thewashingmachinepost




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bespoke: a guide to cycle-speak & saddle slang. tom bromley. british library hardback 192pp illus. £12.99

bespoke - tom bromley

those of you who are bona-fide graphic designers will laugh when i mention it, but a couple of years ago, i was asked to design a series of product labels featuring a rounded section on the top. this can only be achieved by having the item die-cut from the printed sheet, but with no experience of this process, i had no idea how to proceed. how was the shape of the die to be specified? and how would i define the bleed-edge? other than the graphic designers in our midst, i'm pretty sure that latter definition will have lost the majority of readers.

the bleed is usually a 3mm extension to the page, and allows for printing that has need of existing right up to the very edge of the paper. crop marks are applied at the time of output, indicating to the printer where the paper ought to be cut. but should the cutting process be off by as little as one millimetre, the final print would display a thin white section of paper. so any artwork that needs to bleed off the edge of the final print, is extended by 3mm on each side. if the cropping process is in any way inaccurate, there will still be imagery to the edge of the sheet.

that's easy for me to say.

however, if there's any variation to the rectangular or squareness of the artwork, the house of cards falls in on itself. i'll not trouble you by outlining how one goes about incorporating a non-standard die-cut into the artwork, but suffice it to say it involves pantone spot colours and layered pdf files.

have no fear if none of the above makes any sense whatsoever; it only matters that those of us who are required to create what used to be called camera-ready-artwork understand it. because at some point in time, a graphic designer is going to have to speak to their offset printer, and it makes a great deal of sense that we both speak the same language.

cycling is no different in its own way. if one of the guys in the peloton remarks that you're pedalling at too high a cadence, it certainly helps if you know what he means. not to do so simply compounds the problem in that your non-standard cadence was strike number one; incomprehension of the subsequent remark relating to that pedalling error would certainly be counted as strike two. if subsequent pelotonic conversations involve mention of the cannibal, being unaware that one's conversants are referring to eddy merckx is unlikely to mark you out as a member of the cognoscenti. the potential for such breakdowns in communication is the raison d'etre behind tom bromley's bespoke, a compact and bijou hardback that likely contains references that even the best of us might find new and/or interesting.

for instance, were you aware of the various linguistic references made to the pursuers of the breakaway? for many is the commentator who delights in broadcasting their own knowledge of such. (unfortunately, the flemish - achtervolgers - is mis-spelt here as achtevolgers). and if eddy was the cannibal, who was the heron? mr bromley has thoughtfully separated his excellent advice and assistance into thematic chapters: the race, the riders, parcours (probably in need of an explanation of its own), nicknames - i'm sure you get the idea. it may be worth the while of club secretaries to include a copy of bespoke in the membership fee.

self-interest very much to the fore, i was intrigued to read the section on wind, included in the roadbook chapter. you'd almost think that tour of romandy victor, geraint thomas, had ridden with us on the sunday ride.

"Wind is sly. It pretends it's not there, and then you turn a corner or pedal past a building and - slap! It blows the race and all your careful plans apart."

and bespoked is not all unadorned text. the illustrations by neil stevens are almost worth the price of admission alone. colourful, idosyncratic and perfectly matched to the subject matter, the british library should seriously consider issuing at least a few of these as framed posters. add a few historic photographs into the mix, and it's hard to think of even a single reason not to acquire a copy of the book. serious study will ultimately mark you out as a knowledgeable member of the sunday peloton, one whom others approach for intelligent conversation or answers to deficiencies in their own cycle-sport knowledge.

monday 3 may 2021

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sole active thin insoles

sole active thin footbed

the mighty dave t once told me of an erstwhile cycling friend from a previous life, who not only had an eye for a bargain, but could rarely prevent himself from taking advantage of any on offer. however, it appears that, for him at least, the bargain was the priority; colour, size or professed quality was of secondary nature. thus, according to the mighty dave, the un-named fellow once purchased a pair of cycling shoes at bottom dollar price, despite their being several sizes too large. in order to compensate for the extra toe-room, he simply stuffed the interior of the footwear with scrunched up newspaper.

