Raleigh Wildcat test ride

Took the Raleigh out for a test run on Saturday afternoon, riding up and down the road opposite my house to test shifting and braking.
Shifting is, I think, as good as it’ll get. The limit screws are perfectly set, but I am yet to achieve perfection with the indexing.

Braking, on the other hand, is superb.. it was easy to lock the back wheel, despite my 110kg frame, so I feel happy to unleash it on the gf.

There is a slight play in the back wheel that needs sorting, but that doesn’t affect riding. I also want to service the headset; still not done yet, but it is very smooth anyway.

Commute home

.. was,  as predicted, a different story.. 10.6mph average, and took 42 mins. Avoided riding today, due to the 60mph winds forecast!

Epic commute..

Had an absolute blast to work this morning on the Fire Mountain. Average of 18.3mph over 7.4 miles, max speed of 29.8, and 29 Strava trophies including a PB on all but three sections. Not bad considering it’s not an out-and-out speed machine. That was with a 20mph tailwind (hehe), and I think I’ll be making up for it on the way home – 40mph+ headwind from 18:00! Ouch. Pretty good reason to leave work on time, methinks!

Raleigh Wildcat – one step closer..

Serviced the pedals last night. They are solidly seized to the cranks, and didn’t have time to try freeing them, so removed the pedals from the in-situ spindles.

Gave everything a thorough clean, and replaced the bearings (happened to have some size matched bearings, originally purchased for the Fire Mountain headset, in my parts box), giving a liberal coating of grease.

One of the pedals is absolutely perfect in terms of friction-free and play-free movement; the first one I did has a mm or two too much play, so I’ll be tweaking that tonight. They were both incredibly graunchy prior to this, so a big difference.

Also chopped off the stubs of the pannier screw with a pound shop special junior hacksaw.. it’s pretty flush with the frame but needs a check for sharp edges.

I have a new chain and gear cables  on order; the cables being Muddy Fox from Sports Direct. These are £1.50 for inners and outers, so I bought four sets, leaving two left over as spares once those on the Wildcat are sorted.