I Went Out On My Bike.

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It was nice.

Anything more to add?

As I have had about two years with hardly going out due to having had three shutdowns, my muscles etc are not used to it. I did not go too far. To post letters and call in at a cash machine. I rode my old favourite.

Your Raleigh Royal?

Nice bike but I don't have a Raleigh Royal.

What then?

Its a nice thing to do.

I bought a bike last week so that I could accompany Mrs V on hers.

A single speed, coaster brake one from Amsterdam.

Lovely.



As soon as the front carrier frame arrives I am going to put a wooden crate on the front to carry things in.

I've been fitting lots of new parts and servicing mine, but no ride for quite a while. Maybe tomorrow.

A slightly modified 1989 Dawes Galaxy which I have owned since new.

I owned a brown 10 speed Dawes Galaxy in 1979

Looks comfortable. Great for shorter rides. Not to say one can't use it for long rides.

Very upright position which I find very comfortable. Its very heavy but once you build up some momentum it bowls along nicely and only very long and steep hills necessitate getting off to push - which I don't mind. I like the simplicity and practicality. All the oily bits are hidden so you can wear what you like.

Yes. I believe it was around 1976 when they first introduced the Galaxy but to be honest, Dawes were making tourers since the 1930's because where I first worked, under Dawes lifetime guarantee of the frames and forks, we replaced a frame on a 1934 Dawes, and Dawes honored it. However, Dawes were taken over they are a totally difderent firm and lost a lot of customers and retailers when they started to aim for expanding their profits. They also cheapened the "Galaxy" brand by calling many models "Galaxy" when some were budget. Actually, their tourers they make today, only the budget Galaxy I would buy. The others have gone to disc brakes. Someting fine on a mountain bike, but not for a tourer.

Nice.

I had one of those wheel rims and it was like new. I didn't have a use for it so it ended up as part of our fence, along with about 50 other wheel rims. A few were damaged, but most were fine. They were wheels once and no one wants used wheels. I have been in and out the trade for years, and also, a few years ago had around 100 bicycles, but I scrapped most of them. A friend kept saying he wanted them, but each time I took them out for him to collect he never turned up. Two years later they had become so rusty, that I rescued some useable parts and scrapped the rest.
I can see a slight set up alteration I would do with your bike. When I used to do mountain bike racing we always pointed brake levers around 45 or more degrees downwards as a safety feature, as if one goes over the handlebars one does not risk braking ones fingers. Also it is the natural angle to pull the brakes from the seated position. We would also mount the levers in a bit from the grips so the "Braking" fingers could find the brake levers easily while the steadying fingers would maintain hold of the grips. The fraction of a second difference in braking by positioning the levers "Just so" could end up as an advantage.
I realize that the hydraulic reservoirs do not like this position on some systems. It is actually bad design on behalf of the manufacturers, as they don't have to make the reservoirs an integral part of the brake lever.
We would go through every concieveable element to ensure the bikes were ready and prepared for the individual race. An example, when I raced the 21 speed was in, but due to the Welsh clay courses, I used to ride with a wider spaced 6 speed freewheel to clear the clay. Today they cram a lot on the back and in clay it is useless. I had the 7 speed cassettes clog up with clay so the chain skips and does not grip.
Other races I could use the bike as a 21 speed.
I actually found in clay I would abandon STI shifters (Grip shift wasn't used for mountain bikes in those days, and I am not that keen on it) as I found that if ones bike fell in the clay type mud, the STI's would struggle to change gear, while with thumb shifters, one can use ones whole hand to change them if required. All little bonuses which could get you good places in races. The mountain bike fasion industry took over, and even today, the current trends to have a singlw chainring and cram in gears into the rear wheel cluster is not liked by professional racers. They are officially not allowed to comment due to sponsorship, but I have heard it said privately, that they would prefer to ride triple chainsets with less crammed in any day!

Haha, I was making great efforts not to boffin on about mechanics but you opened that box, so here goes!

I ordered a lovely pair of 8 speed LX shifters but to my dismay the triggers are obstructed by the hydraulic brake levers. I'm hunting down a right hand deore shifter so I can set it up right but it bugs me that I can't have all LX.

I've replaced the crank, brakes, wheels, chain, BB, and cassette and I have some more forks. .. Haha, the parts are all there and I'm now looking at bike frames and wondering, will this ever end! You know how it is MG