Chain Wear Indicator

I got for myself a chain wear indicator from Ritabrata last Sunday, that is yesterday. Just for fun. It's Birzman branded. Both the chains seemed just fine :-) when I measured with the stick. But both had some gunk which the clean tip of the indicator picked up. 

Must keep it stored with a thin coat of WD 40 because the literature says it should be kept in a dry place. This is dropping broad hint that the unit might pick up some rust. Calcutta being so humid I am sure it will, sooner or later. My Crank Brothers multi tool has. It doesn't hurt anything but I hate working with a rusty tool. 

I had never heard the name of Birzman before. Must do some internet research on the brand and see what else they make. It is possibly Taiwanese and is following the same product strategy as Park Tools (American). That is what Ice Toolz is doing as well. They have more or less the exact same products as Park Tools at a much cheaper cost. 

Continental Gator Skin

700c x 25 @ 3K each from Stay Tuned

Having decided to keep the Merida Scultura 200 for good as a weekend rider for fast ego boost rides, I decided to invest in a pair of good tyres. I know what a pair of good tyres, properly filled, can do to biking comfort. This I learnt after installing the Schwalbe Marathon Tour Plus on my Surly LHT. They improved the ride quality by several notches. 

Today I brought home two Continental Gator Skins from Ritabrata for the Merida. These are reputed to be very good and puncture protection is quite fabled. They are not so fast but puncture protection and long life are two important factors. I am glad that they are now available in Calcutta. Unlike the Schwalbe these were properly packed and are relatively new. The Schwalbes never came in such original packaging. I think the packaging was thrown away to hide the old import date. But that's a different story.

The Continental tyres are folding, as you can see from the image to the left. Made in Germany. Size 700cx25. They have other non-folding rigid variety also as well as ones with wire beads. I am not sure if they are available here in India. My previous Maxxis tyres that came OE with the bike are 23. These new ones cost me, post discount, 3K each. I am yet to install them. I intend to ride this bike on the weekends for fast rides. So I can wait till the next weekend. I am in two minds whether to put them in with the spare Schwalbe tubes I have. Keeping tubes packed for too long might not be good for them. 

I plan to go for at least one brevet event and use this cycle if I find the comfort of the tyres to be good on the highway. Doing the brevets with the LHT might be a tall ask for me. After last Sunday's low pressure ride to Salt Lake I am not too sure how safe it will be for me to attempt those ten hour events. Right now there is no question of going anywhere. Everything has come to a crushing halt. 

I will make few more posts. After the installation - detailing the problems, if any and other observations. After the first ride - because comfort is a very relative thing and we forget or tend to take it for granted after a few rides. And the last one - after about 1000 km, whenever that comes.

July 29, 2020 - The installation (Velo 9 reads 775 Km)

Today being a complete lock-down day I installed the two Gatorskins on the Red Roadie. As usual installing a new tyre being difficult, this was also a little difficult. Folding tyres have this habit of losing their shape a bit. This was no exception. There were a few places which were out of true and the tyres were deshaped. But once the tube was properly inflated those crease marks went away. 

There was a paper stuck with the tyre under the plastic band with which it is tied. That paper has all the legal warnings etc in almost all European languages. Basically a useless piece of legal document. The place where the paper was in contact with the tyre had gone a little off colour. Possibly some mild acid or some chemical from the paper had leached. 

Anyway, with some effort the tyres were both installed. On the front wheel I put the new Schwalbe tube I had sitting in my saddle bag for long (it really has a very long presta valve because at the time I bought it that was the only thing they had at the Giant store on Bentinck Street). The older tube came OE with the bike. It has a patch repair done by me under the tube. I rolled it up and intend to keep it as my spare tube in the saddle bag for the city rides. If I ever go out of town on a brevet I will perhaps carry a new extra tube. 

The rear tyre had a Maxxis tube earlier changed by me. I have kept it. I had planned to buy a new Continental tube from Ritabrata last night but that didn't happen. Neither did he pick up the phone nor did he answer my message. I can take that later. This will do for now. 

I cannot ride the bike with the new tyres tonight due to the lock down. Will ride it tomorrow and report it. 

Tonight I also changed the two pedals. I had the smaller pedals on it that Happy Earth gave me with the Surly. I removed them and installed the ones I had bought from Firefox store when the Merida came. I think it's a Wellgo. Incidentally I also did two small videos showing how to install and take off the pedal. I will put it up on youtube once and for all so that I don't forget.  

I will also change the saddle and install the Probiker one. Later gator :-)

The Gatorskins had a tough feeling to the touch. It's not the rubbery feeling at all, like you would expect in a tyre. It's more plastic than rubber. The tread pattern is very distinctive. Like some tribal art or motiff. 

July 30, 2020 In Which Direction?

