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We've just released a gravel version with WTB rims and 40mm Nano's.
What size seatpost? (approx?)
What size seatpost? (approx?)
all L-R seatpost sizes are only approx 😉
I am running Crossrides on my dirty Disco.
500
Finally got my london road frame built up, size small. Built it up as a 'year round' road bike with a mix of sram force shifting, shimano chainset/casette and bb7 brakes. Wheels are a hand built set of Pacenti SL25 rims on Novatec 711/712 hubs laced 28/28 2x with sapim race spokes, tyres are Vredestein Fortezza Senso All Weather 25s, which took some work to get on the rims but I think I've got the hang on getting the tyres on tubeless rims now - it's so important to keep the bead in the well of the rim whilst fitting. SPD pedals, fizik airone saddle, ritchey bars/stem and PX seatpost, which I'll change for a carbon one at somepoint. It weighed 9.2kg before I put the pedals on, which I'm pretty happy with for an alloy frame disc brake bike!
Just need some mudguards, I'm looking at SKS Longoards? and possibly a different stem for the fit. Any recommendations on best mudguards SKS seem to be the de facto standard, but they do a few models?
I'll try and take some better pictures at some point.
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I have sks chromoplastic p45 on mine, with 35mm tyres.
The matt black bluemels look good but seem to have a reputation for cracking?
Otherwise, i'd stick with sks chromoplastic or longboards if you want the extra coverage. P35 if you won't run tyres bigger than 28mm.
They are surprisingly heavy at around 500g, but that's pretty normal for proper 'guards.
Similar to HH above, SKS Chromo 45 on 38c Compass Barlow Pass Extralight.
And on that subject, now you've got MASSIVE clearance why on earth run 25s?
Massive (but still light and fast) tyres, low pressure & tubeless are Sublime, and you can ride 'em anywhere.
Because I'm a racer at heart 😀 and to my arse, this bike already feels ridiculously comfy! I didn't buy the bike for the clearance oddly, I just bought it because it was a - reportedly - good qualit alloy frame and carbon fork, had rack/mudguard eyes and was only £150... the disc brakes and massive clearance were a bonus really!
If I was going to go touring or do a lot of riding on cobbles etc I'd probably size up to 28s but I just don't see the need to go any bigger. My steel single speed that I commute on has 23s and I don't find that uncomfortable even! Certainly not on for commuting distances anyway.
Anyone happen to be selling a London Road frameset? Medium or large
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Got one last week - followed a link on a forum and managed to get a hydro rival version, which doesn't appear for me on the PX website normally (different tyre/bar tape etc options too), half expected it to be cancelled tbh.
Has been tweaked a bit since that "lashed together out of the box" photo, with the bars and saddle (hard, but surprisingly comfy) in a much better position.
Got an XL despite being 5'11" as my back is falling apart - hopefully this will allow me to ride for a lot longer.
I have only 2 gripes (apart from crossthreading a bottlecage hole :fume: but that was me) is that for a bike that is heavily pushed as a commuter there were no reflectors (I know most people take them off straight away but I'll have to pop to a shop and get some) and there are quite a few holes here and there that I would have liked with a bolt in (guard mounts in forks for a start).
I've juggled some around, the rounded bottle cage ones work nicely in the forks and seatstays.
Anyone running square taper cranks with their LR? If so What size axle are you using?
The old HT2 Hone cranks I originally fitted are a bit knackered and being MTB cranks feel quite wide to me now for use on a drop bared bike.
But I still want to run 1xn with a N/W ring, and as there seems to be more choice in 4 hole 104 BCD than 5 hole 110 BCD I've decided to try some "old school" square taper MTB cranks so I can play with shorter axles...
Just won some NOS LX cranks for buttons on fleabay and now debating BB axle length, 107 [i]should[/i] clear the stays... right? Anyone?
OK, finally, My London Road is built 🙂
It was a cheapie build, with Sora, BB5 brakes, some cheap Shimano wheels I found in Germany, and the rest from the parts bin or eBay. It weighs 11.1kg with pedals.
I know the colour scheme will repel most, and the fashion is for understated, cool bikes, but I'm too old to care!
Oh yes, and I know, I know it's a triple. What can I say? It's a go-anywhere bike, and there is some very steep terrain around here!
Right - going to try and get out and ride it in the fog before it gets [even] dark[er].
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Even your camera lens appears repulsed by the colour combo - or are you hoping the soft focus will help it?
😉
Oddly, I think the contrast works pretty well, prefer it to a myriad of varations on a colour you can sometimes see.
Another 100 miles on mine and I need to reduce the stem length and maybe flip it too.. I'm too stretched out but height feels ok but hard to judge.
HoratioHufnagel - MemberThe matt black bluemels look good but seem to have a reputation for cracking?
My bluemels (standard black) cracked all over the place, seems to be a pretty brittle plastic 🙁
Yep it ain't a great shot...
Mine feels very "upright" compared to my road bike but I'll do some rough descending on it before I decide to put a longer stem on*
*If I can find a longer stem in gold 😀
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Well, that was a foggy first ride.
1. "Gravel Riding" is all very well for those 'Muricans. Over here in Yorkshire it's "Mud and Slimy Cobbles Riding".
2. I'll not lie - I'm comparing it to by road bike, so I found it heavy and draggy, but...
3. I loved getting places I'd never take my road bike, and...
4. Those tyres really soak up the bumps and shocks.
5. I'm going to need orthotic cleat wedges (too boring to explain fully) but once I have those, and maybe when it's less ****ing foggy, I'll be getting some expeditions in 🙂
@cookeaa - got this from PX when I asked :
Hi Jeff
Thank you for your e-mail
It is actually a 68 mm bottom bracket shell
Apologies for the confusion
I would recommend a 113 mm bottom bracket
Kind regards,
Borys
I'm seriously tempted with getting one of these, possibly frame only and build one up parts bin style.
