Ginger – which SRAM groupsets have you had issues with please I believe the cx1 is force level, not sure if the quality is any better the higher up the range?

Any one got experience of Gevenalle products? Thinking shifter inc the trp hylex hydraulic braking in one….

cg – just buy some salsa cowbells and be done with it.

The slightly flared bars put your elbows out slightly, increasing control off road. Road bars are designed for aero and so your elbows will be tucked into your body a lot more, which isn’t so good for control offroad.

http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/salsa-cowbell-2-cyclocross-road-bars-318mm-os-1711-p.asp

there are more flared bars, but the cowbells are great.

You just need to decide the width…

+1 on the cowbells

Blue smartie

X9 type 2 has been fairly mediocre compared to my experiences with XT. X0 not much better. I find their stuff becomes a bit rattly after not a lot of use and they definitely wear out faster than their Shimano counterparts. The older pre type 2 mechs lasted longer but still weren’t as good as Shimano.

I’d echo what Turnerguy says re bars.

Cheers

Sanny

Any opinions on Avid BB7’s as a brake? Spyres seem to the default choice but I remember the 7’s having a road version (maybe matches the lever pull better?) and being generally well rated as a cable disk?

Plus how do I size the cowbells, just go for wide as **** to display my mtb credentials?

I have some BB7 roads on my Croix de Fer (mentioned again on this thread 🙂 ) and they are good but not as good as their mtb counterparts because the pad/rotor gap isn’t as big, so you do get more rubbing issues.

With the mtb ones and speed dial levers you can have a bigger gap and increase the leverage on the levers, but you can’t do that with road brifters.

From what I have seen the Spyres might have a better gap.

I have 44cm Cowbells and am 5ft 10 with a 38-40 inch chest and they feel good to me.

I am in Horsell, Surrey if you want to try my cowbells for size. Where are you, maybe someone else on the thread with cowbells is close?

Hummerlicious – copy that, will avoid that same stretch tomorrow! Nice pic.
Went into Charlie BM shop briefly on my way out of Swanage yesterday. Excellent set-up and good vibes.

Cheers TurnerGuy, will probably take a punt on the same then, and stick with Spyres.

It was so mucky birdage, the bike is it’s usual uniform shade of brown at the moment, needs some love!

Just got my order in via Shiny Bikes! I’m kitting it out with SRAM Force from my road race bike and Stans Crest from my Scandal 29er, thereby doing a ‘bikes ~ combine’. And a 50/34 or 36/46 or 28/42 I’ve got knocking about. Not sure about the brakes either a Hope V thingy and the Hope T2’s from 29er or some new Spyres or whatever they’re called.

easyrider – when did you place your order ?

I have Stans iron Cross and use them tubeless with 33c Maxxis Raze tyres, which are nice because they have a central ridge on the tyre which runs nicely on the road.

They aren’t supertight on the iron crosses so I am guessing that they will be OK on the crests, whereas some tubeless ready cross tyres are very tight on the crests.

Just bought some Spyre SLCs from Merlin.

Well – that went well… 186 miles in three days and I reckon (I’ll count it up at some point) that a good 60% or more was traffic free / off road.

The Trans Pennine Trail from Hadfield to Penistone was superb – spectacular scenery and well worth doing again. I didn’t realise but the southern spur of the TPT actually made up a chunk of the next day’s run south to Burton upon Trent; the first 20 or more miles of that being offroad including some lovely loamy singletrack through some woods to the south of Sheffield. Now that’s the way to make a national cycle route!

Today’s glorious sunshine made up for yesterday morning’s relentless drizzle and the views as I returned to the White Peak were wonderful. The Tissington Trail from Ashbourne, that sits at the southern end of R68 that joins onto the Pennine Bridleway – is fairly typical of a ‘recreational’ route but discounting it (and others like it) because of this, means you miss out on the ability to cover a decent distance in traffic free serenity. With the holidays over, I encountered a couple of dozen people in the space of 15 miles. Sorely tempted with the whole thing next summer…

The Bridge Street bag worked a treat, though I was glad of the small frame bag for quick access stuff like phone, money and route backup notes. The hours spent putting the route into the Garmin paid off, the Conti Travel Contact 37mm tyres were perfect – only struggling on really steep out of the saddle climbs on wet surfaces and stayed puncture free.

Naturally, the Tripster handled everything with consummate ease, made the road sections fast and the gravel bits highly entertaining. Bizarrely – of the people who approached me to chat about bike stuff, the TRP Spyres, the Knog Blinder R and the Zefal mirror attracted attention. Not a word about the frame 🙂

Here’s some pics for those of you who’ve been at work the last couple of days. Sorry.

Above Hadfield, just starting on the TPT

Top of the Woodhead Pass on the TPT

R67, outskirts of Sheffield. Quality!

It’s not just the USA that has miles of gravel. Rother Valley on the way into Chesterfield

Sunny gravel on the Tissington Trail. A big ring grinder: 15 miles of steady ascent on a variety of surfaces.

Wow looks great! You have pushed me on a bit to do something similar myself!

