Shiny Bikes appear to have frames @ 1155,

You can use the code FRAM-5 to get a further 5% off, takes it down to £1097 😀

Those look lovely! Seriously tempted to change my order from the SLCs, decisions decisions. 😀

Great to see there’s lots of activity going on! I’m well into my second year of ownership and loving it as much as ever. To be honest, sticking the chunky tyres on a month ago has really brought a new dimension to it – to the extent that there’s a pair of brand spanking Conti GP 4 Seasons still in the parts bin, completely untouched during the height of the roadie season!

The Schwalbe Land Cruisers in 40mm width are proving really good fun – more than capable for the off road stuff I’ve been doing and surprisingly speedy on the tarmac but I can’t help but feel there’s something lighter that’s at least as good… So – $60m question:

What 37mm or wider tyre for predominantly road use but capable on gravel for 10% of the time, that I won’t need to remortgage the house for? Is there a lighter, folding, equally puncture resistant alternative? I didn’t think I’d enjoy the fatter tyres as much as I am and boy is it comfy!

The Schwalbes are staying on at least for my short tour at the end of the month as that’s got decent chunks of gravel and non-road in it. Can’t wait!

My long termed has arrived!!!!!!!!! It lay unloved in my hallway for several days as I thought it was a delivery for my neighbour. Doh!

Just building it up at the moment and it is lush! The welds are easily a match for my Ibis Silk Ti which I’ve always held in very high regard. The finishing on the frame is of a very high standard. Looking forward to getting it finished and out onto the trails.

Sanny 😀

Welcome to the club Sanny, you’ll have to post up a pic or two when you get it built up, and you as well cinnamon_girl.

hummerlicous : The TRP Hydros look like a nice bit of engineering, and i see you’ve fitted decent brake rotors – I did the same as i feel there is less brake judder when you use a disc with a strong alloy spider/carrier rather than the usual flimsy stamped discs, and there is far less chance of accidentally bending a rotor as well which is always a bonus. What brake housing/cables did you use?, I fitted the Yokozuna Reaction brake and gear housing set, quite hard to fit snugly along the grooves of my Salsa Woodchipper bars as the flexibility of the housing is rather limited so i held it in place with gorilla tape first then wrapped the Fizik bar tape over it all.

Very sharp braking response with the TRP Spyres 😯 , from resting on the hoods and using one finger on the lever i can scrub speed at an alarming rate but thankfully it is very easy to modulate the amount of braking needed, you wouldn’t want to grab a handful of the front that’s for sure.

Like others i’ve gone back to running my 40mm chunky all road tyres Clement x-plor mso now that i have two sets of the Kinesis CX wheels, it’s made a swap from my road set up to all-road much quicker as i could never be arsed to swap tyres over, running identical Ultegra 11-28 cassette and XT discs on both wheel sets so it’s just 30 second swap to change them over and it means i can take the off road riverside path to work and back home, if i time it right i get to watch otters and kingfishers play about as the tide comes and goes – very pleasant start or end to the day.

Currently reading blogs about all-road style touring at the moment and listening to various podcasts of tales of adventure touring as i stare out of the window at work, seriously thinking about a Son 28 dynamo hub along with a Busch & Muller E-Werk or the PedalPower+ Usb charger so i can go off-grid and not have to rely on finding somewhere to charge stuff every few days, despite wanting to head off into the middle of nowhere i still wish to take my gadgets, camera/sw radio/iphone etc #1stworldtouringstyle.

These Tripsters all look fantastic, I hope my custom ti commuter (frame currently under fabrication) will look as good in the flesh too!

Of course the ultimate in braking has to be the R785, although it doesn’t come particularly cheap and you have to go Di2 too. I’ll report back in a few months whether they’re any good 🙂

Cheers, Rich

Just ridden the Tripster ATR into Istanbul and tomorrow we start on Asia! Like everyone here,I absolutely love it. Had no real issues and everyday jumping on the saddle is as comfy and fun as the last and it’s been 35 days of solid riding now!

I wrote up more thoughts and a review on the blog if interested:The blog

The bike fully loaded:

Just ridden the Tripster ATR into Istanbul and tomorrow we start on Asia!

Are you riding across the Bosphorus bridge? I found that quite scary in my taxi into work!

