and now for something completely different.....

WOW I can't believe its been over a year since I have posted in this blog.

The reason? Pretty much not been cycling much at all over the last couple of years other than commuting to & from work.

I’ve kept up to date with the Facebook group London Brompton Club which is still going strong but not posting, maybe the odd comment every once in awhile. I have to say that I am very proud of the LBC and how it still growing and many active members all the time. I've been going though some personal issues over the last few yrs and seeing the LBC still going strong gives me a warm fuzzy feeling and makes my dark days a little brighter. So thank you to everyone in the LBC.

I’ve been considering posting about other things I'm also doing. Blogging was a kinda of therapy for me in someways, I look back at my blog to see the things that I have done and think to myself, damn I really did do that.

So on with something a little different.

New case for next PC

Currently I'm in the process of building myself a new PC. Only the last couple of yrs I have been gaming more and my current is PC is 8 yrs old and just a couple of hardware updates in that time. Basically its showing its age in regards to gaming.
I've been planning this new PC for about a year now but waiting for the optimum time to buy components. Getting the balance right between price & latest tech is tricky as  technology doesn't wait around. As soon as some new tech comes out its pretty much outdated within a couple of months, probably less.

As you can see the case its basically black but will have programmable lighting. While I wait for the availability of of certain components I will be working on the case to give it a little colour.

First thing to do is strip down the case to its bare bones to see exactly what I've got to work with.

First idea that came to me was when stripping the front panel & top panels, which consist of a frame and wire mesh panels.

Front Panel

Front Panel Stripped

Top  Panel Stripped

First thing I thought was spray painting the mesh, give it a little pop. Well you folks should know by now I'm a bit of a fan of black and yellow so how about the mesh panels in yellow. Will be trying out tests on small bits of strap metal to see how this paint goes as I've never used it and its been a long while since I've spray painted anything. I MAY look for a professional spray painting place to see if they could do these little bits for me if I don't feel I will get good results.

Proposed Specs:
Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus XI Hero
Processor: Intel i9-9900K Processor
CPU Cooler: Hydro Series™ H115i RGB Platinum 280mm Liquid CPU Cooler
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4
HardDrive: 970 EVO Polaris 1TB M.2 NVME Solid State Drive
Display Card: GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ROG STRIX OC Graphics Card

till the next ride, bee safe.....

The curse has returned...

So over the last couple of months I have noticed a "pulsating" feeling coming from Bumble B's rear wheel. I knew this was from last time my rear rim had worn out and was basically breaking though. But this rear wheel is just over a year old and shouldn't be wearing out so quickly, something was afoot....

I took it to my main man at Mamachari to check out. He trued the wheel for me but found something odd which he couldn't explain. Basically the brake surface was pushing out in odd places on different sides which he couldn't explain and his never seen anything like it. I had another rear wheel on order already so was just waiting and would swap it out. Told him I would have a closer look at the wheel to see if I could spot anything usual about it and report back. I mentioned that the last Velocity AeroHeat rim had a huge crack down the middle which you wouldn't see if the yellow rim tape was in place and then the light bulb idea came to us at the same time. Maybe the AeroHeat rim at split again and was wondering why.

Our theory is that under the extreme pressure of 100psi the Marathon + tires needed as well as my weight may have pushed it to its limit and over time it developed cracks which just got worse over time. Even though there is no mention of max tire pressure for these rims.

I finally got the replacement wheel from Brilliant Bikes (god damn courier didn't actually deliver to The HiVE but left it at the local courier drop off without leaving a "No one was in" card)

I took a very close too at the troubled rear wheel and our theory was right. The AeroHeat Rim had split again if you looked very closely. You can just about make out the crack developing. Not as bad as the first Velocity AeroHeat rim but I caught it much earlier than before.

2nd Velocity AeroHeat rim (Apr 16, 2016 - 2 Oct 2017)

I also found where the rim is joined it had split but I have a feeling that was from me taking the Marathon + tire off as its pretty new and tough to remove from the wheel. No way me and Bumble B's surgeon would have missed that split for damn sure.