What BB does it take? If its a press fit i'll forget ever getting one. lol.
68mm BSI, so road HTII or anything except pressfit yay!
Awesome news. Need to get a list of bits sorter then. Never built a road(ish) bike before.
I can see me getting annoying on this thread now asking questions.
I got a load of mtb parts in the parts bin, could i use my old 9 speed stuff on this? I have a shimano 3x9 long cage mech and trips front mech and a 11-32 9 speed cassette and chain, could this be used somehow?
Not sure what a trips mech is but the rest sounds fine to me. The rear dropouts are 135mm O.L.D. So an mtb hub will fit
I run mine with flat bars and a 2x9 SLX groupset nicked off a broken MTB and CX wheels. All works fine. Love it. Got a little fitter so started running out of gears though. May swap to a triple.
I really like that gold covered london road.
113mm really? Sounds like rather conservative advice...
I figured given the profile of the stays and the fact that plenty of people are running narrower Q-factor road cranks on their LR, and that I only want to run a single ring I could at least get away with 107mm so long as the crank arms clear the chainstays...
113mm is what I used to run on my MTB with triple chainset and 2.1" tyres "back in the day"...
The HT2 Hones fitted currently sit a bloody mile out... I might have a dig about in the spares bin for a 113just to see...
Could someone help me. Trying to fit SKS Chromoplastic guards and I have managed to fit the rear guard. I can't get a bolt that work will with the fork. Either it's too long or too short. I only have one washer left after using two so can't pack it out with them. Any ideas or a pic showing what you have done would be great.
Cheers
Either it's too long or too short. I only have one washer left after using two so can't pack it out with them
cut the long bolt down or buy more washers? (or an appropriate length bolt)
Fitted some chromoplastics the other day, and it was a right pain in the arse!
Bolts that came with them were not long enough to go through the fork so went to B&Q and ended up buying a length of threaded bar and cut it down. Stuck washers and bolts either sides, along with a rubber washer (small bit of inner tube) to stop it damaging the paint/carbon and it's fine.
Half thinking of selling mine along with my Blue pig and buying a 29er HT though........it's in my head now 🙄
My SKS 45 Chromo Tourings that I got from Halfords came with loads of bolts, no probs fitting them. I've made a light bracket from a socket & long bolt that has replaced the offside bolt though.
I also fitted some SKS Blummels the other day (35mm matte black - look the business and come with mudflaps which the other models don't!). I had the same issue with the forks being super wide, what I actually did was pop the front wheel out and put a washer and bolt up on the inside of the fork! It was very fiddly and took a bit of doing but once it was on there I don't see it coming off any time soon and it solved the problem! It saved me having to buy a super long bolt or piece of stud as other people have said they had to do.
I used some of these...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261783410494
I can't remember which i used for the London Road but it'd be a bit longer as it's got a dynamo light on there too.
@thepeginator - wish I'd thought of that, sounds like a great idea. Might have to change mine now.....
On the fork crown I mounted mine behind the fork (brings the front flap down too) then poked an Allen key through the front hole to reach the bolt head which goes through the rear hole. Nut on outside.
mlpinto - was wondering the same thing, look like Schwalbe CX Comp to me:
[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schwalbe-cx-comp-cyclocross-bike-tyre/rp-prod24615 ]Chain Reaction link to them.[/url]
I really like that gold covered london road.
Thank you 🙂
mlpinto - was wondering the same thing, look like Schwalbe CX Comp to me:
Chain Reaction link to them.
Yes - that's them. I got them because I read lots of reviews saying they had excellent performance and were the perfect balance of reliability and weight*
*not really. I got them 'cos they were cheap
Just been to Worsthorne Reservoir on mine, for its first "proper" ride, with my seven year-old.
Bags of fun, never felt under-biked on the Singletrack.
But the seatpost is wobbly as hell, despite the collar being so tight I was rounding the Allen bolt.
Coke can shim it is 🙄
Fingerbridge, hebdencyclist - thanks
Can anyone confirm rear hub spacing is 135mm?
It sure is.
Thanks shortbread_fanylion.
Can anyone recommend a rear mech hanger for this frame that isn't made of cheese?
No matter how well I set my limit screws and cable adjustment, the rear mech always wants to fling the chain into the spokes. e.g before the start of my CX race today.
Pref Wheels Manf.
Cheers
Holy thread Resurrection batman.
So after the disappointing condition of the frame from new I have grown to like the London road, I get tow overlap and heel strike but its a good concept of a bike and I like the versatility it gives me, down the canal tow path that starts out side my house for a few miles then on to the road to the local lake and follow the trails around it and sprint back home for dinner on the back lanes its quick and comfortable I am sold on the concept and it as not fallen apart yet,seat post needs adjustment more than I like every other ride I raise it a cm.
Next time maybe a Genesis vagabond
How are the rest of you getting on with the London road? and any one loading it with panniers I fancy a few nights away when the weather picks up.
@wiki I would say I've had a pretty similar experience with it to you...
I built it up 1x9 for peanuts and it's now become my default bike, especially now the weather is a bit dank, mostly mixed on/offroad loops from my doorstep solo and with a couple of mates, had a go at CX racing with it too. handles well offroad and is comfy on the road... Glad I bought it.
I took a flyer on a cheap frame and while the build quality isn't really there (already well documented), I have really loved riding it and similarly started thinking about loading it up for some bigger adventures this summer...
I am however very glad I didn't pay a full £300 for the F+F, it's not worth that, and I don't think I could sell it on to anyone in good conscience now; nice design, shonky construction, so When I eventually come to replace it. I will probably look at similar frames from alternative brands...