Your recent pics and write up of Slovakia, Romania and the stunning Transfargarasen highway are making me twitch n’ itch for a similar trip, love the little updates and pics on twitter as i often view them at work which leads to a lost 15 mins as i stare out the window and daydream of adventures waiting to be started 😀

No one know of full builds kicking about anywhere, anywhere close to that magic price?

Somafunk

Cheers fella. Great pics there. My build may be a bit niche……I have borrowed a Race Face XY post from the missus until my Thudbuster ST arrives from Merlin. At £60, I couldn’t resist. By happy coincidence, my missus has a Reverb that fits too…….. :D. Going to run an Ultegra Triple as a double with an 11 36 at the back. The Spyre Slc brakes are particularly nice. Hoping to pick up a set of Bruce Gordon Rock and Road tyres and Woodchipper bars too.

Whoop!

Sanny

Nice brakes indeed…….

brassneck – Member
No one know of full builds kicking about anywhere, anywhere close to that magic price?

POSTED 34 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

From what I’ve seen lately there’s not much in the way if stick of frames or full builds available anywhere.

Could you not build your own up using one of the frames from Shiny Bikes for about the same price?

Q for hummerlicious – what rotors do you have please? Thank you.

Thanks everyone for regularly updating this thread. Am finding it really helpful. 8)

Brassneck – no chance, taking a ferry across, saw the bridges on way to Uzbekistan embassy looked scary!

They’re superstar rotors CG, to be honest I wouldn’t say they work any better than the stock ones, but I wanted them because they were green!

My next purchase is going to be the Exposure Lights Revo and dynamo hub, that will let me use it for my offroad commute all winter and you can charge USB stuff via the smart port on longer excursions.

My front disc seems to have warped… Any recommendations on a decent replacement?

Using Hope floating on TRP Spyres on mine.

First shakedown ride on it today on the commute. I’ve built mine with two pairs of wheels Hope / Crests for road/off road and Hope / Open pros for road. Its replacing both my Croix de Fer and Giant Defy. Still sorting the stem length/bar height but first impressions on road is that its fast, and smooth, and fast. And very comfy on the drops which is one thing I really wanted. No pics yet as the heavens emptied 5 mins after getting home tonight. So its also a lucky bike as well 😉 Pics to follow… 😀

hummerlicious – thanks for your reply and nothing wrong with injecting some colour. 😀

Andy – looking forward to seeing your pics! Like the idea of two sets of wheels – can I ask with the Hope/Crest combo (29er?) what width tyres you’ll be using? I’ve got some Grail rims on order so curious as to any difference. Thanks. 🙂

Yup c_g Hope / Crest 29er wheels. Will run some 35mm Kenda SB8s as that’s all I have in the garage right now but also have some Bonty XR(?) 29er tyres that are listed as 1.8″ but seem to come up 1.5″ or less. Or something else.

Thanks Andy. Have fun with your new steed. 🙂

How does it compare to the Croix? More relaxed steering, more stable, more responsive, higher front end, etc?

Turnerguy no idea – its just blinger init 😉

Don’t notice the relaxed steering and stability much, but not taken off road yet, although seems to soak up the rough country lanes really well.

Main thing is its much more responsive – only 4-5 lbs lighter than the Reynolds 725 CDF, but seems to ride a lot lighter and respond to input better. My “road mode” build has come in just under 20 lbs

I’ve gone from a 60cm CDF to 57cm tripster and the front end is 50mm higher which suits me much more. Was running 60mm spacers on the CDF, but only 30 on the Tripster with a much more comfy position. Think the real test will come off road. The CDF steel frame was really springy off road but the tripster will carry bigger rubber.

Overall its a big step up from the CDF. Wish I could say the same about the rider though 🙁

Nice to see you’ve caved in Andy!

Quick update RE the changes I’ve made..
The salsa cowbell 2 bars really do make a massive difference off road – they are only 20mm wider, but the drop seems less, and the little amount of flare means that I can ride off road MUCH more confidently on the hoods and drops.
I always felt the stock bars were too narrow – like I was forcing the arms in…now it feels really comfy – you’re able to skip and hop and jump the bike with much more control 🙂
You can also ride on the tops at times, like it’s a skinny barred MTB!! (but without brakes!)

I’m toying with keeping the lyras as they seem tobe getting better each day, and I’m setting them up correctly now. But…I might swap to rotors to avid G3s as they seem to have more braking area…

Will see!

