And consider Salsa Cowbell bars instead of normal road bars – only a slight flare but it feels much better offroad.

If you get a medium cage rear mech then you can use a 32 cassette if you need to.

I’ve now held my soon to be added to the stable frame. 8) May be built up next week, just waiting on the rims. 😀

Somafunk

I was thinking of a Jones set up on my long termer tester just to see how it would work. I suspect pretty well! Just do it and post up pics!

I’m thinking dropper post as I have one that fits……..Need to get my Woodchippers ordered first though as the stock bars are just too narrow and oddly shaped for my liking. Most riders will get on fine with them but I love flared drops. Currently running a 30 42 set up with an 11 36 on the back. First ride out was the 5 Ferries loop which was great fun but neither tyre was seated properly making for interesting handling at 30mph plus. 😯

First impressions? Nice. Very nice indeed.

Looks like Freeborn are sold out of the V3 wheel set for now ? 🙁

Anyone know anywhere doing a similar deal ?

I was about to buy the 2nd set of wheels…..

Winstanleys? Fatbirds?

Sanny : I bought those Jones bars so they should be here t’morn, even if i decide they don’t suit the Tripster it’s no great loss as they’ll either go on my Cove Hummer or the Soulcraft when i finally get it built up, or i may just leave them sitting around as an ornament to occasionaly fondle 😀

I’m tempted to go for the XTR 38/28 double on the front (rather than my original idea of a single ring) with a 11-40 cassette on the rear, this’ll give me a good spread of gears for the hills but I’ll have to see how the bars fit to the Tripster and how the position feels before i make any decisions, i’ll have to cobble together a SS drivetrain to have a ride about on it – dodgy without any brakes but what’s the worst that can happen?……

Hi guys

Just got my tripster atr frame set and I’m starting to buy bits for my build, so far have bought :
Thomson elite seatpost
Thomson x4 stem
Thomson seatpost clamp
Thomson carbon road handle bars
Chris king headset spacers……

Thinking if opting for the new sram CX1 group anyone got one or have an opinion please….

Frameset looks awesome itching to get on and ride but must be patient

That sounds like some build there, bluesmartie! Can’t believe your patience, C_G 🙂

My Bridge Street bag turned up today – brilliant service by them and really helpful. It looks very good – it wasn’t cheap, but is made in the UK and seems good quality. I like the simplicity of it and the clean lines. I’ll be using a medium one (see TLR’s pics back up the thread a few pages, where I got the idea from!) along with a Deuter frame bag for a three day, hotel (well, Premier Inn £29 bargains) tour that’s got a good third of the miles on tracks and trails from this Sunday around the Peak. I went for the high mount option which just fits, but puts the bag well out of the way. Might get some pics tomorrow loaded up. I’ll report back, but I’m just a little excited about it…

bluesmartie – wow, you’ll be competing with Somafunk for the most pimpiest steed! 😀

gonetothehills – well, I did struggle with deciding on wheels and was keen to go for Hope hubs. Can guarantee that contact points will be changed a good few times and already changed my mind about the brakes but fortunately lbs were cool.

Good luck with your adventure and hope to see some pics. 🙂

GTTH – i use my bridgestreet every day.

only criticism is some of the reflective stitching hasgiven away but it hasbeen very much abused over the lastcouple of months and has seen some weather and not let water in yet.

How do the Tripster Massive describe their bikes?

I tend to get a bit tongue tied when I’m asked “is that CX bike?” I’ve never ridden CX and don’t want to appear a fraud, so I usually respond that it’s an “adventure bike” which leaves people a bit confused. In addition I suspect very few Tripsters have ever been used for CX purposes.

Its a CX-XC Road mountain bike.

First ride out was the 5 Ferries loop which was great fun

….indeed it was 🙂

excuse my moobs, must be the camera angle 🙂

stripped my road bike this afternoon, ready for a transplant of parts.
shimano ultegra 6700 groupset, with compact chainset, and 11-28 rear.
deda carbon post, selle magnesium saddle, kcnc stem, with Chinese ergo carbon bars.
these have all been added to my box of bits. I’ve started pooling the money together for a pair of trp spyre slc, and the kinesis cx disc wheels look firm favourite. Just need to sell off my EA90 RT roadie wheels, pro carbon rolling chassis, and sanderson soloist frame, and I’m done.
this bike is going to be awesome. thank you to everyone who has helped me make an informed decision, and grow a pair.

