Deda zero 100 bars are nice.

Be careful if ordering Deda’s though as they measure their bars end to end rather than centre to centre. A 42cm Deda bar is only 40cm’s centre to centre.

Stops condensation and damp building up in the car when they’re parked up on the pitch and not being used.

Funnily enough, I was listening to ‘Never Mind The B******S’ whilst messing with the bike this morning before going out.

Love ‘Pretty Vacant’ 8)

Have you asked Orange themselves?

Google doesn’t seem to be much help 🙁

Mine must have been either a Pace RC200, Specialized S Works steel or Merlin XLM.

The S Works steel was a lovely bike.

Thanks for all the great comments 🙂

The bike rides lovely and I’m really over the moon with it.

Got it built just in time for all this nice weather as well!!! 8)

Mercedes have a bit of an issue with rust, Google it and loads of links come up.

If it was me, I would wait to see what happens at MOT time.

There is a very good chance that you’ll pay out to get the rust sorted and then it will appear elsewhere on the car.

markwsf – Member
I’m not worried whether cassette or screw-one as I need a new sprocket anyway (switching from 26″ to 29″ wheels with this build so the old sprocket is of no use).

Cheap is good – I’m very tempted by the on-one unit, partly as it’s to go onto a Scandal 29er frame which should arrive tomorrow – the on-one hubs are cheap as chips, but in the back of my mind is the “buy right, buy once” mantra – swapping a cheap but dead hub for a good one also involves buying another set of spokes and spending the time to build a new wheel.

The DMR revolver and the Octane One seem potentially good options maybe?

Amplebrew – thanks – sort of confirms my thoughts – but so hard to justify spending 3 x the price of the on-one unit! Potentially a cost saving in the long run though if it just runs and runs.

The Hope hub should be a fit and forget about part and the parts and service backup is fantastic.

I haven’t needed any parts for my hub, but Hope helped me out with bits for my X2’s and got parts to me next day.

I’ve had a Hope Trials hub for nearly 2 years on my Kona singlespeed and put nearly 10k miles on it without any problems.

It’s been used in all weathers for general mountain biking, road riding and commuting to work and it’s (touch wood) been faultless.

haggis1978 – Member
Can i be the first to say my god man what took you so long??? didnt you have this frame months ago? i wondered if i had missed the build thread somehow. cracking looking machine as well by the way

It did take a while 😀

I’m really happy with the way it turned out.

nick1962 – Member
Shrubs and weather look good.

The garden only looks good because my folks were living with me for just over 6 weeks whilst they waited to move into their new house 😆

We did have a bit of sun this morning on the Isle Of Man. Soon turned into rain though!!!

jimw – Member
Looks lovely, have you ridden it yet, how does it feel?

Very interested to know about the weld line on the seat tube about 25mm below the top tube/seat stays junction- there must be a very good reason for it- do you know why?

Only had a ride around the local roads at the moment, making sure everything is bob on.

The weld halfway down the seat tube is a collar that has been fusion welded in place so the seat tube area is stronger.

The seat tube itself is tapered going from a .035″ wall thickness to a .095″ wall thickness at the top of the collar.

clunker – Member
Very nice Amplebrew, mine all going well will be here in August hope it looks as nice as yours

Thanks clunker 🙂

Steve is a really great guy to deal with. I know that he’s been really busy after winning his award at NAHBS.

Not long to go, August will soon be here 8)

belugabob – Member
Lovely stuff.

I’d be scared to ride it though I’d be listening to every little scrape and ding, thinking about the damage that may be occurring,

Is it me, or is the seat clamp a bit wonky?

The Thomson clamp is slightly convex across the top surface, so I think that may give the impression that the seat clamp is not straight.

onceinalifetime – Member
Yet another lovely looking bike in obviously too small frame size shocker.

It’s spot on for me at 5ft 7 🙂

In fairness the post is now half an inch lower than in the pictures.

