iPhone
Back with a bang!
12/02/08 23:35 Filed in: Bike
Well, I was going to restart this last weekend, but I
didn't get round to it.
First a quick re-cap: the hub gear was fine once I reversed the lock nuts. No idea why. However in doing to the wheel had to move forwards, and being a hub with out a chain tensioner, this gave me a slack chain. I cocked up the chain shortening exercise, but was saved by Halfords selling chain connectors (but only after I'd bought a new chain...). All was fine till after Christmas when I sensed a tugging sensation on the rear wheel. Here's the cause:
Not only broken in 2 (almost), but most of the teeth had ripped off too. Geniunely worn out! Looking at the chainwheel, I could see that that was worn too and you always need to change the chain too, so, I replaced the lot:
Steel is our friend is what Dr. Moulton says, so it seems appropriate to have replaced the softer aluminium chainwheel with a Surly made from stainless steel with matching Stronglight cranks. £100 all-in and either its the 1 extra tooth on the chainring or the 5 less millimetres on the crank length, but it feels great, easier and more powerful.
Such was the feeling that I decided to ride all the way to Slough last Sunday.
Above is the signpost just before Slough on the edge of the Heathrow perimeter of the A4. I was and am amazed to have completed the 30 mile journey in 2.5 hours. Excellent additional news was that Viewranger have updated their GPS software, and for the first time, the N70 managed to maintain contact with the GPS for the whole journey - no lost signal, no lost bluetooth, no reboots needed.
All they need to do now is port it to the iPhone. Best. Phone. Ever! Well, it's not the phone that makes it great, it's still not a fully featured mobile (no MMS, no video recorder), but the iPod, Safari and little apps make up for it in a big way. It is still (I got it the day after it came out), a pleasure to use, and even when I had the GPS'ed N70 on this trip, it was the iPhone with it's 'locate me' feature that I used when I needed a map to confirm how to get to the A4 after Chiswick.
Finally, I'd like to introduce my new DAB radio. With some vouchers from work, I visited John Lewis this January and have acquired the best mobile DAB I've had yet. I didn't find a proper review on YouTube, so I made one myself:
But wait, there's one more thing. I'm back with a bang because I was travelling to Ikea by tram to get a foot rest to help with recovery after my foot operation next week (a story for tomorrow perhaps), and we're somewhere around Black Horse Road, at a traffic light controlled crossing, and I see this Mini Cooper approaching from the right, and I think, that's getting a bit close - shit!! BANG!
The car drove straight into the tram and bounced off. The tram was shook up, but thankfully stayed on the rails. In fact, when we got out and I had a look, I couldn't see any damage to the tram at all. The tram was mostly empty, I suppose I was nearest to the impact, and yet the interior of the tram remained undamaged as well. There was a funny smell though so I stepped back till I could see the car engine was turned off. Remarkable. The driver was calm, and gave the driver of the car a hug (yes everyone survived unscathed). The Mini driver admitted going through a red light. Twit. Oh well, poor car, looks like a writ-off maybe. Anyway the tram driver seemed to go into training mode and everything was calm and by the book and we were directed to the nearest bus stop and told which bus to catch. Very professional, slightly surreal.
First a quick re-cap: the hub gear was fine once I reversed the lock nuts. No idea why. However in doing to the wheel had to move forwards, and being a hub with out a chain tensioner, this gave me a slack chain. I cocked up the chain shortening exercise, but was saved by Halfords selling chain connectors (but only after I'd bought a new chain...). All was fine till after Christmas when I sensed a tugging sensation on the rear wheel. Here's the cause:
Not only broken in 2 (almost), but most of the teeth had ripped off too. Geniunely worn out! Looking at the chainwheel, I could see that that was worn too and you always need to change the chain too, so, I replaced the lot:
Steel is our friend is what Dr. Moulton says, so it seems appropriate to have replaced the softer aluminium chainwheel with a Surly made from stainless steel with matching Stronglight cranks. £100 all-in and either its the 1 extra tooth on the chainring or the 5 less millimetres on the crank length, but it feels great, easier and more powerful.
Such was the feeling that I decided to ride all the way to Slough last Sunday.
Above is the signpost just before Slough on the edge of the Heathrow perimeter of the A4. I was and am amazed to have completed the 30 mile journey in 2.5 hours. Excellent additional news was that Viewranger have updated their GPS software, and for the first time, the N70 managed to maintain contact with the GPS for the whole journey - no lost signal, no lost bluetooth, no reboots needed.
All they need to do now is port it to the iPhone. Best. Phone. Ever! Well, it's not the phone that makes it great, it's still not a fully featured mobile (no MMS, no video recorder), but the iPod, Safari and little apps make up for it in a big way. It is still (I got it the day after it came out), a pleasure to use, and even when I had the GPS'ed N70 on this trip, it was the iPhone with it's 'locate me' feature that I used when I needed a map to confirm how to get to the A4 after Chiswick.
Finally, I'd like to introduce my new DAB radio. With some vouchers from work, I visited John Lewis this January and have acquired the best mobile DAB I've had yet. I didn't find a proper review on YouTube, so I made one myself:
But wait, there's one more thing. I'm back with a bang because I was travelling to Ikea by tram to get a foot rest to help with recovery after my foot operation next week (a story for tomorrow perhaps), and we're somewhere around Black Horse Road, at a traffic light controlled crossing, and I see this Mini Cooper approaching from the right, and I think, that's getting a bit close - shit!! BANG!
The car drove straight into the tram and bounced off. The tram was shook up, but thankfully stayed on the rails. In fact, when we got out and I had a look, I couldn't see any damage to the tram at all. The tram was mostly empty, I suppose I was nearest to the impact, and yet the interior of the tram remained undamaged as well. There was a funny smell though so I stepped back till I could see the car engine was turned off. Remarkable. The driver was calm, and gave the driver of the car a hug (yes everyone survived unscathed). The Mini driver admitted going through a red light. Twit. Oh well, poor car, looks like a writ-off maybe. Anyway the tram driver seemed to go into training mode and everything was calm and by the book and we were directed to the nearest bus stop and told which bus to catch. Very professional, slightly surreal.
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