[Closed] Talk to me about bikes

26 is dead.
😆

I spent yesterday cleaning all of mine from top to bottom, including a complete drivetrain degrease. Then I used frame polish.

They look fantastic! 8)

Surely a bit pointless given the season we are about to head into?

PS evening rides this week

After getting my MTB nicked 3 years ago, just got another on eBay. Genesis Latitude steel hardtail. Planning some adventures.

Turning my gravel bike (Planet X London Road) into a winter commuter with 28mm tyres and mudguards.

Turned up to the club ride on my road bike yesterday, but 'cos it was raining, no-one else was out. time to find a new club 🙄

Change of tyres on the CXer I reckon, Almanzos have been great for the dry hardpack we had two weeks ago last Tuesday 😆 Might slam on Baby Limus since I've got 4 new sets in my cupboard doing zilch... then head up Kingly Vale for some forest blasting..

Should I sell my R5ca ? Damn, been used three times this year... love it to like "death" ya' but every time I walk in the spare room to grab a surfboard or CXer I feel sooooo darnnnnnn guilty.
Man.

Not a lot, all quiet here.

Thought I had some spare presta valve cores but after a load of searching it would appear not.

That was as good as it got today!

I've been getting back in to riding this summer after an injury last year and a few lean years before that, I have been loving it! Building up more bikes than I need out of bits I've had laying around and a few ebay bargains. Realising that 9 speed and 26" wheels are not cutting edge any more and then realising I couldn't give less of a shit, it's been great.

Just dicking about on bikes, brilliant.

That LOUD noise was a spoke going.

5 miles home on a wobbly wheel.

I've had my Capra AL for 9 months now, made a few changes, it's running nice now, just need to have a good think about the rear shock, Monarch Plus R. Just seems to blow through the travel, back end feels really unresponsive; debating either a better air shock or a coil. Something like CCDB maybe.

I want a new road bike but really have no ideas at the moment - other than not a roubaix

I got soaked every day last week riding in North Wales. Came home Friday after riding the Marin trail and just about managed to dry everything out and got soaked up on Dartmoor again today due to torrential rain and large deep puddles. In addition to this my new bike has been delayed - apparently due to the wheels not being available.

Just back from 3 weeks road riding in French and Swiss Alps and Belgian Ardennes so having a few recovery days.

Signed up for 2018 tour of Cambridge gran fondo with a view to qualifying for the worlds in Varese, Italy (hilly and pretty so an excuse for a holiday).

CX bikes to maintain and prep before the season starts in a couple of weeks.

Should get around to fitting the Exxotic CF forks I bought for the Wazoo fat bike a few months ago, as it's effectively my winter MTB.

Idly browsing the 50%-off Slates as n+1 (and I have 9 bikes, 10 is such a nice round number).

I want a new road bike but really have no ideas at the moment - other than not a roubaix

don't surf the Wheelbase sale....

I fell off mine at a very wet Coed-y-Brenin on Tuesday. It hurt.

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THM - Paralane.

Rode a sportive earlier then had quality man cave time with the new cannondale slate,

swapped the drive train to 46T chainring and 11-32 cassette, added a mid cage mech and fitted a sweet pair of stans mk3 rims on plus tubeless tan sidewall WTB resolutes. Must get some pics up 😉

I didn't ride this morning. I guess it was a touch of my annual melancholy as I realise the summer's gone.

Still we had a bit of fun this afternoon going to a birthday party a couple of miles away (and back) on our bikes, albeit in our nice clothes.

Tomorrow looks a nice windsurfing day before picking the 7 y.o. grandson up from school. If his dad drops his bike off at school it's my favourite ride of the week. 3 miles back to ours having a nice 1 to 1 chat.

Just converted my old commuter, an Alfine equipped Pompetamine, to single speed. Did my first SS rides yesterday and today. I'd only ever ridden a fixed on a track before, just the once, so quite a novelty. I think the three lads on road bikes got a shock when I passed them yesterday - unfortunately just after they started to wheel suck my rear wheel slipped and the chain jumped 🙁

A learning curve.