sole active thin footbed

i daresay there are still those who will do likewise, though the financial wellbeing from which most of us benefit nowadays, has probably reduced the propensity for buying notably inappropriate stuff. there are, of course, still bargains to be had, though today's common complaint is that these only ever seem to be available in xxs or xxl, statistically the outer edges of velocipedinal fit. our weekend bike rides will usually ensure that we remain of similar size to that at which we commenced life in the saddle. yet, within the realm of sizing, two factors are likely to remain fairly static, no matter the effort (or lack of), made each weekend.

at some point in our lives, generally late teens, both feet and hands reach a size at which they will remain for the rest of our lives. i take a size 44 in footwear, of both pedestrian and cycling persuasions, and despite the best attempts of certain apparel purveyors to convince me otherwise, i tend to wear size large in gloves, whether with or without fingers.

cycling footwear has undergone dramtaic changes since i first bolted a set of triangular cleats to their soles. i believe my original cycling shoes were manufactured by sidi, an excellent pair, if memory serves, but i note that my current pair of rapha road shoes are several degrees better than those of yesteryear. it has become common to supply cycling shoes with differing sizes of instep shims which can help tailor the fit to your tautologically unique feet. however, it seems there's always room for improvement, particularly when considering footbeds that might mold to your feet.

in the past, i have reviewed cycling shoes that promised to do precisely that, following a few moments in an oven at specific temperatures. putting a warm pair of shoes on my feet, as they cooled, they eventually conformed to the desired, close-fitting shape. sole's active thin insoles promise to do likewise, either via the oven procedure outlined above, or simply by inserting them into your cycling shoes and riding in them for a few days. that's the option that i chose, because there's something distinctly odd about placing items of footwear in the oven. and the process does seem to do exactly what it says on the tin (or point of sale hang tag, to be more precise).

sole recommend removing the existing footbeds where possible and replacing them with their custom comfort alternative. depending on your footwear, you may have to cut the toe sections to fit, using the originals as a template. so doing, worked remarkably well, despite my usual ham-fisted way with a pair of scissors. the first ride served mostly to highlight the difference between my right and left feet. the former found the sole to act like a second skin, happy to pedal hither and thither with nary a care in the world. the left foot, however, professed a few complaints, manifested by way of slight discomfort on the sole, when walking in my pair of vans or kickers.

but as advised on the packaging and instruction manual, after a few rides, the footbed appears to have morphed to an immaculate fit. there is now no discomfort whatosever. however, at the risk of being overly honest, the original rapha footbeds are pretty darned good all on their own, and i can't honestly say i noted any discernible advantage in replacing them. however, i'm willing to admit that there could be improvements that are beyond my ken, or that my mode of cycling is insufficiently demanding to benefit.

that said, if you find that your current cycling footwear seems to be lacking in comfort or fit, these thin, unpadded insoles could be the economic restitution which your feet have always deserved.

sole products are distributed in the uk by edinburgh's 2-pure who should be able to advise of authorised dealers. the active thin footbeds are available in uk sizes 4 - 13 at a cost of £38. several other footbeds are also available depending on your requirements.

sole active footbed

sunday 2 may 2021

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the right stuff

car battery fade

since 2003, it has been illegal to dump car tyres, but still leaving the problem of dispensing with bicycle tyres and inner-tubes to the local council landfill dump. however, the government's environment bill, currently making its way through parliament, has the intent of bringing cycle tyres and tubes into line with those of the motoring public. so, assuming that bill becomes law, and includes the tyre bit, we'll no longer be able to remove worn out tyres from our expensive carbon wheel rims and chuck them in the bin.

i reported several months ago, that a recycling scheme, operated by velorim, intended to take care of the problem by allowing velocipedinists to visit their local participating bike shop, pay 50p and leave tyres and tubes for recycling. this service was expected to have been up and running by the end of last year, but as with many of last year's intentions, covid has stretched the timeline just a tad. nonetheless, in essence, it's undoubtedly the right thing to do.