While installing I ensured that the first letter G was to the left so that the tire rolls in a logical way while going forward. I did not think these were directional tyres. But now I find it is mentioned on a forum that they indeed have a directional arrow (though many believe it is just a marketing gimmick). Will have to go back home and check it out for myself. If the arrow is in the opposite direction I have to take them off and change the direction.

Later The Same Night

Yes indeed they have a directional arrow. It was a real challenge to find it out. A very very subtle arrow on just one side of the wall (unless I missed the other side). I had to find it out with a flashlight. And of course I had installed them the wrong way. Didn't get it right even by mistake. So I had to change them.  No matter who says what, if the company says it should be installed in a certain way, I would instal it in that way only. 

For the front tire I just reversed the skewer and turned the wheel over. So that did not require the tyre to be taken off and reinstalled. The rear one cannot be given the same treatment. Had to take it off the rim and reinstall the tyre. This second time was much smoother than the maiden attempt. It got installed pretty easily. Funnily Gatrorskin still reads the same way :-) I didn't notice that they wrote the name in two directions. So no matter how you install it the name would read left to right.

There is a very subtle difference in the tread, depending on the correct and incorrect direction. There are two triangles. One large and the other small on the sides. Now that the installation is done correctly the smaller triangle is ahead of the larger one. Big deal? I have no idea. But Continental's design team doesn't think the direction is important enough. No one would notice the arrow and the tread is not as obvious as the Schwalbe Marathon, for example. 

Tonight I also installed the Probiker saddle. 

July 31, 2020 - The First Ride

 

Tonight I went for a short spin around Peep Inn and Menoka. Just a little over 2 Km. It was a lovely feeling. In terms of comfort over bumps and potholes it is not a patch on the Surly or the Schwalbes but as against my Maxxis Detonator they are a marked improvement. Tomorrow I intend taking it out in the morning. Will write a longer post about the impression after that.

I am measuring this bike on the Velo 9. I also intend to measure the tyres on Connect. Added it as a gear. I intend to keep the Garmin 130 exclusively for the LHT. 

Comments After 1373 Km - January 15, 2021

It's been quite some time since I wrote the above. The tyres have been since used more than I had initially expected to. These days, with Monisha going to work almost every day of the week, I am not getting a chance to use the LHT so much (I used to commute to work with it earlier during her WFH phase). So I ride the Red Roadie in the evenings - about 35 km each night from 8.30 to 10.30 pm almost every night of the working week. That's how the mileage shot up relatively quicker than anticipated for me. 

Another major reason for this higher than expected mileage is the tyre itself. They are so much more comfortable than my 23 mm Maxxis tyres and much faster than my Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour that I feel more partial towards the Red Roadie now. My average speed now comes to around 20 kmph. This I think is fairly decent given potholes and assholes on the roads of Calcutta, not to speak of the massive traffic on most roads. On the Schwalbes my average is 15 kmph.

To make the bike more comfortable I recently fitted it with my Brooks saddle from the LHT. Now a good thing has just become even better :-)

I do not know how good this tyre is on wet roads. I have seen many reviewers talk about poor grip on wet surfaces. But I don't normally ride in wet weather. So that's not a major concern for me. I had one fall when the tyre skidded on a plastic road divider and another time I almost skidded on a tram line in front of Triangular Park because I didn't realise there was a small groove just on the side of the track. These are not the tyre's fault. These are my fault. I should not have tried to cross any of these from the side keeping the wheel parallel to the object I was trying to cross.  

Touch wood there has not been any incident of puncture on the road so far. I have in fact stopped carrying my pump on these city rides. The pump in any case is useless for high pressure tubes. I think there is a Presta/Schrader adapter somewhere in the saddle bag. I can perhaps get it filled at any tyre inflation point. But I will check tonight how the pump behaves if the tube didn't have any air in it. If it can take me to 40 I am good for a slow careful ride home. But can I really change the tube in the night, sitting by the road side? I don't want to think about all these really and banish these thoughts from my head.

A very important thing in the world of tyres in India has happened. The Modi government has banned the import of tyres from abroad. This now means that in India you can now only buy Ralson tyres for your cycles. There might be other local brands. I am not aware of them. I am lucky that I have German tyres on both my bikes. But this pair of Gatorskins might require replacement later this year if my current rate of biking is sustained over the next few months (today in mid January I have already done a good 400 kms and the tyre is already close to 1.5K).

I intend to request one of my nephews or nieces to bring me the folding tyres. Let me see who comes next. Bringing the tyres for personal use is not illegal. One never knows. The policy might be changed also. Technically it is not a ban. They have made a licensing provision. If you want to import you have to apply for permission. Reality is that these licenses are not being issued and nothing is available in the market legally. EU has apparently sought clarification. But it may not yield anything much because India's tyre imports are mostly from China and Korea so EU is not really affected. 

