Bother That Bung!!!

Friday afternoon spent rummaging in storage harvested my spare dynohub wheel based around a polished Weinnman rim laced to Shimano’s venerable Nexus dynohub topped off with stout WTB dual purpose rubber. Enjoying repute for nocturnal riding, I reasoned were I to subject myself to increased levels of resistance (Nexus cannot be switched off in the same fashion as costlier units) it might as well provide my lighting. Now, I remain an ardent fan of Ni Cad and Li-On high power systems but there’s something very satisfying about generating your own illumination. A quick rummage in the spares drawer unearthed a very nice Basta lamp complete with integral switch. Stripping the wiring to correct length, ten minutes and a slither of Vaseline on the contacts… a quick flick and the wheel of fortune rewarded with a beam of white light.

Before we crack open the Gatorade, I’m putting a budget carbon fork through its paces on another machine. Noticing a mysterious rattle emanating from the stem cap that refused to snug down, I popped the bike on the work stand to investigate further. Now, this system relies not on the humble Star Fangled Nut but an intriguing expandable wedge assembly. For reasons that escape me, it appears to have separated with the collar and cone type components lodging themselves firmly inside the steerer. The only means of retrieval being to run a long, very narrow drift up inside the fork crown and giving it a sharp tap with an engineer’s mallet. Thank the lord for Cro-moly steerers!