Urbanus Magnus

I've done it - the bike is completely finished, and it has been distance-proven; I took it for more than 40 km of wintery riding over the past two days. All the riding and abused has allowed me to 'dial in' all the settings of the bike: the Brooks saddle has been moved foreward, the derailleur cables have stretched/settled and been adjusted, the handlebars have been positioned, the STI levers have been re-positioned, and more than all these other combined, the new brakes have been worn in and re-positioned. Ta daaaah! Hells yeah - 'Standard' That's right; new brakes. Those old Shimano low-profile cantis are gone, and are replaced with one of the widest-of-wide profile brakes; some Tektro 720s. They really have cleaned up the problems, so now there is about 1/2 cm of clearance each side of the rims and more than double the braking power. The quality of workmanship is superb - they come with 6mm allen key fixing bolts, a stainless-steel bushing, both sides ...

As the title of this post implies, I've gone and gotten myself a pair of studded tyres on the cheap - by fabricating them. Those old Chen Shins I had on the bike's rims came off without a single stud, but went back on with a ice-grippin' 104 studs per tyre. Total cost: $12.78 for 250 1/2 in. 8-size screws, compared to $100 + tax for the cheapest pair I could find elsewhere (including the interweb).  My time is valueless, so I won't put a dollar value on the 2 1/2 hours I spent on the endeavor.   Drilling, and a lot of screwing-in  On the road, they are really grippy on ice - like being glued  to it, even while riding on an outdoor skating rink! But, since the tread pattern isn't that deep, it still has trouble in the slush or packed snow. On fresh snow, however, it performs quite superbly! One really can notice the clickity-clickity-clickity of the screws on the pavement, and feel the drag also. Tyre #1, finished - look at that! 1/4 in of spike show...