Formerly My Kingcycle

The bike on its holidays in September 2000.
Not much has changed since, except that the wheel discs finally fell apart.
The panniers and beach umbrella were not included as part of the sale J

Frame:

Reynolds 531. From the second series (i.e. with thicker tubes); supplied in 1992 to replace a series one frame which had been built with its head-tube incorrectly aligned. Size: Large - fits riders up to ~190 cm / 6'3". Colour: (mostly) yellow. Idler pulley cage repaired and reinforced by Helmut Berns of Sonic Cycles. Pace Carbon Armour has been applied to rear of right frame tube to prevent annoying chain rattle!

Fork:

SR-SunTour telescopic suspension fork, British Racing Green, specially imported at ruinous expense from the USA! This was, I believe, originally intended for some variety of Haluzak, and designed to work with a 16" (ISO 349) wheel. There is, however, sufficient vertical adjustment in a V-brake to permit the use of a Moulton wheel instead.

Wheels:

Handbuilt by Idiots, er, me
Front:

Shimano XT hub
Moulton (ISO 369) rim
36 stainless steel spokes
Laced 1x
Bridgestone 32-369 tyre rated to 7 bar / 100 psi
Michelin inner tube with Presta valve

Rear:

Sachs New Success hub
Rigida (ISO 540) rim
36 stainless steel spokes
Laced 3x
Schwalbe 25-540 tyre rated to 7.5 bar / 110 psi
Inner tube of unknown origin with Presta valve

Headset:

Tange Comet, 1" threaded.

Bottom bracket:

Shimano UN52

Chainset:

Sachs, 170 mm cranks, 74/110 mm PCD chainrings. Currently set up with Sakae Ninja 24T stainless steel inner ring, and TA aluminium middle and outer rings, with 36 and 43 teeth respectively. The former is a fetching shade of red.

Freewheel:

SRAM Aris 8-speed: 12-14-16-18-20-22-25-28

Chain:

SRAM PC-48.

Derailleurs:

Front: Shimano XTR
Rear: SRAM Neos DiRT with 11T Shimano pulleys

Shifters:

SRAM Powergrip Wavey (a.k.a. "Neos") gripshifters

Brakes:

Front: Shimano XTR V-brake modified for left-side cable entry.
Rear: Magura hydraulic rim brake - attaches to U-bracket rather than cantilever bosses, of which there are none.

Bars And Stem:

Standard Kingcycle "U"-shaped bars, mounted on "Ahead"-type angle-adjustable stem, which in turn attaches to lightly-modified Kingcycle riser. Deviation from standard necessitated by the fitting of the suspension fork, but this setup will work quite happily with the rigid fork.

Seat:

Steel frame with nylon webbing and additional closed-cell foam buried artfully within.

Pedals:

Look PP156.

Other stuff:

Bottle cage mounted on steering riser.
HP Velotechnik chainguard (attaches behind bottom bracket fixed cup, prevents Pedestrian Perforation).
Cunningly-wrought mudguard/rack/seatstay confection, which combines the usual functions you'd expect of a mudguard and rack with a significantly stiffer rear end to the machine - very useful if towing a trailer.

This particular machine hav a very interesting history if you are interested in hist. which few boys are. It has competed in five European and three World Championships, and on three occasions was ridden to the Championships (and back). I didn't especially want to sell it, but Mrs. Larrington said I must if I am to be permitted to own another bicycle. So it now lives with Ian Hague in Tiptree, Essex. Of course, now I no longer have a Mrs. Larrington, so it turns out I could have kept it after all, but there you go.

For no readily-discernible reason, downshifting the rear gears requires TWO clicks down followed by one click UP. Odd at first, but you soon get used to it, and it does go into bottom gear without let or hindrance. It's been like this ever since I went over to an 8-speed rear end and I have no idea why - I've been through two freewheels, three derailleurs, two chains and three shifters but they all do it. Strange.

A Short ~~Film~~ Note About Gearing

I like low gears. If you want to fit bigger chainrings, there will likely be interference between the return run of the chain and the fork crown and/or the front brake. It *may* be possible to confect some kind of additional chain routing device, possibly using unmountain bike parts, but this is something left as an exercise for the Reader. Note also that due to the configuration of the Kingcycle frame, it is not possible to fit a rear cluster with a sprocket larger than 28T, as to do so would lead to the use of the brake bridge as a chain guide.

Abbey Park, Leicester. Debut of the "Pink Fairy" fairing. I think.

Herne Hill. Probably 1993, as the bike has the tow-bar for the home-brewed trailer fitted.
The said trailer was built to transport Stuff to the European Championships in Farum ,Denmark, that year

Abbey Park, Leicester
A different race from the above as there's a disc on the front wheel here...

Chocolate Bunny break at the Mossø, Denmark, en route to the 1998 European Championships
That's TWFKAML impersonating the Little Mermaid...

Seeing off Fiona Grove in the 50m drags, 2000 World Championships, Ghent, Belgium (to which I rode - aren't I a hero?)
N.B. The winner of this heat was already out of shot...

Salt Ayre track, Lancaster, 2000. Drafting Clive Sleath; being tailed by Richard Everett, Adrian Setter and American Dave Moreno
I came second in the race after:

a crash eliminated Richard and Adrian, and

outfoxing Clive and Dave

but unfaired winner Dave Richards was two laps up the road, chiz

The bike's final race outing, Eastway, October 2000.
I demonstrate that a normal monkey can touch the ground from the seat of a Kingcycle; Geoff Bird is Amused
T-shirt from the "Iron Fist" tour of Spring 1982, in case you're wondering...

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