Andrew's profileRedregie's PlacePhotosBlogListsMore Tools Help

Redregie's Place

demented burblings

Andrew Thorne

Thanks for visiting!
Please wait...
Sorry, the comment you entered is too long. Please shorten it.
You didn't enter anything. Please try again.
Sorry, we can't add your comment right now. Please try again later.
To add a comment, you need permission from your parent. Ask for permission
Your parent has turned off comments.
Sorry, we can't delete your comment right now. Please try again later.
You've exceeded the maximum number of comments that can be left in one day. Please try again in 24 hours.
Your account has had the ability to leave comments disabled because our systems indicate that you may be spamming other users. If you believe that your account has been disabled in error please contact Windows Live support.
Complete the security check below to finish leaving your comment.
The characters you type in the security check must match the characters in the picture or audio.
Andywrote:
Hi Andrew, just found your page after searching in Skype, strange to see my name there! best regards from Germany, Andy Thorne
June 16
You can sign my guestbook if you like. It won't hurt.
May 17
November 08

I'm selling my bike. Any offers?

Classic 1990 Peugeot Gents Tourer The link goes to my ebay listing.

This is one of the very last Peugeot bicycles made in France. The date of manufacture on the gear hub is May 1990.
I purchased this bike brand new in 1990. It has spent most of it's life stored in a Dry Garage.

The stickers identifying this bike put on in the factory are still very clear as are all of the transfers.

I believe that this is quite a rare machine as I have seen few other Peugeot bikes with Sturmey Archer gears.

I replaced the tyres, inner tubes and brake pads in September. Since then I have used it only on the weekends.
I fitted a new chain and sprocket 2 weeks ago.

The seat tube measures 22.5" or 57cm
The top tube (crossbar) measures 22" or 56cm
The wheels are the original Rigida chromium 650B made in france.
The gears are Sturmey Archer AW 3 speed made in England.
The current tyres are Technic 650B amberwall. The original tyres were Huthinson 650B amberwall and very similar in appearance.
The brakes are caliper made by Weinmann
The stem is made by ATAX and the handlebars are the north road type.
There is a traditional bell on the handlebars.
There is a D lock mounted to the top tube with 2 keys. This will be included in the auction.
The saddle is made by Pryma.
There is a factory fitted rear carrier and chromo-plastic mudguards.

All of these parts are original and in good condition.

There is a small amount of pitting to the chrome as can be expected with a 20 year old bike and a few minor scratches to the paintwork. There are no significant faults.
There are no lights included as the dynamo system is no longer working and I have removed it.
The handlebar grips will need to be replaced as I swapped back to the original bars from some others and had to cut the grips off.
My home post code is engraved on the chainstay, however since then we have moved. I can provide a signed letter confirming this on request.

I can confirm that the frame is straight and there is no excess play in any of the bearings. It has never been crashed or dropped. This bike is ready to go, however for your own safety I would recommend that you have it checked by an experienced person before riding.

The photo was taken at Christchurch Quay about a month ago. I will add some more detailed photos to Ebay on Monday.

Any questions please ask. Viewing welcome. Phone 07906 483267

October 25

Beardyness and other things

My beardyness gets annoying after about 5 days. It looks silly when it grows really long. I just can't be bothered to shave it off every day. Too much effort.

I'm downloading the Ubuntu release candidate tonight. Apparently there have been improvements to the boot process, the software management and the graphics performance for intel chipsets. Hopefully nothing will break.

Anybody want some brass lessons?

Aren't cobwebs annoying? I've got nothing against spiders but I really hate cobwebs. Accidentally walking into them is horrible.

The last but one version of skype was incompatible with my... Skypephone. It's working again now. Am I rambling?
October 24

Filling up the weekend

I rode up to Holt Heath today. There and back took me an hour including a rest before turning around. I've not idea of how fast I was going, but the average speed was 11mph including the rest. Riding to France is looking like more of a possibility.

I suppose I should start riding with some extra weight next to get used to carrying gear.
September 03

What to do?

Today's mission is to finish something. No idea what, but something could do with finishing. I feel like ticking a box.
August 29

More bike stuff

I had some bother finding tyres for my old bike and it seems to be a rare thing.

