Cryptic clues

[winjim]

Here's a girly one for you (yes, I am a girl, @deptfordmarmoset ). I think this one is very easy.

The French brand she is going crazy to get hold of! (10)

Spoiler

Handlebars

 

[RichardB]

This involves slang, and maybe just me and my mates back in the 60s, so if you don't get it ... er, I apologise.

Cornea bulged with fifty around, two bells, and a way to find your granny! (6, 7)

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

This involves slang, and maybe just me and my mates back in the 60s, so if you don't get it ... er, I apologise.

Cornea bulged with fifty around, two bells, and a way to find your granny! (6, 7)

Spoiler

And very proud of it I was when all of a sudden I had 10 gears on my bike. Who could want any more? Double clanger, which is an anagram of cornea bulged with L added.

 

[Motobecane]

Spoiler

And very proud of it I was when all of a sudden I had 10 gears on my bike. Who could want any more? Double clanger, which is an anagram of cornea bulged with L added.

And the slang?

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

And the slang?

The expression's never used any more and was never the ''proper'' name.

 

[Motobecane]

The expression's never used any more and was never the ''proper'' name.

OK. Then why is it a way to find your granny? I'm being thick today...

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

OK. Then why is it a way to find your granny? I'm being thick today...

Spoiler

I think it's in the sense that you need to use the double ring to get onto the bottom ''granny'' ring. I better put this in as a spoiler in case I'm completely wrong....

 

[RichardB]

Right, and right.

We always called the front mech the 'double clanger', but I wasn't sure if this was just half a dozen schoolboys in Leeds or a more general term. I assumed it was a play on 'double changer', as two front rings were still hot stuff for us in them days. I also confess to another bit of dodgy clueing - as far as I know, the 'granny ring' is the smallest of three, and you would never refer to the smaller of a 2-ring setup as a 'granny'. But I couldn't resist getting my granny into a clue.

I'll do better next time.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Right, and right.

We always called the front mech the 'double clanger', but I wasn't sure if this was just half a dozen schoolboys in Leeds or a more general term. I assumed it was a play on 'double changer', as two front rings were still hot stuff for us in them days. I also confess to another bit of dodgy clueing - as far as I know, the 'granny ring' is the smallest of three, and you would never refer to the smaller of a 2-ring setup as a 'granny'. But I couldn't resist getting my granny into a clue.

I'll do better next time.

Though I was born in Leeds, I'd never heard of ''double clangers'' until I was down in London, where it was routinely used by friends who would also get excited by all things Campagnolo and by Weinmann centre-pull brakes.

 

[RichardB]

Thanks for that - not just me then!

I guess we were all about 11-12, when standard fare was a Raleigh roadster-type with 3-speed (if you were lucky), flat bars and white plastic grips. When anyone got a proper 'racer', it was a cause of great excitement. Drops (chromed steel, usually), chromed rims, centre-pull Weinmanns, and 5 speeds with a Huret mech. The lad round the corner (older than us) had a Merlin in plain orange, with alloy components and ... gasp ... a double-clanger. We almost fainted with desire. (Funnily enough, that colour - a kind of pale, tangerine orange - has haunted me ever since, and if I ever strip and respray a bike, that's the colour it will be.)

 

[Motobecane]

OK guys. I am now educated in double clangers and granny rings. Its @deptfordmarmoset or @winjim to set clues next, I think...

 

[winjim]

OK guys. I am now educated in double clangers and granny rings. Its @deptfordmarmoset or @winjim to set clues next, I think...

Righto. Let me sleep on it, I've got one half-formed in my brain .

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I think I still have one unanswered so I'll reframe it.... And I've just recounted the answer's letters and bumped it up by one. Apologies for my bad counting.

Where Moriarty dropped FDJ rider (11)

 

[Tim Hall]

I think I still have one unanswered so I'll reframe it.... And I've just recounted the answer's letters and bumped it up by one. Apologies for my bad counting.

Where Moriarty dropped FDJ rider (11)

Spoiler

There doesn't appear to be an FDJ rider called Reichenbach. <fx: furious googling> Oh, there is, he's just not listed in their Wiki article

 

[Motobecane]

Spoiler

There doesn't appear to be an FDJ rider called Reichenbach. <fx: furious googling> Oh, there is, he's just not listed in their Wiki article

Well done! I was nearly there...