I’ve bought both a bike and wheels from them with no issues.

Quick postage and good prices.

I think it’s best to check on their stock though before ordering.

martinxyz – That Spearfish looks lovely, you must be over the moon with it 8)

I’ve seen a few pics of negative rise stems on 29er’s to get a low front end.

I’m running a +10 degree stem at 5ft 7 and it still makes the bars a good few inches lower than my seat without it feeling any higher than my previous 26″ wheel bikes.

I’m 5ft 7 with a 31″ inside leg and ride a 16″ Kona Big Unit. Although it’s a 16″ frame, the centre to centre measurement is only 13″.

It’s got a 22.5″ eff top tube and I run it with a 400mm inline post and 90mm stem.

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IMG_0091[/url] by Amplebrew[/url], on Flickr

bellerophon – Member
amplebrew; got to agree, that is a fabulous bike and one on my dream list to have. Tank range is my only concern with it, when they first came out I was comutting and thought the tank range meant filling up just to get home, could be wrong though, so out of interest what are you getting?

I usually get around 90 miles out of a tank before the fuel light comes on. In comparison, my previous RR8 Blade was doing 120 miles. That is based on me riding around the Isle Of Man where there is no speed limit on a lot of roads. I reckon I would get more miles out of it in the UK.

I’m a massive fan of the SP1 and wouldn’t part with mine for the world, but it is not an easy bike to live with.

It is not what you would call comfy and the fuel range isn’t brilliant, however for me; it turns every ride into a special event.

The sound of the v-twin engine combined with the whine of the gear driven cam is pretty special and the build quality is fantastic.

If you are considering Daytona’s, then it sounds like you’re looking for a bike away from the usual Blades / R1’s / GSXR’s etc; so maybe an SP1 or SP2 might be right up your street.

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Mister P – Member
To give you a rough idea the Alfine 8 is like running a 11-34 cassette with a single ring. The 11 speed is like running a twin ring set up in terms of gear spread. So look at how you ride and how many of your gears you actually use currently then pick the set up that suits most.

Sorry to gate crash…

That’s good to know Mister P.

I have been thinking of an alfine myself, but being unable to try one; I thought I’d be under geared for normal mountain biking.

Sounds like an Alfine 11 would be fine though.

Here you go

Edit – I was a bit too slow there 😆

Cycle clothing UK do custom clothing, but you need to order 10.

I’d use a pre vtec VFR800.

I think you’d be looking around a 1998 to 2001 model.

Very comfy and reliable but without the size and weight of a full blown tourer like a Pan.

Fun off the motorway as well.

The road section on the E2E must be around 14 (ish) miles and I reckon that that for most of it I was clocking around 20mph and over on a geared bike.

There are a few smaller climbs on the road section which dropped the speed slightly and the road section took around 44 minutes.

My current Kona singlespeed 29er is running a 32×18 and it’s pretty much game over by around 17mph, so I would personally lose quite a bit of time on the road bit.

The first big climb being the Ballacob starts straight after that road section. It’s very hard to clear this climb due to the number of people that walk it. Even if you’re capable of riding it, it’s pretty much impossible to get past.

You’ve then got the 2nd climb out of St Johns. The field has spread out a bit more by now, so there is more opportunity to ride it.

I’m still undecided if I’ll be using my singlespeed for this years E2E.

One of my dogs is on a prescription diet due to a really bad food intolerance, so any treats no matter how well meant; could cause him a few problems.

My pet hate, if you pardon the pun; is dog owners who can’t keep their animals under proper control.

theflatboy – Member
by the way, for everyone going on about how good Nike Poobahs were, I had two of the original colour, on both of which the soles cracked and were replaced, and then some of the grey and blue ones which did the same. they did look nice and were comfy, though!

The exact same thing happened to me.

Loved them though and I still think they were the best looking shoe’s; Blue with a green swoosh and WCS stripes 8)

I carry a mobile at work as I sometimes need it when my job radio doesn’t work and it also means that I can check text messages and e-mails during the day.

Angus Wells – Member
Poobahs, my first pair of proper cycling shoes. I was in fabric walking boots until then.

Bring them back.

I thought they were great, loved mine.

LAT – Member
With regard to Grafton, I think they had a bad batch of cranks that all broke. The resulting claims put them out of business

That’s a shame, didn’t know that.

I wish they would bring back….

1) Nice high end steel Kona’s, GT’s and Specialized.
2) Onza bar ends.
3) Grafton bits.
4) M900 XTR.
5) Campagnolo MTB goups.
6) Elevated chainstays.
7) Nike Pooh Bah’s with the ‘world cup’ stripe.

