My gravel bike doesn’t get used much at the moment as I’m out on the MTB too much, which makes this even more stupid…  However this turned up in the post this am.

A rear mech with a built in torch?

built in torch?

*adjustable clutch

magnifying glass?

That is ridiculous and I love it. But I would still – just – prefer a Paul rear mech in rasta 😉

Unfortunately gone are the days where bike shops had case after case of CNC bike jewelry…..

Wow that makes XTR look affordable. Very nice.

Nice. There’s something about nice new bling tastic purchases.

Think it is only applicable if building / looking after your bike is half the appeal, instead of just ‘it’s a bike’.

I’ve just spent far too much money on wheels I didn’t need and am waiting for a Garbaruk cassette, so know the draw all too well. 🤦‍♂️🤣

I cirtainly have always found building / maintaining bikes as part of the  appeal of cycling generally….even so, this is on the extreme for me. I thinking of going with some kind of axs combo on the bike, but it worked out twice as expensive than this with the gear range I want – and I couldn’t justify it (blip box, blips, mech & 2 cassettes).

Not Kashmir coated

Can be ordered in a hard anodised or titanium finish if your prefer though 😜

But the raw will match my cassette better.

Ooh, I was looking at them the other day. Be interested to see how it shifts.

If bought that it’d take a spoke seeking stickile about four seconds to render it scrap.

Every part is replaceable – you can strip it down with Allen keys so it’s more crash friendly than most mechs and cirtainly di2 or axs.

So it’s on and shifting better than the 10sp grx it replaced…..

Looks like a GCSE tech project

Is that an Archer setup?

Cant see any shifters.

Cell cycling X-shifter – essentially the same as an archer but for road bikes. But I think archer have a trp hylex compatible system now….

One reason I went 12sp from 10 and could justify the cost of the mech and cassettes is that I didn’t need to buy new brakes/shifters.

Put the mech in 12th, a quick reset on the app for gx 12sp and its pretty much good to go – you can then fine tune and index every single cog for perfect shifting. I’ve axs on the MTB and this is actually easier to set up.

For the boy racers

Looks like a clumpy and clumsy design to me and a tad monochrome Fisher price, I think on a mountainbike it would definitely get whacked with the first few rides, sod’s law and it would be karma for being a total bike ponce, should be relatively safer on a gravel bike though, rebuildable or not, each spare part is probably more than an XT mech.

Ah yes but the alternative was axs – which, like I said, would be an even more expensive off….

I do also like how it’s a bit marmite – cirtainly reminds me of the 90s when almost every part had look of being tooled in someone garage, but that’s part of the appeal.

Looks not bad tbh, not a patch on the usual grotesque hope stuff!

If Minecraft and Lego collaborated…

The ability to index it to suit whatever it is working with and the repair-ability are cool though.

I love the look of their cranks but I’m also lusting after a white industries one. Decisions decisions…

If just going for looks the Ingrid crank cirtainly wins the alloy category for me – how ever the price!!! You have to also buy the dedicated ring from them and tool to fit as well.

Ive some RF next at the moment, but I keep hearing of pedal insert failure so I may change to a hope Rx at some point.

I think the looks are certainly different.
I don’t tend to spend much time looking at my bikes though.

The ability to index it to suit whatever it is working with and the repair-ability are cool

Absolutely this ^^

more asda bike mech than bling.

Quite like the look of that mech.

As for unnecessary bling I’m hovering over the buy button for these: https://wizard.works/products/cables-cherries?variant=40165648072860

Cable cherries…hmm

Martymac, was that a subtle check your spelling hint. 😀

Good going, a rear mech that cost about the same as my complete bike, the only bike I have and ride around 3,000 miles a year. Clearly no bling on my bike!

I like the styling of that mech and their parts. I prefer classic Campag to be honest but there’s something direct or honest in this blocky, industrial form in design now. See it in new e-motorbikes,

I like that mech – looks great!

Also, the electric motorbikes – great aesthetics!

great first ride on the mech this morning, a bit of road and a bit of gravel…. it’s super quiet through the jockey wheels to which is a nice bonus. Shifting was crisp and precise, apart from changing from 5th to 4th – but a quick tweak on the X-shifter app sorted that.

You say each part is replaceable, but probably at the price of a normal mech for each component piece. I’ll stick with the Dura Ace on my Tripster.. common maybe, but at least it looks nice.

My bling turned up this morning, after a manufacturing delay of 8 weeks!

@twonks where did you order from and how much did it end up costing delivered?

I’m guessing direct from Garbarkuk?

Travers import and distribute them though…

How is the xshifter system working out for you? Its something I’m interested in but their website is parp.

The website is terrible – It was originally a crowd funded project years ago and  a guy in the us bought the company/rights from the original creators/designers. He now runs it on his own I think. So it had lots of bad press and the crowd fund was ride with delays. And the website looks like it’s from 2005.

I actually have two sets, both bought from eBay I think, been using it for around 3yrs with no issues, shifting is good etc. Just works like any other system. My main gripe though is that you can’t leave the battery on the main unit without it going flat over the course of a couple of days. So they need constant charging and you need to prep to go for a ride (or stick it on charge for an hour or so). The batterys have also degraded a little over the last three years (I think they use cheap batteries) so the charge on lasts half as long as when new.

But the actual shift and on use is great 😁, I had it originally on my bamboo bike.

Website says it lasts 1000 or so shifts but you’re saying it only lasts a few days, thats not good.