Nickey Line

Ditto, but I still use them in preference to tubeless. My experience of tubeless (on other's bikes) has not been persuasive! Seems to me it often doesn't work as intended, so anybody in the vicinity gets sprayed with blue gunk, and then you have the hassle of getting the tyre off to be able to fit an emergency tube; a very messy job. Modern puncture-proof tyres are very good; until yesterday I hadn't had a puncture for months, and I cover a lot of miles. I use Gatorskins and would take a lot of convincing to use anything else.

Takes practice I guess!

Thankyou

Anyway, having now completed the experiment, I can report that it works. Please excuse the shaky hand-held phone video... Despite some scepticism from certain quarters, I'm happy with the result. I think working with a 'virgin' set of wheels would be easier though.

No! Really? Perhaps you missed the reference to Loctite being used to secure the wheels.

This is precisely what I did with this set of wheels initially. It was fitting the second wheel to each axle where I ran in to problems, made especially difficult because the axles had to be in the chassis. How do you fit the second wheel? I've found (as has DCB apparently..) that bearings require a little easing with a broach to allow axles to run freely, though obviously that's not what I'm trying to achieve here!

Hence the reason I said... I'm perfectly well aware of the intended use of the bearings, but without the existence a specific item for the job, they will have to do.

On a number of occasions I've seen references to problems with 'friction fit' driving wheels, with some (who shall remain nameless!) denouncing said drivers as 'rubbish' and fit only for the bin, and others remarking how difficult it is to assemble the wheels square on the axle. This is particularly difficult, I feel, when fitting them to a rigid chassis, e.g. an un-sprung Comet chassis or similar. Well, having had such an experience myself, I resolved to solve the issue, and think I may have found a solution... The eagle-eyed will notice the brass wheel bearings inserted in the axle holes. To achieve this, I first trimmed the raised boss on the back of the wheels using a chisel scalpel blade, and then carefully reamed out the hole with a 3-4mm broach until the bearings were a close fit. Removing the boss ensures that the flange of the bearing sits flush to the back of the wheel, helping to keep it square. It may be necessary to also ream the bearing a tiny amount to fit the axle; the tighter the fit the better. The axle is then secured with a little Loctite, so that the wheels will remain removeable if need be. I've not fitted the wheelsets to the chassis as yet, but the results so far are very promising... hopefully I can add a postscript in the next day or so.

@Howard Smith "I like that fresh smell after rainfall in summer." I have one word to say - "Petrichor!" Look it up... 🤔😉

Very much part of my stomping grounds; there's hills to be found if you know where to look! Actually, we used some of those lanes on today's club run. Incidentally, that bit of old railway line was where they filmed the train scene in 'Saving Private Ryan'.

This, on the other hand, is now the default scene in our part of the world, snapped today near the highest point in Hertfordshire... ...which has resulted, unfortunately, in scenes like this... ...this is the River Beane, a once wildlife-rich chalk stream, Beane and gone... Fortunately there's still upsides to getting out in the countryside... ...cream teas at Ardeley Village Hall!

They passed almost directly over my house on Sunday as it happens... probably doing a fly-past at Shuttleworth.

Best wait 'til Wednesday... 🥵

I've not posted rides much lately, as most are club rides of little interest here, and I'm not able to take many pics. However, today I was able to visit Shuttleworth, which was discussed on here a while back... First time I've been in to the Swiss Garden. Very peaceful, and quite delightful.

Very much my territory, about 3 miles from home!

Care to enlighten us? 🤔

I suspect all tracking app will do that; Strava certainly does. The way to avoid it is save the ride as two separate activities.

As my Avatar name has been bandied about on here recently, perhaps it's time for a post from me... 🙂 I chose the name because I was born in a local hospital in Harpenden, just a stone's throw from the junction of the Nickey Line with the Midland Mainline, and have walked and cycled the path on many, many occasions, so it seemed kind of appropriate. But anyway. I continue to ride three or four times a week, in spite of not having posted here for a while. This from toward the end of today's ride.. A fairly regular route for me, to and from start/finishes of club rides. Hambridge Way, from Ickleford to Pirton.

Another vote for these mirrors, I find them excellent. There's two sizes, 50mm and 80mm, I use the 80mm. Indispensable in my view... if you'll pardon the pun! Incidentally, it's believed dinosaurs were warm-blooded... 🦕

Didn't you take the bricks out of the panniers?🤔

I should've added, that would be my recommendation too...

Barely. IFRC 2-3mm is recommended.

The top cap needs to bear on the stem, so it needs to be above the fork top. If there's a spacer above the stem then that would need to be above the top of stem too.

Little Barford is a gas power station, and doesn't have the cooling towers. Though I suppose it might have been converted.

Vital for comfort as far as I'm concerned. Spa Cycles do some good pads. https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m9b0s126p2329/SPA-CYCLES-Bar-Gel