New Old Wheels

Well it is way past time I added something to this page. Having just had to start moving all my bikes to another house I realise I have an awful lot of bicycle things. This fact didn't stop me from buying some more for myself as a birthday present. I found some lovely wooden rims from Italy on ebay and with another gift from Phil at Different Cycles, a pair of Campag hubs, made up some wheels for my Colnago. Then another exciting find on ebay was some Pave tyres in traditional colours. They look so good together!
Building the rims was not as hard as I imagined though they are flexible and can go out of true easily. I was careful to build slowly keeping tensions even by feel and then went to a bike shop to check spoke tension with a gauge. They were pretty even at 50kg so I just had to tweak them up a bit more. I read somewhere about 70kg is a good tension but I don't actually have a gauge. The ride is yet to be confirmed as it has been flooding everywhere and I have only had some shorter rides on wet roads. It did seem like they were different in feel but the tyres help that too. It is a much less harsh ride. Some people probably equate the kind of feel to a deadness or slowness because they feel so different to skinny clinchers at 145psi. I'll have to do some more rides swapping wheels to see. I have never felt I was slower because of this feel but certainly more comfortable. That is important now I am over 50!

Maybe not better than Sex

We are having a "classic ten mile" for the first race of the road season at our club this year. The handicapper liked the idea of a short time trial and an old "non-democratic" measurment seemed like a connection to historical races in this area. Consequently I thought I would race the event on a historical machine.
The machine I am working on is a Healing I picked up recently at a second hand sale. It is an old well known Australian brand famously ridden by Russell Mockridge. In order to be a little competitive I thought I would build up some wheels with 60 year old Chater Lea hubs that were left to me by a dear friend. I fixed them to some Fiamme Red label 'single'(tubular) rims that I've had hanging around for 30 years. Geez, I must be getting old! In part I used these rims because they match as a 32/40spoke combo. It must be 30 years since this was a common arrangement with wheels. When I can afford them I would like to get a pair of Ghissello wooden rims to be really period cool!
The wheels turned out much nicer than I had thought and look a treat while all is still polished and the plain steel spokes have not darkened. With tyres they weigh 2.5kg (without sprocket) and spin as well as Campagnolo Record. I was very surprised at this. The hubs had been in an old box for about 20 years gathering dust. They have a grease nipple so you can easily lube them.
I have just finished glueing on the tyres. For people who do not know, tubular one piece tyres were the racing standard for most of the 20th Century. They have special rims and the tyres are held on by their inflation as well as the glue. It can be a sticky and awkward process getting them on but the mind wanders in the tedious process and I was thinking about sex. I thought perhaps the two practices were related. After all when you just resign yourself to the idea that it is going to be a sticky job it is not so bad. It even becomes part of the fun sometimes. But then again, maybe it is not that great. Sex does take your mind off the job!
Anyway, next will be riding them. I sit with those who feel that even a cheap tubular gives a superior ride. The construction of the tyres is quite different ,without crossed threads, and this may account for it. Young riders are also amazed at how quickly you can change a flat tyre out on the road. I am not surprised that they don't take up the old habits though as it is a sticky process and maybe not better than sex or even just riding your bike.