Thanks Auld yin. Fugly but functional. Which do you have?
al.

Do these ship from US? Does that work out OK?

al.

This sounds good. What are these things? I've only seen the Crank Brothers ones. I've got a new Orange Five in the pipeline, and I NEED to sit to go uphill on it (alien to me as I'm usually SS) so I'd like an uppy-downy widget.

Anyone got a link to a shop or whatever?

ta, al.

Hi coastkid, yup that's all right enough. I'd rather do the climb off-road from Halls than on-road from Garvald or Gifford in these winds though.

I'll do the route again, but as I say I'll not go East of Abbey St Bathans on the SUW.

al.

There's a mixture of tracks, mostly "double track" because it's sheep/grouse land so these are working tracks. When it's wet it's much less fun.

I did a (hand-drawn) map:

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=21537

Cheers, al.

That's Edinburgh Bicycle's trailer. Is's very like a BOB, except half the price. Certainly did the job this weekend over all sorts of ground. Only problem is very tight turns when pushing (round gates for example) – it overturns, you just have to unhitch it. No problems at all when riding though.

I paid £150.

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/comms/srv.a4d?f_pg=site_sizing/revolution-cargo-trailer.htm

Cheers, al.

They're all rubbish. There's only room in a BB shell for the big ISIS axle and teeny tiny bearings. They have no strength. How small are they? This small .

The crank brothers ones have a good guarantee.

Cheers, al.

I've been to a few and I'll not go again. The nice people are too busy to be nice and there's lots of disinterested not-nice people. It was all ver corporate. There was a dentists convention on next door.

2 good things – Ryan Leech was nice, and signed a poster for my wee lads.
And the guy on the Bianchi stand was so disinterested that I decided not to buy a Bianchi after all and bought a P-X Uncle John instead – much better idea.

Just as well I was in London with work anyway.

Cheers, al.

Thanks. 4 kids, wife often works evenings & nights, I don't get much time to myself.

Somehow I've got a pass for the whole weekend and I can think of nothing better than 36 hours of solitude in the (dull but) great outdoors. With a bike. And a trailer.

Where are you then? I'm Dunbar.

al.

Ah, I'll cancel then.
Thanks, al.

… depends on your definition of dull. Like I say I know the area well. Photos next week.

al.

That's how you can tell they're cycling gloves.
al.

I went in hoping to get shoes: http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/2827_11210.htm – but there were none. Just the usual cycling scruff buying generic yellow clothes.

Cheers, al.

You just change gear less often. It'll be great fun.

al.

> its just a case of gettig used to not being able to do it by ear.

Oh, that's alright then.

eh?!

No, really, they're dangerous.

al.

I think the reason he can sneak up on cyclists is that it's an electric car, isn't it? He is raising a valid point – electric cars are dangerous due to their silence. There's been concerns raised by blind groups, and we should have an effort from the cycling community. These things need "brum brum" noise-makers under the bonnet.

Seriously!

Cheers, al.

Straight: OK I'll post some pics. Glad you're OK.

al.

Aw, I thought this thread might be about Brant's stuff. I was going to say that Brant's like a rock band that do their best stuff in their impoverished, idealistic days, then go all wrong when they get money and A Producer.

And have you actually seen a Ragely frame up close? The paint is very very very bad. I've seen 2. They were both very very very bad. I've had 7 P-x / On-One frames and they were really good compared to the Ragley. I've had sub-£100 frames from Merlin and Handsome Dog that had paint 10 times better. There's no excuse, he's got all complacent and rock-star.

So there.

al.

I know pure dead tons about blood and that and I think it's pish.

A. Scientist

(no, not really. But it's pish though eh?)

You can get a disc-specific rack pretty easily, they just have wider mounts at the dropout. Topeak I think.

al.

Clink: Drop me a mail.
al.

I have a geared swift for sale. I've not posted it anywhere (inc here nor fleabay) so if you're interested ping me. Email in profile. (it's just my name @gmail.com).

It's a "medium" which was the smallest size. Currently Sam has a geared/SS single model, this is specifically geared without the eccentric BB. I'm 5'7 and it's great for me with a short stem. My mate who's 6'0 thinks it's great for him too.

Photos and "For Sale" sign tonight…

Cheers, al.

Spesh: 40×16 SS. It has 14t fixed on the other side, but due to the 'back of the dropouts' thing above, I can't flip it with the chain this long.
🙁 I rode it fixed 40×14 last year during spring, really liked it but my route now has me up hills and (more importantly) down again and I don't like fixed downhills!

Cheers, al.

Dummy: It's a £15 ebay fork, no less than a "mg SR Suntour T910". Wow. It was new, I guess it's what they put on cheap hybrids. I really wanted a 700c disc fork, and that was cheapest. Brake's a BB5.

