n+1 #Strida Mk 3.2, multi-modal bargain or waste of money? Episode 4 Dowhill all the way #cycling
In which our hero acquires some tools and narrowly avoids death through the deft application of shoe leather.
So, as I said below, the rear brake is in desperate need of new shoes for the drum. Ordered. Also ordered some feeler guages to sort the snubber as per advice from Mark Saunders himself (@77A on Twitter)So off I went from the office and it is downhill all the way from the gates to the station some 1.6km and 35m below. Lovely job; walk up the path in a fine drizzle to the top of the driveway, the bottom being so steep it would inevitably induce a fit of the DAKS! Elastic bands liberated from the post on the pedals, bike unfolded, lights on.
First event of note is the double mini roundabout at the end of the road. This requires me to do a right and then an immediate left. Across a strem of A road traffic which at 5:30 is pretty dense. Hmm... Best I master this pushing off technique as pulling away sharpish in the few small gaps the flow of traffic contains with a 56" gear is not easily done under these conditions. We make it through. I adopt a strong primary so as not to get squeezed into the parked car on the slope and we are cooking on gas - freewheel-tastic, go look behind, signal a right, lifesaver turn right of the road up and over a hump and then left onto a road running parallel down the hill to the one I've just left but which carries much less traffic.
Decide I'll go around the small gyratory system at the bottom of the hill rather than pavement ride the last 50m to the station entrance whicch is actually on a one-way section of the gyratory. We reach the steep section of the hill. Stupid Greg! Stupid STUPID Greg! There's a car coming around the gyratory and a give way line coming up fast and a big handful of the front brake on this slope just isn't slowing me down anywhere near fast enough, and I've got to make the turn. I judge that if I don't stop I will arrive on the other side of that give way line a fraction of a second before the maroon Audi A8 (funny how fear gives one such clairity). I'm following the road around to the left so my inside foot goes down, I unweight th saddle and listen as my lovely leather soled shoe (a Chelseas boot actually) is used as a brake block. But it works and I roll to a halt just short of the give way line.
Note to self:- moderate your entry speed to that section and take care cos once on that slope you ain't slowin' down with one brake.
I've since adjusted the brakes some more but I need to chivvy the dealer along on getting the new brake shoes.
I had planned y'day to take the bike with me on the train to central London but decided that this is not a go-er with only one brake. My attempt to use a Boris Bike (Barclys Cycle Hire) instead is foiled by a late running inbound train and the fact that Transport for London seem to have disabled my account. I got the tube/walked instead.
This morning I arrived at work via train and Strida to find the feeler guages had arrived, thank you Amazon Prime, so tonight I plan to strip the snubber down, remove any play in the bearings with a coke can shim and refit it by the book with a .25mm gap and the judicious use of nutloc. Hopefully this will banish the DAKS! whilst the alarming swaying bottom bracket when climbing is, I guess, just a feature of the design you have to get used to. Also got an email from Strida Netherlands. For €35 the 'chainwheel' can stay cracked. But good news; the bent hanfldebars can be retrofitted. Roll on pay day! Downside is they have none in stock and aren't saying how much they cost and they didn't answer my question about the availaibliy (or not) of wire wheels.
