[Closed] After 7 months of waiting - my new bike....

why have you converted a childs canoe paddle into a seat post?

it helps with the aerodynamics

why slick tyres and a thudbuster where are you planning to ride it?
Not a troll just curious tbh

you seem to have a nicolai hybrid?

Junkyard - Member
why slick tyres and a thudbuster where are you planning to ride it?
Not a troll just curious tbh

Its for the Tour D'Afrique. 7500 miles across africa.

that makes a lot more sense.

Thudbuster is actually better than I thought it would be. Actually works quite well. Better than them telescopic ones.

Agreed. Thudbuster is a good piece of kit.

Its for the Tour D'Afrique. 7500 miles across africa.

That explains why it's a bit 'odd'. Cool.

7500 miles with Fox forks and no servicing? Wonder how long the Kashima will last!

No servicing....

Don't be daft 🙂

Only takes 10mins for the wiper service! 😉

I did want masochism, however we had trouble getting hold of them. Which was a shame. Tbh most of the time they will be locked out, there is only about 2000 miles of off road bits, the rest is on Tarmac.

Thudbuster is a good piece of kit.

In't it though? Tbh, I'd never have gone out and bought one, cos I've always thought they were ugly, and a bit pointless. But in use, they're surprisingly effective. I'd say Ian's made a good choice for this sort of trip.

Looks like a decent bike for that purpose. Supported though I'm assuming? Cos of the lack of pannier fittings.

Yes, it is supported, though I do have a little clip on rack for a small bag of spares, camera, and inner tubes for when my wheels explode

there is only about 2000 miles of off road bits

'Only'.

[i]ONLY.[/i]

😯

How long's that gonna take you then?

It did cross my mind as I wrote it..... Never mind, best not think of those things. Ride out of Cairo on the 14th of January and arrive in cape town on the 14th of may. So four months!

[b]FOUR MUNFS?!?!?!?!?[/b]

😯

Seven and a half thousand miles in four months?

😯

Forking hill.

Is this for some charity or something?

Its for the Tour D'Afrique. 7500 miles across africa.

Probably worth mentioning that in the OP. Was wondering about the weird set up.

7500 miles? Thought about getting clip on tri bars or something?

That's around 450 miles a week isn't it? So about 65 miles/100km a day?

Pretty epic challenge, best of luck to you, and I hope you enjoy it.

Wow good luck with that, I look forward to your write up, are you writing a blog we can follow?

It's to raise money to rebuild a school in Kenya, however it's not the best time of year to be fundraising.

Website is here www.tda2012.com

Is on average 123km a day. Around 97 riding days and 23 rest days. Might help with the new years resolution to loose the next 4 stone.

Well I'll bung a few quid in if you do it! Great cause, and a tremendous task ahead of you!

enjoy 🙂

Good luck with the ride and hope it goes well.

7500 miles...I'd offer to come with you but bit busy & stuff, you know how it is. I would of though. Honest. 🙂

Bah, i was hoping to see the new Nicolai with the pinion box 😥

Good luck with the ride though.

[i]5 days before I fly out to Cairo[/i]

I might have given myself a bit more time to play with the bike setup/hose lengths etc 😉

Good luck on the ride 🙂

good luck with the trip, and nice bike for it btw.

It's to raise money to rebuild a school in Kenya

Have yo got a blog or anything? I'd love to see photos from that!

Where's the route go?

would it not be easier to sell your bike, work 4 months and send them the money

Easier, but not as much fun.

It's not about the charity. 😉

Good luck!

We have had this discussion with ianpinder befoer - its nothing to do with charity. he is spending many thousands to raise a few hundred pounds. Its all about a holiday for him.

he said he was going to raise tens of thousands of pounds - he has raised almost none.

looks great Ian, had a look at you're blog a while back, very interesting!

What model is the Nicolai as i want one?

Did ou manage to sell all your other kit, DH bike, Tranny, etc?

And finally good luck and more importantly, enjoy!

JB 😀

my apolagies to the op, I didn't mean to start "them" off

really hope you have a great time...

Sounds like a good trip to me, take no notice of TJ 🙄

Might want to sort the saddle position on the fugly though

nickf

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-doing-something-for-charity
and other threads.

He claimed he was going to raise £45000 and build a school. as it is he is spending many thousands on a holiday instead. I have no issue with people having amazing adventure holidays and this will be such. I object strongly to dressing it up as a charitable activity

We have had this discussion with ianpinder befoer - its nothing to do with charity. he is spending many thousands to raise a few hundred pounds. Its all about a holiday for him.

It doesn't really matter does it? If he'd been given the money to support his trip then that would be pretty loathsome but if he's spent his own money to fund it and then raised a few quid on top of that to donate to charity then fine.

My brother in law asked family and friends to sponsor him X amount of quid to do the New York Marathon but the money we were donating was to pay for him to just do the marathon and anything raised above that went to a selected charity. So he didn't have to fork out any cash himself which in turn meant we were basically paying for him to go to New York. The thin veil of charity fundraising becomes thinner all the time.

