Naughtybike's ill

Evening all. 

Yesterday was a bit sad for me. Now to some this will sound like a sadact, but some will understand this so bear with me. 

My bike is my car, it takes my children to school, to lots of fun places, carries a multitude of things, including the content of the house to self storage, even helping friends out. She's called Naughtybike purely down to how I ride and how she performs. It's been a blast, however with all the fun come the more grown up side of maintenance. 

I chose the Vitus Vee1 for how little there was to go wrong and idealistically keeping the bike in order is easy, especially with two years heavy use and minimal part replacements. However I didn't realise the one crucial component that would be tricky to replace/fix would be the crankset. Turns out it's also the one part I wasn't expecting to fail, even joking to my partner when I spotted a potential problem saying it's dirt not a crack. Sadly it was not the case as it turned out the dirty marks were flippin physical cracks. Wear and tear can be an unexpected kick in the clunge I tell you!

No worries thinks me as I thought the manufacturer would be able to source OEM parts, after all many companies used to offer after sales spares, or know where to buy spare parts from when things go wrong. In this case Chainreactioncycles, the Retailer has teamed up with the Manufacturer, who helped bring Vitus back to life (I could be wrong) and rightly so. It's good to see the brand back and some good value bikes too! But for replacement parts we hit a problem. Minimal parts are sold by CRC for the singlespeed Vee 1 and stupidly I'm unsure of what parts I need in the bike so I've had to speak to Vitus. 

Top marks to Simon who's trying to see what he can do for me and Naughtybike. 

Sadly I'm left in a situation though. with the preparations in line for moving soon I'm trying to keep the flat decluttered and stay a one bike, two trailer household for now. Means Grumpybike the Carrera has come out of storage and Naughtybike has gone in until I can source replacement parts. But that poses the question, 'how does one get an poorly bike to the storage facility? By bike, silly!
Especially when both bikes have dedicated trailer mounts meaning I can use both trailers without hassle, even if Grumpybike needs a new QR skewer. But nonetheless making the best of a bad situation is all good! 

But for now. It's time to sleep and think of what to do about Naughtybike and what awesomeness I can do with the kids this weekend if it stays dry! 

Paul OUT!  - Peace y'all 

Silent sunday

My Vitus Vee - 1 revew Part two.

Holyhellsticksonaplate I'm still here!

this is my little way of blogging about the bike and trying to ignore things happening with my nan passing away.recently (operation stop me doing illegally stupid things)

The problem is Operation Stop me doing illegally stupid things has a fail point. My Bike!

THE VITUS VEE ONE IS AN EVIL, TWO FACED MONSTER! *Clarkson voice* Oh yeahhhh baby!

The bike has shown me how the gears were being used poorly on Betsy my old, retired GT, but also how reliant I was on them too. This is my naughty bike and my daughters fun ride to school too.

(photo will be up soon - phone mmc has gone screwy - Meh, don't expect miracles)

The best part of it being Vee's ride to and from school is Naughty Bike Time! The bike has so far kept up with (sticking to the limit of 30mph. I have to respect the law too!) including an irate pair of police officers and anyone else who wants to take my babyVee on!
I get it to school and the sensible hat comes back to play.The kids all know Vee's dad as I ride the bike, even in the rain. (she likes sliding about somewhat)

Once Vee gets on though the attitude is dead set. no higher than 20kph (set to Kilometres to look better... he lies. I changed it's settings by mistake and the broadsheet manual is too confusing) she loves it and the lack of gears make it less clunky, which she hated on the old bike. Also in comparison, Arriva Bus 38/7 from Dunstable to Houghton Regis. Vs the bike on the same route. We arrived to our location in 13-16 mins (video being uploaded soon) the bus should have mirrored us, we beat it by 45 mins.  the GT did struggle, but has beaten the Arriva drivers on the 31 route a fair few times too (just me on the bike at that point, YES NAUGHTY TIME) A bike can beat a bus big time,

Now the bugbears.
Handlebars and grips are an opposing force, the grips hate me, Club Roost and much hairspray to the rescue here methinks, not to mention my DB flanges being rubbed down to snugly fit there new home. I need car scratching bars, too many loons like me on the road. Failing that I may upgrade the front bars to a DMR WingBar like on Betsy, as there lighter than the current bars, and I can get them in Purple. (my bikes have to stand out, not just for the cameras on them)

Drive Actually, the bottom bracket.
It's crap. Comes loose too quickly, I can only assume torque damaged on installation or inaccurately set torque on it's readjustment. service 2 coming up very soon :(

Wheels.
Front rim has had two spokes become dangerously loose within a week or three. that's probably an isolated issue and I've fixed that already
Although the rear was possibly not set up properly as it sounds like it needs adjustment, (at 400Km it's done well so far I'll say) Off to Bedford for that in the next week or two thanks to a recommendation from the father in law. Tim. You rock!

