The Beacon Message Board

laurence_cooley

Well done. Enjoy Box Hill if you've not ridden it before. It's the smoothest road I've ever ridden a bike on, since its resurfacing for the Olympics. I got home yesterday to find a magazine had arrived in the post from the organisers. I presumed that they would only send a magazine to successful ent...

laurence_cooley

I hope we didn't manage to miss you tonight, Tim. We waited until just after 7 and Nic checked the car park, but we couldn't see you.

laurence_cooley

I'm going to give it a go, Tim.

laurence_cooley

Slightly off-topic as it's a film rather than a book, but A Sunday in Hell in on YouTube and is well worth watching if you haven't seen it: http://youtu.be/D4IDCkcnnHg And if you liked that then Stars and Watercarriers, which follows the 1973 Giro and is by the same director, is also on YouTube: ht...

laurence_cooley

The mech seems pretty solidly attached. When I shift into the small chainring, the line of the chain changes a bit so that it's no longer right up against the cage, so perhaps we're reading too much into the line of the chain in this photo.

laurence_cooley

I guess that's a possibility, although I can't recall it taking any impacts. I'll see how it fares with a new jockey wheel and if that doesn't fix it, investigate further.

laurence_cooley

Putting a ruler against the left hand (from this view) edge of the cage says that it's straight there. The right hand edge clearly curves in towards the bottom, but I'm not sure if this is how it's supposed to be or not (it's Shimano 105 but I can't find a rear view online to compare it with).

laurence_cooley

Thanks Alan. I've just ordered a pair of Shimano ones. Hopefully that will solve it.

laurence_cooley

There's quite a lot of lateral play in that one, which I presume there isn't supposed to me. I took it apart, cleaned it and reassembled but it's still possible to wobble it a lot by hand, so I think it needs replacing.

laurence_cooley

I think I've fixed the photo.

I was thinking of just replacing the jockey wheel, but it occured to me that the chain might be running perfectly straight and it's the position of the derailleur that's out.

laurence_cooley

After cycling behind me today, James mentioned that it looked like my chain was rubbing the side of my derailleur cage. On close inspection, it looks like the jockey wheel is running off-centre. Any ideas why this might be? I'm wondering of the derailleur is out of line, or if it's a problem with th...

laurence_cooley

Here's my route to Charlecote from today, using a mixture of lanes and main roads: http://connect.garmin.com/course/2795902.

laurence_cooley

According to an advert in ProCycling, March 2013's Cycling Plus has a group test of road bikes with disc brakes.

laurence_cooley

I'd quite like to give some circuit races a go this year, if I can get a bit faster between now and the summer! I'm hoping a week in Mallorca might help me with that, but will have to see...

laurence_cooley

This is quite a nice article by Ted King on how he thinks the sport has turned a corner.

laurence_cooley

I'm with Nic and Alan on this one, maybe it's mild OCD but it winds me up to ride a bike if it isn't in near enough perfect working order and spotless before every ride. Someone should conduct a study of the relationship between having OCD tendencies and being a cyclist. There's surely some correla...

laurence_cooley

This is being shown on Pick TV, which is apparently available on Freeview (channel 11), this Thursday at 7.30 pm.

laurence_cooley

I understand from a very reliable source that Sir Bradley has moved his finacial affairs off-shore. The only reason can be to avoid paying UK levels of tax. Discus Don't tell me he's doing a Depardieu, signing for Katusha and representing Russia at Rio 2016? According to an interview he gave in Nov...

laurence_cooley

Now, that's a nice bike: http://www.madisongenesis.co.uk/#thebike.

laurence_cooley

One more query: I looked up KH28 and it doesn't appear to be at Romsley. Perhaps it's my misunderstanding of the numbering system but it seems to be Saintbury Hill in Gloucestershire?

laurence_cooley

The calipers arrived this morning and the rims on both wheels are down to about 1.1 mm at the thinnest points so there's a little life left in them, but not much. In a stroke of better luck, I found a pair of last year's model Mavic Ksyriums heavily discounted online.

laurence_cooley

The names being bandied about are Pat McQuad and Hein Verbruggen and even the owners of the US Postal Service team but that I assume is only speculation at this point. Speculation maybe, but good enough to make Cycling Weekly: http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/536403/lance-armstrong-confes...

laurence_cooley

Ed Moss wrote:Usually first come first served, then reserve list if there are a few DNS on the day.

