Day 0: Preparing for Udupi 24th December, 2022 I rode all the way from my house to Mittal’s, where we both dismantled and packed our bicycles with bubble wrap, duct tape, some cardboard, and Styrofoam. It took us over two hours to do so—mostly because we didn’t have everything in place. I had packed the … [Read more…]
D1.1 A rocky start Bangalore-Hosur I started from Mahadevpura at 7:30 am on the 30th. I had already packed all my stuff the night before—including a set of clothes for sleeping in—in a small five litre bag and somehow strapped it to the handlebar of my bicycle. I called up Saurabh Mittal (henceforth referred to … [Read more…]
About an year ago, I embarked on updating my hybrid with a better groupset (Deore M61x). It was during that time that I had observed that the braking surface on my rims were absolutely gone. The nail in the coffin came with a nail in my rear tyre. This insignificant piece of rusted object lying … [Read more…]
Sumeet Singh Manglotra, a colleague of mine had recently obtained a road bike and was getting into long distance rides. He kind of tagged me along when he registered for the first brevet of the season. We did our usual Kolar route before and he was pretty comfortable with centuries. On the other hand, my … [Read more…]
After a small test ride a few weeks ago, I decided to take my new old bicycle for a longer ride. The whole idea was to see if there are things that need more urgent attention than the others. Also, my other two companions were on a hybrid (KHS Ultrasport that is closer to a … [Read more…]
A new groupset Installing the new drivetrain was loads of fun. It was pretty easy, too. Well, you need some knowledge, some tools and some confidence in your ability to not screw up; but other than that, it is actually pretty easy. While installing the brake cables, I swapped the front and rear brakes to make … [Read more…]
Don’t buy cheap Chinese crank puller! Taking stuff off was pretty simple and easy – until it came to taking my crankset off. I did not want to invest in an expensive one as the newer groupset has a two piece crank-arm that works inside a Hollowtech II bottom bracket. With great difficulty, I managed to get … [Read more…]
If you want the short version, here it is. They have been on my bike for over three years and have clocked a mileage of about 15000 kms through all seasons on Bangalore roads and potholes; there has been only one puncture in my rear tube. Around three years ago, I started getting a flat every other week. When … [Read more…]
Inventory: Deore T610 Trekking V-brakes Two weeks ago, I had received a pair of Deore T610 brakes. They were sitting idle in my toolbox just because I did not have grease. I got a tube of Park Tool polylube for some decent price at bikeme.co.in and while I was at it, I also placed an order for … [Read more…]
26th January was a holiday. It was also a Thursday. I decided to take the Friday off and wander around. (I did some more random stuff that weekend, but that’s for another blog post.) I had never cycled beyond Silk Board, towards the Tamil Nadu border. So, I decided to cycle to Hosur and pay Mogit … [Read more…]
