FNRttC Southend Ride Friday 23rd March 2018

[StuAff]

Bob had TWO punctures on M+.

I forgot the other one!

 

[bobcolover]

and I DID check the inside of the tyre before putting the new tube in on each occasion. I have been told that a lot of the grit used in london after the snow recently contained a lot of crushed sea shells that have very sharp edges, and there has been a steep rise in the number of p*nct*res. I had a number of visitations using non M+ tyres in the week after the snow. Heavily invested in both M+ and Armadillos for a hardtail I take off roading very occasionally.

 

[kimble]

Very good as disc brakes are they do squeal when they are wet.

Indeed. It's a resonance thing, and how much it happens (or at least, whether it happens within the range of human hearing) seems to depend on some mysterious synergy of the entire wheel/forks/frame/brakes system. The front disc brake on my Streetmachine makes the occasional polite squeaking noise when you first apply it in the wet. The rear howls like a banshee at the slightest sign of water, and does a convincing impression of That Bird That Sounds Like a Rubbing Disc Brake™ from time to time.

On the trike (two BB7s, one lever), the front left is mostly silent. The front right does a good impression of a train horn under moderate braking, even in the dry. When it's really wet, the left joins in and harmonises. The difference is entirely down to the way they're mounted.

None of the discs on The Red Baron (cable) or the Reasonably Priced Mountain Bicycle (hydraulic) are particularly noisy, unless I've been doing silly things involving mud.

This is all greatly preferable to the front V-brake with Koolstop pads on my Dawes. It functions as an effective - if frankly embarrassing - pedestrian warning system in pretty much all conditions. The rear is quiet.

 

[mmmmartin]

This is all greatly preferable to the front V-brake with Koolstop pads on my Dawes. It functions as an effective - if frankly embarrassing - pedestrian warning system in pretty much all conditions. The rear is quiet.

Ah, now this is interesting.

On the Thorn Raven with CSS reinforced rims the rear is as sweet as a nut, good stopping even in the wet. Thorn say such rims sometimes lose braking power when very well used (as are mine) and in the wet (of which, sadly, my trips seem to have suffered an overabundance recently). No such loss of braking power seems to occur either in front or back, in wet or dry, no matter how loaded.

The front - same age, same conditions, same age of pads - screeches like a Banshee at the slightest pressure. This is sometimes welcome because it, as @kimble says, warns pedestrians. Sadly it also warns Spanish dogs of my imminent arrival on their territory. *unlike*

Any suggestions?

 

[Tim Hall]

Ah, now this is interesting.

On the Thorn Raven with CSS reinforced rims the rear is as sweet as a nut, good stopping even in the wet. Thorn say such rims sometimes lose braking power when very well used (as are mine) and in the wet (of which, sadly, my trips seem to have suffered an overabundance recently). No such loss of braking power seems to occur either in front or back, in wet or dry, no matter how loaded.

The front - same age, same conditions, same age of pads - screeches like a Banshee at the slightest pressure. This is sometimes welcome because it, as @kimble says, warns pedestrians. Sadly it also warns Spanish dogs of my imminent arrival on their territory. *unlike*

Any suggestions?

Ride in places other than Spain?

 

[Fab Foodie]

This is an understatement, as I think they the worst tyres ever made. I find them not only slow (the speed difference to Conti GP4000 S2 is 1 kph) but also uncomfortable, as the bike feels like using wooden tyres.
During the summer, I use the Conti GP4000 S2, which are super-fast and good enough puncture wise. Oddly enough, come September, October I get one visitation after another, and change to Conti GP Four Seasons, which are almost as fast and much more puncture resistant (have to admit that I ruined one a couple of month ago, when I got a cut through the tyre which needed a boot - but I had this much more often when riding ordinary Duranos on the Moulton.

I’m with you on GP Four Seasons, a nice combination of durability, ride, and speed. Shame they don’t make Brompton sized versions.

 

[kimble]

Ah, now this is interesting.
The front - same age, same conditions, same age of pads - screeches like a Banshee at the slightest pressure. This is sometimes welcome because it, as @kimble says, warns pedestrians. Sadly it also warns Spanish dogs of my imminent arrival on their territory. *unlike*

Any suggestions?

Switch to driving a Nissan Leaf. There's a button on the dashboard to disable the dog-attraction system.

(I discovered this at the York Rally a couple of years ago, while driving along the access road behind a family of cyclists moving at child-on-a-bicycle speed. As EVs are almost silent in such conditions, the Leaf defaults to playing an amplified recording of its motor noise from a loudspeaker under the bonnet whenever it's moving at less than 20mph. I put 2 and 2 together as a dog halfway across the field stopped what it was doing, ran over and started yapping at the wheel arch. I switched the noise generator off and the dog looked momentarily confused, and skulked off back to its owner.)