we are hardly strangers from giving ourselves a pat on the back for being the greenest amongst today's modes of transportation. i have lost count of the number of tweets i have come across, pointing out that, were the world simply to dispense with their motor cars and seamlessly switch to the bicycle, the world would not only be a better place, but probably last a good deal longer than climate change scientists would have forecast. however, a soupcon of reality ought best be added to the equation.

a teacher colleague of mine mentioned recently that one of his pupils, who had elected to ride to school on an e-bike from his home, some 18km distant, had experienced vitriol from a resident motorist, who pointedly made it clear that they should "get off the road!". i'm aware that mainland cyclists experience this sort of abuse on a daily basis, but until now, it's an admonition that has been thankfully absent from island life. with several adults now to be seen aboard e-bikes on the island's roads, one can but hope things do not come to a series of verbal conflicts.

while this remains a prevalent attitude towards cyclists, even if only in a minority, the likelihood of a wholesale shift from cars to bicycles, seems highly unlikely, even if it does make a great deal of environmental sense. the kernel of thewashingmachinepost began in the late 1980s when i wrote a feature for our local newspaper about just such a transportational swap. and since there will probably always be occasions when there is little alternative to the motor car, the option i put forward was simply to hire a car for holidays and the like. disappointingly that's not an option that appears to have found favour in the last 30 years.

quite the converse, in fact.

however, the advent of the e-bike boom brings environmental problems all of its very own, over and above what to do with worn-out tyres. for starters, a problem that will also apply to electric cars (and to a far greater degree), is the generation of the electricity required to power them. charging e-bikes will obviously require a fraction of that needed for electric cars, but nonetheless, it is generated power over and above the level of demand, were e-bikers to have opted for analogue bikes instead.

and then there's the batteries.

according to present statistical information, an e-bike battery ought to survive up to 1,000 charge cycles. assuming your daily commute covers around 30 - 40 miles and you use the power assist quite liberally, it may require recharging as often as every couple of days. on average, however, an e-bike battery ought to last between four or five years. when the inevitable happens, what on earth are you going to do with that dud battery (aside from crying, on learning the cost of a replacement). unfortunately, lithium-ion batteries have a disarming, yet occasional tendency to burst into flames if not disposed of properly. li-ion batteries can, however, be recycled, always assuming you are aware of where your nearest battery recyling facility resides.

i know i have no idea, but then, it's not a problem i'm likely to experience.

however, obviously aware of a looming problem, in march, specialized usa partnered with recyling start-up redwood materials to reclaim and recycle dud batteries from their range of e-bikes, a range which has seen sales triple over the past two years. for uk specialized owners, the recently announced tie-up with ecolamp, will offer the same salving of their e-conscience.

there's no point in positioning cyclists as the saviours of the world before we get our own house in order. portland component manufacturers chris king have long been ahead in this game, recycling all the aluminium shavings created by their cnc machining, the oil from the same processes, and the heat from the building, used to blow drying air through the employees' lockers, meaning they all ride home in warm, dry clothing. there are many industries who have lately been accused of greenwashing. hopefully cycling will avoid being counted amongst their number.

saturday 1 may 2021

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the new normal

shimano linkglide

in the past few years, islay has embraced the notion of mixed-use paths, with a successful, three-mile path leading from the village of port ellen, past laphroaig and lagavulin distilleries, and ending at ardbeg distillery. though the path is tarmac'd and suitable for bicycles, its greatest success has been in taking the numerous whisky aficionados off the road, as they wander between the three distilleries (hence the name of the path). this is about to be joined by a similar type of path between the village of bruichladdich and that of port charlotte, two miles down the road.

as if that were insufficient for any remote island with more distlleries than anyone really needs, a third path is currently at the planning stage, eventually taking pedestrians and cyclists from bowmore village to three-mile distant bridgend. it would not be unreasonable to infer from this accelerated burst of path building, that the number of folks walking and cycling on islay had seen a notable increase, but that might be a tad optimistic in outlook. those of us who comprise the sunday morning peloton are not the target market of such paths, comfortable as we are (apart from the potholed surfaces) on the roads.

