News / Tech Article

  Wheel Fiddling*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#91) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. This month I want to continue where I left off last time. If you remember I had just finished assembling the worlds most garish wheel, a lovely little rear 48, laced 4 cross and interlaced under the […]
  Chain Tension*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#88) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. This month’s tech column is going to be about chain tension. But before I get on to that I should probably ramble on about something pretty much unrelated for a while. In this case I want to […]
  How tight is tight?*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#87) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. People like Jeremy Clarkson often talk about torque. Unfortunately they either just quote a number or skirt right past it like it is this incredibly difficult concept to understand. The truth is that torque is very simple […]
  Chain*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#85) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. When the very first bicycles were being developed, simplicity was king. We are talking about Scotsmen scooting about on wooden frames with wooden wheels and wooden forks. This soon developed into the first real bicycles, where rather […]
  Isn’t that bike a bit small for you mate?*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#84) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. Chances are that at some point some incredibly witty sort will have shouted this tired old phrase after you as you roll down the street. You may have noticed that they wait until you are a fair […]
  Bent Frame Spotting*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#83) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. When the ancient Egyptians were laying out the great pyramid at Giza over four and a half thousand years ago they had little more than bits of wood and string to help them lay it out. And […]
  Click, click, click..*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#82) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. Click click click. Or if you are running certain cassette hubs; CLICK CLICK BASTARD CLICK CLICK CLICK, or even CKCKCKCKCKCKCKCKCK. Some people seem to like a really loud click when they freewheel, some people hate it. Personally […]
  Living in a Material World…*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#81) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. “Supertherm or Ox platinum? T45 or Reynolds 853? Sanko or Tange? What’s it all about?” Yep, several people have been foolish enough to ask me to write a tech column on all the “fancy” tubes that companies […]
  Handlebars*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#80) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. Handlebars, Bars, Steering wings. Call them what you like we all need them. Personally I always find changing bars to be a bit of an ordeal. Not just because I have to wrestle the grips on and […]
  Bottom Brackets AGAIN!!!*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#79) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. Once again I find myself writing about bottom brackets. Bollocks. I really don’t want to get labelled as some kind of obsessive dude who only thinks about bottom brackets all day long, yet I don’t seem to have […]
  Flying Tonight?*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#78) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK.   Nobody really likes public transport. We would all rather drive ourselves to our destination. Door to door with our own timetable and agenda. Unfortunately there is a flip side to this. I am not talking about […]
  Bottom Bracket Compendium*This article first appeared in Ride UK (#77) and is reproduced here by kind permission of Ride UK. You may remember that 2 years ago in issue 58 I wrote about the new Euro Bottom brackets that were starting to pop up on some frames. I also predicted that there would be some other new […]