DickBarton – Member

The rear clearance on the rear is fine at the rear

I’d hope the rear of the rear had plenty of space…although in your pics it looks there is a black flywheel or something at the rear of the rear…;-)

It’s got one of thise new fangled electric motors fastened on the back, makes a big difference on the hills 😀

scant – Member
lovely bike.

purely FYI. I had a chris king titanium headset in a titanium frame for 8years & when it came time to remove it (I sold the frame) it came out easily. you just need to coat all surfaces with ti prep to prevent any creaking. I never had an issue with the 8yrs I rode that bike.

I really wanted to fit the Ti headset, but when I heard that Moots advised against it; I decided not to. Any creaks or squeaks would just drive me nuts 😯

An 80mm fork minus 25% sag must be somewhere around 425mm axle to crown maybe?
My old 29er Reba was 510mm at 100mm. Or 490mm at 80mm.
25% sag on it at 80mm, would shorten it by 20mm, which would put it at 470mm. Which is why iirc most 29er rigid forks come in at 470mm a/c.
Hence why I personally would have had it designed round a fork of about this length, cos I’d inevitably fit a suspension fork too. Though there’s no doubt, if you’re only ever going to run rigid on it, the shorter fork is probably a neater solution that gets away from the often fitted negative rise stems with zero stem spacers on 29ers, as well as it probably being slightly stiffer.

It’s definitely going to stay rigid, I think a suspension fork would ruin it.

The fork certainly looks a lot neater and less gangly than the project 2’s on my Kona Unit

jonathan – Member
I think with a builder like that that’s definitely the thing to do!
I suspect you’d get away with an 80mm fork – but even sagged it’s likely to be closer to 450mm. But I have a personal hatred of sus-corrected rigid forks, particularly on 29ers, so consider it thoroughly admired

Thanks Jonathan 🙂

jonathan – Member
The axle to crown length on the fork is 421mm, so you’re looking around an 80mm fork with sag.
Heh… that’d be a lot of sag
Sorry, I was just curious anyway, I certainly wouldn’t be putting any suspension on it

That’s cool 😆

An 80mm fork minus 25% sag must be somewhere around 425mm axle to crown maybe?

Apart from a couple of very minor alterations, I went with Steve’s recommended geometry.

The steel Type 2 forks are such a classic design and really well regarded. Steve has been making them for ages now and Titanium wasn’t an option.

jonathan – Member
That does look lovely

How committed is the geometry to that (really extremely lovely) short fork?

The axle to crown length on the fork is 421mm, so you’re looking around an 80mm fork with sag.

The only alteration from my original build was the standard Chris King headset.

I had a Chris King titanium headset to go on it, but after a bit of research; decided to fit a standard one to stop any creaking and galling issues.

qwerty – Member
awesome!!!!! rigid works well on it, nice and clean, you just need to ditch all that clutter of the gears and it’ll be AWESOME Tm then!!!!!!!!!

😆

I spent ages trying to decide on hub colour.

First is was silver, then black, then silver, the black, then silver, then black and then silver again 😀

I finally went for silver as I thought it looked a bit more retro and in keeping with the build; especially with the silver XTR brakes.

mboy – Member
Crikey, you’d think with all that Ti, XTR and carbon rims, that you’d be able to afford a bloody suspension fork!

Nice though. I daren’t ask how much, quite simply cos I know I can’t afford! I’m betting it’s worth more than my 2 mountain bikes, my road bike, and my car all put together though!

The frame was £1900.00 and the Type II Fork was £450.00 + the import.

trail_rat – Member
what is the fork ? steve potts ?

looks a little weedy if im honest

rest of the bike looks mean

Yeah, it’s a Potts Type 2 steel fork.

I could only have ever fitted a Potts fork to it, anything else just wouldn’t have been right.

letmetalktomark – Member
Very nice.

Fantatsic attention to detail.

One observation though ….. there dosen’t look to be much in the way of clearence ……

The rear clearance on the rear is fine at the rear with the 2.2 Ikons fitted. It’s certainly a lot closer at the front, but I don’t think it will be an issue. That’s a 2.2 Ikon on the front as well and I can’t see myself going much bigger.