I spoke to Minku, one of the largest tyre traders of Calcutta. But only car and motorcycle tyres. He said companies like Michelin and Pirelli who did not have any manufacturing base here in India are affected. Their tyres are not available in the market. No wonder EU enquired about the ban. 

Michelin's India website has a big notice on the home page that they are facing supply shortages due to the import restrictions. I wonder what their sales staff are doing.  

German cycling tyres have very few takers in India. I am one of those :-( 

Bicycle Related Links

Wheel Building

1. This video here is pretty thorough. Total viewing time nearly 2 hours but it covers every aspect of wheel building. Click here

2. This is a PDF of one of the best and exhaustive books on the subject. It's a 147 page book by Jobs Brandt. Click here

3. Here is the website of Roger Musson who also has a very good book on the subject of wheel building. Click here

4. This is the Sapim site for spoke length calculation. Sapim is a Belgian producer of high quality spokes. Click here 

5. This is a famous custom wheel builder. It has a famous spoke calculator. But you have to have top branded hubs and rims for this to work. Unbranded cheap products are not included here. Click here

Bottom Bracket

1. All about square tapered bottom brackets. Click here

New Bike Day

After bringing the new bike home these are the things one should do right away. Get a proper fit of the saddle. Once done, put a permanent marker around the neck of the collar on the seat post. If the seat post is black get an electrical black tape and wrap it there. Apply a thin coat of grease from this point down to the end of the tube. And fit it properly. Once every six months, take the seat post out, regrease this portion - whether you ride or not - and fit it back on. All you need is a 5 mm Allen key. This should be done so that the seat post does not seize. It becomes impossible to take the post out. 

You should probably instal the pedal before this. Because without pedal you cannot get a bike fitted to your size. And modern bikes don't come with their saddle installed. If you are a rookie buyer, buying from a shop, they will likely instal a very cheap pedal. Please take it off. Put some grease on the axle of the pedal and instal it again. Do this every six months. That is, take the pedals off. Clean the axles. Grease them. Reinstall them. If you ride very frequently do this at least once a month. The idea again is to ensure that they don't seize. You will need a sliding wrench, if not the dedicated pedal wrench.

Take out all the rivnuts from the bike. These are the nuts pre-installed on the bike's frame for after market attachments like bottle cage, fenders, racks etc. They are variously known as rivnuts, braze-ons, bosses etc. Depending on your bike you might have plenty of them. Take them off one by one. Apply a thin coat of grease and put them back on. Don't tighten them too hard unless installing something. Keep cleaning and greasing them once in six months. The idea is to ensure they don't seize. If they seize it becomes a very invasive procedure to take them out. This might even affect the frame of your bike. (I learnt it the hard way).

 

If you want you might replace the factory fitted bolts to stainless steel bolts, if the originals are not SS. You need a 4 mm Allen key to do this job.

You might want to follow the same with the stem bolts also. I do it once a year though. 

Now lube up the chain. I would assume the shop has put some lube. Unless it's a very reputable shop or has come factory sealed in a box from some renowned brand, degrease the chain, wash it clean, dry it thoroughly, lube it up properly, let the lubricant sit overnight, clean it up with a rag. It might sound counter intuitive but clean up the excess lube stuck on the external walls of the chain. The lube should be inside. Not outside. Never put lube without thoroughly cleaning and degreasing it first. Always apply lube on a dry chain.

Clean the chain, sprockets and the chain rings every week or so if you ride every day. Otherwise once every month. Good brand named chains don't rust even if they are left idle for a very long time. Cheap chains rust up very soon. Throw such chains out.

If I am riding on wet roads I lube up the chain every week and clean it thoroughly once a month or so. By thorough cleaning I mean individually cleaning each and every notch/tooth of the sprockets and chain rings. I am yet to take my chain completely off the bike and give it a thorough bath. I have ordered for the tool to do it.

I have used the term grease for the bolts and seat post etc. Ideally you should use an anti-seize compound. But they aren't easily available in India (there is an Indian brand Petreplus available on Amazon but I don't trust Indian manufacturers unless they represent a big long established brand). I guess Park Tool is sold by Happy Earth but they are very expensive. I keep a small tub of Castrol all purpose automotive grease. These are available in any large petrol pumps. 

These are the most basic new bike preps. They sound very elaborate but should not take more than half an hour to do the complete job. 

Diary of an Intrepid Bicycle Commuter in Calcutta

I have been cycling consistently to work for a few weeks now - more than a month actually - and I think it is now time to maintain a day by day journal. Just for fun. I will note down all the things I learnt along the way, hoping that you might benefit from those learnings.

On a normal day when we would go out in the morning the three of us in my family - my daughter, my wife and I - would go together. This has been going on for the last 16 years or so. I would first drop my daughter at her school on the edge of Park Circus (these days our next door neighbour's daughter also comes along as she is in the same school and class with my daughter). From there I would go to Dalhousie to drop her mother at her work. Then I would come back to my office. On the days when only I would need to go out, like on a working  Saturday (oddly enough, the first and last Saturdays are working for us), I would take out my motorcycle. I had often thought about cycling to work on such days but it never quite happened. 

