@vmgscot do you have any gpx’s for Afton? I’ll definitely take the gravel bike there sooner or later. Loch Doon too if you have anything, that looks exactly the thing I’m in need of.

Loch Doon looks well worth the drive

Is there a 5 mile limit? I thought that within ur council district was OK?

@nobeer cheers, heading out tomorrow so will be trying to figure something out tonight.

@cobrakai – heat maps! Good shout, had forgotten about them.

Are PMs working at all? Not had any joy with them for weeks. Pretty much given up and reverted to comments. Poor show.

RE: Screenshots and platform for msgs popup modal. Android S7 – chrome

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2T5oyNpB7mBypuTD9

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dUDcfp1rGxHYnmbz6

Cant read msgs on mobile (S7) popup box is off to the left in portrait mode and has only a slice of text viewable in landscape mode.

Well I do have shiny new tape direct from hunt but I know I’m not gonna get it on there as neat as it currently is, not that I’ve ever not had a rim seal due to my sloppy taping stds. Looking like Plan C/A right now. @dhrider – is it sketchy taping over old tape, whats the concern here?

Is the longitude boost (or half boost) I thought the forks were 100mm for some reason but can’t find the spacing on the latest frame.

Haha – I know it makes no sense!

I have the wheels (29er + 27.5+) but can’t decide whether or not to go for something like the KM or Tallboy.

I was tempted by that bombtrack but it’s still a fair skelp o’ cash – is it better than a KM – carbon fork make much difference here? I found a KM for £705, even at that… Maybe I have been talked out of it? I think I might just go straight to the full sus.

I would buy a stooge actually, but not boost so bust

Genesis Tarn is one that slipped by me, it’s a good shout but very small front triangle for bike packing. Some nice deals out there tho!

I should probably mention that I’m still running rim brakes so disc only wheels are out, however, still lots of good suggestions here and have found the non-disc versions for most. My bike is a Lynskey Sportive, I don’t think carbon would really suit it and also I’m not convinced by the tales you hear of cheaper carbon wheels with a brake track (overheating and power loss – no ta).

I’m kinda set on the Hunt wheels I think unless anything to good to be true crops up: Hunt Aero non-disc
(I do like the DT swiss 350 hubs tho, so also looking at the spline 1600 as an option too)

Might just buy direct from Hunt instead of waiting about for something on ebay – you know what it’s like once u start looking I’m sure! ;)

Anyone know anything about the hunt hubs? I’d heard they were re-branded novatechs. I’m leaning towards the hunt aero wide, have seen some sell recently for about 250 on ‘that’ auction site and think they look better than most out there. My bike is kind stealthy looking and debadged where possible. Nearly bought those prime bad boys tho, credit card in hand – close one! Guess that saves me a beat down from thr mrs come the end of the month ;)

Those Prime BlackEdition wheels look just the ticket but waaay over budget (although my head is easily turned) – was hoping for a good used pair at around 250

@jkomo – Looks like I’ve missed that boat, out of stock :(

Yea, they do look like they would have been good but as u say – no stock. At least not in the TLR flavour

I think 2.4 is the biggest that’ll fit unfortunately.

Not looked in here since I decided to build the wheels, good to see some healthy debate but you lost me on asym…

Thought I’d follow up in case anyone cares or should stumble upon this in the future…

I decided to get a regular rim with the same ERD as the one I was taking from the lefty. I taped these together and shifted the spokes over. That was easy. Anyone want to buy a lefty??

I then got the right length spokes from that sdeals site (cheers to whoever sent us that link) for 30p/spoke (DT Swiss) about £13 total – they were silver not black as would have been preferred but they actually look OK and I don’t care much about spoke colour anyway – at least not on this bike.
(getting the right spokes is probably the most nerve wrecking step. Trust the online calculators, I used three or so and measured everything myself for a sanity check and all came out about the same size within 1 or 2 mm).

Laced up the wheel and hub using a youtube video and Rogers guide. Made a couple of erros along the way as wasn’t paying attention but it was obvious when something was wrong and easily rectified after taking a closer look. In short, lacing the wheel was easy too.

Next, truing… not so easy. I probably spent about 2 evenings (6 hours?) truing and tweaking both wheels, at one point each wheel was untensioned and started again and I had to walk away at a couple of points too. But I then started to get a feel for it. Initially my changes were too much, once the wheel is under tension small changes make quite a difference and it took me a while to get my head around the impact. I tried various methods for gauging the wobble but found that a combination square taped to the fork worked best for me, and a guitar plectrum for finding the spoke that loose/tight and a DIY nipple driver from an angle grinded Philips screwdriver to get everything kicked off. Heard folks say that they can tune a guitar by ear but not hear a difference in the spokes – I don’t get that, it seemed very obvious to me. The wheels weren’t perfect but they were within 1mm and just as true as the wheels I tested off my other bikes that were recently serviced.

In summary, my advice to anyone thinking about giving it a shot would be to go for it. It’s easy to lace the wheel and if it all goes tits up after that it’s just a truing job down at the LBS.

Sod it. Spokey purchased… and so it begins.

Its still easier with a new rim

This has cropped up a few times… the rim is new but I take it you mean never been laced before. So, how much trickier is it, presumably it’s pretty common that’s what the shop was going to do. I could get a new rim off the peg but it would cost the same as the whole wheel and tyre just purchased. Even though it turns out the hubs and spokes are usless I’ve just forked out for a tyre & pre-laced rim it would appear.