I bought the bike new in 1990 whilst studying for my A-Levels. I decided at the time to choose a bike with no particular style as I didn't want it to go out of fashion. 19 years on it needed new tyres, so I went down to the nearest bike shop to get some.

The man in the shop did that sucking air through his teeth thing and then went around the back to have a look. They had some, but they were surprised about it. They didn't have inner tubes of the right size, but had some that would fit if I drilled out the rims.

After doing a bit more research it appears that my Peugeot is one if the last bikes to be made to the old French measurements. There's a French society dedicated to preserving the tyre size, and it's going to be almost impossible to get spare parts. At the time I just fancied the idea of a traditional French bike.

Recently I've been thinking about making some improvements to it as it's not the most comfortable bike in the world - the frame is a bit small, the handlebars are too low and the saddle is agony. I bought a new saddle but having done some investigation I don't think I should change it much more. It's the only Peugeot I can find with sturmey archer gears and one of the last bikes with 650B wheels.

This is probably a bit geeky again, sorry. I was just thinking about going out for a proper (more than a few hours) ride on my bike and perhaps adding a few more gears when I discovered this. C'est la vie.

So that got me thinking as is the usual case... What would be the best touring, as in a proper ride, bike. It looks to me like it might be the Thorn Raven or perhaps a Nomad with a Rohloff gear hub. Mmmm nice! Obviously I should be able to make Ringwood or Verwood without breaking a sweat before thinking about such things and surely a tuba would be more useful waste of the same money (I don't have).

You have to do something with your brain whilst on holiday. Why hasn't somebody invented a way of not wasting money?
August 14

First two days of my holiday

Having decided to take my bike with me to France, I was on a mission yesterday to get it sorted out.
 
I bought new tyres, inner tubes and brakes. I am suprised at how easy it was to sort out and spent some time cleaning it too. My bike is now almost shiny.
 
Didn't get up until 1pm today. Hooray for holidays! I thought I should do at least one thing energetic, so cycled up to Moors Valley and did a lap of Crane Lake. There are some big fish in the river - around 10 inches I reckon.
 
The bike has been working perfectly, but there are a few things I feel like changing: The seat isn't that comfortable, three gears is not enough and the handlebars are in the wrong place. Can I be bothered to spend any more money on it though? Hmm.
 
I haven't decided what to do tomorrow yet, but it's going to be almost nothing again.

I'm on holiday!

Just over 3 weeks off. I'm spending a few days in Normandie, but apart from that I'm doing nothing.
August 12

Computer boot times

My computer has been playing up so I reinstalled it recently. I did a few tests on boot times.
I timed the boot process from pressing the button to a desktop that you can actually use.
 
Here's the results:
 
Windows Vista - 5 minutes. It's quite difficult to tell when Vista has finished booting as it does so much stuff in the background. If I waited until the hard disc stopped spinning it would be at least 15 minutes. I really don't like Windows Vista.
 
Windows XP - 1 minute 10 seconds. At this point the hard disc had stopped spinning and it was ready to go. I reckon it might have been quicker without the antivirus software, but would you want to turn it off?
 
Ubuntu Linux 9.04 - 1 minute. This was with an auto login into Gnome. Again the hard disc had stopped and it was ready for action.
 
So there you have it. Windows Vista takes too long to boot on my computer - at least 5 times too long.
August 09

Been indoors for too long

It's time I got out. Might make the effort today.
August 02

Building software

I've just downloaded the subversion repository of Muse Score. I'm downloading the build dependencies at the moment. Might go for a compile in a few minutes.

I don't understand C++, but part of the code makes sense. It's a bit like listening to somebody speaking Dutch: You understand what they are talking about even if you don't know what they are actually saying.

I'm tempted to treat myself to a book on writing C++. Obviously it's not a good idea, far too late for making grand plans like that. Source code is interesting.

I really just want to see if the bugs I reported have been fixed. Now shall I build for Windows or Linux? 
Muse Score is music typresetting software for Linux, Windows and Mac.
 
Photo 1 of 9