Well http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tell-me-about-raising-lots-of-sponsorship-money-1

I got ripped on that by the STW hand jockeys, so it doesn't surprise me!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-doing-something-for-charity
and other threads.

He claimed he was going to raise £45000 and build a school. as it is he is spending many thousands on a holiday instead. I have no issue with people having amazing adventure holidays and this will be such. I object strongly to dressing it up as a charitable activity

So has he funded this trip himself or have donations part funded it?

The original entry fee is stated as £8000 which the organisers put the profit towards a donation to their chosen charity so by just doing this event he's raised a fair bit for charity already I'd imagine.

I don't agree that the sponsorship should be used to offset the entry costs but that's up to Ian.

Enjoy yourself Ian 8)

Good luck Ian, yours has been a very inspiring journey before you even start.

I'd be fitting some tri bars and fatter slicks though, I've experienced African 'tarmac' and desert head winds!!!

why go for an ultra-stiff Nicolai frame, and stick a thudbuster on it?
Why not use a ti, steel or carbon frame that has its own natural flex?

I was thinking that too ir_bandito.....

Good luck Ian, yours has been a very inspiring journey before you even start.

It has?

wouldn't of been easier to buy say somthing like a fargo thats already set up to do this kind of trip and proven?. anyway have a good trip hope you raise some money

Thank you for everyones kind words.

OK, just to clear this up because certain people are still telling lies because they don't really have a proper life.

Every penny this trip has cost I have paid for myself. Every single one.

Ir - bandito I know it's not the best bike for the journey, it is one that I will enjoy riding, and I'm a bit of a brand whore. I ordered the frame before I entered the trip. The frame took so long to come I did actually have a deposit down on a fargo just incase this one didn't turn up. The thud buster is only for the off road sections, the road sections will be done with a Thompson.

And TJ is right, it's just a big holiday punctuated with a bit of riding, just a eenie weenie tiny bit of riding.

iDave, I have got 3 different thickness slicks ranging from 32-50. If its a strong headwind i will flip the stem and reduce the risers. Due to an american football injury I can not bend my elbow correctly for try bars.

It has?

I think IP has lost a brazillian kilos

I've lost around 40 in total, including adding 12kg of lean body weight, meaning I've probably lost about 50kg in total, and dropped by BF% by around 25%

Ian - When is your Nicolai with the pinion due to land?

nice bike Ian, and good luck on your trip mate.......... 8)

TBH we did a similar thing when we road from England to Ethiopia a few years ago. We had two fundraising streams that were very clear and well defined. One to pay for us to do the trip (mainly car boot sales, selling bike kit, saving money whilst working, help from a few family members, equipment sponsors etc) and the other was to raise money for our chosen charity (the school at which our ride ended). We raised £12K for the charity before the proliferation of give now websites / blogs / facebook etc which we were pretty proud of. I have no issues with what we did - we'd have done the ride anyway (and sought money to do it), we just raised an extra chunk for a charity.

Ian, enjoy the ride. Say hello to Midhat in Sudan from Paul and Kate (if he's still guiding that leg). He gave me his rear wheel after mine popped 100k out of Khartoum. It cost more to post the replacement to him than it did to buy itin the UK! I think the 400K offroad through the desert from Wadi Halfa was one of the hardest / best experiences I've ever had. Unsupported, it was very tough, though.

Gotama - the gear boxes themselves are not landing at nicolai until april so providing they do not get delayed, then perhaps june time.... just in time for when i get back.

7500 MILES?
Makes mental note never to buy used kit from Ian 😀

FS: Nicolai Hardtail, light use...

just run-in for a Nicolai is it not? 🙂

The forks will be the weak point. Though mojo assure me they will last.

Ian - not telling lies at all. anyone can read your original threads.

I am glad you have ended up paying for it all yourself as that is the right thing to do. I do wish you would stop pretending there is a charitable objective to it tho. If you really wanted to do something for charity you could have just given your entry fee to a charity or gone out to Africa and worked there.

Define 'last' - they'll be pretty wrecked I'd wager, even if you do keep up the wiper seal service!

TJ, isn't this kind of excursion with the charity bit stuck on the end just to alleviate the guilt felt by the rider as he pedals in the poorest country in the world on one of the most expensive bikes in the world... Not having a go Ian, good luck to you, enjoy it.

TJ - I never said it was you telling lies, but since you replied..... A few points.

You know I am paying for it all myself. You have been told before, you have even linked to the threads where it says this.

You pop up on every single one of my threads spouting shit, see page 1 of this thread.

I am also spending time working for a charity if you actually bothered reading any of the posts about it with your eyes open you will know it's a two part thing. Raise the money to build the school. Then as a civil engineer go and build it.