On my Tripster side of things, ive changed to Spyres! Vast improvement with modulation and adjustment ease. Not to mention ive been able to remove all the spacers between the rack and frame.

anyone running simi slick/fast rolling knobles TUBELESS if so what tyre/rim combo are you running?

i’m wanting to convert my kinesis cx v3’s – going to try some gorilla tape and sealant and tubeless valves this weekend methinks……

TurnerGuy : I place it on Sunday. What size rotors did you go for? I think 140 sounds a nit small for the front. I’ve got maxxis Raze on the CX bike they are great all rounders but a 28c road tyre is capable off-road as long as it’s not too slick with mud or very rocky. But for most things such as the stony track down into Penrith on the C2C they’re fine, and much faster than the Raze on road.

160 rotors, 140 does sound a little small.

I have a 54 on order from Shinybikes – placed a couple of weeks ago so waiting for stock to come in 🙁

What a bloomin excellent thread this is 😀

Some great reports and love in’s and inspiring travelling too..

Yay1

@ easyrider – I placed an order with Shiny Bikes on 15th August (not for a frame) and despite sending two e-mails I’m still waiting for either communication or the order to arrive. Also their phone line is constantly engaged. Fingers crossed that your order goes through.

@ Andy – thanks, that’s really helpful. 🙂 Hope you’re still enjoying your Tripster.

@ gonetothehills – excellent report and pics, thanks. 8) Glad it worked out well for you.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/shiny-bikes-warning

re shinybikes.

the web site said 54 in stock but it apparently wasn’t.

spoke to the guy on the phone who said that they had stock arriving in 2 to 3 weeks, and my order had been allocated against that. He then reckoned there was no more framesets coming until the new year. He sounded like a decent bloke !!!

I have heard it from another source that supplies of tripster atr framesets are dried up until the new year, so here’s hoping.

Although I probably shouldn’t have bought it as I don’t really have the terrain to go for massive rides on it without skipping lots of the interesting stuff around surrey hills, and my croix de fer is really more appropriate for the short ‘fitness’ dashes around the common I built it up for – but in the end I gave in to the temptation this thread was providing.

So if I don’t get it I will put it down to fate and not be too disappointed. The only things specific I have bought it it are a shim to use my 27.2 seatpost whilst I determine whether I want carbon or titanium, and a 34.9 cx70 front derailleur.

what carbon posts are you folks using ? my thomson is continuously slipping 🙁

#cinnamon girl (is that a Neil Young tribute?)
Yeah… just managed to speak with Shiny bikes then I read these updates! He must have had a few phone calls this morning. So it’s another 2 weeks wait.
# TLR use some carbon paste if the post is slipping. The paste has little granules in it to help bind. I’ve never had a problem with carbon slippage though. I reckon a 27.2 post is the way to go on these bikes, lighter & more flexible. And can be swopped to other bikes.

So it’s another 2 weeks wait.

whilst the Indian summer we are having goes past 🙁

easyrider – finish line carbon “grease” already tried.

will perhaps buy a thomson seat collar.

#TLR : You could try some 1200grit wet and dry or something on the shim and or bottom of post? Obvious though.

t_l_r – I got a seat post grip as recommended on here from xcracer. It works really well and weighs nothing, although I’m using an old Enigma carbon seat post now that doesn’t seem to slip that much anyway.

http://www.xcracer.com/shop/viewproduct.php?productid=351

Got a Funn Ti seatpost from Chain Reaction but sending it back as it weighs more than the Thomson and I’m not sure about Ti in Ti anyway!

#cinnamon girl (is that a Neil Young tribute?)

Sure is easyrider!

Got a Funn Ti seatpost from Chain Reaction but sending it back as it weighs more than the Thomson and I’m not sure about Ti in Ti anyway!

birdage- I’ve been using a Ti seatpost in a Ti hardtail frame for the last 5 years and it’s my most used steed. Not once have I had a problem.

Dissimilar metals are the ones that will bind, not the same metals.

Sorted out the slip with ah longer bolt and a 4mm hex head. More torque and no rounding of the hex.

As I said ‘I’m not sure’ so good to hear real life experience.I have heard different things though including from someone who was at Enigma about titanium sticking to titanium but didn’t know if this would apply to seat posts. I’m not a massive fan of carbon but finding a carbon seat post in a titanium frame very comfy indeed on single track.

My Ritchey WCS carbon post – with a Hope seatclamp and some carbon paste – sticks fine. I chewed the bolt on the lovely lightweight Kinesis clamp that came with the frame, probably because I was winding it on as I couldn’t get a Deda alloy post to stay put, so it’s not just Thomson that drop…

I did stick a low cost alloy post in for rack bearing duties but that’s been fine too (with paste and same Hope clamp). Just creaks a bit.

The original bolt in the seat clamp is made of cheese, swap it out at the earliest opportunity.

Got the jones bars fitted to my Tripster earlier……..

They have quite a few options for hand positions and i’ve almost convinced myself to give them a try, that obviously means buying XTR shifters, XTR rear mech and front mech, XTR Cassette and i may treat the Tripster to a Middleburn Chainset and BB.

