And today I did......

[epicyclo]

The Bravo was a bit truncated because there wasn't the hoped for turnout, so basically it was just the little Bravo, a ride rather than a race.

I used my Silver Sunbeam. I had intended to use my lightweight Sunbeam Road Racer, but its spokes are like piano wire, so I didn't want to risk breaking one (can't get them that fine anymore).





Moustaches were waxed and we set off. There were 8 riders on a variety of bikes including 2 mtbs, one modern.






There was the opportunity to watch traditional Stone Age roadside repairs on a loose crank. (My fault, I put it on and then let a kilted gorilla ride the bike )






One of the riders took the bike he rode around the world on so that was a bonus







There were lochs to swim across (Loch Garve) with our bikes strapped to our backs (maybe slight hyperbole, but certainly plenty splishing and splashing )







There were some raging torrents to be crossed







We gave the bikes a rest by leaning them on a 300 year old bridge







All in all a good day, the sun shone, a friendly crowd with some interesting characters. The Hotel Garve gave us traditional "service", it's hard to find grump like that these days. Apart from the modern mtb, the next oldest bike was a retro mtb (Peugeot) and the rest were old road bikes varying from 50 years old to over 80 years.

As for the race, well there was one at the end on the downhill into Strathpeffer. I would have won it if there wasn't faster riders than me....

 

[velomaniac]

Looked fun but alas too far away for my budget at the time.

 

[dyna-ti]

Have you tried wheelcraft for the spokes ? Theyve more than you can shake a stick at :shock:
http://www.wheelcraft.net/
Use the pic tool to pan around the shop and zoom in and out.


How is it riding in the Kilt ? Bit breezy and on the fast sections quite revealing :shock:

 

[ajm]

Re:

I'd heard of the event but I had no idea what or where it was - I assumed it'd all be some carbon & lycra road event down south (not that there's anything wrong with that, I ride my own carbon-forked road bike in lycra!) but that looks much more interesting.

Looks like it was a good day and quite local (well, very local for you!) Riding the original route has been an intention of mine for a long time now, I'll get round to it one day... maybe...

 

[epicyclo]

Have you tried wheelcraft for the spokes ? Theyve more than you can shake a stick at :shock:
http://www.wheelcraft.net/
...
How is it riding in the Kilt ? Bit breezy and on the fast sections quite revealing :shock:

The gentleman in the kilt is the notorious Big Kilted Spannerman. Anyone who's done the 'Puffer up to last year may recognise him as the mechanic who does the 36 hour stint in his kilt and never complains about standing around in subzero.

Notorious because he breaks singlespeed bikes just riding them, as indeed he did to the bike of mine he was riding yesterday, sheared a cotter pin, and wrecked a pedal into the bargain. To be fair he was pedalling a bike with a 70" gear up hills in what we'd consider mtb territory. Even though I had a full set of Sturmey's finest gears on my Sunbeam it was difficult to keep up.

I haven't worried about the spokes yet because I intend to rebuild the wheels with wood rims (vintage carbon ), so I'll be sorting out spokes then.

...Looks like it was a good day and quite local (well, very local for you!) Riding the original route has been an intention of mine for a long time now, I'll get round to it one day... maybe...

Your bike would have handled the bit we rode perfectly well. There was another rod brake roadster there (a Hercules).

 

[clubby]

Changed the headset on my STS. One I had on was a big DH model I've had since the late 90's but it just didn't look right with the xc build I'm running now. Thought it was also making some bad knocking noises at Drumlanrig so I picked up a good condition Chris King from ebay, which looks much better. Pishing down so not had much of a test ride, but still feel a knocking. Probably the forks Mind you they been on the bike since 98 and never had a proper service. Only ride it a couple of times a year so unsure whether to bother getting them done (£90) or to just put up with it.

Also managed to get the knackered bearings out of the BB cups on the fat bike. Supposed high quality Race Face ones, lasted less than 6 months. Local bearing supplier does hybrid ceramics for £22 a pair, so I'm going to try those next.

 

[velomaniac]

For reasons only known to the eejit demons in my heid I bought an Apollo mtb frame today.

Apolling by stefsmif_velomaniac, on Flickr
Its obviously not an X-Lite though that is amusing but one of those GTesque Apollo's, possibly a Kilimanjaro. Thought I might practice my equally apalling rattlecan painting as I have a couple of spare cans of gloss red and some primer to use up. Would be typical if the best paint job I ever did was on a rubbish bike. It is my size though at 22.5" so I'll ride it for a bit :facepalm:

Edit: Thinking of getting some stickers made up 'G&T Zaskargo'

 

[RobMac]

Re:

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[mikee]

Glad to see nothing changes

 

[velomaniac]

Are you back or is this but a fleeting visit ?