Time for something a little different - Tannus Musai Punture Proof tyre

So this is a little backward in coming forward. Last year I had a lot of flats riding. In the latest Ride On Magazine they reviewed some puncture proof tyres by Tannus and gave them a very favourable rating. The big difference in these tyres are they are solid rather than having a tube and being filled with air. For road bikes (the Musai model) they two versions, a hard and soft compound which are supposed to mimic 133psi and 101psi respectively. Because these are for my commuter I've chosen the soft compound hoping that the ride on a solid tyre will be comparable. The tyres sound heavy(ish) at 380g but it's actually 12g lighter than my Gatorskin/tube setup I had on the rear and 100g lighter than the Maxxis Re-Fuse on the front.

After a bit of looking around I found a stockest in Brisbane at Avanti Plus (who also fitted them, which is quite a chore apparently). 

So far the bike hasn't actually ridden anywhere (other than around my garage, which felt remarkably like riding a bike). The big test when I take it out in anger or on some heavy commutes. According to the guys at the shop they take about 200km to wear in so I'll write a review on them at around the 500km I guess.

Last ride for 2012

Almost like cycling through Italy., a photo by CamDS on Flickr.

On New Years Eve, I set out with a long time friend +Andrew Herrmann to do a bit of an expedition out to Mount Cotton looking at his new commute (ironically to roads we used to travel a lot as kids)

It was a great way to close out a huge year of cycling with a lot of first (thanks to the wonders of Strava.com I know what they all are)

Here's a few of the highlights for the year:

Big Rides
Midi Smiddy
Arthur's Seat
Cootha Challenge
Brisbane to Gold Coast
Ride for Home
Cyc'd Tour de Noosa

Cycling firsts
Most Kilometers in a Year (9158km)
1000km in a month (June, November, December)
Biggest Climb Ever (553m)
Longest Ride Ever (217km Tour de Noosa)

Other (not very) interesting Stats...
Flats - 25
Best Tyre (no flats) 2x Continental GP4000s (1347km)
Worst Tyre (quickest flat) Vittoria Rubino Pro III (flat in 5km) (to be fair a Continental GP4000s came a close second at 10km)
Most Mileage: Continental Gatorskin 2678km (Still going)
Number of hours spent out on bike neglecting my family: 409
Crashes: 3

A huge thanks has to go to +Vanessa Freke for not killing me for being out on the bike so much! And thanks to everyone I got to cycle with this year was lots of fun.

My Cycling Stable...

As someone pointed out to me the other day the blog has taken a rather heavy cycling turn lately... so to continue the trend here is a quick look at my current bikes...

Kestrel Evoke SL with American Classic 58
The "Friday Bling" bike

Colnago Tecnos Competition with American Classic 420
The "Sunday Club" Bike

Avanti Monza with Velocity Chukkers
Frank(enbike) the "Commuter/Wet Weather" Bike

The Zigo..
Extraordinary Kid Carrier 

Cyc'd Tour De Noosa 2012

Recently I joined a cycling club and the riding has been fantastic. As a way to finish off the year they had the Tour de Noosa. A 211km ride over a couple of bumps from Brisbane through Mt Mee and Maleny to end with a mini family holiday in Noosa.

It was a fantastic ride and quite a number of firsts...

Biggest ride in one day: 217km
Largest Climbing in a Day: 3,389m
Largest single climb: 489m

The organisation was outstanding, the scenery and the challenge brilliant. The holiday at the end was the icing on top!

A huge thanks to everyone at the club who put the day (and weekend) together!

Cyc'd Tour De Noosa 2012, a set on Flickr.

The Old Faithful: Steel Avanti Monza aka Frankenbike

At the same time I had my Colnago built I had a bit of an update for my old faithful commuter the Frankenbike. It gets that name because it's really a cobbled together bike, although it's a steel Avanti Monza at the moment, it started out as a Malvern Star before the frame rusted through. It doesn't even have matching tyres. This is a progression of it's life in photos so far.

The latest addition is a set of Velocity Chukker rims laced to a 36h hub for it's commuting duties. It used to sport a set of American Classics but they were getting a little beaten up with the heavy duty commuting runs. It's certainly not the lightest setup but it is always a pleasure to ride. The new Velocity Wheels are amazing, they roll so smoothly and silently and with the wider footprint they are a comfortable way to roll around.