So now i’m mired in what ratios to choose?, I was going to wait for the new XTR 1×11 speed but why limit my spread of gears, I’m thinking a 28/42 for the chain set and 11-34 for the cassette, that’ll give a 102″ max and a 22″ low which should be enough to climb anything after a long day in the saddle and when laden up, the 102″ max should be plenty enough to nip along at a decent pace on the road – it’s not about outright speed anyway. (just as well coz i’m slow)

Now to sort out suitable brake levers to work best with the TRP Spyres, short or long pull levers? – I am considering either the Paul Canti Lever in short pull or the Paul Love Lever in long pull. Or perhaps the Avid Speed Dial Ultimate lever, with these brakes you can adjust the leverage ratio which may aid the brake set up.

The RS8 cranks are designed for a 47.5mm chain line, the Ultegra cranks i removed are designed for a 43.5mm chain line – I’ll have to see if the RS8’s would be compatible for the frame/chainline,

There was rumour that Middleburn are bringing out a new crank design, anyone got info?.

gonetothehills : cracking pics and nice mini-tour…jealous!

Somafunk loving your eye for detail there on the Pauls Components. Next time I’m visiting my mum near Stranraer I’ll give you a shout for a spin 🙂

Sounds good Andy, bring your tripster and i’ll show you round my trails with cafe n’ beer stops, need to be at a leisurely pace though as I’m very slow.

Pauls stuff is very nice, their new skewers are worth it – very secure cam operation which gives me piece of mind when pinballing down sketchy hills. I’ll phone matthew @ middleburn t’morn to get the chain set sorted out and then i can start to order other stuff, should be interesting to see how it turns out.

A 42 * 11 is similar to a 50 * 12 with a 34 at the back you’d have a giant range of gears considering it’s a double. That’s the beauty of 11 speed.

Sounds like most people are using cable Spyres for braking, what about other options such as :
Rival22 (then stuck with SRAM so bring some spares)
TRP HY/RD
Shimano
Wait for Ultegra hydraulics

I’ve read reviews on the Spyres and they’re not super powerful : not a problem so long as they are good enough. Can anybody comment who has used them?

easyrider – Spyres are very good. I can lock up anything from a 25c upwards, but the nice thing is you don’t have to as the control and modulation is spot on. They are night and day compared to the Avid BB5 that I had before – in lots of ways: set up, performance, quietness, ease of adjustment (and the rare need to). I don’t actually think that differently in terms of braking distance to how I do on the mountain bike with its XT hydraulics and 180 rotor on the front.

C_G and somafunk – cheers! Glad you liked the pics. It was only a few days but great fun and proved what great riding we’ve got on our doorsteps. Those bars are looking mighty fine, somafunk. Can’t wait to see them with whatever you decide to run as the controls.

#gonetothehills : what levers are you using : looks like 10speed 105 to me? Do they have 25% more cable pull (think I read that somewhere..) I should think my 2007 SRAM Force would be OK … Poor road bike, getting it’s bits robbed like this it deserves better 😕

Has anyone figured out the value in the Kinesis Crosslight Disc Build kit?
It seems like the wheels make it value, but I’m thinking I would have to discard:

Seatpost
seat clamp
front mech

and would probably move on

Bars (for Salsa cowbells)
Crankset (for a full compact)
Cassette (for 11-28)

.. which assuming not much return on selling the unused kit might add up a bit. But maybe those wheels are worth it vs:

Merlin 105 Group (grr not in stock)
Rebuild of some DT240s hubs into something gnarlyish – sort out light road specific wheels later
Cowbells
Probably a post as I don’t think I have 31.6 anywhere in the spares.

.. but with the kit I’d have something to ride I suppose almost stright away..

<ponders>/……

I’ve been reading this thread for such a long time and I have to say its really been good to see guys and gals helping each other out and generally being so informative. Surely, this is what forums should be like!
Anywho. Having nearly pressed the button on a build kit several times I think I’m going to go for a frame because, as brassneck says above, I think I would want to change so much of the build kit. My original plan was to replace as it wears out but I’ve got a feeling that maybe sometime.
My thoughts at the moment is to go for a similar gear set up as my mtb’s ie. 32 thick thin on the front and an 11-36 on the back without chain guide. My intended use is 20% road and 40% tracks and off road each. Do you think this will work? I’m assuming the main downside is not a high enough gear on the road if I’m lucky enough to give it some whelly.

I’m currently building one up but it will be standard 34/50 11-25, however I’ve just built a planet X Pickenflick up similar to what you intend to do.
I don’t think the gearing you describe would work very well on the road, mine is a shimano 6800 11 speed with a 11-32 rear cassette and a race face thick/thin 42t on the front. This works well on everything road/bridleway etc in flat cheshire, however if you have any ‘proper’ hills a 38 or 40 would work better.
I also built it up with a bar end shifter (and v brake levers) as I don’t think the short throw of the sti brake levers work very well with cable pull disc brakes (spyres). There is a lot of lever movement before the brakes bite properly. I’ll be trying hy/rd on the tripster