C_G – it’s all in the details 🙂 Looking forward to seeing it built up.
Equally, evilsovereign; that’s sounding very nice, and not a million miles from my build. 6700, Spyres, compact/11-28, carbon post and bars, latest CX Disc wheels – works a treat!

So here it is, ready for the off in the morning. Did a short shakedown ride first thing today and all seems good. Ought to be really – it’s over a year old, but there’s some new bits on there that needed a test.

The Bridge Street bag is a medium and just big enough for what I need to put in it. It’s quiet, very well put together and weighs nothing at all. The other bag is a Deuter one from Wiggle that’s quite neat and holds a fair bit. I always found that the top tube tri bags caught my knees when climbing out of the saddle, but this sitting inside the front triangle seems a lot more stable.

The new bits are the SKS Bluemels P45 mudguards with reflective strips that’ll be handy come the winter commutes, the bags and the Conti Travel Contact 37mm tyres that I’m very impressed with so far.

So – tomorrow it’s up to Marple then onto Hadfield, get onto the Trans Pennine Trail and head over the Woodhead Pass, turn south and drop into Sheffield. It’s not a very long ride but there’s a bit of route finding and tracks to negotiate. Monday I’m heading south – bit circuitous out of Sheffield, then various Sustrans routes, canals, tracks and so on via Chesterfield and Derby to Burton Upon Trent. Tuesday should be great – head north to Ashbourne and get onto the Tissington Trail, then the High Peak trail and around Longnor way, cut up to the Cat & Fiddle and home from there.

I’ll report back 🙂

@ iainc – where is the pic taken cos it looks lovely?

@ gonetothehills – how on earth have you managed to pack 4 days worth of clothing/supplies into such small luggage? Definitely an adventure you’re setting off on and it’s really inspiring me to plan something. Would be interested to hear how those tyres work out too. Have a great trip! 😀

cg – the 5 ferries is a 72 mile ride around the Clyde, starting and finishing at Wemyss Bay, and incorporating riding on Arran, Kintyre Peninsula, Argyll and Bute…..plus 5 ferries to link it up. It’s a hugely popular loop – on the first ferry to Arran there were over 80 bikes, of which probably 30 were doing the full route. As bikes go free it only cost £20 for the whole lot 🙂

That pic was just above Tighnabruaich looking SE down the Kyles of Bute. Here are some better pics :

the guy in the Molteni top is pistola off here, was just the 3 of us last Sun.

OK guys, given that I only want to (hopefully) build mine up once and save on any expensive mistakes/bad choices can I have your considered opinions/experiences of the following kit that I am considering for my build please:

SRAM CX1 – crank arms/rear derailier/chainring/cassette/brake levers
with chris king or Phil wood BB

or

Rotor 3D24 crank arms/sram CX1 chainring or rotor CX Q chainring/sram CX1 rear derailier/cassette/brake levers with Rotor ceramic BB

I may be wrong but the sram gxp BB gets rubbish reviews and are the others CK/PW just a work around with spacers etc.at least the rotor BB is designed to work with their cranks.

TRP spyre brakes (are the SLC’s worth the extra cash??)

Brooks Cambium C15 or C17 saddle – have a B17 on my other bike.

Brooks Cambium bar tape to match (I believe its coming) or Lizard skin DSP bar tape

Kinesis cxdisc wheelset OR custom wheelbuild – I currently have H PLUS SON rims on track hubs on my current fixed gear bike which are great and would consider using again with a different hubs – suggestions please.

Pedals – ????? never ridden clipped in so open to your thoughts on that one please.

brake/gear cable – anything do or something a little more exotic?

King cage titanium bottle cages.

Challenge grifo (33mm) CX tyres.

The rest of the parts I already have are as detailed in previous post:

Tripster ATR frameset
Thomson X4 stem
Thomson elite seatpost
Thomson seatpost clamp
Thomson carbon road handlebar
Chris king headset spacers

Your valued opinions are much appreciated.