Now, to unknowingly help the cause of my cycling, I ended up selling my motorcycle just before the lockdown because A. I got a decent price B. The guy who offered to buy it really pestered me C. I was wanting to sell it for quite some time, given it had certain inherent problems D. The BS VI norms for pollution control were going to be introduced in India when these pre-BS VI models would soon lose their value in the resale market.

Before I could buy a new motorcycle for local commute lockdown was clamped on India. After it was lifted for limited travel to office I grabbed the opportunity to go out of the house. I drove to work on the first day. The roads weren't really empty but traffic was really low. Next day I decided to cycle to work and see what happens. 

So off I went. 

Why Did I Choose To Cycle To Work 

If you are not an Indian you need to know this. Indians don't like cycling to work. Those who do, do it under economic compulsion. They are mostly daily wage earners, peons and other lowly paid staff or self employed people to whom even a public transport is unaffordable, given the poor salary or income they get. They do not do it because they enjoy doing it. They all aspire to graduate at least to a motorcycle if not a car. It is almost unimaginable here in India that someone who has a car and can drive as well as afford the fuel should cycle to work. We have colleagues who drive 2 km from their home to office.

Now, why did I choose to cycle to work? First, the distance from my house to the office is a short 3.5 km of straight road. It takes me just 15 minutes to reach work on a cycle. Second, I find it ridiculous to drive this distance alone. Third, the clean air of Calcutta that we got during the lockdown forced me to rethink the decision to drive for these short distances and contribute to the pollution. Fourth, I found the peons were coming to work from far off distances on cycles because public transport is neither available nor is it safe for them. There are guys who are cycling for two hours each way to and from work. So in order to show my solidarity with them I decided to also pedal to work. Fifth, to be honest I wanted to do something different. Set an example or inspire someone? Absolutely not. I just love being different. 

My Learnings So Far

The heat and sweat, exposure to direct pollution of smoke and dust and terribly undisciplined, uncouth and dangerous fellow drivers and pedestrians - these are the main impediments to cycling during office hours in Calcutta. I have so far not been stopped by rain. I have been extremely lucky that way. I do have a rain coat in my Ortlieb bag. But it cannot be used in heavy rain. Because when rain water falls on my glasses I cannot see anything. In a light drizzle I can use it. It's there in the bag because I have it.

The fear of heavy traffic is somewhat removed once you cycle for a few days in traffic. But the risk is always there. A veteran cyclist like Sanjay Daga has been knocked down on the by-pass and is right now recovering from the injury. I do not know the details of the accident like how it happened but Mr Daga, considerably older than me, cycles more than 50 km every single day including commute to work. 

The sweat is really unmanageable when I come back home because I take long detours to come home. On the way up to the office I take the straight route and do not sweat so much. Sweating is also a function of fitness. The more fit you are the less you sweat, relatively speaking. Cyclists don't sweat so much while actually riding. Our sweating starts when the ride ends. I find a wet chin strap of the helmet most uncomfortable thing in the world. My palms also sweat and often it becomes difficult to grip the brake lever. But I manage.

July 6, 2020

Today I chose to come home via Race Course. I went straight towards Planetarium and turned towards Victoria. From there I headed towards the main gate of Fort William and on to the Red Road. There I turned towards Eden Gardens and then towards Prinsep Ghat. I kept pedalling further on and after crossing the small hump of a bridge, which is part of the noodle like road network on this side of the second Hooghly bridge, I went past the race course main gate towards DL Khan Road. 

The road after crossing the bridge can be dangerous because it merges with another road that is coming from the second bridge. This road is on your left hand side. So you have to cross this to remain on the extreme left lane. I had to stop here for quite some time to let the traffic pass. Traffic, I must say, was rather heavy in this section past the Police Training School. From DL Khan Road I turned right towards Bhavani Bhavan and on to Gopal Nagar. Turned left and then came home via Kali temple and the Keoratala burning ghat. The total distance was a very satisfying 12 kms.

Tyre Pressure

I knew the basic fundamental of tyre pressure. That it made the bike roll faster but made the ride more rough if it was on the higher side and slower but more comfortable when on the lower side. In certain situations like wet roads or sandy roads lower pressure is better as it offers more grip.

But I did not know the exact limit. It is not written down anywhere for novices. I used to pump it up to 60 and 50 or sometimes 60 and 40 etc. Then I recently read the booklet by the owner of Thorn Cycles of the UK (if you have not I suggest you immediately download it and read it up). There he has given a chart for recommended bike tyre pressure for every possible tyre width. 

