Everyday I’m Fustlin’! (NBD)

So off the back of the big deliberation on what sort of gravelish bike I wanted, I ended up building my own Fustle Causeway!

Went out around Rivington and surrounding area today for it’s first ride. Apart from a brief fling with an old Genesis CdA a few year ago, this is my first proper ride off road on a curly bar bike. Honestly, I was really impressed by it!

Handled some quite rough tracks, climbed great and even made the country road bits fun.  I do want some wider wheels and tyres eventually and a dropper. Hoping this is the catalyst to get my fitness back as I’ve just turned 40 🙂

Anyway, here’s a few piccies.

That white bar tape needs to come off, pronto, but apart from that nice bike dude

Make sure you have enough seatpost in the frame!

But that is lovely. Nice to see one in the flesh. Colour is ace

White bar tape is brilliant whilst it stays that colour.

Looks good!

I considered the blue one but in the end went for silver and black to match most of the rest of the fleet. With black bar tape.

Just waiting on a few sundries to finish building mine. Someone sold me a shifter cable kit with a housing that’s too short. Just need to fit that if the replacement ever arrives, fit cranks and chain, final adjustment and torque check and bar tape, then go for a ride and take pics.

The white bar tape was a last minute thing just to get it built, it will be replaced!

I checked the seat post when I saw how much it was sticking out and it was still on the numbers and not the minimum line, so it should be good for a bit 🙂

The Gunmetal colour would have been my first choice but they were out of stock in my size.  I bought a Shimano Optislick road cable pack and there isn’t enough outer to fit this frame!  I just managed to get it on but it isn’t ideal so I’ll probably change it when I do the bar tape.

I’m impressed with the hydro disc brakes as it’s the first time I’ve had them on a drop bar bike!  Can’t wait to do some more exploring on it now.

70s bathroom green is the best colour ?

I’ll be honest I love all the colours. After I couldn’t get the gun metal it was a toss up between the green and blue 🙂

Handsome looking bike!

Hoods/bars interface looks a bit off though – roll bars forward a bit and hoods back up a bit. The way the hoods roll into the bars on @rocketdog’s bars look good. (Your wrists will thank you)

Nice bike, love the colour.

I’ll say hi if I see you up Rivi.

Did someone say gunmetal?

I keep wondering if I should have gone for one of the lairier colours as it’s a bit subdued…

(and now I’m worried about if my brakes are in the wrong place too! 😉 )

Hoods/bars interface looks a bit off though – roll bars forward a bit and hoods back up a bit. The way the hoods roll into the bars on  @rocketdog’s bars look good. (Your wrists will thank you)

BDHU

as it’s a bit subdued

I like that colourway…although, if they did a 70s-bathroom burgundy flavour I’d be sorely tempted!

@finbar I nearly wrote those exact four letters but wasn’t sure of the traction here 😉

Haha I thought that might be the case! Once you’ve seen, you can’t unsee.

I did wonder about my bar setup.  It’s all a learning curve for me at the moment with drop bars!

I’ll give them a bit of an adjustment before I take it out again, thanks for the tip 🙂

Finally managed to find some time to get out on mine properly.

Loving the DT Swiss wheels.  Tyres popped on with no fuss and held air for 4 weeks before jizzing them up and going for a ride. Certainly feel fast.

Loving it so far. Only negative is that I need to find another solution for storing the pump on the bike, cos of the fatness of the downtube interferes with the bracket.

Put bracket on the seat tube?

That’s where it is for now. Will prolly end up putting it in a more gravel-esque top tube bag or something.

I find a half or quarter frame bag works well for all my tools and a snack. I tend to use a bar bag for stuff I need to reach when out riding.

Yeah I basically need to look into storage so I can ditch my backpack when I’m on this bike.

Changed the bar tape and adjusted the hoods, going for a ride out today. It’s been a couple of weeks as I got Covid not long after the I posted this 🙂

Tailfin 3.0L fits nicely

Yeah I like those, look pretty snazzy too 🙂

I’ll see what I’m like on pay day and possibly order one.