Show us what you did today, thread

[clubby]

Not been posting much, just riding away doing my own thing.
Been back revisiting old haunts around the Sidlaws, and also exploring new areas in southern Aberdeenshire. Lots of places I've driven past many time on my way to Ballater, but never stopped at. Today was a loop round and up Clachnaben as recommended by my mate Andy. Lovely loop topping out with some amazing views on top of a rocky outcrop. Descent wasn't my favourite having been armoured for walkers with rock steps and never-ending water bars. Good part is Andy has just told me there is an alternative track down if you backtrack for 1km after the summit views. Sounds like a return visit is in order once the grouse season quietens down a bit. Whole hillsides covered in shooting butts which won't be much fun once Sunday rolls around.

A few pics from today to enjoy.

Untitled by Steven Clubb, on Flickr

Untitled by Steven Clubb, on Flickr

Untitled by Steven Clubb, on Flickr

 

[Jamiedyer]

Re:

Looks like everybody's getting some good riding in. I am away in Germany at the moment but have been getting some vintage singlespeeding in and am heading to the Hartz mountains tomorrow on the mtb, so will hopefully get some photos.
Jamie

 

[epicyclo]

Great thing about Scotland. Find a trig point and you have a view.

 

[mk one]

Not been posting much, just riding away doing my own thing.
Been back revisiting old haunts around the Sidlaws, and also exploring new areas in southern Aberdeenshire. Lots of places I've driven past many time on my way to Ballater, but never stopped at. Today was a loop round and up Clachnaben as recommended by my mate Andy. Lovely loop topping out with some amazing views on top of a rocky outcrop. Descent wasn't my favourite having been armoured for walkers with rock steps and never-ending water bars. Good part is Andy has just told me there is an alternative track down if you backtrack for 1km after the summit views. Sounds like a return visit is in order once the grouse season quietens down a bit. Whole hillsides covered in shooting butts which won't be much fun once Sunday rolls around.

A few pics from today to enjoy.

Untitled by Steven Clubb, on Flickr

Untitled by Steven Clubb, on Flickr

Untitled by Steven Clubb, on Flickr

That looks so nice around there. The track on the first pic looks like a fun descent

Great thing about Scotland. Find a trig point and you have a view.

Most Trig points have a view, thats the point

 

[ajm]

Re:

Another change of plans meant I had the morning free unexpectedly and it wasn't raining, so I headed out on the roadster again to see where it would take me.

It was clearly feeling historically inclined, first taking me past the ceremony for the unveiling of a memorial on a nearby aerodrome, past the old command centre and quite a few miles later to this place:

A WWII prisoner of war camp. Not such a melancholy place as you might think - several of the inmates enjoyed their time there (working on nearby farms) so much that they never went home and one of them is still living not too far away!

Further on along the back roads we came to what must be one of the most scenic large fuel storage depots in the world, also from the 1940s:

There's space for 5.6 million gallons of fuel oil in that hill although you wouldn't know it - which was the whole point of course!

I carried on another few miles onto completely unfamiliar roads, before deciding it was more than past time to be heading back and dropping down from the hillside to the seaside, this unusual church being the turning point:

From there it was past the port and the oil rigs in for servicing, along the scenic shore road in the sunshine and back onto more familiar roads towards home.

At almost exactly three hours and 42 miles that was a pretty long ride compared to those I normally have time and energy for, but I finished it feeling considerably less beaten up than I would have been had I been on my road bike.

The biggest problem, not having any food for three hours, should be solved by the saddlebag I ordered yesterday (the original which came with the bike was lost about fifty years ago.)

A thorough convert to this kind of properly retro biking... I really must work on stopping to take pictures during the sunny parts of my rides though, I seem to stop taking pictures as soon as the sun comes out!

 

[epicyclo]

Great stuff. If you're on the loose tomorrow, try nipping across the NIgg ferry to Cromarty.

Mark Stevens is having an exhibition of his model creations in the Old Brewery. Well worth a look.

(He's got a considerable collection of old bikes, a fellow member of Rod-Brake Roadster Randonneurs FaceBook group)

 

[ajm]

Re:

Had another hour on the roadster before tea today, then after coming home I did something I should have done a few years ago - wiped some of the oil from the rear hub shell and actually read what it said...

THAT explains the problem with slipping in top gear! Sadly it also torpedoes my repair plans. All this time I just assumed it was an ordinary AW hub.

A bit of Internet research suggests I'm fortunate it doesn't slip in every gear... oh well. It is supposedly lighter than the AW, the lower first gear is kind of nice to have for climbs or stiff headwinds and I dare say the higher gear would be great for tailwinds, if it didn't cam-out unpredictably

It also explains the lack of ticking when freewheeling - I thought it was maybe just tired pawl springs or enough gunk inside to dampen the action and noise a bit, but actually there aren't any pawl springs in it to tick.

Not sure what to do now - by taking it apart and upsetting it I might even make it worse than it is and there's no chance of getting unworn spare parts.

On the plus side, it was made late on in the short production run so will likely have all the mods to make it less bad than the earlier ones...

 

[epicyclo]

Don't know if this is a case of teaching granny to suck eggs

With a slipping gearchange on a S-A hub on an old British roadster, there's a couple of things worth eliminating before suspecting the hub or the shifter.

First is the cable stop on the toptube. It can be reasonably tight but able to creep slightly, which effectively throws out the cable adjustment. So it's important to make sure it is really tightly clamped.

Second is the pulley on the seattube. Same thing.

The other things are the more obvious. Make sure the cable is not overly stiff from having been left idle for years, and that the cable outer is not in too tight a curve, and that it is in good condition and that its ends are square cut.

 

[ajm]

I'm happy to admit to being far from an expert on hub gears, just dabbled with them a wee bit in my youth, but I don't think this can be cable related (sadly, as it'd be much easier to fix!)

The main reason is that it only ever slips in third / top gear, which should theoretically be rock solid even without an intact cable - I'm happy that the cable's adjusted pretty much spot on as it shifts really quickly and reliably into every gear, both up and down.

What I'm finding is described on the SW page on Sheldon Brown ( https://www.sheldonbrown.com/sw.html ) in the "Camming out" section... if I'm going downhill or with a tailwind I can change into third perfectly and "encourage" the bike along with steady gentle torque on the pedals... after a little while though it suddenly slips even if I haven't increased the torque in any noticeable way, just like something has cammed its way out of engagement

Do you have a SW on any of your bikes?

 

[mk one]

Re: Re:

A WWII prisoner of war camp. Not such a melancholy place as you might think - several of the inmates enjoyed their time there (working on nearby farms) so much that they never went home and one of them is still living not too far away!

Further on along the back roads we came to what must be one of the most scenic large fuel storage depots in the world, also from the 1940s:

There's space for 5.6 million gallons of fuel oil in that hill although you wouldn't know it - which was the whole point of course!

Looks an interesting ride. The POW camp looks a bit easy to escape though i have never seen that fuel depot before either, is it still in use?