Category Archives: Cycling

Kona Zing on the Australia route.

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22°C, light NW, no cloud.

Kona on a fuel stop

Yesterday was workshop time for the Zing. I swapped the wheels by putting Mavic Aksiums on and swapped tyres. While on that, I relaid the rear gear cable with a sheath under the bottom bracket. The hope is that it will reduce friction in an area vulnerable to road-muck. I had some frustration with indexing afterwards. However….

The gear cables seemed to bed-in during this ride to some extent. Perhaps internal cables are vulnerable to friction and trouble like this is normal, I dunno. As the miles rolled by, the gears seemed more accurate and gave no trouble on the climbs. Oh yes, I went up Bannister Lane climb. That went well. I’m getting a sense of this machine’s value.

3 rides.

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23°C, light NE, no cloud.

Formby wreck

I don’t know how this can happen, it’s not what I call ‘Parked‘. Clearly, there is a gouge where the car skidded off the road but no rubber on the road.

Anyway, I rode on the fixed to get my new Zing bike for a loop. It’s running well apart from sticky gears. The upshift is worst which suggests a snagging cable. The fit is good now too.

New stem, but still the Shimano RS100 wheels.

Ordinary commute with a fire

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23°C, light Sth, full sun.

What’s that fire?

The oily black cloud of smoke seems to originate in South Lancashire. It seems too dark for a moorland fire. The plume trails all the way towards the lake District.

Later: news reports of an industrial fire in Newton-le-Willows, about 30 miles south of the place this photo was taken.

Zing the First

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15°C, light NW breeze, light cloud and dry.

First Zing ride

First outing on the Zing. There are some changes due melon – a new saddle, stem and bar tape are in the post. It should be more comfortable after that. This afternoon I went out with a Raleigh saddle which was murder. Apart from that, it handled well, especially on corners; I came home happy.

Missing lockdown

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12°C, brisk NW, bright sun. Dry

Many busy roads, even starting out- my road as so full I had to wait for a gap. On quieter roads,drivers took the opportunity to put their foot down. I miss lockdown. Let’s have one every year, pandemic or not.

The new bike is not quite ready to do a proper ride but this was good.

Kona Zing (2015)

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Having sat on this frame for a year, I have finally built it.

Zing 2015
First ride in the Zing

I decided on this bike after hiring one on holiday in Corsica last year. After all this time, it’s now ridable. Fitting cables into he hidden cable routes was the most fiddly part. I had no reason to rush so I took plenty of time. It looks like a good job, I’d say.

There remains a shopping list: Speedo, longer stem, another bottle cage, pedals. All the local bike shops have closed for lockdown so my only recourse is online.

Rode to a bike shop, it was shut.

Lockdown ride: broken rail

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19°C, no wind full sun.

The best ride of the year? Quite possibly! I did curtail the route slightly when a seat rail broke. It did fail in the diagonal section which meant no change in the saddle shape. That meant a comfortable ride home with only the occasional knock when the break opened and closed.
It was a tremendous ride, belting along at speed was comfortable and in perfect conditions.

Lockdown; metric century.

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15°C, no wind, full sun.

Empty roads.

I should have taken a shot of the empty motorway – it was empty like I’ll never see again. Here’s a shot of a normally busy A-road instead. Today’s conditions were perfect – still, dry, and no traffic. I could have gone further but getting additional water is difficult during these unusual times.

The last few rides were on busy roads it’s like lockdown hasn’t happened. I guess there are lots of people still at work. Side roads were quiet.