I've got a meeting in Cornwall tomorrow followed by either a stay in a hotel or a long drive home. Tempted to take the new bike for a ride on Dartmoor if the latter. Now, what's the weather going to do...

Thx CPN but after my roubaix test, the words comfortable and endurance put me off!

I like responsive, fast and twitchy I think

New cxcrossgraventure style frame coming this week so looking forward to some cave time building that up then a race at the weekend in which I am aiming not to die or come last.

Mostly riding BMX at the moment. Its frustrating as I really need to ride a couple of time a week to make progress but go away with a lot then come back and feeling all wobbly. Lots of mind games too coming back to it in mid / late 30s. Coming back to BMX is the best thing I have done in the past few years. Great community, less to no bull shit about bikes, minimal hassel riding.

Really want to try and organise an uplift day to somewhere in south wales at the moment but syncing work others and a non booked up time is hard.

Want to try and build a new commuter too. 26" inbred with slot dropouts frame would be a good start for a flexible multi function commuter but finding one is now becoming quite hard. Simple mtb frames now seem to be rare!

I forgot to put the plunger back in the bleed funnel before unscrewing it 🙁

I am trying to decide which rim to buy to replace the knackered Open Pro on my 853 Equilibrium. So few decent silver options around. I may have to get a black one despite silver (dura ace) hub. I've then got the dilemma of silver or black spokes. I wish for simpler times.

Why not just another openpro? Or have these stopped production?

Not ridden since the Ardrock, hopefully getting out on Thursday this week. Not sure where to go yet, thinking about Settle but not decided. Got a new pack to try out. Really looking forward to it!!

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Quite pleased with how this is looking

Decided to turn my commuter hardtail more winter commuter bike and put the full mud guards back on it. Front forks have gone from full-suspension to rigid since fitting them last so needed new bits to make them fit in the position because now more clearance allowed as no arch with rigid forks. So not yet fitted front mudguard. Fitted rear full mudguard. Needed to change tyre as not enough clearance for 2.1 so replaced with a "2.1" tyre. Thought mudguards look silly with dropper post so took that off and put spd pedals back on as winter boots are spd.
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simondbarnes - Member

I am trying to decide which rim to buy to replace the knackered Open Pro on my 853 Equilibrium. So few decent silver options around.

[url= https://dcrwheels.co.uk/products/rims/700c-rims/h-plus-son-tb14/ ]H Plus Son TB14[/url]

Changed the angle of the bars and position of levers on my stoater and I'm much happier now. Sometimes you just have to take time to get things set up properly

All of my bikes are filthy and I need to clean them.

Looking for some forks for my iroko then helping my brother to build a whyte 901.

Probably go out on my arkose for a quick spin tomorrow. Just back from a wedding abroad and shocked at how badly the weather has turned. Feels full on winter. Was only gone for days!!

Why not just another openpro?

Because I want something different. I've used Open Pros for 15 years. I could wait for the new Open Pro although they're likely to be £££££

H Plus Son TB14

Yeah, looked at those. Don't really want to pay that much though.

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That's my girl, she's getting there.

Judging from my dark side and my cadence, Ulrich is a better model for me than Armstrong - cadence wise alone

Soul sat in the shed unridden for three weeks, Bird Aeris 120 frame sat in the dining room, second hand Arkrose arriving next weekend.......

Thinking I'll just ride that to get fit and shed a few pounds for now and ponder the mtb thing a bit further, riding buddies all gone quiet.

Need a 142-148 hub adapter kit, might get some spacers made by a friend, thinking could possibly do a run of them......

Fitted a new less ugly stem on the t130.

