Thursday, February 25, 2010

ABU Droppen

I found a very nice ABU Droppen spinner out of an old catalog. Its color code is FG, fluorescent-red/gold, and the logo of ABU is printed on the blade. I guess it was sold before the early 1990s, and it may be difficult to find one now (but I'd like to try).

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Foot sizes (just for my personal record)

Today, I visited a New Balance footwear shop and had them measure the sizes of my feet. I had bought many pairs of shoes in 27cm/4E or 27.5cm/EE to fit myself, but had never known the true sizes of mine. According to them, my bare sizes are 265mm in length with 255mm width (right) and 266mm in length with 240 mm width (left), suggesting that I should choose 27.0cm/EE or 27.5cm/EE, if I fit the larger right foot.
The shoe-fitter in the shop was so kind I bought three pairs, two (M965 and MR966) for my long-distance running and one (sneakers) for daily use. The M965 and MR966 are subsequent models of M964 (I also have one pair) which was famous for LSD training or Ultra marathon. They all share good cushioned sole and high ventilation ability.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Another reel (Ultracast Design)

This is another reel with ABU Ultracast Design, in which the center shaft is separated from the spool for freer rotation. This device works extremely smoothly, but I like older ones better, cause I don't cast light-weight lures so often. Ultracast Design is very good, but you may not be able to handle it properly, if you oil it too much.

Friday, February 12, 2010

So Smooth!

I finally finished cleaning my reels which I'm planning to use during next fishing season. Most of them are very old products made about 30-40 years ago, but they work very smoothly, maybe more smoooothly than you expect, after you clean up and overhaul all the parts properly.

The way I do is...
at first, I carefully wash the gears, screws, washers, and other parts one by one with a brush and kitchen detergent in hot water, and then wipe to clean them with waste cloth. Next, I remove old sticky oil and grease using solvents. And at last, I put them up using ABU Garcia Silicote Reel Oil and Lube. I also often use Shimano Reel Oil Spray for the bearings. I know of recent high-precision ball bearing and high-tech oils such as IOS-01, but have never so far tried them, though I'm interested in them very much.

Now, how long do you think the spool turns around?