Tag Archives: WTF

WTF just happened to the world?

Dear Rouleurs,

It’s been nearly 4 weeks since MMT put fingers to keyboard to write a blog and the world has irreparably changed in that time. The SARS COV-2 virus has taken the lives of over 40,000 people worldwide. Life as we know it has stopped. We are confined in our homes due to stage 3 restrictions. A very large portion of us will be without employment. When the health crisis passes, all of us will be facing a very uncertain economic future.

Through the selfish lense of a cyclist, MMT is horrified by the images and statistics coming from Italy, Spain, France and the UK. Its difficult to see how any of the remaining grand tours or monuments will be run. It beggars belief that the ASO group still think that it may be possible to conduct the 2020 Tour de France without crowds. It seems unlikely that any team based outside of France would attend, given restrictions on international movements.

Here in Australia, it seems that we have been spared the worst, so far. Our case count is relatively high but thankfully the death rate has been low. MMT has been keeping a watchful eye on the the https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19-daily-update

It’s these two graphs that he’s watching and hoping will get better, or rather as our medical experts explain flatter.

This one is for Victoria

This one is for Australia

The one he can’t bear to look at is this one, provided by John Hopkins University Global COVID-19 Cases. Its just too grim…

So for those of you out there, in self-isolation and practising social distancing, MMT wishes you ‘God Speed’ and that you and loved ones emerge from this catastrophe, alive and well.

MMT

And we are back in 2020…. with Hope HB-T

Dear Rouleurs,

Its been a while since MMT put fingers to keyboard on this blog. So much has happened since December 2019, that MMT doesn’t even know where to start. So MMT is starting with a tangent…track bikes. Yep, those two words have never, ever been been put together in an MMT blog before. To cut a long story short, MMT has been listening to the Cycling Podcast and heard about the radically different track bike that some (MMT will use the quaint English term) boffins at Lotus and Hope Technologies have developed for Team GB.

Its called the HB-T and it looks amazing.

Here’s a whole bunch of photos MMT stole…err…requisitioned off the web.

Its the front on photo that hints at what these wide forks and back stays are for, optimized drag. Effectively the rider’s leg is sitting in line with forks and stays. MMT is guessing that laminar flow across the side of the bike, is vastly reduced.

MMT wonders if this kind of bike might cross over into professional peloton for time trials? If Team GB clean up the gold medals on offer for the indoor track events and thrash competition, that might happen. MMT can’t wait to see this machine in action at the Tokyo Olympics this year.

Hopefully MMT will start churning blogs on a more regular basis in the coming months.

Until next time, ride safe.

MMT

Cermanic Speed is the future of road bike drive trains….WTF??

Dear Rouleurs,

MMT is still grappling with time poverty and sleep deprivation. With Bubba Mark 2, only 3 months away, MMT is beginning to think this will be a tough year. As harbinger of things to come, MMT watched Richmond’s AFL premiership hopes for 2019 nose dive last week. Alex Rance hobbled off the MCG with a season ending ACL injury. So AFL may not be a source of solace for the coming winter either. MMT digresses.

When MMT feels this out of sorts, thinking about buying a new bike always cheers MMT up. In the deep contemplation of road vs commuter vs gravel bikes as alternate replacements for MMT’s Venerable Wilier Laverdo, He re-discovered last years announcement from Ceramic Speed, a Danish bike components company.

Sometime in September 2017, ceramic Speed released a prototype road bike that contained a radical new drive train. This drive train based on a drive shaft rather than a chain meant that its power efficiency could reach 99%. That’s damn impressive and could give a rider a very significant speed advantage over his chain equipped competitors.  According to Ceramic Speed, a standard chain based drive train, like Shimano Durace has a maximum efficiency of 97%.

All of this is achieved by a pinion style drive shaft system. A total of 21 bearings play a crucial role in the functionality and efficiency of Driven. The bearings transfer torque from the front ring through the drive shaft, then onto the 13-speed rear cog.

Engineering aside, it looks amazing, like something out of a science fiction movie. MMT …sooooo… wants a bike that has this. No doubt this will cost big bucks when its eventually productionised and available to mug punters like MMT.

MMT could imagine Dave Brailsford, Manager of the team formerly known as Sky, signing up for this. One wonders how Shimano, Campagnolo and SRAM will respond to this incredible looking piece of engineering. All of this speculation cheered up MMT no end.

Until Next time, Ride safe

MARV

Oh no, oh no, oh no….my Zonda rims are cracked

Dear Rouleurs,

MMT had a dreadful trip to his friendly neighbourhood bike shop, Good Bikes’ last week.  MMT’s venerable Wilier was making a few awful noises from the vicinity of the bottom bracket.  May be it needed replacing as it had been ridden on for nearly six years.  Similarly the left pedal was behaving very weirdly under power.  All in all, it seemed high time for a service.

So MMT rode his Wilier to work and dropped the bike off.  A few minutes of explanation ensured.  The mechanic, Nathan, was advised to ring me if the price of repairs was exceeding $300.  Nathan called MMT a few hours later and his news left MMT aghast.  Apparently the rear rim was showing signs of cracking and needed replacing…..crap….Keep in mind that these were the $800 Campagnolo Zondas, bought just over 2 and half years ago.

Fortunately, MMT had kept the original Fulcrum rims.  MMT had spent a frustrating Saturday afternoon, a few weeks ago, fitting spoke reflectors and had intended to use these as his winter wheels.  So the Wilier stayed at the shop, until the old rims were retrieved and fitted. Nathan showed MMT the cracks and MMT was horrified at what he saw.

MMT reckons he’s done about 15,000km on these rims and can’t believe how these stress fractures have occurred. For starters, they are all on non-cassette side of the rim. One of them has cracked clean through, with clear daylight visible. MMT can only shudder at the thought of what may have happened had the spokes given way entirely.

MMT is not a happy camper…

Until next time, ride safe.

MMT