Thanks - I had considered that however I think it would grate with the rest of the bike's aesthetic and in any case, the one fitted is now less than perfect. I'm more concerned about the contact point at the bottom of the seatpost tube in the frame tbh. I hear this is often a rust initiation point and I can see why from the hammering it gets from the flared end of the tube; especially not sympathetically extended and retracted.
Does the chinese BB cover actually have a "hard stop" anywhere on the frame? I assumed it would just remain in place given the significant surface area of its adhesive tape.
Ta for the encouragement; it's all getting a bit stagnant now although the bike's still not where I want it to be. I'm pretty confident that the need for constant fettling should die away once I've got everything protected / sorted.. then it should just be a case of routing maintenance.
A meet at some point with you and @EltonFrog would be grand - perhaps a pint or two one evening in the city?
A quick(?) update of this week's proceedings before the morning's caffeine wears off and I retract into the usual malaise..
Not a whole lot has been done on the bike recently despite the ongoing need. Last week saw two wet rides and a decidedly ginger, squeaky, reluctant chain - so that had another waxing on Monday night. The corrosion is only light and I suspect not as destructive as the wear that would be associated with abrasion were the chain oiled.. but it's obviously not ideal and needs an alternative.
I do find it quite interesting to see how the chain reacts to this treatment. Once waxed and used a little the light rust disappears and I wonder if the slightly corroded surface might give more of a key for the wax to adhere to.. probably wishful thinking and in the absence of any wet lube it's going to corrode to some extent.
I was on the fence about getting a replacement KMC EPT chain from Halfords as they were £28 (a bit more than elsewhere) and I really wanted to buy more stuff to raise the order value past their 20% off promo threshold. Bad news is the promo has now ended, good news is that they were evidently gaming it anyway as the chains are now £23-something.. so no reason not to buy as I can do so with what's left of my work Christmas bonus.
Another benefit of taking this route is that I can probably trust Halfords more than some random ebay seller as there appear to be a fair few fake KMC chains about. This of course is providing I can stomach the hassle of exchanging the gift card for the necessary vouchers..
Sadly it seems that my suspicions about the brass protection on the bottom bracket were correct - the plate slowly moving upwards under action from the tyre. I suspect this happens mostly when the bike is sat folded and the tyre is applying constant force to the place; causing the adhesive tape to slowly creep in shear. I'm going to try a larger plate to see if this is more resistant to movement; and if that fails will have to have a re-think.
The adhesive on the bottom bracket plate clearly has the hardest life of the three I've fitted and I'm pleased to report that the other two are doing great - providing excellent protection to the frame and peace of mind that I'm not destroying the finish every time I fold the bike. In addition they're starting to oxidise so the colour is mellowing a little and becoming more in-keeping with the subdued gold of the frame's brazing..
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I've noticed quite a bit of fine grit stuck to the drivetrain components which has obviously been carried there in water splashed onto the bike during a wet ride - most likely from the front wheel. Obviously this is something I'd like to address as it will doubtless lead to accelerated wear of the drivetrain; as well as making the bike look messy.
I've not yet fitted the two replacement mudguards. The front probably needs to be taken as an opportunity to bend the stays to better centre the guard (a faff I'm not looking forward to) while I'm not convinced that the rear won't get ruined like the original after five minutes of fitment.. so I need to think up some way of protecting that - maybe with a bit more brass sheet although it would have to be quite a big piece.
I've noticed the front mudflap folding back on itself during the extreme speeds the Brompton is subject to, which can't be helping its coverage. I do now have two SKS extended mudflaps that I want to try on the guards; however this will be easier said than done as something will require modifying to make them fit - if that's viable at all.
I still haven't pulled my finger out and bought some frame protection tape, as desperately as I want to get it sorted.
On to more ride-centric stuff; I had a great journey in on Tuesday with the sun in the sky and some Led Zep in my ears. I remain unimpressed by the mile or so from where I park in Yarnton to the tow path - the still-unfinished cycle path by the side of the road now roundly forsaken for riding on the road as the surface is much better. On the one hand it's a fantastic feeling to be cruising past hundreds of yards of static traffic, on the other it's a bit sketchy as space is limited and I'm usually right on the white line in the middle of the road, so feel pretty vulnerable.
Yesterday's ride was supposed to be potentially wet both ways, however I was lucky and it remained fine for nearly all of both journeys. I did Sh*tes Direct in Botley in the hope of finding some waterproofs, however they only seemed to have mountains of own-brand cack so my journey and subsequent lugging-around of the Brompton in-store proved in vain.
I had a bit of a brown-trouser moment heading down Cornmarket while crossing a rough transition from the tarmac to some of the harder stone slabs at a shallow angle; evidently the B's little rear wheel didn't much like the idea of coming back out of the rut it found itself in and elected instead to slide along the slippery edge of the slab. Despite sh*tting the bed like a 5yr-old on a balance bike I stayed upright, but it was a timely reminder of the limitations of this platform and thankfully really the only squiffy moment I've had on it re. traction. It could have been a lot worse had this happened to the front wheel instead.
Heading out of the city the nicer-than expected weather was celebrated with a pint in Jericho..
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Unfotunately my mood turned very sour after a piece of overhanging bramble tore a hole in the shoulder of my lovely, expensive base layer on the tow path
While I appreciate one has to be realistic about the level of maintenance on these routes, it irritates me that it's got this bad and tbh could have been a lot worse. On the other hand I'm mindful that I could have avoided it had I been a bit quicker-thinking / less concerned with maintaining speed. I'm hoping that I can get the base layer repaired as I love it and a replacement would cost about what I've saved in fuel so far. I've also noticed some light damage on my new trousers, but hoping this won't be a problem and accept that this will inevitably happen to utility clothing..
I've so far done 18 commutes on the bike over seven weeks; putting around 350 miles on the bike in my ownership. At 40 minutes each way that works out at about one whole day in the saddle over the 49-ish days I've had it; meaning I've been on the Brompton for about 3% of my time awake during this period
I've been keeping a log of my journeys into work on the bike, mainly to get a good idea of how long to leave for the commute. One unexpected benefit has been that it allows me to compare data from lots of similar rides and yesterday I added some more functionality to average mean journey speed and HR data over the last six rides.
I was very pleased to see that, whilst modest my mean speed is trending upward while my mean heart rate is flat / trending downward slightly. I've also graphed mean HR over speed against time to give a crude measure of fitness - with that value trending down; suggesting less exertion for a give speed and that these regular rides are of cardio-vascular benefit.
In addition my legs feel stronger both on and off the bike; which I think has been largely precipitated by the large 20-25% jumps between gears on the Brompton. I'm increasingly happy to grind my way up hills; something I think is all too easily escaped on many bikes with close, low gears - potentially to the detriment of developing rider strength.
While often utterly shattered by the end of the working day / my short working week it feels good to be getting some regular exercise and hopefully improving my fitness
I shall look forward to reading this later with a beer, almost as exciting as MCN popping up in my iPad on a Wednesday