Also there is useful exposure for Build Africa, a relatively unknown charity, in local press, both printed and on the radio, and building working relationships with the ICE, large UK construction companies, which would not have happened if i decided not to support them.

I don't care if you agree with my methods or not just sod off.

Edit: Soulwood,

Kind off, well except for going to build the school afterwards. it's more like I was helping building the school, and doing the tour D'Afrique as separate entities. Then we decided that it would be good to combine the two.

Also one off the most expensive bikes in the world.... I think not.

Ian, admirable intentions that man, well done if you pull it off. Like I said, I wasn't having a go at you, just others like you, but not you. If you know what I mean. As for the German hand built frame and Kashima coated forks, pfft, cheap as chips eh?

Not cheap as chips. Adam at [url= http://www.biketart.com ]Biketart[/url] sorted it out at cost price for the trip, s whilst I paid for the bike myself, I guess i did benefit from a discount. 😛

IP - good luck. It's a wonderful sounding trip. I'll see if I can get the TdA twitter feed again (if you don't mind me dropping your name to do it). Actually, if you tweet, that would also be great..!

My friends' bikes as they started out (they rode the Ethiopia to Cape Town stretch a couple of years ago:

[img] [/img]

Ethiopia to Cape Town is a good chunk of it. Drop my name all you want. on twitter I am @tda2012 so feel free to follow me. also I'll be blogging here www.tda2012.com

I don't envy anyone who does it on a rigid cx bike....

Good luck Ian.

As for TJ, you really are a total tool and an obnoxious self righteous ****t.

TJ - are you suggesting that the charity will not benefit whatsoever from Ian's effort? Surely, even if they get a few quid that they wouldn't have otherwise got (plus the associated publicity) then why be so negative?

I'm intrigued to know what counts as "off road" - in Ghana, this is a high quality tarmac road:
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6421800665_53ccedf84c.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7002/6421800665_53ccedf84c.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

And this is a relatively smooth minor road:
[url= http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6058/6357721639_624600be39.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6058/6357721639_624600be39.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

I'm trying to think what I didn't take with me but wish I had... Gloves would have been useful - most of me was adequately protected by factor 50 sun cream (which is incidentally unavailable in all the shops I visited!), but my hands just got really sweaty and then burned when I was riding all day.

Take photos of home with you, the local people you meet will be really interested to see what your world looks like.

And yes I am jealous.

GlennG: I can't think of any appropriate word that's 5 letters long and ends in "t". Give us a clue, go on.

not necessarily my choice of bike, but an awesome trip...

if you want a wee bit more publicity, feel free to drop me an email - tom at muchbetteradventures.com

sc-xc - Member

TJ - are you suggesting that the charity will not benefit whatsoever from Ian's effort? Surely, even if they get a few quid that they wouldn't have otherwise got (plus the associated publicity) then why be so negative?

What I am saying is he should not be claiming its for charity when actually he is spending a huge amount on costs and when I looked raised a very small amount. Look at the comments from others on the link I posted.

If he was serious about raising the money he would have given the multi thousand entry fee straight to the charity - his doing he ride adds nothing to the money the charity gets.
I am sorry if it offends but people doing trips like this and claiming its for charity annoys me. Its costing a huge amount in cash and in carbon to do this trip its putting very little back

At least he has now paid for the costs himself - originally he was expecting other people to pay for him to do the trip under the guise of charity

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-doing-something-for-charity <

and when I looked raised a very small amount

Brilliant! Success then!

Glad we agree.. 8)

spending many thousands to raise a hundred or two?

Basically I view it as a con to try to get an amazing trip at reduced cost or for free.

Normally mate I would definitely agree with you - as you know. But if Ian has financed the whole thing, then there's really no catch.

I have been on the same side as you on many of these threads - dressing exotic and unattainable holidays up as charity....but this is different.

Ok

yes its not as bad as if he had used charitable contributions to pay for it - which is what he intended doing.

He should just be honest tho and say its a great holiday not that he is doing it for charity. If he really wanted to contribute to charity the thousands could have gone to them.

So in your eyes, someone only helps a charity by giving them thousands

No ian - in my eyes to spend thousands on a holiday , claim its for charity and get cheap kit to do it while raiseing a small amount is wrong. You are spending hundreds for every £ the charity gets

You intended to use charity money to pay the whole thing originally.

anyway I have said my piece and more. I do hope you have a great time and if you do go on to volunteer to build a school then that is great and moethan many will do. I just wish you would be honest about your holiday

I have done a few similar things myself - and did not rely on any charity to pay for it.

Well - for the record Ian, best of luck to you mate. I could never do that mileage...looking forward to reading all about it.

[img] [/img]

Good luck Ian, hope you have a great time. Sounds like it will be hard work but worth it! 😀

Love the look of the bike, which Nicolai model is it?

Nicolai argon cc 29er

Gnnr - That's made me smile!! 😆

Good luck Ian and enjoy yourself. 8)