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Sort of Super Looper....

StuInTokyo

Maximum Pace
Dec 3, 2010
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I met up with Brian from Half-Fast as he was leading the >> Super Looper << ride today. I honestly did not know if I could finish this 150 Km plus ride, I've lost a lot of weight in the last 10 months, and I'm working on my fitness, but man, that is a long ride! :eek: (for me!)

I met up with Brian down at Shinagawa station and as it was just the two of us we headed out. out near Futakatamagawa we met up with Andrew so there were three of us.

andrew_brian.jpg

Brian and Andrew

Both Brian and Andrew were patient with me, I'm not exactly what you call "Fast" :rolleyes: maybe not even Half-Fast but they were certainly helpful. Pulling along the Tamagawa at 28Km/h for an extended time, into a very slight headwind was hard work for me, as we got near the Show Kinnen Koen, I was lagging a bit behind, but I made it. We had a quick lunch of a super long hot dog at the park then headed off some more.

At Tamagawajoisui station, I decided to pack it in, I was beat and I did not wish to slow them down the rest of the day.

brian_stu.jpg

Brian & me

That was at kilometer 86 (for me) by the time I got home I had ridden 115Km, and had a rolling time of 5 hour and 11 minutes, and average of 22.2 Km/h. Certainly not fast, but fast for me.

About a kilometer from home I heard a familiar "Twang"...... yep, I busted another spoke on the rear wheel :eek:uch:

My legs hate me right now, but that's cool, I had a great time and at least I got my metric century in.

Now I'm looking to put drops on my bike, man I hated being a bloody barn door all day long in the wind..... :D

Cheers!
 
Mate that is bloody awesome work on that sled! Seriously you should drop a few man on a used road bike and just use it for sunday cruising. That rear wheel will need a constant spoke replacement program from now on I would guess. What size top tube do you need on a roadie?
 
Awesome

Thats some real mileage man! Good Job!
I agree you are working much harder on that bike! Consider it 200km on a road bike:D
 
Mate that is bloody awesome work on that sled! Seriously you should drop a few man on a used road bike and just use it for sunday cruising. That rear wheel will need a constant spoke replacement program from now on I would guess. What size top tube do you need on a roadie?

Thanks Simon!

I have no idea, how do I figure what size top tube I need?

My stand over height is 89cm if that helps?
 
Thats some real mileage man! Good Job!
I agree you are working much harder on that bike! Consider it 200km on a road bike:D
Thanks, also hauling around an extra 50lbs or so is hard work too, but I'm working on that! :D
 
what size did you buy for your new trailer tractor? That's a good place to start.
Not really, the Mixer 8 has a strange frame, I got the small, yes the SMALL frame, it is very tall, but very short.

Geez, now you guys have me looking on Yahoo auction...... the wife is going to kill me if I buy a third bike :eek: :D
 
Stu, great ride mate!

With regards to your spokes, one thing you could try to do is bind them together with wire where they cross. This makes them much less likely to break under strain.

I do this on some of my training wheels.

The disadvantage is that it puts more strain on the rim which will wear quicker.

As Kiwisimon says, once one spoke goes, they all tend to go.... so maybe worth a try.

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time
 
Stu, great ride mate!

With regards to your spokes, one thing you could try to do is bind them together with wire where they cross. This makes them much less likely to break under strain.

I do this on some of my training wheels.

The disadvantage is that it puts more strain on the rim which will wear quicker.

As Kiwisimon says, once one spoke goes, they all tend to go.... so maybe worth a try.

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time

Thanks Andy, I'll give that a try, I have some stainless wire I used to safety wire my motorcycles for the track that should work nicely.

I'm off to the Dungeon to fix the wheel, if I can find the spare spoke I bought the first time one busted :rolleyes:

I need the bike first thing tomorrow, going to the chiropractor.

Anyone have a lead on a decent road bike for a reasonable price, I could be interested :D

I'm about 181cm/6' or so, if that helps....:)
 
nice bike, whats your inseam in CMs? I suspect that bike would be a touch short in the top tube but if your leggy then it might work, your looking at the right kind of bike though. Your wife will prefer another bike and the health benefits associated with it to the other mid life crisis options.

Using the method of standing with my feet 6" apart, and holding a stiff ruler both behind and in front of me and pulling up hard like I'm trying to lift myself off the ground I measure 89Cm in my cycling shoes.:)
 
TAnyone have a lead on a decent road bike for a reasonable price, I could be interested :D
Stu, you're really close to Tim (GSAstuto) in Ogikubo and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help assess your bike size/strength requirements in person. And if you want some indestructible TimTanium he can sort that out too.

Sorry to miss the ride yesterday - came down with a cold.

--Mike--
 
Using the method of standing with my feet 6" apart, and holding a stiff ruler both behind and in front of me and pulling up hard like I'm trying to lift myself off the ground I measure 89Cm in my cycling shoes.:)

say 87 cm in stocking feet, I would guess your going to need a longer top tube than the usual 56X56. Saying that however if your flexibility isn't great then maybe a more up right and shorter reach will do.You can always slide the seta back and get a longer stem later. That Zunow is good but if you can find a bike with brifters you'll be more comfortable shifting. Seeking out Tim is good advice.
 
say 87 cm in stocking feet, I would guess your going to need a longer top tube than the usual 56X56. Saying that however if your flexibility isn't great then maybe a more up right and shorter reach will do.You can always slide the seta back and get a longer stem later. That Zunow is good but if you can find a bike with brifters you'll be more comfortable shifting. Seeking out Tim is good advice.


So Tim............ do you take appointments :D
 
Stu, great ride mate!

With regards to your spokes, one thing you could try to do is bind them together with wire where they cross. This makes them much less likely to break under strain.

I do this on some of my training wheels.

The disadvantage is that it puts more strain on the rim which will wear quicker.

As Kiwisimon says, once one spoke goes, they all tend to go.... so maybe worth a try.

Andy

www.jyonnobitime.com/time

I got some new spokes, I bought 4 just in case :rolleyes:

I also safety wired all the cross over points, on both wheels.....

wired_spokes.jpg


I hope that helps.....
 
I'll find out I guess :D

I took both wheels and checked them the front was OK, but I found a couple of spokes that were a bit on the loose side, so I did my best to tension the whole wheel, and it is nice and straight. The rear wheel was a bit more of a battle as I had to replace the spoke and the area round that busted spoke was out of whack, but I got it back true, and checked the whole wheel and it is all good to go for now anyway.

I lowered my handle bars about an inch, and made them a bit more flat, less horns up, if that makes sense. The saddle height is good, but I'm still not sure on the front to back position, it is a bit forward of center on the rails now, but I'm thinking it might want to go back a touch, to balance out the bars being a bit lower. Test ride tomorrow morning!

Cheers!
 
Not even close to being informed on tied spokes, but the ones I've seen were--for lack of a better way to express it--tied both ways. That is, they were not only wrapped cross-wise, as in stu's pic, they were also wrapped length-wise. This was ages ago, and those tied spokes were on wheels with (probably) a higher spoke count (angle of spokes crossing was less shallow) and non-bladed spokes. Being tied both ways (not sure that's possible or recommended on a wheel & spokes like stu is showing) would seem to me to result in a tighter wrapping, and stiffer wheel.

??
 
JDD, that makes sense, I can do that easily, so I might as well give it a try, at least on the rear wheel :)
 
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