It Begins...

While I wait, sweaty palmed for the video feed of Omloop Het Niewsblad to begin I thought I'd torture and edify you all with a few shots of my latest fix...

In a previous post I related my hatred of the headset that my Giant is shackled with. Another niggling issue has been with the expansion plug in the carbon steerer that, despite my best efforts with all sorts of unguents and such, will not stay seated well enough to preload the headset bearings when servicing is necessary.

Acchh, the race has started. The Season Proper Begins... a replay of last year's nail biter between Langeveld and Flecha. I'd give my left nut for the ability to speak Flemish right now. I'd give the right one for a 2011 Rabobank Gilet in XXS. I'd give the rest of my junk to be in blustery Ghent for the race. They just asked Flecha where he was going to attack... He should've said, "right here!" and kicked the journo in the raspberry patch...

Annnyways, the problem isn't so much with the expansion plug as it is with the ID of the steerer tube. The OD is perfectly round, but the ID is rather oval. This isn't optimal for the expander to do its job.

The 3T fork on my Cervelo uses a glue in sleeve in conjunction with a star nut to provide a preload anchor point. It's simple, light and effective. So I copied that using a leftover chunk of aluminium steerer material cut from The Ritchey fork on my travel bike.

The mustachioed angels at The Greasiest Machine Shop In The World turned it down to the required OD to allow for a bit of Epoxy in the steerer...

I pushed in the star nut prior to installation as I didn't fancy the idea of pounding the piss out of my carbon fork.

The insert has been roughed up a bit with 240 paper and cleaned with lacquer thinner then alcohol. Ditto the fork ID.

I used a DevCon 2 ton epoxy to bond in the insert.

A bit of tape to locate the insert...

...then invert the fork (away from the kids and pets) until the epoxy begins to cure.

That's it!

Fixed.

The fork can be reinstalled in a few hours (depending on the epoxy used), but don't tension the top cap for 24 hrs.

Back to the race, see you soon.

Ruben

letter bate then nervar

Wow!

I fell into a hell-sized hole full of work and responsibility for a while there.

Apologies.

Fact is, when time is slim, I'd rather ride than write.

My whip-crackin', deck-shellacin' friend E was on the island for a few weeks and left the proud new owner of my cyclocross bike. I'm chuffed that he has taken up cycling and elated to see him on the Cannondale. We got in a few great rides along the backroads of Bali and soaked up the swaying palm tree vibe prior to his return to the Lone Star state.

The past week has seen me trying desperately to hold the descending wheel of Mr.S as we fly down from Kintamani. Thank God I can out-climb him, or my fragile weight-weenie ego would be shattered.

Anyways, he turned me on the a cool site called tracks4bikers where one can plot a course using Google maps which is then expressed as a route profile with distance, ascent and gradient info displayed.

I have put up some Bali routes which can be found by entering the term "Bali" into the filter. Check them out. LOTS of climbing!

Other cool stuff... Well, CKUA radio is ALWAYS cool, but when you get dar.fm to record your favourite show then download it as a podcast to be enjoyed at leisure... does it get any better? The strains of Redneck Alberta drifting across the rice fields of Bali is a start! YEEE HAWWWW! I take back everything...well OK, two of the many nasty things I've said about iTunes.

More cool crap... did you know Cervelo made cruisers? I know, I was shocked too! But there it is-

Even MORE cool stuff? Did you know that Herrera is Jesus is Herrera? Phenomenal/freaky post HERE. Kind of makes a yellow wrist band seem superficial (I Know, whodathunkit?).

Finally, the reason I Started This Blog In The First Place...OCD shit.

I have found a great deal of very useful information regarding bike fit on Steve Hogg's site. One particular nugget regarding cleat placement has been exceptionally helpful in ridding me of knee pain.

Recently I got some new shoes that, while comfortable, didn't allow for optimal cleat positioning. Setback plates are available, but I was only looking for a slight advantage and, well, basically I'm a cheap bugger. If I was looking for a huge setback, I would just order the plates and be done with it. A few millimeters? Where did I put that grinder?

Position of upper mounting hole does not allow for full setback of plate...

Meet my little friend Pepe...

Don't forget to remove captive nuts before cutting. Replace them before remounting cleat plates...

Now THAT's better. Come On, does it really make a difference? It certainly seems to, but maybe I'm just being OCD about the whole thing...

Thanks for coming over,

Ruben