Parkwood got new grips, sponge ones for Zwift action

Isaac got a new gear cable but I still can't index all 10 years on the Campag setup

Mrs weeksy is home for this evening for first time in a week, so I've not ridden outdoors as I've had my lad full time. Sadly, 9.30am tomorrow, she goes away for 2 weeks, so indoors on Zwift again.

Had my debut ride on a new bike yesterday eve, it was damn fine - despite comically wet conditions.

Just returned from The Ultimate BC trip with Sacred Rides , rode in Fernie,Rossland,Revelstoke,New Denver , Golden ( inc Kicking Horse ) 12 days straight 9000m of climbing 14000 m of descending most days started with a 3500ft climb ! How the hell do I top that ? Summers all but gone 🙁

Winters coming.....cba'd

Finally giving up on the specialized power saddles. I've used them for a year and they don't work for me.

What to try next is the question. Phenom or back to the toupe.

I haven't ridden since the Ridgeway double last Saturday..

My LBS is in the process of buiding up a new wheel set for e for the upcoming cross season. I bought a pair of Enve carbon tub rims at the beginning of the year which will be laced to DT Swiss 240 straight pull disc rims which I was told by the importer was not possible as they don't make them in 15mm through axle at the front but my mechanic has a cunning plan! 🙂

molgrips - Member
I haven't ridden since the Ridgeway double last Saturday..

YerButt.. that was epic.

I would expect a full 3 weeks recovery in the Pub every night after that.

🙂

I've got a meeting in Cornwall tomorrow followed by either a stay in a hotel or a long drive home. Tempted to take the new bike for a ride on Dartmoor if the latter. Now, what's the weather going to do...

Well it's been raining most of the day here and the wind is still up which usually means tomorrow will be pretty much the same. I'd stick to the woods if I were you.

YerButt.. that was epic.

I would expect a full 3 weeks recovery in the Pub every night after that.

Thanks 🙂

After the TCW I was buggered for two weeks and when I finally thought I'd recovered I got back on the bike to ride to work and could hardly ride. This was much easier though - was fine by mid week and really should ridden this weekend.

Just returned from my lad's mtb club away weekend to Glentress. My first visit there, impressed by what was on offer and loved riding and BBQ with the kids and grown ups, didn't even really rain when forecast was pish for today. Feeling the love for mtb again after not much action in the summer holidays.

Nights are fair drawing in. Need to get the lights on charge and the longs looked out.

After a couple of years of farting about on motorbikes, I'm getting the taste for mountain biking again. Hopefully I'll get at least 2 mid week rides.

It was all about brakes this weekend. Fitted some new brakes to the 456 and changed a cable on the arkose. Managed to get a ride in Saturday and Sunday and avoided the rain.

Just got back from the PMBA Enduro. Couldn't get onto the campsite on Friday night due to the weather making the entrance a mess. Faced with the weekend in a layby on the A6 but managed to find a small camp site that turned out to be a little gem. Great weekend was had by all.

Second ride with clips and still not fell off. Still might throw the flats in the van for Finale.

I have been on my MTB nearly every day since I got back from summer holidays, a combination of a new light and wanting to make the most of the weather before winter sets in.

Really enjoying it and been exploring some trails that I haven't been down in ages. Long may it last

Not much. The weather's sort of got me feeling a bit 'meh' but we're doing an #enduro at the end of the month so I'd better find a bit of mojo soon. In other news, I'm contemplating SSing the BFe and breaking the mudguards out ahead of the winter goop 🙁

Totally lost the will to ride. Something I've never done.

Raced Ard Rock and enjoyed it albeit it a tough day out and actually had my best ever finish (inside the top 50% out of 500 racers including the massive diversion around a crash on stage 1) but since then holiday, home and work (and the weather!) has got in the way. Need to correct that. The village where I live gets its new bridge in the next fortnight to replace the one that was washed away in the floods of 2015 which will give me direct access to the woods so fingers crossed I'll be finding my mojo again soon.