however most trends or fashions reach the hebrides and outer isles eventually; soon we'll all be wearing flared trousers, and it seems likely that we'll all be dancing to disco music in a matter of weeks. the archetypal e-bike has already made inroads into island culture, with three e-bike hire outlets and more folks riding e-bikes than join the sunday morning peloton. though riding one of the latter is scarcely the same as pedalling lightweight, drop-bar road bikes, due to the overwhelming influence of the motor, there are obvious similarities, some of which are exaggerated by the approach of those new to the activity.

simple observation by the practised cyclist will note that 'newbies' not only tend to ride with the saddle too low, but ride in the same (wrong) gear for long periods of time. and, related to the latter, when struggling to find a gear when the gradient rises, it's not a sight that makes for comfortable viewing, changing under excessive torque, while almost coming to a total standstill. add in the option of riding through bridgend woods on gravel/muddy paths and matters are scarcely likely to improve.

motor traffic on islay is relatively light, particularly outside of tourist season, but for those new to cycling aboard their relatively heavy electric bikes, keeping away from those roads is an instinct with which it's hard to argue. it's a state of affairs replicated even for those new to cycling, yet aboard non-battery assisted cycles. common lore would support the theory that it takes a year or two to develop inherent skills for gear changing, knowing just when to do so and which gear would prove optimal. the late lord carlos of mercian continued the tradition of 'stirring porridge' throughout his cycling career, allied to loud crunching noises emanating from his rear cassette.

component manufacturers would no doubt wish to improve the education of those responsible, but we all know that's something of a long shot. the alternative, therefore, is to compensate via the gearset; specifically the chain, rear derailleur and cassette. so, with this in mind, shimano have developed linkglide, a development of the hyperglide that changed all of our cycling lives last century. the cassette teeth have been honed to within an inch of their slick shifting lives. currently these are being applied to the japanese component giant's deore and deore xt groupsets, with testing demonstrating improved shifting in muddy conditions and confirming that linkglide may be best applied to the offroad world, both electric and non-electric.

if you consider that cyclists of my generation learned to ride on gear systems devoid of indexing and with remarkably robust, squared off cassette teeth, it's hard to deny that modern-day cyclists have never had it so good. throw in an electric motor and slip a few electronics into the shifting mechanism, and it's not hard to see the next development as being a substitute for the act of pedalling. cycling technology has a reputation for becoming more complex simply for the sake of it, but progress such as this, makes it seem like someone knows in which direction it is prudent to head.

it is, however, a bit eyewatering to learn that the xt cassette can be specced with a 50 tooth large sprocket. that ought to allow riders to ascend the side of a house, (or the angliru).

friday 30 april 2021

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pitted bearing races

fettle jargon free

the inclusivity of cycling can also be seen as its exclusivity, for cycling is no less embroiled in its own linguistic idiosyncrasies than any other activity. not for nothing did campagnolo once offer its dealers a metal plaque or sticker stating 'campagnolo spoken here', amply demonstrated by dave's character in the movie 'breaking away', via his obsession with everything relating to italian cycling. obsession of this order, however, is not confined to movie characters. i have come across many an individual whose sole strand of conversation revolved around bicycles, and not just the basics.

this possible language barrier can be employed not only where circumstances demand, to convince the cognoscenti that one is well-versed in velocipedinal matters, but also as a weapon, to repel boarders, or head them off at the pass. asking a newbie whether his bicycle features a tapered headtube or press-fit bottom bracket is more or less guaranteed to place you in a superior position (though now that i mention it, i can think of several long-time riders who couldn't answer those questions either). but when the weaponisation of velocipedinal linguistics really comes into its own, is at the local bike shop. again, it's an opportunity that can work both ways, but realistically, you and i are rarely going to occupy the moral high ground, no matter the quality of our opening strategy.

though positioned as an apocryphal scenario, i have actually been in a bike shop when a customer wheeled his bicycle onto the shop floor, informing the chap behind the counter, that it was "making a strange noise". this has led to at least two previous postings on my behalf, imploring you to learn more about the mechanical operation of your bicycles, if only to save often serious embarrassment via the above anecdote. there is no real need to know how to successfully fit a pair of tubeless tyres, but it would certainly help if you could answer yes or no, when asked if that particular flavour of tyre clothes the wheelset.

