassette, the shifter will cope with any number of gears!

I cannot believe how this new venture is panning out! I had planned to buy a Surly frame during my 50th year, and build a bike up from the ground, but lost my job at the wrong moment. Luckily my friend gave me a frame in return for work done for him, and my bike got built anyway, with, most importantly, handbuilt wheels. Now, that frame has died (stripped threads in the bottom bracket) and a new phoenix must arise from the ashes.

How hard can it be?

Last week the bottom bracket of my tourer started making with the horrible creaks clunks and groans which imply a new one might be in order. I decided to use the opportunity to upgrade to Hollowtech 2, which involves the purchasing of a whole new chainset with integrated bottom bracket. When it came to fitting, it became clear that the threads inside the bottom bracket shell were worn beyond redemption, and the left hand bearing is left just turning on itself with no hope of ever tightening. Condition: fatal.

Having scoured the interwebs for ferrous frames, it quickly becomes apparent that the only viable option for replacement steel frames is American company Surly. I've long lusted after a Surly Cross Check, and discovered that they can be ordered through local Welsh company Tredz, and decided to pursue this further.

On their website, they state that delivery is free, but that you can ensure "next working day delivery" for an extra tenner. I tried contacting them to check whether they had Surly frames in stock, to no avail - you just can't get through on the phone.

I decided to take a chance and travel to their Swansea shop on spec.

Not a Surly frame in sight, but an alarming number of red-shirted surly shop assistants, of varying degrees of cluelessness. The first one led me to a computer, typed in "Serley" and announced that they do not stock anything by that maker.

I instructed him as to the correct spelling, and he found the frame I was after. "We don't have stuff like that here though, we'd have to order it in for you, and you could come back for it, but you'd have to pay for it up front, 'cos it's expensive, like." Then he disappeared.

I found another chap at the checkout, who was a little more polite but equally unhelpful and disinterested, so I just left the shop, which is on an enormous business park with nothing else nearby save for bathroom showrooms and car dealerships. I watched the one bus per hour cruise past on its way back to town.

After a couple of ranting texts to my wife, I decided the best thing to do was go back into the store (whatever they say, it's not a bike shop, and definitely not a "bike lovers dream and a great place to spend time regardless of whether you're looking to buy or browse.". It's like Tesco without the groceries.) and try and salvage something from a so-far wasted journey.

I singled out an older looking guy, and stood in front of him till he noticed me. I patiently explained my dilemma. I asked if they could get a Surly frame delivered to my home as soon as possible. There were a few too many ifs and buts to make his answer entirely convincing, but I decided to order and pay for the frame, as it was preferable to the alternative, which would be to return home empty handed, transfer money to my wife's debit card and order online. We'll see if it turns up before the end of the week. I have my doubts.

I did manage to buy the brakes I wanted.

Coming home on the train, I wondered what state the world has come to, when you can't just go to your local bike shop and buy something as fundamental as a frame. Bikes are sold as bikes, fully built. In the bike shop I worked in, the owner would usually refuse to customise a bike in any way, and would only sell it as it came in the box.

Locally, almost anything I ask for has to be "ordered in". I can get the basics - cables, chains, brakeblocks, but anything like a chainset will not be kept in stock by any of our local dealers. It will invariably take longer for them to get it than it would for me if I ordered it online. Don't they realise they have to be competitive with time as well as price? I don't mind paying a little over the odds to support my local bike shop, but having to wait 10 days instead of the usual 3 is pushing it a bit.

Buying a frame has been much harder than I imagined.