Roblilly – Member
Thanks Amplebrew

That’s cool 8)

If you’re going to sell it privately, spend a bit of time getting the car minted up before you try and sell it.

Getting the alloys cleaned, giving the paintwork a polish and cleaning the inside will make a big difference to what a private individual will pay.

Have a look at Whatcar.

You can type in the cars exact mileage on their valuations.

I’d also have a look at Autotrader[/url] to see what similar vehicles are up for.

It has been a while 😳

Hopefully worth the wait though!! 8)

Mine was a 1991 Saracen Sahara, in bright yellow; bought brand new after saving up my paper round money.

Loved that bike and I still have the odd look on Ebay and Retrobike just incase a mint condition one turns up 8)

firsttothecafe – Member
Yeah, Matt Guy rode for Trek and came from Formby. Kind of got the impression that he trained so much as a junior he didn’t have much more to give as a senior.

I used to buy my kit and generally hang around Formby Cycle Sports many years ago. Saw Matt a few times as I think he worked in the shop on the odd day.

Finally built…….

Apologies for the photo quality, I’ll get some better ones up over the weekend.

[/url]
IMG_0158[/url] by Amplebrew[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
IMG_0149[/url] by Amplebrew[/url], on Flickr

[/url]
IMG_0147[/url] by Amplebrew[/url], on Flickr

firsttothecafe – Member
When I started racing the top junior was a lad called Matt Guy, he never really made it as a senior though. There was another lad called Alan who rode for Specialized as well?

Any ideas what happen to these two?

Didn’t Matt Guy have some connection with Formby Cycle Sports and ride for Trek?

Dave Hemming (last I heard he was working in America)
…

Isn’t Dave Hemming the rider on the Pivot bikes advert?

There was Paul Lasenby who rode for Marin.

I used Mr Sheen and a microfibre cloth only yesterday to remove anti-seize from a Ti post and also a Fizik saddle.

Worked a treat.

In no particular order……

MBK all terrain bike
Saracen Sahara
Marin Bear Valley SE
Proflex 857
Orange Aluminium O
Orange P7
GT Avalanche
Marin Team Issue
Merlin XLM
Cannondale F800
Cannondale Taurine
Specialized S works steel
Trek 8000
Klein Attitude
Kona Explosif
Pace RC200
Rocky Mountain Vertex70
Rocky Mountain Vertex team
Rocky Mountain Blizzard
Litespeed Obed
Moots Rigormootis
Steve Potts
Kona Big Unit

Wouldn’t have a clue on my cadence, but 14-15mph is fine on my 29er running a 32:18 over a few hours riding. Anything faster starts to get uncomfortable over a distance.

I go to sleep around 11pm, get up at 6am and I’m out cycling to work by 6.30am.

Even when it’s dark, freezing cold and raining; it’s never as bad you think it’s going to be once you’re out.

It’s also a good idea to have all your kit prepared and set out the night before. It makes it much easier to get yourself out first thing.

I leave all my cycling gear in our back bedroom so that I don’t disturb my wife in the morning.

It doesn’t take long for it to be routine.

I’m loving this time of the year, it makes a massive difference now it’s day light early on.

My Hope hubs on Crest rims with DT swiss spokes have (without wanting to tempt fate) been fautless over the last 18 mths.

I took my Kona Unit on a loop of the IOM.

All on the road, but what a fantastic day; gorgeous weather and a spot of lunch on Pt Erin beach.

Face like a boiled lobster today though!!!

I’m on the Isle Of Man.

I’ve got the 800, but to be honest I don’t use half of it’s features.

If and when it gives up the ghost, it’ll be replaced by a 200 which will be all I need for 99.9% of the time.

I used Vancovers for my Citroen Dispatch, they aren’t cheap but they are great quality and the fit is spot on.

That looks really lovely.

Didn’t think the seatpost looked too high though, I always have to run a 400mm post on my Kona to get the frame size; otherwise the reach is too far.

To me, to you