Tweed Coast Treadly

Let’s see… to participate in the National Ride-2-Work day I decided to commute although I had nowhere to commute to! I was going to test ride my new (second-hand) Shogun cro-mo commuter I have got hold of and put together with some new parts from both Cecil Walker Cycles (Shimano105 2×10 groupset $629) and Cell Bikes ($50 no-name wheelset) with an added bonus of being able to see what time I could anticipate getting to South Tweed from home on this commuter rather than the old Giant Elwood (2007 model).

Well I was enjoying the ride, even the fairly easy Southern climb of Sextons Hill, when the next thing I know I’ve run over one of the bloody new Cat-Eye reflectors at about 80km/hr on the Northern descent and got myself a snake-bite flat on the rear….. so onto fixing that… bugger no tyre levers but I was carrying the spare and repair kit…. searched the side of the road in the debris looking for bits of plastic and metal for a 100 meters and managed finding some make do levers…. but the now rushed repair was not good enough and was later going to have to involve me in replacing the tube on the uphill climb returning back over Sextons Hill… called into South Tweed Bicycles to get the pressure checked but it wouldn’t hold it. that was it! the end of testing the time to do a standard commute…. Changing a tube on both legs with no tyre levers, which I found I need to get the bead off but not back on the 19mm rim! unlike on the Giant Hybrid 25mm rim which I can do with just my hands, on and off.

anyway heres the Shogun with the new 105 groupset….

The Shogun Samurai Commuter

Just a rambling post…

Been in Sydney for a couple of days this week and on both days walked from Broadway to North Wynyard via George Street and Pitt Street. On the way I took note of all the bicycles I saw and there riders. The traffic was dense and the number of riders was in the 50’s. But there was a noticeable disregard for road rules about 1 in 5 wore no helmet others rode on footpaths and on the wrong side of the road snuck through red lights rode through pedestrians etc It was a bit of an eye opener… There didn’t seem to be any bike lanes or routes available.

And yet during peak hour there was a lot of riders blending into the traffic with safety and consideration… But the ones that were doing the wrong thing will be the ones remembered and talked about by car/truck drivers thus the stereotyping of bicycle commuters as arrogant law breakers… the few spoiling the whole reputation…. All I can say is I am glad I don’t have to ride in the exhaust filled chaos that is the center of Sydney roads.

The rest of my time seemed to conspire against me getting a ride in every day this last two weeks but still managed to get in a fair few kilometers. But I will need to put in some extra effort this week in prep for next weekends little adventure….

Anticipating the tunnel treadly trip I sourced a site with a couple of images its Burringbar Range Tunnel to see the ride conditions…. not a problem as it would only be a couple of kilometers of pushing…

Below is a couple of images from that site.

Some of the track seems to be a bit overgrown!

Some of those contacted have shown varied degree of enthusiasm but I will go on my own if all find better things to do that day…..

Well I awoke this morning with the notion of giving the bike a good clean after all the the mud, grass, sand and water of yesterday’s ride through New Brighton. I was greeted by two flats. So officially I have had a front flat now. And it was only yesterday that I spoke up that I have not had one in 15+ months. So I decided to replace the rear tyre with an older one with little tread, but, no glass slices in the wall as well as patching both tubes. Now I will see if i can go at least one ride with out using the repair kit or pump.