Re: {BL} Alternative to Brooks saddle tension spanner

[Brian Ogilvie]

I can't answer your question, but as a frequent traveler to the UK I
feel obliged to point out that "spanner" is not at all archaic. It's
the British word for what we call a "wrench" in North America.
Similarly, in the UK a derailleur is a mech (or mechanism), and
fenders are mudguards. Sidewalks are pavements, lawns are gardens, an
elevator is a lift, and there is nothing salacious about being knocked
up.

As Shaw supposedly said, "England and America are two countries
separated by a common language."

Brian

On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 9:29 AM, BCDrums <bcd...@comcast.net> wrote:
> I have a Brooks saddle and just got the spanner- a wonderful, archaic
> word for the cheapest, crudest possible stamped metal wrench.

--
Brian W. Ogilvie <bwog...@gmail.com>
Hadley, Massachusetts, USA
http://homepage.mac.com/brianogilvie/

[Steve Palincsar]

On Thu, 2011-06-02 at 06:29 -0700, BCDrums wrote:
> I have a Brooks saddle and just got the spanner- a wonderful, archaic

> word for the cheapest, crudest possible stamped metal wrench. This
> thing is so badly made that it won't fit onto the 1/2" tension bolt. I
> want to know if anyone has been able to adjust a Brooks with a box
> wrench. Will a box wrench fit up under there?
>
> My Brooks is a B17, has a few years on it, may need a quarter turn!

This is what you need, right here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoorider/5460932349/

And see the 2nd comment on this photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rollinondemtwenties/5445906824/

[Taylor Winfield]

And a Crescent wrench is a "shifting spanner" and Vise-Grips are "mole grips" , NMD electrical cable is "flex", and a box-end wrench is a "ring spanner" and I could go on. . . Bilingual John Alldredge (lifelong Anglophile and husband of a Yorkshire woman) --- On Thu, 6/2/11, Brian Ogilvie <bwog...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Peter Jon White]

I think a roadway traffic rotary is called an "orbital."

And a frumpy old woman wearing a silly hat is called a "queen."

Very odd.

On Jun 2, 5:26 pm, Taylor Winfield <taylorwinfi...@ymail.com> wrote:
> And a Crescent wrench is a "shifting spanner" <snip>

[BCDrums]

After I posted this question I looked hard at the saddle again and
realized that a box wrench would never work, and I removed the post
out of embarrassment. Then I fiddled with the Brooks wrench for a
while. The wrench is less poorly made on one side, and I was able to
fit it onto the nut.

The Campy wrench looks like an actual tool. The comment in the second
photo mentions 14mm, but I think the tension nut is 1/2", closer to
13mm.

I saw this picture of another Brooks spanner:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoorider/5461535148/in/photostream/

So I was able to tension my saddle (but not TOO much!). The tension
pin was completely slack. I gave it about 3/4 turn, just enough to
detect a difference in the feel (by hand) of the saddle. 3/4 turn
extended the pin by 1.5mm.

Will test it with the keester tomorrow.

BC
tensed

[ken.steinhoff]

I had to tension my saddle when I overdid the Proofide on initial
break-in.

http://www.palmbeachbiketours.com/adjusting-a-brooks-champion-flyer-saddle/

Like you discovered, there is a big difference between "not elegant"
and doesn't work.

[RobinL]

No, it's a roundabout. (The circular obstacle in the road, that is,
not the octogenarian monarch.)

[Martin Bernstein]

I wonder how the difference is 1/2" between 13 mm and 14 mm as mm is a smaller unit than an inch.  Perhaps that .5 mm?

But I have noticed that my spanner does not fit into the space on my Brooks Professional. 

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[BCDrums]

On Jun 3, 1:23 am, Martin Bernstein <centri...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I wonder how the difference is 1/2" between 13 mm and 14 mm as mm is a
> smaller unit than an inch.  Perhaps that .5 mm?
>
>

> > The Campy wrench looks like an actual tool. The comment in the second
> > photo mentions 14mm, but I think the tension nut is 1/2", closer to
> > 13mm.
>
> > I saw this picture of another Brooks spanner:
> >http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoorider/5461535148/in/photostream/
>
> > So I was able to tension my saddle (but not TOO much!). The tension
> > pin was completely slack. I gave it about 3/4 turn, just enough to
> > detect a difference in the feel (by hand) of the saddle. 3/4 turn
> > extended the pin by 1.5mm.
>

Mind the comma, Martin!

BC
Imperial

[Peter White]

I wondered about that after I clicked on "send". I think perhaps an "orbital" is what they call a highway that circles a major city. For London, that would be the M25. For Boston, it's Routes 128 and 495.

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[Martin Bernstein]

Thanks, BC.  Got it.  However, the problem I still have is that you mix English unit with metric.  I would have used one or the other, probably metric.  However it's your story.

--

[Keith Ayres]

You wanna see a proper roundabout?

http://www.swindonweb.com/index.asp?m=8&s=115&ss=289

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Keith Ayres
Oxfordshire, UK
Thorn Raven, Argos, Trevor Jarvis Flying Gate

[Taylor Winfield]

The highway that circles a city in the UK is called a "ring road".
 

John Alldredge

---

From: Peter White <peter...@gmail.com>
To: bicyclel...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Fri, June 3, 2011 8:12:55 AM

Subject: Re: {BL} Alternative to Brooks saddle tension spanner

[Taylor Winfield]

Assuming that a 1/2" wrench or bolt head is really exactly that size, then a 13mm wrench is theoretically .3 (three tenths) of a mm LARGER than 1/2". Usually not enough to matter.

 

Often you can also get away with using a 14mm wrench on a 9/16" bolt or nut as well.

 

Nearly all of my dimensioned tools are metric and I seldom bother to hunt up an inch-sized one no matter on what I happen to be working.

 

The only exception is for lug nuts on my truck and trailer - for those I have inch-sized impact sockets. 
 

John Alldredge

---

From: Martin Bernstein <cent...@gmail.com>
To: bicyclel...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Fri, June 3, 2011 1:23:30 AM

Subject: Re: {BL} Alternative to Brooks saddle tension spanner

[Keith Ayres]

Further to all of this, I had nothing better to do the other evening,
so I cut a 90 degree segment out of an old 13mm ring spanner. The
open-ended spanner on the other end was a very snug fit on the saddle
nut, without sufficient clearance to turn it. The 13mm ring wouldn't
go onto the nut. Further investigation
http://www.baconsdozen.co.uk/tools/conversion%20charts.htm
leads me to belive that the nut may be a Whitworth size - 1/4"
Whitworth is given as 13.34mm.

I'm not going to buy a Whitworth spanner and cut bits off of it to
prove or disprove this theory.

[Paul van Zweel]

 If 1" is 25.4 mm then surely 1/2"  must be 12.7mm. A simple calculation in the metric world.

[Steve Palincsar]

Get the Campagnolo wrench. It will last you your lifetime and you can
pass it down to your grand children.

> >> So I was able to tension my saddle (but not TOO much!)..

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[RobinL]

Keith,

Wow - I'm impressed!