Prescribed

I took delivery of some new wheels a couple of weeks ago from Scribe Cycling. Destined for my Ribble CGR for commuting, the original Mavic Asksiums on there had performed reasonably well but recently were beginning to creak and groan too much so I decided to upgrade. The Race-D’s took a couple of months to arrive but were they worth it?

Fitting them was pretty simple. I run tubeless so all I needed to do was fit valves (also supplied) and pop in some sealant. In fact, before I popped the sealant in, I blew the tyres up with the compressor at work and they seated so well they stayed up with no evidence of leaks. A good start. Valve core out, I squeezed in some Muc-Off sealant, pumped them back up and I was done and ready for their virgin ride home.

I’ve ridden quite a lot the last couple of weeks as I’ve been commuting by bike a fair bit. I got sick of 55 mins of traffic when it only takes me 70 mins to ride it.

The wheels are actually really great. Well worth the £380 price tag. My first impression out the box was how light they were. I’ve saved half a kilo by fitting them, that’s how light they are or how heavy the Aksiums were lol. Riding them is super smooth. A nice loud rear hub when you freewheel, which I like and they are really responsive with plenty of drive when you get out the saddle and open the taps a bit on a climb. I’m really happy with them. Highly recommended.

The other thing I like about them is the understated looks. A simple black rim with a couple of small white decals indicating the brand Scribe and the model. Less is definitely more.

In other news, I fucked up one of my tyres on the Scribes. I ride home on a shared path that runs parallel to a really fast and dangerous dual-carriageway and recently the council spent a couple of days scraping up years of grass and foliage that had grown across it literally tripling the width in places. Fantastic, but the other day some c*** had obviously thrown a glass bottle out of the window and it had smashed across the path. I was riding home in almost dark and I didn’t see it until was too late and a shard embedded itself in my tyre. Fair play to the Muc-off as it did eventually seal after pissing sealant everywhere and got me home just. It did stay up overnight too but riding the next day it popped again and I had to use a tube. So I think I’m going back to tubes. Tubeless is too much faff and too expensive. That experiment is over. Keep it for MTB’s and gravel bikes kids.

And yesterday I did my ankle. I jogged to get the ball while I was having a kick about with Dan and bang I went over on my ankle with a loud crack. I thought I’d broken it initially but I’ve done the tendons and probably dislocated it and it popped back in. So that’s me fucked for a bit