it also helps obviate the 'tamping wopple has come askew from flay rod' situation, when the mechanic exits the workshop with a stern look, quotes the above, and proceeds to tot up the alarming cost of parts and labour. for instance, do you know whether your bicycle sports a 3/32" pitch chain, or 1/8"? if you consider that the latter can cost less than £10, while the former, in campagnolo twelve-speed format, will set you back more than five times that amount, it would seem prudent to be informed prior to a bike shop visit.

and if a mechanic agonises over the projected labour costs of replacing all the ferrules on the bicycle, you really need to know that those are simply the little bits of metal crimped to the cable ends to prevent them fraying. do not misunderstand me; 99% of bike shops will be straight up, keen to help you get back on your bike, and more likely to charge you too little than too much, but it would just be your luck if you live near that 1%. so how do you know?

the previously named handlebar, a london bike repair startup, is in the process of transitioning to fettle, a name change that they feel better reflects the changing requirements of its customers. the company also has plans to spread its ferrule crimps to provide a network of workshops by 2026. this modern world, of course, brings contact with fettle via their website and smartphone app, also bringing a refreshing desire to remove the jargon associated with bicycles and bicycle repair. that brings me neatly onto their highly entertaining youtube video (linked below), parodying the process of booking a bicycle in for a service.

as a footnote, i should point out that not every scotsman sounds like the mechanic in video.

fettle jargon master advert | fettle.cc

thursday 29 april 2021

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wind in the willows

windsock

the bicycle industry has never been one to be held up as a paragon of virtue when it comes to compatibility between componentry. stretch back to before the beginning of time, when headsets were of the one-inch variety and sat outside the head-tube, within reason, you could purchase any brand of headset you care to mention and, assuming you possessed the necessary tools, it would fit into your one-inch head-tube. cups would fit top and bottom, while the crown race would fit onto the fork crown with only a modicum of intense effort and a few swear words for good measure.

to be fair, the same could be said of the eighth-inch headset, essentially the same as its one-inch predecessor, only an eighth of an inch larger in diameter. this compatibility effectively ended with the advent of the integrated headset; i own an ibis hakkalugi 'cross bike which features a cane-creek headset, one that i would like to have replaced with something shiny from chris king. except, chris king do not make a headset that fits.

and then there's the bottom bracket.

before you exhale a heavy sigh, i've no intention of reiterating each and every so-called bottom bracket standard that has infested the velocipedinal world for over two decades. though there are still frames available with suitable threads into which even a square-taper could be fitted, that level of compatibility has been somewhat undermined by the existence of threadless frames, suitable only for press-fit bearings. and despite the demise of the freewheel in favour of the more mature cassette, the existence of only two standards (campagnolo and shimano/sram) has been thrown out the window with the appearance of sram's xd freehub returning a threaded fitting for suitable cassettes, while campagnolo have introduced the new n3w to allow indulgence of the nine-tooth sprocket demanded on the ekar gravel groupset.

even stems and handlebars are not exempt, and nor have they been for many a long year. this has very likely been at the behest of manufacturers attempting to encourage purchase of both items from their own range, rather than allowing mix and match. trying to mate bars of greater or less diameter than the stem has been a long-time irritation, stretching back to scott lemond drop in bars and then some. there are even compatibility issues withn componentry from the same manufacturer. for instance, record twelve-speed levers do not work with a chorus twelve-speed derailleur. and according to lennard zinn, attempting to match sram mountain bike levers with a road gearset will only end in tears.

if the foregoing simply raises the concept of interchangeable fettling to an irritation level that would make a grown man (or woman) cry, there is worse to come.

componentry, as a definition, has moved on from brakes and gears, to encompass power meters and, believe it or not, aero sensors, the very devices that can not only measure drag coefficient while you ride, but notional windspeed. market leader in numerical devices that clamp to your handlebars is alleged to be garmin, who, so far, have failed to offer some form of industry-leading standard to ensure that no matter who provides the sensor, it will work with every form of display computer on the market. in the absence of familial leadership, the two leading lights in the field notio technologies and velocomp have elected to join forces and produce a licence-free standard of their own.