I’m seriously thinking of trading in my Tarmac SL4 and my Pro6 for a Tripster. I haven’t used the Tarmac as much as I’d hoped this year, and am wondering whether with a couple of sets of wheels I could use the one bike year round for fast(ish) road, commuting and lightish off road? I know it won’t be as fast handling as the Tarmac, but would it be close enough to feel really special on the road?

The Tarmac would be the main donor, so it would be a pretty light build. What do people recommend as a light strong disk road wheel? I’ve got Ksyrium SLSs at the moment and would want something similarly light and stiff ideally. I’ve got some King/729s for off road duties.

Bluesmartie that looks a really nice spec – you might want to consider a carbon post like an EC70/90 for a bit less weight and more comfort.

Bol my Tripser has replaced a Defy and a Croix de Fer

Andy, how would you say it compares to the Defy in terms of handling and exceleration?

@cinnamon_girl. It’s only 3 days 🙂 No shoes – that’s the secret. My Northwave touring shoes kind of double up off the bike. However, I seem to be adding to stuff at the moment – malt loaf, buff, sunscreen (ever hopeful) it’s all getting a bit tight…

@ianc – spectacular! Cracking ride in an amazing part of the world.

@bol and bluesmartie. Go with the latest Kinesis CX Discs. They’re very light but seem more than up to the task of offroad duties. Bol – really good quality outer brake cable makes a big difference with mechanical discs. The SLCs save about 9g but you do get a nice bit of carbon on them. I’d have bought them if I hadn’t had my sensible head on, but the SLs work more than fine.

My pedals are Time carbon/Ti ones – their fancy dan MTB pedal that was on big discount at Planet X a while back. They’re about Crank Bros Candy Ti weight, but seem easier to live with. Combined with the shoes I’ve got, it’s a really good solution for touring and road use. I commute in some Northwave Celsius in the winter though – and of course that works a treat too.

Bol – mine replaced a carbon road bike and a commuter / trainer. It’s a total no-brainer. I can also justify having nice running gear on it because I’m using it all the time. I couldn’t see the point in having a bike I used twice a month having the best kit on it, so my commuter / trainer / explorer / muck about bike has the best kit on it – cos other than the hardtail (that’s now relatively inexpensive to reflect the amount of use it (doesn’t) gets) it’s all that I ride.

EDIT: The acceleration is one of the most surprising things about the Tripster. I don’t know how it does it, but it’s fast and sprightly but comfy and easy going. Alchemy I say, alchemy! 😈

Swapped from a M/L Defy2 2012 105 to a 57cm Tripster. Am running with slightly higher bars than the defy but feels very slightly less nimble probably due to the slacker HA and comes out about the same weight though. Running 2 pairs of wheels (road & “gravel”). Its probably a bit less than the defy as an endurance road bike but so much as to make too much of a difference – especially for my skill/level of fitness. Planning to do a few Audaxes and I can see the Tripster as perfect for that.

EDIT: Gonetothehills yes I was surprised how easily it responds whenout stamping on the pedals out of the saddle!

Use my tripster Monday to Friday on Tarmac, gravel and forest trail……. But… I still reckon my carbon road bike has it whipped on road duty only.

However,for mixed terrain, it’s stunning….. Just never expect one bike to do it all folks….

So cool to see the love in for the Tripster continuing, 😀

I’ve got the Jones Ti loop bars sitting here, in fact they are in front of me so i admit to occasionally picking them up and fondling the Ti loveliness of them, so watch this space as i’ll be fitting them tomorrow to see if they’ll turn my Tripster into an ultimate long distance Tourer/off road machine, if i feel the position is perfect i’ll be fitting the new XTR 11 speed double drivetrain so i have extra low gears for climbing with a laden bike, it’d be nice to have a 22″ bail out gear for massive hills.

Perhaps we should collectively design a Tripster riding jersey and get one the online jersey companies to produce it for us?….or is that a bit twee?…………..