I fly from the Isle Of Man to UK regularly using Easyjet and always use my driving licence as id.

trail_rat – Member
aye but isnt the idea that we lose so we dont have to pay to host next years ?

Maybe he’ll sing ‘My lovely horse.’

Didn’t they used to have a competition with public vote to pick the UK entry?

I bet even he was surprised to get the call!!!

stevebrc – Member
The Fortitude Race, bike and frame, has mech hanger.
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

The problem with the Race is that it doesn’t have the rack mounts that the Adventure has.

That takes some commitment.

I have either 10 miles of 7 miles each way, depending on which route I take.

I only tend to take a really long route on the way home after work.

Bet you got a bit of a shock!!! 😯

Don’t say he was on a fixed wheel as well!!!

kazafaza – Member
amplebrew: welds are really nice and neat, paint job had one very small chip, apart from it it seems to be nicely done and fairly tough – after leaning against some metal pole it’s still scratch-free!

Cool, all sounds positive.

Just wish they made them with a gear hanger. I’m not really convinced about the Alfine yet.

I was orginally considering selling my Kona singlespeed and replacing it with a Fortitude Adventure which I was going to use for mountain biking and cycling to work. I’m not convinced however that an Alfine will offer enough spread of gears for me; especially for some of my more hilly routes.

Maybe they might produce a geared Adventure at some point; would be great if they did. I very nearly bought an Adventure, but my lack of knowledge and experience of the Alfine system put me off.

There was also a comment in another similar thread about an Adventure rider not being too impressed with the Alfine gear change.

cynic-al – Member
amplebrew – “simple” to do, but it’s mass-production, so is there the demand, does it fit in with their line-up etc…?

You’d think that they were making it harder for themselves by offering different Fortitude frames. They could just make one frame with slider dropouts that can take racks.

Surely it wouldn’t be that hard for them to do, they already produce the Race version with a gear hanger.

Couldn’t they just produce an Adventure with the Race dropouts?

paul4stones – Member
How did I miss that Fortitude? I’d be very interested to know how that goes with drop bars please. You can only run hub gears though?

It’s a shame that the Fortitude Adventure can’t run gears. I think they’ve missed a trick with that.

I like my Thomson seat clamp.

kazafaza – Member

Built last week, 20,5″ frame with Salsa Cromoto 468mm fork, single speed at the moment…Sturmey Archer 3spd next week or so!

Love the bike, the nicest steel 29er ever ridden, I use it mainly for commuting with 2.35″ Big Apples and for a little bit of towpath, leisure etc., nothing extreme. Good choice after riding iO SS for a few years!

What’s the finish like on the frame, welds and paint etc?

Mrs amplebrew swears by her Diva Gel Flow on her mtb and she has a Lady SLR Gel Flow on her road bike.

They get good reviews from customers on Wiggle – Diva Gel Flow / SLR Lady Gel Flow

stevebrc – Member
To answer the Q’s above aimed at me….

As for the Alfine, the gears didn’t feel right when shifting. Again, my riding has changed a lot in the last few years, as in that time all I’ve ridden is SS, so it might just be the fact I now don’t like gears, but for the money involved I just didn’t think it shifted as well as it should. Other Alfine bikes I’ve tried felt better, but it might all be in my head. Still, Shimano offered to change the internals, just in case.

Thanks Steve

stevebrc – Member

I’ve an Adventure, only a few rides on it at present as the Alfine wasn’t 100%, but initial impressions are very positive.

If you don’t mind me asking…..

What was the issue with the Alfine?

Back on now, but it’s a bit slow.

I can’t get on either.

I got confused by the ‘gravel’ bit as I associate that surface with being more offroad 😀

Does it need to be carbon?

You can pick up a CADD10 or Synapse Cannondale 105 or maybe a Giant Alliance with 105 group on for around £1k.

Infact I think you can pick up a Cannondale CADD8 with 105 for £800 brand new from Pauls Cycles.

Maybe also look at Canyon or Rose bikes.

What is a gravel hog ride?

There is a review here which I would imagine is the MBUK one as it is Bikeradar.

Don’t have any idea about the bike myself, but the ‘JPS’ colour scheme looks cool.

I’ve got Hope on my Kona singlespeed, but I’ve had 3 bikes with CK hubs and both makes have proven to be reliable and faff free.

I personally think that CK are slightly more blingy but Hope’s customer service is amazing.

The CTC forum[/url] is pretty good for touring advice in general.

And how about a Genesis Fortitude Adventure?

thomthumb – Member
one is drop bars and the other for flat/ riser/ alt bars.
that’s quite a fundamental difference isn’t it?
POSTED 1 MINUTE AGO # REPORT-POST

One of the reasons I was going for the Fortitude Adventure. I’d rather have flat bars for off road riding.