I checked my tyre pressure after a long time. I knew it was on the lower side because the bike wasn't rolling fast enough but being the eternal procrastinator I didn't correct it. Finally on Sunday night I did it. Actually I finished three jobs in one. A. I used the Lezyne pump that Guria had brought for me. I had not used it in a long long time and mechanical things tend to malfunction if you do not use them once in a while. Why mechanical? Even shoes behave differently if you do not wear them every now and then. B. I wanted to keep the pump properly rolled up in a soft plastic wrapper. Because it was lying in the pannier just like that and could pick up some scratches. 

So off I went. According to the Thorn Touring Bike Bible, the recommended pressure for my 1.75 tyre is 50 and 45 psi. I found my tyres had 30 psi pressure in both. No wonder it was sluggish but very comfortable. After the change the difference was immediately noticeable. It rolls like a dream. Since I am on the lighter side and the Calcutta roads are a little on the rougher side, I think for load less city riding I will keep it at 45/40 and see how it improves comfort. Of course the Schwalbe Marathon Plus touring tyres also help in keeping the comfort level very high. Touch wood, the bike now rolls like a dream.  

My Cycling Gear

I have a robust carrier (these days everyone calls it a pannier rack) from Tubus where I load an Ortlieb pannier (I would rather call it just a water proof bag). It's a very convenient bag to load and unload. It clips on the carrier's tube and you can unhook it only if you pull it by the designated handle. 

This bag contains everything I carry. Apart from my office lunch bag, reading glasses and charger, I have in the bag my multi-tool, tyre levers and other puncture repair paraphernalia, a chain link, my portable touring pump and a spare tube. If I get a flat, realistically speaking, I do not see myself sitting down by the road side to fix it unless I was caught very far from home that would take more than an hour to walk. I would prefer to walk it back home or hail a cab. I am not so enamoured by the idea of doing the work in the heat and dust of a busy Calcutta road but by the prospect of the spectacle that I would make to the casual onlookers and Calcutta is full of them. I can well imagine a motley crowd would soon gather around me and some of them will most definitely have some advice for me. I might soon get into a fist fight. I just cannot take unsolicited advice. 

I have fixed a flat on the road only once. That was early in the morning and in front of the All India Radio on a small traffic island where there was not a single visiting soul around. Also I am not sure how long it will take for me to unseat and reseat the 1.75 inch tyre if I was doing it on the road in full view of a curious crowd.

Master Link of My Chain

9th July - Today I discovered the master link of my chain :-) I had looked for it a few times in the past while lubing the chain and couldn't find it. I thought it didn't have it as new bikes often don't come with such master links. I should have known that this bike was hand fitted at Happy Earth and not in a factory. It does have a master link after all. Today I found it. It will be now easier for me to lube up the chain properly. I would start from that point and end there. 

Today I also fixed the iron stand that I have. It had to be finally widened to hold the bike properly. 

The Garmin Edge 130 acted a little weird in the morning. That got fixed on its own by evening though. In the morning it did not sync my ride. In the evening it did for the evening ride but the old unsynced ride still didn't sync through the phone. Connected through the cable to the computer. Things took care of themselves. Apparently Nishant's isn't syncing for a few days now. 

No More Pressure Meds (16th July 2020) - Last 4th July I had a sudden drop in my blood pressure. I was feeling very weak and dizzy. Checked the pressure. It was 90/60 or something like that. My normal is 120/80. Binayak told me to stop the Asomex 5 for a few days, which I did from that night onward. But I kept monitoring the pressure every day. I found it did not cross 110 (+/-5) and 70 (+/-3). Last night, after being off Asomex for 12 days I sent a message to Binayak informing him about the pressure range. He asked me not to take Asomex any more. I had thought he would make it 2.5 but no. He made it zero. 

Is it because of my daily cycling? I think it is a combination of factors and the ground was building up for some time. My diabetic control has much to do with it. In fact last time when I saw him, Binayak had said next time he would reduce the pressure medicine. That next time never happened for a long time and then the lockdown started. 

I think the daily cycling bit helped the cause but that may not be the only reason. My diabetic control has also been reasonably acceptable since I switched over to Jardiance from insulin. That might have played a role. End of the day, my hypertension is entirely linked to my diabetes. 

I am happy for my kidneys though. Very proud of my achievement because my nephrologist told me that my only treatment to keep the kidneys in good shape is to control the blood pressure. It is a great relief to know that it is not only under control but as of now I do not even need a medicine for it.  

July 21, 2020 

Last Sunday, that is day before yesterday I had gone to Salt Lake Bike Studio to buy the Lizard Skins bar tape and the back light. I started at 11 am. Although the sun wasn't quite strong due to a light cloud cover it wasn't quite dark. After about an hour I started feeling a bit weak. Finished half a bottle of Electral and kept pushing pedals. Finally when I somehow managed to reach home it was 2:40. Therefore I cycled for more than 3 and a half hours. I was in the shop for about ten minutes and had an ice cream for another ten minutes or so. 