Niggles so far.
Apart from the above all i want to do is slap a 3 speed hub on it in the future.
Fit a rear child trailer for when the two girls both go to school,
My beast best pull like an old Volvo F12 of she's in trouble.

In short I love the bike and once tweaked up and setup properly it'll be awesome!

:Paul

The Vitus VEE1 and Chain Reaction Cycles customer Care.

A few of you know My bike is my car, my fast track from A to B. It's my wings.

When my GT's repairs became more of a money pit i was comtemplating replacing betsy, my GT has many amazing memories, including two balls of steel events, taking supplies to my partner while in hosptal, and taking my beautiful daughters on there special seat to school, the chiltern hills, or even better, falling asleep feeling safe to be with daddy.

Eventually i knew I had to plan to buy a new one, which stood out in many ways, but also for one word, VEE.

Meet the Vitus VEE1 

£235 from Chain Reaction Cycles,

Initial thoughts were wow. Less to go wrong, and works harder for less effort, 30mph on flat with no effort. She (the bike) handles differently to the GT but that's to be expected. Even if it provides the odd bout of shits and giggles thanks to the transition of fully working brakes and a single speed. Even overtaking lorries at high speed proves to be, at times an easy experience. Even if it leaves me wheezing more than my little netbook. In the next few weeks I will throw it off Bison Hill, Whipsnade to see how good the Kenda rubber holds the roads on twisties.(did i mention shits and giggles?)

Everything was going well until day 7 on where I heard a creaking noise from what i thought to be the pedals on day 7. No worries, i thought. Reviews stated the pedals were a tad rubbish, so i'll try a spare set......... Still creaking.... Funge. My bottom bracket is shot i panic, a tad miffed my litte trailblaizer is already maimed but at least I get to finally sample Chain Reaction Cycles customer service.

So, I called Chain Reaction Cycles for help.

The staff are more than willing to help, offering to pick it up and check it over for me, Parcelforce is arranged. Sorted, we both think...... Nothing. So, I call them back on wednesday to hear there was an error there end, so they will call me back. Sadly they did'nt call back. They did seem busy, and cockups can happen. On thursday they tell me it's arranged for friday pickup. Fine, it's going to be fixed, huzzah.

Friday came and the parcelforce guy refused it, the parcel was in a bad state, the box had been outdoors for a week before the fault emerged, which was disclosed to CRC. Keeping a huge box is not easy in a small flat.
the gent from parcelforce told me he would come back if he was allowed to take it, while i fix the issue for him, which I started in front of him. He didn't bother calling back, leaving a refusal on the note.

B this point i can't call the company to ask for advice as there line is closed. No worries. Call on monday feeling a bit wound up. They try again, nobody turns up at all. This point I was miffed, they (CRC staff) were miffed as they had paid for pickup's Despite Parcelforce giving them dispatch numbers and chasing it up the CRC team Decide it will be easier to get it sorted locally and refund us for the inconveinence. So, after all that my vee1 is now repaired, the local shop, Cycle Life Dunstable had it sorted for a lot less than other companies, and found the diagnosis as simple as components requiring tightening. Meaning it was fixed by school's out. And ready to transport Vee on the Vee 1 again with a lot more style than the Clunky GT.

True to CRC's word they have refunded the cost of the repair. (If i knew it would cost as little originally i would have got it fixed without calling them) and despite the one forgot callback, everything was handled perfectly well leaving us feeling more than happy to spend money with them in the future.

Thank you to all the CRC team, and to CycleLife Dunstable. You both rock with great customer service, and exceptional for servicing and warranty work. And for bikes choose either of them. They both rock.

Paul :)