Hmm, not last year according to the website.

laurence_cooley

Is a place in the LMTT guaranteed to all entrants? I remember that last year there was a reserve list. Is that the case again and if so, what are the criteria for getting in?

laurence_cooley

It's not so easy if they're factory wheels though, from what I've read. It seems near-on impossible to get replacement rims for Shimano or Mavic wheels - at least without spending nearly as much as a whole new wheelset.

laurence_cooley

Thanks Steve, but I just ordered some from eBay because I thought it might be useful to have some to hand to do more regular checks. It had occurred to me that perhaps the thinnest point isn't accessible, but hopefully the fact that 1 mm is a relatively conservative minimum takes care of that.

laurence_cooley

Answering my own question about what thickness the rims need replacing at, the CTC suggest 1 mm.

laurence_cooley

Yes, I'd held a ruler up to them last night and was worried about how concave they were looking. Incidentally, the Open Pros on my other bike are fine, despite the fact that they look fairly old (I bought the bike second hand so I don't know exactly how old the wheels are). I think it must partly be...

laurence_cooley

I was reading Alan's thoughts on disc brakes and couldn't really believe that he was wearing rims out after only 4,000 miles, but I thought I should check mine just in case. I can't seem to find the wear indicators on the Shimano RS-10s that came with my Genesis, which I bought in July. They've done...

laurence_cooley

I imagine the main reason that they're not more widely available is that they're not legal for use in UCI-approved events. Obviously someone buying from Evans or wherever isn't going to enter the Tour, but most of what you see on even relatively cheap bikes has trickled down from the top-end ones th...

laurence_cooley

Ed Moss wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20964728

When did Millar become American?

I think that bit's supposed to be about Matt DeCanio.

laurence_cooley

Here's the route I used for Bewdley today, returning via Kinver: http://connect.garmin.com/course/2625312.

laurence_cooley

Or maybe this is the end: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/sport ... oping.html.

laurence_cooley

John Sanderson wrote:Plus you'll be able to feel quite smug when you beat someone who HAS got tri-bars...

I thought this was what the hill climb was for?

laurence_cooley

In case you haven't already seen these articles, they're probably worth a read. They suggest that aero bars are the most economical way of improving time trial times if your starting point is a road bike: http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/how-aero-is-aero-19273/ and http://www.cyclingtips.c...

laurence_cooley

In this month's programme, there's an item on a hill climb (about half way though): http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01pd09z/. Oh, and some people who want to ruin a perfectly good bike ride by also doing some swimming and running.

laurence_cooley

I watched it last night. Definitely worth watching for the humour alone, including Wiggins on the Tour ("bloody hard"), Dave Brailsford's office ("I don't like clutter...I like white") and Shane Sutton ironing his shirt on the floor of his flat above a bike shop. Except someone from Sky has obviousl...

laurence_cooley

Pedlo Mudguardo wrote:The temperature is way too low for a safe ride tonight so I'll be going for a run instead followed by quality recovery with a can of beer ....

Watch those pavements too. I tried to go out this morning but turned back after I saw a few pedestrians sliding around.

laurence_cooley

Someone has uploaded Bradley Wiggins - A Year in Yellow, which was shown on Sky recently, to YouTube. Looks like it's worth a watch.

laurence_cooley

I've just bought some Conti GP 4 Seasons. Meant to get 2 x 25mm but must have scrolled the mouse and got a 25mm + a 23mm (note to self - don't order stuff late at night without specs on). Before I send the 23mm back, has anyone tried this combination? Nope, but some reasons for doing so are given b...

laurence_cooley

Have done. I also did my undergraduate degree at Bath. Sadly I wasn't cycling much at the time, otherwise Bathwick Hill might have made me a better climber.

laurence_cooley

Someone has been taking Martin's hill repeats technique to the extreme: http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... otony.html.

laurence_cooley

Icknield Street probably was waist-deep, if it flooded as much as it did one day in the summer when I stupidly decided to carry on through it, not realising quite how deep it was.

laurence_cooley

This sounds like it might be worth a look: http://www.lionelbirnie.com/cyclinganthology/.

laurence_cooley

I asked the guys at Birmingham Bike Foundry via their Facebook page and they said they try to reuse them for other purposes, but that they already have too many. I guess if they don't recycle them, no one in Birmingham does.

laurence_cooley

Does anyone know of anywhere in Birmingham that collects old inner tubes and tyres for recycling? I don't like throwing them in the bin but I've got a small collection accumulating and wondered if there was a local recycling service for them? Any ideas?

laurence_cooley

I'd be more worried the day that someone turns up for the Kidderminster Killer on (a Cube) EPO.

laurence_cooley

I'm not an expert by any means, but it sounds like you might be in need of a more structured training programme. If you are time trialling next year The Black book by Pete Read is a very good place to start. October should be a month of taking it easy and just riding the bike, with no structured tra...

laurence_cooley

Philip Whiteman wrote:Any evidence of a rider without cake in their blood will receive a life time ban and will be expected to return all their Brevet Cards.

Watch out for Czeck neck.

laurence_cooley

What's going on with Miguel Indurain?

I can't help look at this BBC graphic and wonder...

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Jockey wheel alignment

Madison Genesis road team

Bradley Wiggins - A Year in Yellow

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