I was feeling extremely tired and weak. I knew my pressure was really low. I finished the full two bottles of water - one had electral in it. I had an ice cream. Yet I was feeling too weak to pedal. Of course the cross wind and the strong sun on the EM Bypass didn't help matters. At one point I even took off my helmet, as its strap was thoroughly wet.

When I reached home, after two glasses of lime water with salt and a bottle of water, I took my pressure. It was 70/50. I couldn't believe it. I took it again. It was 73/51. I was feeling very very dizzy. When I got up from the sofa I almost blacked out. 

Slept after a shower and full lunch. Felt much better after that. Pressure also rose up. But I was pretty alarmed. Finally I went to AMRI today, after Monday's complete rest, to get my blood tests done. HbA1C, CBC, creatinine were Binayak's suggestion. Suranjan added sodium, potassium and cortisol tests (which has to be done in an empty stomach). 

The results came in later in the evening. Creatinine is on the higher side of normal range. 1.06. In 2018 it was 1.02. I think the limit is 1.9. But the most satisfying result was of HbA1C which is 6.1. This is my best in 12 years, despite all the rice I am eating twice every day. The previous one last September was 7.4, which is quite high.

I didn't cycle yesterday and today. So the Sunday 40 km got averaged out to 13 km over three days :-). I think I need to double my water intake on my long cycling days from the current 3 litres to 6 litres. Because Jardiance works like a diuretic of sorts. 

Sunday, 26th July 

Today I had gone to fetch my Merida from Ritabrata's Stay Tuned in Chetla. I had given it to him for a possible sale to someone who wanted Ritabrata to check and vet it. That sale didn't happen. So went to get it back. In fact while riding it the other day I felt like not selling it, as it rode like a dream. All it needed, I thought, was a proper pair of tyres. The ones that I had were too thin and meant for races. Some Maxxis model that came as OE. Good that the sale didn't happen. I have decided to keep it. But that is not the point. 

The point is, while riding the bike back I realised what a fantastic saddle the Brooks is. The Red Roadie has a Merida OE saddle which I always thought was quite comfortable. But today I realised Brooks has spoilt me. I was missing that subtle flex for which I love the Brooks. 

I will probably replace the Merida saddle with the ProBiker one that is lying idle and give the Merida away to a student or something. Meanwhile time for the new tyres - Continental Gator Skin. I will ride it on Sundays for long fast rides. I might attempt a brevet also with it. Let me see.

Garmin Outage

Garmin's Connect software meanwhile has stopped working. For a few days now. The company is saying nothing except that they are going through an outage that has affected all their software and even the call center. The rumour is that they are the latest high profile victim of some ransomeware. 

This didn't stop me from going out this morning for a 26 km ride with the Edge 130 on. There is no problem with the individual units recording the activities but when it comes to uploading that data or even looking at old activities on the internet one is blocked. I am hoping things will come back to normal soon. 

Some people seem devastated :-) I can wait to upload my data after at least 100 hours of activities, as that is the memory limit of my unit.

After A Long Time (10th September, 2020)

I haven't written in a long time. Nothing exciting happened actually in my daily commute routine. I go to work cycling on most days. I come back home. Monisha goes to work once a week or so. Those days I have to take the car out. Very reluctantly so. 

I have not been able to cycle this week (today is Thursday) because the lift had gone out of order. Going downstairs with the cycle is not such a big problem but coming back tired and sweating I don't want to pull the bike up. 

Meanwhile, one weekend I went for a 56 km ride to the airport on my red Merida shod with the new Gatorskins. Went via VIP and came back via New Town. Total of 56 Km. That has nothing to do with the coming 17th September when I turn 56. It was my fastest 40 Km, declared Garmin. I am glad. Yes, I did push the pedal hard but more importantly I stopped every 15 Km or so and drank some Electral. Pushed again. I think the regular Electral intake did me a world of good. There was also a young lad who rode with me on VIP. He was pushing very hard and to keep pace with him I also rode faster than my usual pace. In fact my fastest 5K happened during this phase :-) When I ride alone I do not push that hard. This is the beauty of pace making. You end up running or cycling faster.

 

The airport trip

Tomorrow is Saturday. I wish to go for another airport ride. Let me see if I can wake up. I installed the Garmin speed and cadence sensor on the Merida last night. Pointless keeping them on the Surly. 

The Brooks Long Term Review

This will be a work in progress for my Brooks saddle that I installed on the LHT in 2019. I will do a review at 250 km now. I will do another at 1000 and then at 5000 km. 

Why I Bought The Brooks

I grew up, like any other Indian in the 70s, on a leather saddle that every single bicycle in our country donned in those days. We never knew that bicycles could come in any other type of saddle. Of course as a child, my tricycle had a plastic seat that had turned white being exposed to the sun forever.  Some time in the 80s the non-leather saddles (we always calledthem seats) became fashionable and then a norm. Only poor people rode on leather or perhaps more correctly leather like saddles. 