It's worse than it looks actually: it's a 1 1/8" threaded steerer in a threadless headset + stem. The steerer's only long enough to go half way up the stem… So, I put one of those long head-compressor things in, the kind the dirt jump boys use. That should be OK, eh 😉

Anyway, it rides very nicely. The fork adds about 2" to the front and so the head angle's dead slack so it's really stable, and the bounce is good – I was aiming for the patchy bits of road =)

Stever: That's Conti Twister 32c tyres. They fit fine, but you have to have the wheel right at the back of the dropouts for the tyre to sit in the chainstay dimples. I'd say that with the wheel there there's room for a 35c – of course every tyre make's a bit different.

Revealing dirty bike-porn gusset shots below. Don't get too excited.

Cheers, al.

What's this bike meant for? Why does it have a big gusset anyway?

Anyway, to answer the "how can you have 5 On-Ones (and P-X) that are sufficiently different to be worth owning?":

853 sliding dropout SS
DN6 sliding dropout geared (wifie's)
Pompino fixed/SS commuter/C-X
Kaffenback geared commuter
456 : Bike of the Week – Allan’s Monstercross

OK?

al.

> Your bike is NOT A VANITY PROJECT YOU DULLARDS.

Really? Mine is. Well, mine are. Mostly though, mine were.

😉

Superfici-Al.

So, is the sub-standard frame going cheap?

Things I liked: externally butted seattube (thicker at top weld area). Avoids waggly seatpost & snapped frame caused by internal butting.

Eh. Hmm. It's shaped quite a lot like an Inbred. Um…. Oh, the cable guides are OK. Eh…. well, that's it.

Didn't like: "paint" (dried yoghurt), "welds", gussets, strange 3-finger RH chainstay-BB plate, not replaceable dropout, DIY stickers with no covering lacquer, price.

Speaking as a man with 5 On-One/P-X bikes I love: "Nah".

Controversi-Al.

al.

Ice-cream you say? Hmm, the stakes they are a-raising…

GT on the SS tomorrow, none of that suspension sillyness.

Until next week anyway.

😉

al.

Well, seeing as I wrestled the eff'n thing in and all you did was tension it a bit, maybe that's why you didn't need gloves!?

I'm borrowing the Orange Blood demo bike… yee-hah!

al.

We always use CO2 now. Just a quick blast and you're up. Then use air to get it to pressure, 100% CO2 seems to set the latex (might just be the very low temperature).

I posted this separately, but here you go again:
Really Fast Tubeless.

Cheers, al.

I can post, so I'm OK. ALL MY BLOODY COOKIES ARE GONE THOUGH.

This is pretty poor. The hack at Christmas was arguably not your fault, but this is just an unprofessional lack of testing.

SO! to be constructive. Please invite/set up a pool of willing & knowledgeable users who'll UAT/sys-test changes prior to release. It's the cheapest and most effective way to dry-run your stuff.

Cheers, al.

nbt: uh-oh. Did I just buy a load of kak? They are called “Budget brand” so I suppose I did. Well, 1st sign of roughness & I’ll ditch them.

But how often are you replacing? I’ve run these wheels fairly hard and with no maintenance (aka cleaning) for at least 4 years on the same bearings.

Cheers, al.

I went to Bearing-king – £8.99 for 4 delivered! That’ll do =)

al.

Thanks all!

al.

In case anyone reads this later, here’s the Bikeradar thread that started this line of thinking… (I just got this link).

12-30T – 10speed – Short Cage Ultegra

Cheers, al.

It’s a double compact front apparently. I have a triple front, and like has been said when you need it it’s there, but he’s hoping to put a cheap & cheerful solution on.

al.

OMG! Someone just sent me this:
The Profile : Montélimar > Mont Ventoux

al.

Zaskar: that was my suggestion! But no. I think he’s going to die anyway, so he may as well blow all his cash 😉

al.

… and there’s a “Pig plus” model int there? Hmm, what’s that called….

Well, wiggle have them in stock under £16.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/FSA_Pig_Aheadset/125673781/#buyitem

Aha! and the leprecauns have loads of them. The ‘super’ version is the “FSA Pig DH Pro Headset” at £35. Looks like it would survive nuclear war. Wiggle’s cheaper for the basic though.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/SearchResults.aspx?Search=fsa+pig&DoSort=true&CurrentPageIndex=0&SortExpression=PRICE_ASC

Thanks clubber, so I tried that. I put spacers between the cups and the frame so the bearings would tighten. But then there’s not enough thread left to get the top washer and lock nut on.

Ah, I think I’m off to the local metal shop next week to get it threaded another 20mm.

Cheers, al.

You know what? I changed my mind today. I have (very) long-term Hope and CK headsets and yes, they work well + forever. My favourite and always-recommend is the FSA Pig. It’s cheap and indestructible. Arrives dry though, so pack with grease. Cheap as chips.

BUT! Then! I fitted the Superstar (I know, bear with me…) headset I WON at SSUK09 for having the oldest bike (the one with the childseat + the teddy bear) to a frame for my son today. It’s great! Apparently it’s very cheap. Obviously it could explode tomorrow, but cartridge bearings, split crown-race, light, cheap… Yeah, looks good why not.

There you go then. Pig guaranteed or superstar bit of a gamble.

Cheers, al.