2nd Velocity AeroHeat Rim (Apr 16, 2016 - 2 Oct 2017)

2nd Rear AeroHeat Rim:

Born:     Apr 16, 2016
Died:     Oct 2, 2017
Mileage: 3,453.98 miles

New Brompton Black Wide Range Sturmey Archer hub, looking all sexy in proper black which is what I've always wanted.

So Bumble B is back up to full strength again. WOOP :D

till the next ride, bee safe.....

The Thames Bridges 2017

Its been awhile since I've ridden a decent distance so me and Bumble B headed to the Thames Bridges ride for the Stroke Association. We have done this particular ride a few times over the years and combines riding around London and rising money for a good cause.

Me and Bumble B arrived a little later than I had planned but its a pretty far distance from "The HiVE" to the start of the Thames Bridges start at Kings House Sports Ground near Barnes Bridge Station. Took me about 2hrs by train. I finally arrived at the start and got all registered. As always Bumble B causes abit of a stir when he arrives on the scene.

I was pretty much ready to go when a fellow Brompton rider Sylvia came up to me asking if I could  help with her Brompton. Being the gentlmen that I am, I could never turn down a lady in distress.

Turns out some how the straps for the rear rack for wrapped around the rear wheel sprockets and locked up. Tried to undo it but it was so tangled up I had to take the whole rear wheel off. Just when I did that the rear sprocket of her 3 speed pretty much fell off in my hand. Got Sylvia all sorted ready for her ride. She was doing the 8 mile ride so me and Bumble B waved her off on the start line.

Sylvia getting ready for the off

Me and Bumble B was pretty much ready to go but had to wait a little while for the safety briefing from the marshals and then we was off.

I didn't take many photos as I was mostly focused on making sure I was going the right way and cause there was a lot of other cyclists about I had to keep my wits about me so not to run into anyone.

Unlike other years of this ride, there was only 1 stop at around the 22 miles mark. Good supply of water, peanuts and other goodies for the hungry cyclist that has a few miles to go.

Refueling

While we was there I met this gentleman who came up to me and told me that he had seen us on this ride before and the legend and I inspired him to do this ride on his 70s Bickerton no less. Kudos my man, KUDOS.

This kind of thing really makes the legend happy, inspiring people to do things they couldn't think they could do.

Legend inspiring legends

Not long after we left the feeding station I started to "bonk" abit. I knew I probably would is why i made sure I ate a few bananas and took a few cereal bars with me. I didn't eat properly before I left the HiVE as I was a little excited to get going I suppose.

I just put my head down & got on with it while eating and drinking as much as I could counting down the miles to the finish. I was on my own for a good few miles so didn't really have anything to distract me from the "bonk". Finally caught up with a few others on the ride which made me feel much better and the "bonk" feeling started to fade away & I felt stronger.

Saw the tents in the distance and knew we had made it so really pushed in on the final straight to the finish line to the huge cheers of everyone.

The legend had done it, which big smile and congrats from everyone for a good ride. All I wanted was FOOD and lots of it. I finally found the food stalls and ordered up a HUGE cheese burger with pulled pork. I didn't even give myself a chance to take a photo of it as I just wanted sink my teeth into the meat and savour the taste explosion going on in my mouth.

IT WAS GLORIOUS

Finally had to make my back to the HiVE. Just as I was exiting my station I unfolded Bumble B and heard a *ping* I thought what the hell was that? I started to roll Bumble B and noticed something was jammed up in the rear wheel, had a closer look and found this.

I know my unfolding skills are awesome but I didn't figure they where THAT powerful. Lucky I actually have a brand new rear wheel on order from Brilliant Bikes.

I'd like to thank everyone for the support and cheers as well as the organizers of the Thames Bridges Ride.




till the next ride, bee safe.....