When I bought the new bike Merida Scultura it came with a normal narrow saddle. I guess these are PU material. It wasn't uncomfortable. But once I started researching on touring cycles I inevitably learned about Brooks and its legacy. I immediately identified with it and understood how our saddles of childhood were all replica Brooks. Of course I wanted a Brooks. For the legend that it is. I got it brought for me when Guria came to India for a visit and installed it on my LHT right away. 

Before the first ride I treated the saddle with the Proofide that came gratis with it in a small sachet. I also got Raja to bring a tin of Proofide for me from England for future use. The initial few days on the Brooks were hard, I must confess. But I remembered all our childhood and boyhood saddles which were never comfortable. We would often buy a plastic cover with thick foam padding inside. I cannot say they reduced the discomfort in any way. 

But somewhere along the line, perhaps after 6/7 short rides the saddle became less uncomfortable. Now that I have done more than 250 kms with it, I guess the initial breaking in period is over. I do not feel it is hard. I cannot say it is soft or squishy. But there is a certain flex in it that I like. Very subtle flex. Not a loud spring but just a wave. I quite love the saddle now.

Today for the first time it rained as I had gone out with the bike (basically to sell the Cateye Velo 7 to a Howrah guy called Nabin Haldar). As we were chatting near the Victoria it started raining. After a few drops on the saddle I realised it was exposed and immediately reached for the black plastic under the saddle. It had dropped off somewhere because Monisha gave me a new one today and loosely stuck it under the saddle. I should have tucked it between the rails. Then I realised I had the plastic carry bag in which I brought the Velo7. So I put it as a cover and even rode over it even though it wasn't raining any more. But before putting the cover I used my hand towel to wipe the saddle and soak the water up.

I am not sure if it got a darker tan after this but I love the colour as it is now. It's a little darker than when it first came. 

I must add two things here. In the first year of its existence atop my LHT frame I did not ride a lot. The cycle was as good as lying idle in my living room. This possibly resulted in rusting of the rivets. My rivets are not copper rivets but steel and some of them have rusted. I am not too worried about that. It's okay. I am not sure if Brasso is necessary as it might do more harm to the leather than do any good on the metal. So I am allowing it to get that coating of oxidation. If it rubs off with my bum fine. Otherwise I can live with it. 

I will write the next review after I finish 1000 km on it. I might go for a coat of Proofiding at 500. The Calcutta monsoon is on right now and everything is so damp here.

5th July, 2020 - The First Seat Marks Appear At 432 Km - Today, while on a trip to Bagbazaar with Mezda I realised my saddle had developed some marks where my bottom puts the maximum pressure. The odo at the end of the day's trip shows 432 km. The saddle is slightly discoloured there with crease like markings, though they are not actual creases. Initially I thought they were marks from my sweat. The other day while coming back from work I sweated like a pig and my trousers and shirt were soaking wet with my sweat. So I wouldn't be surprised if the saddle also took up some sweat from there. But on closer inspection they don't seem to be water marks. They look more like pressure points.

If you really strained your eyes you could see the marks in this image near the last and first rivets at the two sides. There is a similar mark near the top first rivet also. The saddle, I suppose, is gradually adapting to the shape of my bottom. This is what it is supposed to do and the reputation is precisely for this. I have no complaints against it in terms of it being a "pain in the butt". It is not. Super comfortable? Not yet. But cycle saddles are not supposed to be your drawing room sofa where you sink in.

I think I will Proofide it once at 500 km, which I expect to hit sometime towards the end of this week. It should hopefully improve things further. But the weather has been very damp of late. So whether it is the right time to Proofide the saddle is something worth thinking about. But then these saddles are born in England which is not known for being sunny. So let me see. 

Saturday July 11, 2020 - Today the saddle touched 500 kilometers. Tomorrow being Sunday I plan to go out again and then I will Proofide it once because Monday I have to take the car out in the morning as Monisha plans to go to work as well (when the two of us go out we take the car out). 

So how has the saddle been so far. It's great. I bought it for the legacy, as I said. Comfort is a side benefit :-). But it indeed is getting more and more comfortable. As I said I don't weigh much and I do a lot of exercise trying to stay fit. Therefore my glutes, I think, are less prone to pain. The saddle is gradually taking the shape of my butt. I can see new contours emerging and colour changes in certain places of the saddle. I think it is a matter of time before it takes the shape of my backside. I am waiting rather curiously for that to happen and see how it improves comfort. I don't wear padded shorts. And I am fine with the Kappa track pants. Tomorrow I might go out in my golf shorts though. 

