I've known about Brooks saddles for years but never really did anything about it so when I came across them again recently on the web in website saddle reviews it really piqued my interest. I have Charge scoops on all three of my bikes; I find them OK but not 'forget it's there' comfortable so I decided to try a Brooks. I chose their standard model, the B17, and ordered one in 'Honey' which is similar to the tan Scoops and matches the bar tape. Amazingly, this saddle has been in production since the 1890's and virtually every online review says they're amazing.
It came with a small sachet of leather care cream called Proofide; there was enough to apply five coats to the saddle, all of which soaked in very quickly. Brooks recommend giving the underside a few coats so I've ordered a proper tin of Proofide and I'll do the underside when it arrives. Anyhow, I fitted it to the Giant and took it for it's inaugural ride this afternoon. I think I need to lower the nose very slightly (Brooks recommend installing it slightly nose up) and the leather is still rock hard but it was very, very comfortable already so I'm very impressed so far!
With the widespread popularity of carbon frames (as well as seatposts, stems and handlebars) tightening fasteners correctly has become a critical part of bike maintenance. Over-tightening of fittings can easily crack or crush delicate carbon components which, as well as being dangerous, can be very expensive. So, with this in mind, I started researching torque wrenches for cycling. The only two prerequisites being that it must have 1/4" drive and cover a range of approximately 2 nm-16 nm. There are lots of cycling branded ones that I suspect are made in the Far East, including one that is commonly sold for £50-60 that is sold branded as Shimano's 'Pro' brand for £100, but I was curious if there was anything 'better' available?
I came across the Norbar brand on a cycling forum that mentioned they were an English company. I found that this model was available with 1/4" drive and a range of 1-20 nm and it was made in England. Best of all? It was available from Amazon for £73 delivered! It's a beautifully made bit of kit, as you rotate the adjuster to the individual torque numbers, the tenths scroll past a clear window. So, for example, you could set it to exactly 2.3 nm or 6.7 nm or 17.9 nm and know you're pretty much bob on. The icing on the cake is that each wrench comes with a certificate of calibration performed when the wrench was made and you have an address in the UK where you could send it to be recalibrated should you ever decide to in the future.
Anyhow, I've redone all the critical fasteners on the Giant and I now have a warm, fuzzy feeling inside knowing that everything is perfectly torqued and safe.
White spirit is an awesome and cheap degreaser but it isn't exactly eco-friendly. I've used citrus degreasers in the past and they're pretty good so I though I'd give this stuff a try. I used it neat on an FSA team chain lubed with Morgan Blue Synlube as a challenging test. I was suspicious about this cleaner when I first opened it, it has none of the citrusy smell of a good degreaser but smelled more like washing up liquid.
I put the chain in a clip-top plastic container and gave it a really good shake. I was immediately suspicious that the cleaner didn't change colour at all. I opened the container and tried agitating the cleaner into the chain with my fingers and it barely shifted the oil on the chain at all. I then washed the chain in hot water and could see the inner plates were still covered in gunk and the chain didn't tinkle at all when shaken which suggests it hasn't touched the oil within the links. One to avoid!
1st April: I really dropped on with today's ride, the BBC website said it would be dodgy with a fair amount of rain but it turned out to be a warm sunny day with just the odd passing cloud cooling things down briefly. I did the usual, the farm track and a couple of my new loops, my legs felt good but I'm still getting twingy pain behind my left knee although nowhere near as badly as when it first happened. On a side note, I think I've finally decided to stop using SRAM chains. I measured it before I left and the .75% end dropped through at a mere 910 miles so I fitted one of the FSA Team chains I got on sale recently from Planet X and it'll be interesting to see how long it lasts. Anyhow, a pleasant ride and another 22.1 miles.
2nd April: The BBC were predicting blue skies and less wind today and they weren't wrong. I took the Giant out and did the same ride as yesterday. It was warm with blue skies, as predicted, and not much wind. I don't know if you've seen the famous footage of the Swans flying through the air filmed by a camera on a microlight on the BBC but I had a similar encounter with a cock pheasant.
I was cycling along Ben Lane and there was a pheasant in the road who took off running so I ended up cycling along side him. When he took off he flew ahead of me for several seconds at head height and barely six feet in from of me which was really cool. After a few seconds reason prevailed and he flew upwards to the right and disappeared over a hedge into some fields. Anyhow, a cool encounter and another 22.1 sunny miles.