DrP

drp – how do the STI 105 levers sit / look on the cowbells ? any profile pics please ?

only 4-5 lbs lighter than the Reynolds 725 CDF

Only? That’s still over 2kg.

drp – how do the STI 105 levers sit / look on the cowbells ? any profile pics please ?

They actually look ‘normal’.
I’ve midge bars on another bike, and they really do have a flare that looks extreme – STIs pointint in/out etc.
But not so on the cowbells..
Comparing FSA and Salsa

Fitted my cheapie carbon post too – haven’t been anally skewered yet, which is a plus I suppose..

DrP

+1 for salsa cowbells.. Have had them on my last 2 bikes.

the levers feel in the ‘right’ position on the cowbells, such that when you get back to normal bars they feel ‘wrong’. Conversely, going from normal bars to cowbells doesn’t feel ‘wrong’, however.

drp – what post is it and where fae ?

Brassneck – no chance, taking a ferry across, saw the bridges on way to Uzbekistan embassy looked scary!

None of my taxis had seatbelts in the back. Apparently you’re safe there.
Yet still we were examined for car bombs every time in to the hotel… keep on rolling, keep the pictures coming, good stuff – you’re out of my comfort zone now till you hit Mumbai (can’t remember how far you’re planning to go!)

Reckon I could build, reusing some nice hubs and bits, a really good ‘un for £2K, but I’m supposed to be ripping out a kitchen and fitting a new one – getting distracted during the middle phase might lower my life expectancy somewhat. More so than anyone discovering a shiny Ti frame in the garage (she bought me a Ti wedding ring, not going to be able to bluff that one out).

fatbirds have the frame/fork in stock (54) but no full builds !!!

My frame has landed. 8)

CG.. Christmas arrived early. Was one of your dropouts poking out the box on arrival? Think I posted some good details about cutting steerers if you need some pointers

cloudnine – thanks but it’s actually with the lbs. You don’t think I can build bikes do you??? 😉

It didnt actually go that well.. 😆

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/arrrrrrgh-ive-cut-my-steerer-too-short-help-please

But was fixed in the end.

OK Tripster experts… I’ve had SKS Chromoplastic guards on mine since the start – the P35 ones for the narrow tyres (20 – 28). I ran them most of the time with 28mm Conti Gatorskin or GP4 Seasons with more than satisfactory clearance.

They’re off at the moment as I’m flirting with fatter tyres – the 40c Land Cruisers mightn’t fit so well with the guards on…

I think I’m going to go for a set of folding Conti SpeedRide tyres in 700 x 42 as a more permanent option. They’re a lot lighter and suspect they’re faster rolling though a bit less of a tread pattern.

Knowing (and reading) that Conti tyres tend to come up a little narrow, what’s the chances of the P45 or even the P50 width guards working? The P45 is supposed to take a 35-38mm tyre and I’ve read that the SpeedRides come up nearer a 37 than a 42. I guess I just don’t want some huge great mudguard on the bike if I don’t need it!

Thanks in advance 🙂

EDIT: Just seen the SKS Longboards and might jump on them – again available in a P45 fit. Anyone tried them? Based on the Chromoplastic, but erm, longer, I think.

regarding the SKS, what size is needed to run the WTB Crosswolfs in 32c variety [as supplied] ?

i’m running the SKS 35mm chromoplastics with my gravelking 28c’s but even that’s tight.

Yeah I could do with knowing which guards to fit too ?
I’d like them to cover the 35/40mm all road type tyres but not look too silly over 28c 4 seasons too ? 🙄
Moon on a stick time again !!

Well… SKS Chromoplastics fit fine – with the usual jiggers pokerey, and then some because of the disc mounts, but your spares box of random spacers and bits of bent metal will *finally* come in handy. I ran the P35 width with 25 and 28mm tyres and they looked perfectly nice. I’ve just taken a punt on a new setup though – only when the postie arrives will I know if I’ve screwed up…

Continental SpeedRide in 42mm width, that I believe is more like a 38/39mm. If so, then the P45 SKS Bluemels guards I’ve ordered on the Halfords 20% deal (and I hope they’re ok, as the description, price and picture matched, but not the actual product name) should just about take them. I fancied something longer than the Chromoplastics but the Longboards may have been a bit much, but probably not. I’ll report back midweek when they arrive (and I send them back…!)

What I hope is I get a super cool new setup and marry fast rolling, light weight and year-round setup. I hope!