Tag: guide

fitting tubeless (singletrack guide)


So to start with I thought I’d go through how to fit a tubeless system; I’ve not spent a lot of time setting these up so bear with me on this one.

A lovely set of Pacenti wheels and tyres caught Chipps’ eye for the Nukeproof Mega TR he’s currently testing . Challenge accepted, I have fitted tubeless systems before but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed doing them, however watching a tear drip from Chipps’ eye was not an option.

Tools for the job ahead

Things you will need to carry out the task in hand:

Electrical Tape
Tubeless Rim Tape
Scissors
Tubeless Valve
Tyre Sealant
Sharp Pick

Step One

It's all in the thumbs

Use your electrical tape to make a layer of rim tape, making sure all the nipple holes are covered. After the whole rim is covered by one layer of tape, run your thumb along the rim applying a light amount of pressure to push the tape properly onto the rim. Find where the valve hole should be and using your sharp pick push a hole in the tape through the hole in the rim.

It's only a small prick

Step Two

It's tubeless tape Jim, but not as we know it

Now you can apply your tubeless rim tape, following the same process as the electrical tape, make one consistent layer all around the rim making sure it is central in the rim well and covering the electrical tape.

Whilst applying the tape you will need to do an inch of tape at a time and apply constant pressure when pushing the tape down. If you don’t do this the tape can get little air pockets underneath and not sit straight in the rim.

And another one

After applying a full layer of tape once again, using your sharp pick punch a hole through the tape and the valve hole. If the hole needs to be bigger you can get a larger pick and make the hole in the tape bigger or if you’re extra careful use a small file to take away any unneeded tape.

Step Three

Valve is go

Your taped up rim is now ready for the valve. Unscrew the cap and the compression ring, insert the valve into the rim through the tape ( if the valve can sit flush on the tape without any pressure the hole is too big), using the compression ring tighten the valve down into the rim until it is sat nicely on the tape.

Step Four

Tyre on

You can now fit your tyre. Place one side of the bead onto the rim, place the recommended amount of tyre sealant into the bottom of your tyre, then fit the other side of the tyre onto the rim.

Magic milk

You are now ready to pump up your tyre, this step requires either the use of an air compressor from your local garage or bike shop, or what I used which was a 18g CO2 canister. Place the canisters adapter onto the valve making sure it is secure. Now without holding onto the valve or the canister (the canister gets extremely cold) release a burst of gas into the tyre, which should inflate quick enough to form a seal.

Once the tyre is seated and up to your chosen pressure jiggle the wheel around in your hands whilst also rotating it, this will allow the sealant to cover the whole inside of the tyre.

Pump and go

You are now ready to go out and ride, its as simple as peas.

Thank you very much for tuning in to the first job of Dan’s Tech Centre. I hope this is useful and it helps you when fitting your tubeless system.

If there are any jobs you want help with or any suggestions for the next tech tutorial please comment below and I shall try help you out the best I can.

Handy New Website for touring ….


from road.cc – there is also a similar site called http://www.pannier.cc supported by brooks

Screen Shot 2014-03-05 at 21.02.24

Finding a place to stay on a long-distance ride or a cycling holiday has got a whole-lot easier with this week’s launch of Beds for Cyclists‘ map based hotel browser.

The website takes away the frustration of trawling the internet’s depths for appropriate cycling accommodation on UK cycle routes, by collating the best bike hotels, on the best cycle routes in a new, visually appealing and easy to use tool.

Beds for Cyclists currently features 28 long-distance cycle routes each with their own specific page on the site. Each route page features a list of appropriate, local accommodation options, the route’s start and finish points, its total ride distance, and the type of terrain a rider is likely to encounter.

Routes include known ones like the Sea to Sea (C2C) which takes riders from east coast Newcastle right across to Whitehaven on Cumbria’s west coast which feature on the site alongside some shorter and and lesser known routes.

The site even covers both of Yorkshire’s Grand Départ routes and the bike-friendly hotels in their vicinity – although if you’re planning a visit around the race itself, we imagine you may have a bit of trouble finding somewhere.

The site’s founder, Sam Howard, has pledged that more routes and hotels will be added to the site as the word of his service spreads and new trails are opened around the country.

“This new platform will make it easy for cyclists to find accommodation on any major long-distance route in the UK,” Howard said.

“Our aim is to have a wide variety of cycle-friendly accommodation for every budget, along every major route in the UK. With more and more accommodation providers seeing the potential of the cycling trade and joining the site, this vision is becoming a reality.”

The easy to use interface makes exploring your accommodation options on any of the routes straightforward and has even been endorsed by the founder of sustainable transport charity Sustrans, John Grimshaw.

He said: “I’ve been involved, for many years, in the creation of many fantastic long-distance cycle routes but this is the first comprehensive resource I’ve seen for cycle-friendly accommodation along them.

“It’s not only a really useful resource for the riders, but it’s a great tool for demonstrating the potential cycle routes have to support local businesses, a key factor to developing new routes.”

What is your fitness age?


good article from WELL in the NYT ….

Trying to quantify your aerobic fitness is a daunting task. It usually requires access to an exercise-physiology lab. But researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim have developed a remarkably low-tech means of precisely assessing aerobic fitness and estimating your “fitness age,” or how well your body functions physically, relative to how well it should work, given your age.

The researchers evaluated almost 5,000 Norwegians between the ages of 20 and 90, using mobile labs. They took about a dozen measurements, including height, body mass index, resting heart rate, HDL and total cholesterol levels. Each person also filled out a lengthy lifestyle questionnaire. Finally, each volunteer ran to the point of exhaustion on a treadmill to pinpoint his or her peak oxygen intake (VO2 max), or how well the body delivers oxygen to its cells. VO2 max has been shown in large-scale studies to closely correlate with significantly augmented life spans, even among the elderly or overweight. In other words, VO2 max can indicate fitness age.

In order to figure out how to estimate VO2 max without a treadmill, the scientists combed through the results to determine which of the data points were most useful. You might expect that the most taxing physical tests would yield the most reliable results. Instead, the researchers found that putting just five measurements — waist circumference; resting heart rate; frequency and intensity of exercise; age; and sex — into an algorithm allowed them to predict a person’s VO2 max with noteworthy accuracy, according to their study, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

The researchers used the data set to tabulate the typical, desirable VO2 max for a healthy person at every age from 20 to 90, creating specific parameters for fitness age. The concept is simple enough, explains Ulrik Wisloff, the director of the K. G. Jebsen Center of Exercise in Medicine at the Norwegian University and the senior author of the study. “A 70-year-old man or woman who has the peak oxygen uptake of a 20-year-old has a fitness age of 20,” he says. He has seen just this combination during his research.

The researchers have used all of this data to create an online calculator that allows people to determine their VO2 max without going to a lab. You’ll need your waist measurement and your resting heart rate. To determine it, sit quietly for 10 minutes and check your pulse; count for 30 seconds, double the number and you have your resting heart rate. Plug these numbers, along with your age, sex and frequency and intensity of exercise, into the calculator, and you’ll learn your fitness age.

The results can be sobering. A 50-year-old man, for instance, who exercises moderately a few times a week, sports a 36-inch waist and a resting heart rate of 75 — not atypical values for healthy middle-aged men — will have a fitness age of 59. Thankfully, unwanted fitness years, unlike the chronological kind, can be erased, Dr. Wisloff says. Exercise more frequently or more intensely. Then replug your numbers and exult as your “age” declines. A youthful fitness age, Dr. Wisloff says, “is the single best predictor of current and future health.”

and my result …?

Screen Shot 2013-11-01 at 12.27.36boll*cks – in my dreams