Lots of laps at stainburn in the dark last week, getting acclimated to riding full gas at night

Picked up fat bike with skinny wheels fitted on Friday, set off on maiden voyage on sat, weather looked ok, just wore shorts and a light jersey, got a mile in and the heavens opened, not seen it rain that hard his year at least. Bailed out and went to lbs where I had to be wrung out...

Was going to do hill reps on Sunday but cba combined with other stuff to do meant that fell by the wayside.

Currently musing on wether to increase travel on above, no longer fat, bike from 80mm to either 100 or 120mm, or keep the same.

Quietly on the lookout for a carbon fat frame

am currently recuperating after having my 3rd operation on a certain part of my body (that has stopped me riding my bike for over a year now).

am hoping that on the 10th oct post op check up the surgeon will give me the all clear to finally ride my bike again.

am saving towards a new bike of some kind but do not know what bike yet.

i am really wanting to ride a bike again though 😀

I had my first ride on my new Giant TCR advanced with full 21st century spec (discs, d2i, carbon wheels). First road bike ride for 3 months following a big accident and multiple injuries.
It was very nice to be back. 😀

Got a custom ti gravel frame which needs building up, got everything bar the tires.
Got a cx bike which needs selling.
Got my gravel bike to convert back to stock for winter road riding.
Zwift is up and running again.
Looking forward to winter mtbing / night rides. I've not done much mtbing recently but starting to want to get out again.

Went to Golspie on Wednesday for a pedal in the sun, had a great ride.
Went to Ft William yesterday and watched a bit of the SDA race, then went for a cycle round the witches trails with the Wife.
Despite having grown up and lived in Ft William for 20 years, I'm still amazed at how much it can rain there!

The MTBs are feeling neglected as Saturday ended up being a decent length road ride up into the dales with the boy and Sunday was a morning watching him race CX and an afternoon road outing at the Leeds "City Ride".

Finally gave the road bikes a good wash as they've been neglected all summer, so they're all polished, degreased and ready for the next adventure. Noticed that the boy's MTB still has sheep shit on it from the previous weekend.

Now, tell me why [url= https://www.sgs-engineering.com/stc9600b-stainless-steel-work-bench ]I shouldn't buy this[/url] for the garage workshop...

Current STW disease ??? I had a "heart not in it" ride yesterday ... end of summer realisation ???

I've got the spare (heavy) rear wheel on .. perhaps I should get round to tyre swaps..as it seemed to be the long but not that steep climbs just dragged on.? Jnr was also lagging... and then for some reason was going really slow on downhills so I ended up not enjoying those either... I ended up rolling almost all the jumps and drops...

Almost brand new pedal acquired a creak after 2 miles... which irritated me and the 8mm trail allen key wouldn't quite fit... Jnr's wheels need new bearings ... the bike shed is a mess having camping and holiday stuff pulled out of the storage and not put back properly so I can barely squeeze the bikes in let alone work on them

Jnr needs a new chainring after presumably bashing a rock at FOD... last weekend he had a dropped chain a few times and managed to bend the worst pin back but then had to file it a bit when we got home...

New cranks for Jnr. were a 50% success.... shortened some old Deore LX cranks but the hollow part on the NDS was too much and I've had to stick in the steel insert from his cut down Zee's on his FS... which was wholly unsatisfactory as I didn't have a drill big enough to ended up using a round file to create the whole and hammer in the steel insert.

Current STW disease ??? I had a "heart not in it" ride yesterday ... end of summer realisation ???

Will pull out my finger this week and get some bloody riding in!

T'was windy here this morning. 18miles into a 22mph headwind isn't much fun, but still better than being in the car.

Me and bikes:

I reached 50 and decided to treat self to a 'one bike to rule all' - which happened to be a Genesis Vagabond. Absolutely love it.

Then I got knackered up at the gym after a bad induction/poor rowing machine technique combo. Tore and pulled a number of groin things and have been (discounting the occasional impatient/ill-considered mini-venture) off riding, swimming, hiking and lifting (even shopping bags) for 18 months now. The Vagabond did no Vagabonding, and I did no bonding.

