I'm halfway through putting mudguards on my CAADX (cyclocross bike). I've got it on my stand and when spinning the back wheel there is a rumbling sound from the bearings. I had noticed it the last time that I rode the bike but forgot to sort it out then. I'm hoping that the hub has sealed bearings and that they are the same type that I bought for the Hope hubs on my mountain bike because I have 5 left over.
I'll get on with that job once the mudguard installation is finished. I want the CAADX ready ASAP because that is going to be my winter bike and it won't be long before that is upon us. I nearly wrecked a fairly expensive front wheel on my CAAD5 road bike last winter, riding it in salty, gritty, wet conditions. The front rim feels like half the thickness of the rear one now. It also wasn't much fun getting the transmission and myself covered in crap almost every ride!
A proper report on the mudguard will be posted upon completion ...
I took a break from fiddly guard-fitting and did some non-cycling fettling instead.
I have met quite a few musicians over the years, both on and off the bike. When I chat to them it reminds me how I have wanted to learn to play guitar and piano since I was about 10 years old, but over half a century later I still haven't got round to it. Being realistic, there is a good chance that I never will but since there is still
some life left in this old dog, he will see if he can be taught
some new tricks, tricks of a musical kind and largely taught by the mighty YouTube!
I have owned a Yamaha digital piano for years but it has been sitting in an attic bedroom, unused and unloved. I thought it was time to bring it down into this room which is warm and cosy and where the piano will be much more accessible. If I feel like doing 15 minutes of practice then I can just walk across the room, don my headphones, flick a switch, and get on with it.
Anyway - fettling...! I had taken a leaf out of
@SkipdiverJohn's book and rescued a Formica***-topped table from a local skip, thinking that it would be good to put my piano on. The only problem was that I could never get comfortable sitting at it. It finally dawned on me that the problem was that the table top was too high. I searched online and found that good pianos tend to the tops of the white keys about 28 inches from the floor - the tops of my P90's keys were nearer 31.5 inches so I decided to saw the legs down.
View attachment 435107
I now have my piano in the corner of the room, where my mountain bike used to live. I have made room for that in the opposite corner.
View attachment 435108
*** Long ago, in a far-distant century, Formica was considered by many to be a wondrous and 'stylish' finish for domestic surfaces. My father was certainly one of those people. "
New work surface? I have a huge sheet of grey Formica that I could cut up and glue to the old one!" "
Table looking tatty? I have some big offcuts of grey Formica that I could cut up and glue to that!" "
Want a box to save your pocket money in, Col? I have some old plywood and small offcuts of grey Formica that I could cut up and glue together to make you one!" "
Need a new splashback for behind the kitchen sink? I've run out of grey Formica, but I could go and buy a big new sheet so I could make one. The rest won't go to waste - there are hundreds of uses for Formica!" That kind of thing