this yet to be completed standard, dubbed the 'common aero profile' will eventually be available to all manufacturers who want to join the party, but with the caveat that, if garmin do decide to do the decent thing and produce their own 'standard', subsequently adopted by other bike computer companies, notio and velocomp will capitulate and join the merry band themselves.

for someone happy to experience headwinds without recourse to quantifying their velocity, nor possessed of a physiology likely to respond well to knowledge of drag coefficients, i cannot honestly state that my world will be in any way impacted by this development. the only saving grace is the knowledge that any future standard concerning drag and windspeed is unilikely to have any meaningful implications for the zwifties.

silver linings and all that.

wednesday 28 april 2021

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is this weird, or just strange?

dmt kr1 cycling shoe

though one of the founders of purple bricks, the online estate agents, is now responsible for creating boomin, the self-styled 'next generation property site', it will scarcely have escaped your attention that the former has presented a series of tv adverts involving hapless members of the british olympic squad. these have predominantly underlined the company's association with the olympic team as 'official estate agent', though the adverts mentioned above contain little in the way of content that would advise as to their experience in property conveyancing.

however, laughable as the adverts are (and not in a good way), it has left me wondering why a group of athletes, which will likely include tom pidcock as he bids for a mountain bike gold medal, would have need of an official estate agent. as far as i'm aware, accommodation at the four yearly games, is generally taken care of by a so-called athletes' village, in which each individual is allocated living space for the duration of their dmt kr1 cycling shoe specific competition. nobody that i can recall, has even suggested that they scout about for a suitable flat or eighteen bedroomed mansion in a quiet suburb of tokyo. and, as i recall, purple bricks have asserted no specific experience of the japanese market.

however, cycling sponsorship features a number of particularly odd bedfellows, many of whom you have to seriously wonder from where the original connection arose. take the continually mispronounced deceunink quickstep. the first of those two sponsors makes windows, while the second is a flooring company, neither of which would appear to have any specific connection to the art of cycling. peter sagan's bora-hansgrohe is sponsored by a ten year old company that manufactures cooking extraction equipment, while hansgrohe manufactures showers (with at least a tenuous connection to cycling, though i'd suggest they tender to replace those in the roubaix velodrome before october this year.) both of the above have the same bike sponsor in specialized, so the incongruity belongs principally to those with their names writ large on the jerseys.

dmt kr1 cycling shoe

just don't get me started on intermarché-wanty-gobert materiaux.

much discussion has passed under the bridge concerning the sponsorship model that reigns supreme in the velocipedinal realm, and how it appears to be broken. though the world tour teams seem well constituted in terms of finance, it's not necessarily a finance model that persists well in cycling's lower tiers, with many a story of riders riding unpaid for several months at a time. it also means that supporters of team sky (for instance), will possibly be the possessors of cycle kit that's still too recent to be worn unshamed in public, yet not old enough to be considered retro. at least supporters of glasgow rangers (once again, for example) can support a team, the name of which remains season after season.

dmt kr1 cycling shoe

however, i digress somewhat from my original point that, though unmade, began with the eccentricity of britain's olympic team requiring an official estate agent. it's a situation that seems about to be replicated in this year's giro d'italia, at the behest of italian footwear manufacturer, dmt. for reasons that are entirely beyond my ken, they have been designated the official shoe supplier to the giro d'italia. it's a situation that requires a delicate grasp of the abstract, given that a cycle race has no need of footwear, limited edition or otherwise.

though a number of world tour cyclists actually race wearing dmt footwear, including last year's tour winner, tadej pogacar and sprinter elia viviani, that would point to the majority of riders not wearing dmt shoes. which once again, beggars the question as to why a cycle race requires an official shoe sponsor? it brings recollections of the situation several years past, when colnago were official bike sponsor of the world championship road race, despite the same exclusions persisting, as outlined above in respect of dmt.

does anyone else find this odd?

dmt giro d'italia cycling shoe

tuesday 27 april 2021

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