Category Archives: Cycle tour

‘Noctilucent Clouds withThe New Moon, Earth shine, Mercury Jupiter and Saturn’ Oil on canvas 90×180 cm 2022

3rd painting finished this year. Again it’s been a work in progress for almost 5 months, and has gone through some few changes along the way. As I start paintings I may have a vague idea of what the painting may turn into. This vagueness is always excitment and always unknown knowledge….. that whatever vague idea I may have is often just the wish to create an artwork, whatever direction it takes is a creative process a kind of a conversation and is as much up to what happens on the canvas, in the landscape and during the whole process….as it is with those vague thoughts/ideas. And the vagueness is absolutely deliberate, a well developed sense of lets just see. The problem is if I start with a definitive idea of what is to be it short circuits a large amount of the creative process that might take me in unexpected directions…..and the work I do is already more than sufficiently constrained……
 
In this case it begins with direct observation in sketchbooks sketches that don’t stop being done just because I start the painting, I may go back to the point of view and see whats happening and so it evolves over time. And in this case several terrific experiences happened that I just had to work into the painting.
 
The cirrus like clouds are an observation of noctilucent clouds, these are tenuous high level clouds that are only visible when the sun is about 6 degrees below the horizon, then there was the appearence on the 12th Dec of the new Moon with prominent Earth shine Mercury above and to the left of the Moon Jupiter above and to the right of the Moon and Saturn also to the right of Jupiter…..
 
Title…..
 
‘Noctilucent Clouds withThe New Moon, Earth shine, Mercury Jupiter and Saturn’ Oil on canvas 90×180 cm 2022

Second new painting of 2020

 

Second painting finished this year. So today was great fun. Built a crate for two paintings….finished another painting – this one…..and had a short bike ride…..
So this one I am going to have some fun with the naming. I have not quite got the wording right yet so this will take a few days of thought
Being somewhat enigmatic the painting resides in several genre’s it has aspects of the mythological and the factual, historical and literative influences abound and goes back and forth between them all quite resolutely at home in all the places it can be said to exist separately in each and at the same time concurently in all, and all at the same time….
for the moment then it is 90×180 cm oil on canvas
Such is the power of art…..to not just transcend boundaries, but fundamentally to make them illusiory delusional and completely irrelevant….
Well have fun working that out

 

 

 

A new painting

On the easle today for just a few minutes…..it has taken several months to complete this peice, and as yet the painting remains without a title. 90×180 cm Oil on canvas 2021. £3400

 

 

A painting with no title…..

This painting has no title and this is why…..

I have decided to leave this painting without any title at all……even labelling it untitled is in effect a title. There is something odd about giving titles to paintings. For the most part I do it, but with more care than perhaps most will realise after all a title like so many things is, obvious…a given… taken for granted, a simple thing on the surface. Go a little deeper and it becomes phenomenologically interesting.
In some cases it is a simple description in others it can enhance, obfuscate or even harm the artists intent in all cases a title for me is a question. For instance when I title something in Welsh or Irish it grounds the painting to a very specific experience and in my ancestry, but also it is a question…why would I do this….Well I am not going to give everything away.
Titles set boundaries, or parameters which are sometimes restrictive, limiting the scope…the intent of an artwork. It is for me to much like a fullstop an ending but like nature and in respect of nature the paintings I do are ever so slightly unfinished. So there is a paradox in this, a dichotemy in that at some point I made the decision to put down my brushes and stop painting, but nature never stops, change is the very core of existence and yet for me to bring particular attention to this is meaniful it sets up a dynamic….a creative mindful intereaction between the artwork, myself in that I give the artwork direction, form and intent and the viewer that can now no loger view the painting without knowing my intent, my thoughts and something about my philosophical background and in this way the painting continues to evolve, if not physically through a continuing process of painting then intellectually through contemplation. The more I look at this painting the more I realise it’s title is the whole thing. It is it’s own title. It is what it is and does not need words. Words in this case would only restrict and worse ill define it.
If this makes you feel unsure, unsettled bemused, uncomfortable…..or possibly curious then I would say that is a very good place to be…..

The bike

Super green……Super clean…..My very splendid cycling machine

 

…..more cycological engineering……the headset bearings and other new components arrive

……Some fun is a foot, with some new components arrived I can finish converting the bike into a 1×11 drive and install a brand new set of headset bearings. With this in mind I decided to take the bike apart and give everything a good check over clean and re greese everything that needs it. In the end I noticed my internal gear cable was showing some wear so I replaced that too….luckily I had a spare steel cable. I won’t go through everything, but here are a few highlights…..

 

Tools of the trade with some new components – sram pg 1130, 11 – 42 tooth cassette, new 11 speed bar end shifter, new 11 speed KMC ept 11 speed chain, and new Pro headset bearings – a nice upgrade…..Yummy…..

Partially dismantled….

Old and busted….

There is wear left in this but the rivets holding the sprockets together have come loose. I have never experienced such a thing before, It makes me wonder if it was a manufacturing defect or if I inadvertently bought a copy rather than a genuine cassette. So glad I spotted the fault, It woukld have but dreadful if the cassette had deconstructed while cycling.

New hotness

The gear change ‘Oh but though…..the gear change’…….Great stuff

One of the two new PRO headset bearings…..they are super smooth….

….Ready to ride….

Cycological engineering – an unscheduled headset bearing cage disintegration…..