Proofiding At 500 Km Today Sunday, July 12, 2020 I applied Proofide to the saddle for the second time. The odo is showing 560 km actually. More importantly it's been one year since the saddle was installed. I love the lovely tan colour that came out after it dried up. There were some bits that were not drying. I buffed it gently all over the saddle with a micro-fibre cloth. It looks a very luscious dark tan now. I am not sure when I will apply the next coat of Proofide. Perhaps next monsoon. 

Brooks At 1000 Km - Today, Thursday 3rd September 2020, the Brooks B-17 completed its 1000 Km. It was 798 on the odo when I reached home from work. Add the 200 Km I had already recorded before installing the Edge 130. So it was 998 Km after that ride and therefore it would've hit 1000 near Bhatikhana Morh when I was going to see Maa later in the evening. I am not counting the two rides I did without counting the kilometers when my battery had run out.

The saddle has finally started taking the shape of my bottom, particularly where the left sit bone sits on the saddle. It is quite pronounced I can see. I have a feeling the long 9 and a half hours spent on the saddle on Saturday during our Canning trip has done this. I noticed this new development today. Does it mean I exert more pressure with my left leg and sit more on the left bum than the right? I don't know.

Whatever it is, the seat is now super comfortable. The Canning trip is a case in point which proves this beyond an iota of doubt. I went wearing ordinary shorts with a pair of very regular briefs underneath. Nothing happened to my glutes. A little stiffness after the ride but that was gone after the afternoon siesta. The legs were more affected, to be honest. 

Now I understand why people vouch for the Brooks so wholeheartedly, particularly the tourers. The only hassle with the saddle is to remember that it is leather and requires protection from water. I keep a plastic grocery bag under the saddle and use it whenever there is a semblance of any rain. For deep cleaning days I cover it with a similar plastic bag or take the saddle off along with the seat post. Of course I have to cover the seat tube with another piece of plastic.

I think I will take another look at the seat once it hits 5000 Km. I hope it is soon :-) If I do one century  ride every week I could hit the figure in another twelve months or less. Let's see.

From today I am going to keep tab on the Brooks mileage through the Garmin Connect app where I have added it as a gear. Whatever the total mileage is I have to add another 1000 Km to it. This is so because now I want to use the Edge 130 on both LHT and the Red Roadie.

September 19, 2020

Today being a Saturday I went out on a long ride to Dankuni. I had thought it would be a 100 km trip but it turned out to be just above 76 km because I took the Kona Expressway to return. It's a much shorter distance by that route. But that is not the point. 

The point is, I went on my Red Roadie with the Shimano Probiker Griffon saddle and not my Brooks. I could understand today how comfortable my Brooks is. The total saddle time for me was about 5 hours. My butt was hurting from around 3 or 3.5 hours. I love my Brooks all the more now. 

Monsoon Cleaning The LHT

Today I cleaned and washed and re-greased and lubed up the LHT. Having gone out for a few days in monsoon on wet roads for about 50 kms I thought today is the day to do it. One should clean the wheels and lube the chain every weekend I guess.

Realised I had forgotten almost everything :-) First taking off the front wheel. I had forgotten how to disengage the brake. In my Merida Red Roadie there is a lever that you just release and the brakes become loose enough to take the wheel out. Here one has to unhook the brake cable from the caliper. Providentially enough, I remembered it suddenly while looking intently at the wheel, hand on chin. The rear wheel, always a pain, came off relatively easily. 

I had also quite forgotten which way to wrench to get the pedals off. Referred to ParkTools video and got that. I had written it all down. But then I realised it was too full of unnecessary details. So wrote the basic steps as an appendage to that write up.

I noticed that the kickstand clamp has stripped the paint from the frame a bit. The exposed part is black in colour. I am not sure if this is of any worry. I had taken the kickstand and the rack off for cleaning. I asked the Surly forum on facebook and they say this is called ED (electro deposition). It is a kind of primer and the steel is not yet exposed. So it is okay. I would prefer not to mollycoddle the bike. It is not a museum piece. It is meant to be ridden.

While degreasing and lubing up the chain Monisha managed to dislodge the chain from the sprocket with one hack. I don't know how she managed to do it. All I told her was to rotate the pedal back while I held the chain scrubber with one hand and a rag with the other. I got a little nervous but managed to put it back after hanging it from the Kushuda stand. 

Yet to put the Tubus back because it has yet to be washed and it is 8 pm now. I plan to go out tomorrow for a ride to New Town. 

July 20, 2020

Today I went for another round of very deep cleaning, particularly of the chain, cassettes and the chain rings because last time the job wasn't good enough. The three important parts of the drive train were made sparkling clean this time. Today I didn't go to work, having suffered from a bout of very low pressure yesterday. So decided to spend the day well, giving some TLC to the bike. There was a lot of mud on the body. Feeling very good after the clean. The previous clean wasn't deep enough. I loaded the bike up on the Kushuda stand and lubed it. Kushuda stand works well if there is no rear rack/carrier.