So I decided (now the injury is beginning to heal) to take just short trips off-road, both with mates and solo. I bought a Giant XTC hardtail with Recons and hydros, which is light and nice. But it still leaves me with two main bikes. I just want one that can both play anout on and carry stuff, with options as healng progresses to go bike-packing long-distance.

So I went back to my original decision process which was Vagabond vs Longitude. I choose Longitude. So now hopefully selling both bikes to fund purchase. Maybe, just maybe then I'll have a bike and just ride it.

I'm really chuffed with the first summer on my Kona Precept. I can't believe how good a bike you can get for £1k these days (it's 12 years since I last bought a bike).
I've got a couple of bigger discs to put on, then maybe sintered pads as the standard ones are not great on steep downhills & will get better tyres when these ones are knackered.

A bit gutted I'm working away this week, but will hopefully get up Dumyat on friday afternoon, before it has gone forever.
Gutted it's dark in the evenings now, but that's what the new lights are for 🙂

The other hot topic.. Stick with an early rider trail runner XL for a bit longer, then go straight to 16" wheel, or 14" bike with pedals soon.

Disappointed to hear that Last won't have the next batch of Fast Forward frames for at least 6months, not sure if I want to wait that long.

And finally had enough of the abysmal excuse for a tyre that is the Maxxis Rambler on the CX bike, and awaiting delivery of a 45c Riddler.

The other hot topic.. Stick with an early rider trail runner XL for a bit longer, then go straight to 16" wheel, or 14" bike with pedals soon.

For me, I'd hang for the slightly bigger one and get on it as soon as possible, even if it's a little big, as the extra wheel size will hugely improve riding confidence.

Talk bikes, well, OK.
Still loving my cargo bike, it has genuinely changed how I live and my attitude to cars and transport in general. An complete game changer and only bought as someone put a PSA on here a few years ago.
The new (ish) fixie is proving good fun on my commute. Bit tough on one climb but generally very enjoyable and bodes well for a winter of crap weather.
Best road bike is still awesome, and just feels fast as soon as I sit on it. I absolutely love it, Di2 is simply brilliant.
My Kaffenback has now found its natural home on my turbo. This means I have a bike always sat there and an excuse is removed.
And this leaves my older road bike and my MTB, both of which are painfully under used. The old road bike was meant to be a commuter for when i'm too tired to use the fixie and a winter bike. it turns out that I always reach for the fixie to commute and I reach for the running shoes when it's wet. The MTB is just not used, no desire to use it at all. But I really don't want to sell either, despite all logic suggests I should.

The bigger picture is that running has taken a large part of my time up, training for a marathon means that any large blocks of free time are spent running and so the bikes are neglected. Velo Birmingham is 2 weeks away and I've not ridden more than 50 miles in 5 months and barely gone over 30 at all.

I moved all the 10 speed stuff from my RM 29er, to my old Yeti 575, which has [i]always[/i] had shifting problems on 3x9. Yeti has had a new lease of life under my son (hopefully can get him out more!) and the 2x10 works beautifully.
Means the RM now has taken the 1x11 plunge, which I'm finding fantabulastic.
Started with a 34 front which was pretty good, but then went for a 32 "biopace" 😉 Superstar direct mount. Didn't notice any pedalling difference with the oval, but climbing was felt good. Trouble is it looks, well it looks a bit naff! The 34 Kore one looked great!
will I get used to it?
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After years of being intimidated, I finally plucked up the courage to do the road drop at Cwmcarn on Saturday!

Old dog, new tricks....heck yes!
Still buzzing

Still recovering from my broken collarbone so stuck on the turbo at the moment, still going to be a fair while till i can get back on the MTB safely

Given me opportunity to dial in the roadbike a bit more though and have been doing cadence sessions. Can't wait to get back outside but don't want to rush it and it looks like i'll need a fair bit of physio to get my range of movement back in my shoulder.