The bike

T

….Yes indeed, I like bike maintenance, I like it because it is simple technology that can be done anywhere provided you have the necassary tools. Of course this is a compromise as there are componenents that will wear out quicker and some that will last for as long as you keep the bike – the frame for instance, and there are some things that could happen that I might not be able to repair even with a bike, like a break in the frame for instance. That has only happened to me once and on a steel frame…….I have never had an aluminium frame fail on me and I have been riding aluminium framed bikes since  1992 when I bought my first cannondale a T600. But on the whole most maintenance problems can be solved even in the middle of nowhere and if it’s really bad then usually something can be done to keep you cycling at least until you find a bike shop.

So I was out cycling as usual an almost everyday occurance and I noticed that I really needed to have a look at my headset bearings the realisation had been building for the last few rides. Nothing bad, no horrible grinding, no sudden metallic pings just a slight tightness in turning the bars. I also got a puncture, but with only 2.5 miles from base…. with plenty of wind…..and rain…. I decided to walk back to fix the puncture, and thought well ok lets do the headset bearings too…..

What a mess…..

Now I tend to go with if – it’s not broken – don’t fix it philosophy……that does not mean I don’t look after my bike I clean it and check it regularly but the headset bearings have never given me any indication that they were in need of checking, partly I guess it is that they are integrated, sealed and internal to the frame so nothing obvious to see that is wrong. It was as I wrote just the feel of the handlebars that made me want to check them, so the state of them is really my fault for not checking them sooner.

What a mess…

Here are some images and a brief outline of what I did to keep cycling while I wait for new headset bearings to arrive. I shoiuld say as well that the headset bearings have not been changed or looked at since I bought the bike in February 2016.

So the puncture happened on 18 Jan 2021 I began dismantling on the 19th and no issues I was expecting the bearings to be seized but no they came out ok…..forks and bearing race cleaned up well…..

Forks and bearings removed – Lower bearing frame support cleaned

Upper bearing frame support cleaned and greased The lower frame bearing support also had plenty of grease applied. But for the upper race it was particularly neccasary.

This image shows the spacers and the split ring along with the top cap and bolt that’s the top row. The upper bearing – what a mess. On lots of youtube video’s they will say you cannot take these apart to clean them…..well you can… I have done so in the past and I have no choice but to do so now. I do not have any spare headset bearings and I am not going to miss my daily bike rides so here we have the upper bearing it actually was really awful I could see bits of the bearing cage in bits as I removed it from the  frame…OOOOPS… surprisingly it still rotated…after a fashion. To take the bearing apart I used a small scew driver to prize open the bearing careful not to loose any of the bearings and was then able to separate the individual bearings from the wreckage of the bearing cage. On the second row we have the lower bearing race – left, the seal – middle, and on the right the upper bearing race. They actually cleaned up well and were still usable. The third row – somewhat messy – are the bearings …..and what remains of the bearing cage…. a completely disintegrated set of chewed up bits of metal….so that was totally done and I would have to place the bearings back in the bearing race without the cage.

Bearings cleaned…..sort of….well as good as they can be….

Bearing race cleaned…

re greased…

Bearings put back as evenly as poss with lot’s of grease….

Upper bearing race located onto the bearings….carefully so as not to displace or loose any bearings….

Packed with more grease…

seal replaced

The lower bearing was much less damaged as you can see from the following images…..

from left to right lower bearing race, bearings in their cage still intacked, upper bearing race and seal….

Upper bearing race re greased…

Bearings in their cage cleaned re greased and placed into the lower bearing race…

Upper bearing race cleaned and put back…

Seal put back….

….And then it was simply a case of putting everything back together and while doing so re greased all the other spacer and split ring components to keep as much of the weather out…

Lower head set bearing back in the frame….

Upper headset bearing back in the frame…

Fork put back without the split ring…..

Split ring located….

Split ring and bearing cover/spacer…

Second spacer….

Third spacer…

Stem located…. after this it was simple to lock the stem/drop bars in place in the right orientation and in alignment with the front wheel with the cap and bolt, and all is well.

That was all two days ago….Yesterday I did a short 22 miles after this and all is fabaroo. I have a new set of headset bearings on the way but they are not expected to arrive until first week of February and with the weather and being on the Isles of Scilly it could be longer so I will report back to let you know how many miles I cycled with the what is left of the old headset bearings back in the frame. Yesterday’s ride felt great no stiffness in the handle bars. It all felt smooth No metallic pings or any problems at all….

as of the 20th Jan I have completed two rides with these bearings reinstalled – 53 miles and no problems. Still waiting for the new headset bearings to arrive. The only noticable thing is if I hold the forks of the ground and rotate the handlebars you can tell that the bearings are worn, but no metallic pings, no grinding, no sticking, no stiffness….

Another 30 bike on the 21st Jan 2021 ride brings the total mileage up to 83 miles with no problems, still using the old damaged headset bearings and still awaiting deliver of new headset bearings…

Another bike ride today 22nd Jan 2021……somewhat shorter due to the previous evenings enjoyment of much wine a little whiskey and two fab MCU films – Infinity War and End Game…… so a 15 mile bike ride same situation. No deteriation which brings me up to 98 miles on dodgy headset bearings……

Well as of the 24th Jan 2021 my headset bearings are done, that’s it the last short ride yesterday left no doubt in my mind as they was lot’s of play in the headset. So the experiment is over but it shows that with care even with some knackered components it is possible to squeeze out a few extra miles, in this case 141 miles. It’s a uaeful thing to know how to push things sometimes beyond the limits. In Europe I doubt very much I would have to cycle anywhere near that distance to get to a bike shop. But further a field knowing this could be a life saver……

In the past I have also managed this feet with the bottom bracket of my first Cannondale in the far North West of Scotland and the repair I did which was basically the same allowed me to finish that tour, get back home and have the bottom bracket replaced….