Here are the specs (for those who care)

Frame:
Avanti Monza Steel (circa 1996)

Fork/Headset:
Roselli 700c 45mm Rake Chromoly Fork

Crankset/Bottom Bracket:
Shimano Ultegra 6500

Pedals:
Shimano PD-M530

Drivetrain/Cog/Chainring/Chain:
11-25 / 53/39 / Shimano Ultegro 6500

Derailleurs/Shifters:
Shimano Ultegra 6500

Handlebars/Stem:
42cm. FSA / FSA 90mm

Saddle/Seatpost:
Fizik Arione / FSA

Brakes:
Shimano Ultegra 6500

Front Wheel/Hub/Tire:
Velocity Chukker  / Maxxis Refuse

Rear Wheel/Hub/Tire:
Velocity Chukker  / Continental GatorSkin

My New Ride: Colnago Tecnos Competition

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a Colnago Tecnos frame cheap on eBay. It's taken a few weeks to get it all together with a big thanks to Jimmy from Bikeology for doing all the hard work. I'm really happy with the end result, looks a lot better than I would have thought.

Here are the specs (for those who care)

Frame:
Colnago Tecnos Competition

Fork/Headset:
Colnago Flash Carbon

Crankset/Bottom Bracket:
SRAM Rival

Pedals:
Xpedo R-Force Ti

Drivetrain/Cog/Chainring/Chain:
11-25 / 53/39 / SRAM 1090P

Derailleurs/Shifters:
SRAM Rival

Handlebars/Stem:
42cm. Cinelli Criterium / Cinelli 90mm. Quill A1

Saddle/Seatpost:
Fizik Antares / Cinellia Vai 

Brakes:
SRAM Rival

Front Wheel/Hub/Tire:
American Classic 420 Aero 3 / Michelin Pro 4 Race Service Course  

Rear Wheel/Hub/Tire:
American Classic 420 Aero 3 / Michelin Pro 4 Race Service Course  

A weekend of adventures

The weekend just gone saw me take on  sole parenting duties for 4 days while ness took a well earned weekend away. I was a little nervous to say the list. The little girl hadn't spent a night without mum let alone three, so I was a little worried how she/I would cope.

I had a pretty busy schedule planned with the idea that if I ran them hard all day they'd sleep well at night.

The little girl and I spent most of Friday out and about while her brother was at kindy punctuated with trips to the train set and duplo. Of course we might have visited a coffee shop or two.
The first night went fairly well. Both the kids went to bed pretty well and the little girl was only up for a couple of hours. But they both started the day pretty early with 430 wake ups.

The first stop on the daddy "wear the kids out" weekend was the rail museum that was having a model train show.

There were train rides and the most popular attraction the Lego train set.

A storm threw a spanner in my plans and I ended up leaving a bit early. On the plus side the kids were asleep at 4:30pm. Unfortunately that meant another 430am start to the day and the little girl with a bit of tummy bug. But a trip to the bird sanctuary at Currumbin was on the cards for today and a sleep in the car on the way seemed to sort them out.

The biggest hit was the magic show and feeding the kangaroos (several times over)

Although the little one did save us from a python.

I must confess we may have had a short trip to Nan's after the park where daddy might have snuck a nap before driving two exhausted kids home for another nights sleep.

Monday I took the kids to the cafe for hot chocolates and freckles (they come with the coffees) partly as their last weekend treat and because I'd forgotten milk and was in need of a coffee.


All in all I had a fantastic weekend. Both kids were angels and any of my fears were unfounded with the little girl sleeping. I really enjoyed the whole time and made me really look forward to my 4 days at work next year so we can have a few more daddy long weekend adventures.

Travelling....

It seems these days the only time I get to blog is if I'm travelling, which is fortunately not terribly often.

This week I took off for a short trip to Melbourne. It's still one of my favourite cities in Australia. This time I didn't manage to get much time to do anything other than work which was a shame. Ok so I did get one ride in but let's not dwell on that.

It's much harder to travel now that the kids are getting older. Not just because its more work for Ness at home but also I feel like I'm missing out on them growing up. It's one of the reasons I've switch my work back to 4 days a week to spend some time with them before they are at school. I still haven't worked out what I'll be doing with them but I foresee some trips to theme parks.

We have already got some annual passes to the bird sanctuary and the rail museum, but I'm thinking that after our trip to the big theme parks earlier in the year a trip there wouldn't be wasted.

Sent from my iPhone