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Those who have ridden the HT550 will recognise the locations. The bike is a 1947 rod brake 4 speed Rudge.
I woke early to a glorious day, too good to waste so I thought I'd knock off a few miles.
My original intention was to do the Ledmore loop, a 125 mile circuit of Wester Ross (Dingwall, Ullapool, Ledmore, Bonar Bridge, DIngwall) to see how the old Rudge handled it.
By the time I got here (just south of Loch Glascarnoch) I was a bit fed up. You can't get decent tyres in the old sizes, so there's noticeable rolling resistance which sucks the joy out of a ride.
They are pretty tough though, so for a bit of fun I thought I'd have a wee look at the track along Strath Vaich - just poke along a wee bit to see how the bike handled the rough gravel.
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Not very well as it turned out. The handling was reasonable, but rod brakes are diabolical (read terrifying), and any substantial bump would cause the gears to shift up to top instantly. But that does make it more interesting.
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The wee look turned into a big look after a few miles, so in for a penny, in for a pound, and keep going.
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Deanich Lodge. The descent down that was where the real terror was. It has the roughest surface of the track, big loose rocks rather than gravel - I got a bit too much speed and couldn't slow down enough despite the bakes being squeezed to the bars, so I ended up riding over stuff. Still shutting my eyes and relying on hope seemed to work. 🙂
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Croik Church - the people cleared from the Glen scratched their names in the window when they sheltered in the grounds after being cleared. http://www.croickchurch.com/clearances.htm
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At the end of the ride I'd done 93 miles instead of 120. It is a shortcut - maybe I was just being lazy - but I haven't been so beaten up after a ride in a long time.
Maybe I'm a slow learner, but having established that a 26" wheeled rod brake bike is a poor choice, I'm now wondering if a 28" wheeled one would be better, but singlespeed so there's no gears to cause problems. Watch this space...
Edit: Just thinking, I can't remember any times where the actual handling of the bike gave me any worries - it's all down to the brakes. Not bad for a 70 year old bike, and after the beating it got, it's still running perfectly. A testament to the way British bikes were built back then.
Great pictures<span style="text-decoration: underline;">, keep them coming.</span>
You tried the rosin on your rims yet? If not you deserve to have crashed.
In a similar vein, I've found commuting to work via the M25 on a donkey was not the most efficient choice.
Aye, I I have just been doing a bit of ploughing here on the farm 🙂
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angeldust and welshfarmer - I know, I know. 🙂
Great post and pics thank you. You're obviously a glutton for punishment ! Lovely part of the country, I've only been once but must do again.
I used to ride work on a 1950s Raleigh similar to that (rod brakes, chain case etc,.) and it made a great commuting bike for short commutes in all weathers while wearing a suit. I wouldn't have needed to try it off road to know how bad it would have been though.
As for the brakes, I can stop more quickly on my brakeless fixed gear.
There were quite a few times I was thinking the same. 🙂
Still, nothing ventured nothing gained/learned.
TBF you have got previous for taking daft bikes offroad 😉
I have a BSA Regency 3 speeder from about the same era,rod brakes for max fear 🙂
Those bikes were absolutely designed for gravel riding. Proper off road, perhaps not, but I think we should recall exactly when they were built for general travel.
What s lovely thread about someone going for s ride on a bike, any bike. Then AG and WF come along with what seems to be the standard STW gear monster approach ( and reproach)
How dare you go for a cycle without spending thousands on the latest carbon steel is real 29ers roll best but 650b makes the trails come alive travel nonsense.
It is but a small step to you taking a penny farthing out on a World Cup course or something similar...!
matt_outandabout
It is but a small step to you taking a penny farthing out on a World Cup course or something similar…!
Oh indeed I have previous. 🙂
A few years back there was a round of the Scottish XC champs up here. At the same event there was a course laid out for the young kids to have an mtb taster.
A few of us thought it would be a jolly wheeze to mount the World Penny Farthing XC Championship* on that course. Our weapons were those horrible Taiwanese objects with 36" wheels and bendy forks.
'Twas frabjous fun.
Unfortunately we had no sponsor for the race, so even though I came second I have no cup or medal to show for it. 🙁
TiRed
Those bikes were absolutely designed for gravel riding. Proper off road, perhaps not, but I think we should recall exactly when they were built for general travel.
I agree, but I've always regarded the 26"x1 ⅜" wheeled bikes as being more of a tarmac bike - even though I hammered one around on bush tracks in Africa when I was a lad.
I think the 28" wheeled bikes are probably a better choice for gravel. With wider tyres (they were originally designed to take 2" tyres), and a useful bit more wheelbase, they are still the most common bike in outback 3rd world countries.
I will be putting that to the test before summer is out. 🙂
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*This being STW someone is sure to object to claiming a World champs, but if the Americans can do it for events which never venture out of the USA or have international participants, then so can we. 🙂
What s lovely thread about someone going for s ride on a bike, any bike. Then AG and WF come along with what seems to be the standard STW gear monster approach ( and reproach)
How dare you go for a cycle without spending thousands on the latest carbon steel is real 29ers roll best but 650b makes the trails come alive travel nonsense.
🙂 Lighten up princess, the OP was happy to take it in the spirit it was intended. He did after all, choose to ride the route on that bike.
Not bad for a 70 year old bike, and after the beating it got, it’s still running perfectly. A testament to the way British bikes were built back then.
👍🏼👍🏼
Thread full of win, and great pics. Balls of steel.
As known in the Black Countray - 'a boon-shekker'. Used to have a 1936 raleigh police bike like that, it had it's own gravitational field and never let me down until I failed to lock it up one night and it went walkies. Who steals a police bike, taking the piss innit.
Last oldest (lugged) Raleigh boon-shekker I dared descend on through rock gardens was a '93 Raleigh Apex with a ridiculously high steerer-tube extender. The back wheel buckled badly and I trued it free of the brakes with some spoke-stripping pliers (forgot the spoke key). The frame is probably still out there somewhere doing it's thing. Binned the Girvin Flex-stem as was rusty and scary. Some standards must apply.
Not mine - but here is later missing-link Raleigh proto monster-gravel seen on that Other Site:
OP, what did you wear for that marvellous trip?
globalti
OP, what did you wear for that marvellous trip?
Just my usual day to day clothes and shoes. Although for the full experience it should have been a cloth cap, tweeds and brogues. 🙂
BTW just in case there's any other foolish fellows out there - look for Rod Brake Randonneur on FB.
Love this. My first ‘big-wheeled’ bike (back in the iron age) was a hand-me-down with rod brakes. I still bear the scars.