Saturday 25 June 2011

Weight weenies look away

Riding bikes has cost me money, lots of money. The money spent to lose a few grams, rotational mass and even the lid on my head is seen by some (wife) as ridiculous. No doubt, this is yet another classic example of the law of diminishing returns. After all, when the mtb is covered in mud, I don't rush to the nearest river and wash it off. I'm quite happy to start a long climb with two bottles and a days worth of food in my back pockets when out on the road. I'm definately not alone on this one, a light bike, trimmed to the bone and bristling with loveliness is a thing of beauty. A bike that's been specced with an eye for the details and put together through a process of care and tinkering is simply a treat. 

I have a few mates into hi-fi (or audiophiles if we must) who swear by cables and such like that cost £100's per sq metre and upon the all important audition I do my best to notice the difference. Truth be told - I can't, but I do enjoy the sense of satisfaction and tinkering that goes on when setting up a hi-fi. The parallels are there with bikes....why spend money on cable when you could buy more music - why buy another pair of wheels when you could go away for a week in the Alps? And it's not just a bloke thing!

Today has been one of tinkering, the Turner Sultan is finally behaving itself. The problem was terrible chain slip and after hours attempting to set it up I finally came to the conclusion that the chainrings where worn. Thankfully the local bike shop, aka Bryan came to the rescue, thanks mate. In the mood for more tinkering and with an hour to spare I decided to have a look at another project that's been lurking in the garage for a few weeks. This latest project looks lovely and cute sitting next to the big wheeled brethren. The project is definately a touch on the porky side and I'm pretty happy about that. You see, gBike will be apperaing on a descent sometime soon, in the interim the following pic will have to do.






I don't really need any more projects, but this was too good an opportunity to turn down and to make it even better I'm part owner. The other 50% belongs to an audiophile - hot rodder and all round tinkerer. The bike used to belong to his stepson, God only knows what Callum is going to make of it when he sees it. Now, Callum is a smart young man and I'm looking forward to testing him and asking whether the gBike should be light to assist with initial acceleration or should I increase the mass to keep the momentum. Now I already know the answer, it's simple, spend money finding out. Don't even get me started on the aero package.

Stay upright

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