Louis in his Quasar with Top Hat (2019)

Louis Thompson in Quasar No. 006 shortly before his wedding in the Quantock Hills of Somerset in December 2019. Louis bought the Quasar in 2017, taught himself to ride it in 2018, and promptly rode it to Spain and back! We strongly suspect that he is the first person to ride a Quasar in top hat and tails since Phil Read, multiple world road racing champion, rode a Quasar into Buckingham Palace to collect his MBE back in the 1970s! PNB
More info here: http://bikeweb.com/node/3016
Photo: © Carla McKenzie

Louis in his Quasar with Top Hat (2019)

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Looking good!

Good top see a Quasar in use in the present! Too many FFs rusting in sheds - or "nearly finished rebuild" (You know who you are..) I guess Louis and Phil are both fairly short guys, otherwise I struggle to see how you'd get a top hat on in a Quasar without a hole in the roof?

Just one thing. Isn't that a Mk11 Avon Roadrunner on the front wheel? Are they still in production? Or more to the point were they in production seven years ago, to make this tyre still 'In life'? Avon quote seven years from manufacture as the maximum life for their tyres - Ten years from the British Tyre Federation. Running tyres beyond this life has several consequences: It may render insurance invalid in an accident claim. It risks tyre failure (and more particuarly old tube failure, which I've experienced. although that wouldn't be an issue on this tubeless application) But most importantly in my view, old tyres, and certainly old Avons, lose their 'wet grip' quality to an alarming degree.

When the excellent "Super Venoms" went out of production we bought a batch of the 16" 'Universal' AM18s for the Voyager front wheels, then many years later I had to take the four we never got to use to re-cycling due to this loss of wet weather performance, discovered luckily without actually hitting anything!

The current 'Roadriders' are OK, but move around under load a bit more, makes power steering easier, but I miss the firm predicatabiity of the Super Venoms.

Dunlop TT 100s, Not Avons!

Louis' tyres are a modern version of the old Dunlop TT100. To quote the man himself, (on the FeetFirst Facebook page): "TT100s, and they are quite new. I have been through a couple each end now. Tyre choice is a big subject but I was mega impressed with the TTs and their relatively chunky tread; wet, cold roads can be a bit uncomfortable until you get the need for additional steering positivity worked out, so if anyone has a better fitment I would definitely give it a go!"
A couple of hours later, Louis added "I wrote the above in the Blue Note Café in Glastonbury just before a ride home on the A39 in some torrential rain, bad enough to slow all the traffic down, and I took good notice of the tyres. They did really well, apart from one heavy-handed throttle moment which would not have been any issue in dry conditions. What was surprising though, is that my jeans were still quite dry at the end of the long journey through the downpour."
PNB