My time off has left me with upgradeitis, i have a compulsion to spend lots of money on parts for bikes i can't ride in anger

Just beat my personal best time for 100k 🙂

Strange as I have a sore knee and getting over a cold.

I've just admitted defeat and put gears back on my SS commuter. Very slowly moving towards the 21st century as I moved very old 8-spd Deore XT from my On-One Inbred (the version with mounts for cantis on the seatstays, anyone any idea what vintage it might me? Second hand to me) to my commuter, a Ridgeback Flight 02 frame from a few years ago with hydraulic discs, full guards, rack and Wald basket. Love it.

This has also given me an excuse to move up one rung to a new 9-spd Alivio drivetrain for the Inbred - in the post now.

Alpkit Bomber (PSA - on sale at the moment for £20) handlebar also winging its way to me as I fancy flared drops for the graventureroad bike, a Trek Crossrip.

So lots of enjoyable shed hours for not too much money, and should end up with three bikes which do exactly what I want them to. But every bike is a permanent work in progress...

I finally plucked up the courage to do the road drop at Cwmcarn on Saturday!

Was it as easy as logic tells me it ought to be?

lazlowoodbine - Member
I've got a meeting in Cornwall tomorrow followed by either a stay in a hotel or a long drive home. Tempted to take the new bike for a ride on Dartmoor if the latter. Now, what's the weather going to do...
Well it's been raining most of the day here and the wind is still up which usually means tomorrow will be pretty much the same. I'd stick to the woods if I were you.

molgrips - Member

Was it as easy as logic tells me it ought to be?

Yes, absolutely! I ended up going back and doing it a few times and strangely the actual drop is the easiest bit, you don't even feel the landing.
The hardest bits for me (as a middle aged, wheels on the ground rider!) were getting lined up for the drop with enough speed, then once you land you just rocket off down the hill!

Love how this thread is free of the usual condescending responses to people's minor bike-related frustrations.

Almost like a different forum.

molgrips - Member

Was it as easy as logic tells me it ought to be?

If it's the drop I'm thinking of, then you can completely nosedive off it like a total idiot, land on your front wheel, and miraculously survive by nose-wheelieing almost to the bottom, so anyone with any level of competence should be fine

There's an annoying squeak from the front wheel of my Arkose commuter

Not sure if it's the disc or the hub, makes the noise once per revolution, but not always

I remember as soon as I get on it, and forget as soon as I get off!

Yesterday's SS ride was rolling apart from [url= https://www.strava.com/segments/1212588 ]this climb[/url]. Maybe an average of 6% but from the sharp left hander about halfway up there's about 400m of 10-12% which was hard work 😳 I was almost at a standstill and hoping that no cars were approaching from either direction.

It's all about winter preparation at the minute...

My 26er is soon to be retired (end of the month I think) in favour of a move to 29", however I like putting bikes together and I'm a cheapskate, so I've decided to source used/cheap bits again rather than shiny and new and assemble my next MTB over the winter.
Thus far I've got forks, a frame and some rims & spokes, and I'll be building as much of the bike from the what's left of the 26er and my spares bin contents as possible...

The Gravel/CX Bike will probably be going back to it's winter tyres soon and maybe getting a once over with fresh cables and tape maybe...

I've also been toying with the idea of changing my commuter frame for one of those cheap charge plugs so I can have some gears, but it's not a totally essential...

And not our little after work riding club looks like it might be losing motivation to get out after work once the weather starts dampening down and getting colder and darker in the coming months, there's been a worrying amount of discussion regarding Turbo trainers lately...

One proposal is for us to start doing faster paced , local, lunchtime rides during the day instead, these would be on local roads and be ~45 mins so I'd estimate we'd probably only clock up 15 miles or so, could these end up being "Junk miles" or is there some value in going for a higher paced, short group ride in the middle of the working day...

That is all...