8th April: It was the nicest day of the year so far today, hot and sunny, so I took the Giant out for a spin. I did what is rapidly becoming my go-to route, the farm track and two loops. It was an uneventful ride but I did see a group of sparrows enjoying a dust bath together on the side of the road which was fun. Another 22.2 more miles.
14th April: It was a cool overcast day today but I was determined to get out for a ride.With that in mind, I took the Giant out to do the local 27. It was fairly windy but the rain held off which was welcome, Awesom-O's off the road temporarily and the Giant doesn't have mudguards. The ride was fairly uneventful, aside from seeing a young blackbird having a bath in a puddle which was cool, until I was heading up the hill that goes over the railway line behind Kirkby and felt sure my saddle was getting lower and lower!
I stopped at the top and found the seat wedge bolt was loose so I wiggled the seat up again and tightened it. I then did a mile or so into the industrial park with it too high so I stopped and lowered it slightly and got it perfect, maybe 1/8" lower than it had been originally. Coming back along the Lancs was fun, I had the wind behind me so I was holding 23+ mph on the uphill sections and 26 mph on the flat section in the middle which was fun. Because it's been raining recently, the Giant was absolutely filthy when I got back in so he got a thorough wash and it was another 27.0 miles for April.
17th April: It was dark, cold and overcast today but dry with little wind so I took the Giant out to do the local 27. My legs felt good and the weather started to brighten up as the ride progressed so it was an enjoyable ride. I saw quite a few other riders out which is a good sign that summer's on the way, they were mostly on Giants but I saw a Canyon and a Specialized as well. It was a fun ride with a pretty decent average of 16.7 mph and another 27.3 miles.
19th April: I managed to get out for a mid-week freshener on the Giant tonight. It was very overcast but warmish and not particularly windy so quite a nice evening for a ride. My legs weren't feeling up to much so I decided to do the farm track and one lap of my loop. As it turned out, I'd chosen to go out on a night the local TT club were having a race as I kept getting passed by strangely dressed blokes on exotic TT bikes doing about 30 mph! It's not a hobby that appeals to me to be honest but the bikes do make an awesome noise as they cruise past at top speed, especially the ones with solid carbon fibre back wheels! Oddly, when I got back and uploaded the ride, it turned out to be one of my fastest rides for ages with a 16.8 mph average. Cycling can be very weird in terms of how you perceive you're performing and how you actually are! Anyhow, another 19.9 miles.
22nd April: The weather was very strange today, absolutely blue skies and hot sun but with a fairly strong freezing cold wind. Anyhow, I took the Giant out for an amble. I did the farm track and was originally going to do a couple of loops but most of the way around the first one I saw the local TT club setting up.
There were cars and vans parking up and people on turbo trainers in the road so I decided to head for the back of Kirkby and follow the route of the local 27. It was pretty warm when I managed to get out of the wind and I had the wind behind me on the Lancs, which is always fun, and I ended up with exactly 27.0 miles.
28th April: It was overcast and windy but quite bright today so I took the Giant out for the inaugural ride with the new Brooks saddle. I took a shortcut to the farm path via the OCR and then did two of my new loops. The saddle was very comfortable even though it's new and still rock hard so that's very promising. It was a pleasant enough ride although I saw something that's puzzled me in the past. I had my Rapha underlayer on with my Aldi jacket over it and was very warm but I saw a few other cyclists dressed like it was the depth of winter - odd. Anyhow, another 20.5 miles.
29th April: I took the Giant out for a spin today to test the adjusted saddle. The weather was the same as yesterday so not too bad. It turns out I'd set the saddle too level and I think it's a bit low so I was constantly pushing myself to the back of the saddle so not a great ride. I was going to do the same ride a yesterday but do the loops the other way around. As I started the first loop I saw a horsist further down the road and I really couldn't be arsed with the whole creeping past them thing so I turned around went for a wander instead.
On the plus side I saw a a couple of groups of roadies out riding together enjoying the warmish weather. Oddly, the first group I saw were impeccably dressed in black bibs and smart cycling jerseys. The second group, who I suspect were a bit younger, were dressed like a colour clashing eighties nightmare; white lycra top and shorts covered in different colours, all sorts! Anyhow, I'm going to adjust the saddle angle and height again before the next ride and another 19.9 miles.
Well, I didn't manage to get out again because of the weather but I ended April with a pretty reasonable 207.0 miles on the clock, not bad!