Where are you based baileyswalk? It’s a long shot, but I’d build it for you for nowt. I enjoy doing them and don’t have enough bikes to keep me that busy.

Ayrshire/central belt, Scotland – I doubt I’m that jammy tho.

If you are buying new spokes and new hub then just buy a new rim as well, save a lot of faff and have spare wheels. It is way easier to build a wheel with a completely true rim that with one which may be out of true.

Unfortunately it’s a pretty niche fork with 135mm dropouts (Salsa Enabler), so a build was always likely – foolishly I thought it would be a simple hub swap and did not consider the spoke length.

Find me a 135mm spaced 27.5+ front wheel for 3.0″ tyres and I will buy it. TBH I’m considering selling it all off now and starting from scratch.

Spokes were £1.20 each and labour was £35 so they said around £75.

So you’re actually saving £35 by doing it yourself?

If I pay £1.20/spoke – yes

The lefty is weird as one flange is smaller than the other, the larger of the two looks to size up to my Surly hub so maybe I could re-use those. The wheel & spokes are (looks) brand new (ebay) but for the price of those spokes I’d be happy to buy new ones. Even buying them and then paying £35 for the build is better than £75 outright. Maybe I’ll strip the wheel buy the spokes and ponder the DIY option – then if I bail on that idea it’s just the cost for a build (shop said I could supply the spokes if I wanted).

You’d be surprised. My first set of self build wheels are getting on for 5 years and many thousands of commuter miles old. Done a couple of Flanders sportives on them and many longer rides on crappy roads. Never been trued or broken a spoke as far as I recall. Get some good instructions, take your time and work methodically, it’s not that hard if you’re moderately practically mined.

I am kinda’ tempted to take a crack at it myself, I’m skint/tight, have time on my hands and usually I’m not bad at applying practical skills. On the other hand I’m so fed up of this build I might just buy a rolling ECR on credit!

Spokes were £1.20 each and labour was £35 so they said around £75.

Maybe I’ll just suck it up and pay the man on this occasion and learn myself wheel building on some old crappy numbers – I’d be foolish to think my first build would be good enough for what I’m after – a solid bike packing plus sized wheel.

That was a different trip

Tt

OK, so if just a frame swap then what sort of frame should I be looking for??
The XT components are all m8000 throughout so the ‘bits’ are no bad, just the 26″ wheel format, they are good wheels otherwise (if not a bit weighty). The frame I’m coming from is a medium cotic soul mk 1 but I think I really need a large or m/l (I’m 5’11), especially if sticking with the 26″ wheels. Wouldn’t mind saving some weight by switching from steel, feels heavy compared to the gravel bike.

I confess, I get a bit confused with the finer points of MTB frames and geos… If going for an older 26″ frame that would be more akin to a XC bike of today, right? Or maybe I should be looking for a ‘hardcore hardtail’ with a modern geo? Could that be grim on the tarmac tho (most routes eat some road miles)?

Also, rigid fork options; good carbon ones seem to be 29ers but would that work if given the right suspension offset?

@nobeerinthefridge

Does he cover Kilmarnock?

If so pass then on.

Cheers

Whole lotta love for the hipster mattresses then, surprising.

Maybe I’m just being cynical but it reeks of an exercise in marketing to me.

Have slept on a couple of memory foam mattresses (Eve & Ikea) and they did feel good on my back that can give us gyp from time to time. So defo looking for a pure foam mattress.

Good to know, was sure flirtation with near death was a given.

I got them off easy enough, rubber coated handle of a big pair of pliers was perfect. I then tried to put them back on and that’s when I realised these were not what I expected. At least I won’t have this trouble with the 12mm end caps – should have them by Monday.

TBH this is my first set of DT’s and so far they have been nothing but trouble – hopefully once everything is fitted it’ll be OK. Kinda missing my hopes but christ do they make a racket, thought I’d go for something a bit more silent running…

I got the wrong end caps (240s) so have the new ones on order and it looks like I might not even have to do this…

I’m replacing these:

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hub-spares/dt-swiss-front-wheel-kit-for-100mm-15mm-or-boost-adaptors-for-350370-hubs/

for these:

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/hub-spares/dt-swiss-front-wheel-kit-for-100mm-12mm-adaptors-for-350-hubs/

Looks like the smaller caps sit into the axle and the o-ring keeps them in place. Hopefully it becomes obvious when I have the parts.

Socket isn’t a bad shout.

I think that sounds like a good idea. While looking for whacker hire this popped up:

Screwfix Tamper (Hand whacker)

Without taking us into the gutter… any experience of these hand whackers?

It’s about the same price/cheaper than a hire and I could use it for future planned projects.

Good to know – it sounds great in theory…

Do you run it with one shifter changing down and the other changing up??

I’ve actually got a pinnacle arkose which is great and I use for long days of adventuring. However, I fancied something steel to replace the genesis which is my commuter/knock about bike.

The kite is nice does that have an EBB like the peregrine – I’d really like the peregrine but they do not come up often, think the soma wolverine can run SS too but again – they are not often for sale.

My best bet is likely to be a cotic escapade I guess. I’m in no hurry just want to broaden the search.

Thanks for the info folks, I will take a closer look and see if there looks to be anything ‘special’ in there – failing that off to the record store with them. I’m near Glasgow so presumably there is a shop or someone that can be tracked down easy enough. I used to go to avalanche records back int he day but don’t think they would be interested.