Bol/Bluesmartie : The Kinesis CX wheel set is easily strong enough, I’ve rode all of Dalbeattie 7 stanes with mine and hit 49 mph descending on fire roads from the Transmission tower on Bennan hill next to the Merrick in SW Scotland, the wheels are still perfect, albeit with a few scratches from rock strikes etc..

somafunk – those bars look the business. Would you run a hydraulic system then…? Can’t wait to see them on the bike. What you waiting for?! 😉

Wasn’t there talk of some #ATR tshirts a dozen or more pages ago?

However,for mixed terrain, it’s stunning….. Just never expect one bike to do it all folks….

This is the problem. I’d like to just replace the pro6 with one, but couldn’t reasonably justify it. I need to get over the matching road and mtb thing and accept that I really don’t need to change anything.

DSC03273 by South Downs MTB Skills, on Flickr

The mud has returned to Sussex this week

gonetothehills : I’ll be using my newly fitted TRP Spyre SLC brakes which are pretty damn perfect, there’s a post a few pages back showing them and i plan to pair them with a Pauls love lever of some type, I’ve got the Pauls skewers so it’s a no brainer to choose the Brake levers.

I hope the Jones bars are suitable, i’ll need a slightly longer stem to position my hands where i want but that’s a fit issue i can hopefully dial in. I love my Salsa Woodchippers but as i use the hoods 95% of the time it seems daft to have a drop that i rarely use.

Somafunk….dibs on the woodchippers/choppers when you change em..:)

Red

theredsnapper : I’ll prob be donating them to my bro’s new Tripster (alloy) that i managed to source (collecting it sunday) through the wanted forum on here, that’s if i decide to stick with the Jones bars, It’s a very capable bike off road with the woodchippers so i think the Jones bars might just show another side to the geometry, if i’m wrong then the XTR stuff can go towards my Soulcraft that needs rebuilt.

That’s cool, I’m juggling my CdF upgrades and rebuilding an aging Bianchi right now too, I’ve got bits all over the place!

One job at a time should be my motto, though it never will be! Think I’ll have to get onto Charlie the Bike, any other tips on where to get hold of the Salsa stuff?

Red

To be honest for what Charlie is selling them for and knowing what they trade for then it’s a no brainer, you’ll be supporting a biking community and Charlie is alright, (****!…….. did that sound like a Portlandia sketch?), he exemplifies an outstanding if not exemplary record of maintaining full control of his faculties and sensibilities at all times, as observed below at sswc2007

He is, however…. quite adept at the Black Art of successful/aspirational marketing opportunities.

😉 G’d evening charlie.

I have king hubs on h plus son rims and they are daft good. And sound ace!

Charlie is on a bike packing adventure in Iceland

Bluesmartie

That sounds like a fancy build. Personally, I would avoid the SRAM kit. I’ve been underwhelmed by the quality of their gear lately. The mechs wear out quickly while I’ve also torn teeth off a cassette. Given you are spending big money, how about an XTR race chainset with Ultegra or even Dura Ace drivetrain?

The SLCs look fantastic and go really well with the frame. They work too…which is nice!

Early days but I would struggle to see past the Kinesis wheels.

Cheers

I don’t see the point of even thinking about road bars on a bike that might go offroad – Salsa cowbells or some other bars with a flare of some degree – it is just so much easier in the drops, and on the hoods, offroad.

carbon or titanium seatpost. I would go titanium based on the one on my CDF and the spring it gives, but I did see a comment once from someone on here about preferring carbon with a titanium frame as it was too springy!

I am about to order some slcs, but you need some decent, non-compression cabling or you might want for hydros, with decent cabling and decent levers they are about as smooth as hydros.

Got my Tripster frame this week,& having it built up with mainly the Kinesis build kit & Shimano 105 5800 with a 32 cassette. Can’t wait to get out on it – it’s worse than a kid waiting for Christmas! One question – does anyone have a chaincatcher fitted & if so what sort?
Cheers

Bimbo q – I need to understand drop bars, the effect of different depths and what all the different types actually do. Is there anywhere on the web that has a ‘drop bars for dummies’ thingy ?

Thanks in anticipation. 🙂

c_g This is a usefull guide