My V1 is ok at the moment but I’m not going to clean it!

Those few seconds that can your change your life and outlook entirely. Glad it’s worked out so positively for you. Had a similar thing happen. A yellow bike that can handle all the pottering thrown at it. What could be better?!

After numerous sleepless nights in search of the ultimate all round gravel tyre I now do a little tyre and bike shuffle for the winter slop. 650 wheels come off the gravel bike and that becomes the winter road bike with widish 700 road tyres. Rigid 29er gets shod with mud tyres and doubles up on gravel and mtb duties. Having come off a few times courtesy of wet roots (and green chalk for that matter) skinny mtb tyres feel a better bet.

Got some Clement (Donnelly) X’plor MSO 650b in 42mm flavour from Planet X when they were on offer. Been really impressed with them having tried a fair few tyres. Decent rolling on road and reasonably grippy off, even on the odd slippy surface. Doubt they’d handle real mud but then I’m more likely to be on the mountain bike in that scenario.

650b definitely gave my trusty Tripster a new lease of life. It was always pretty good on the South Downs but much more sure-footed on the odd challenging descent now. More pedal strikes though…

Wish I had seen posts about sizing before ordering. Gilet is definitely on the snug side!

Singular Gryphon was probably the one I had that could get close to doing it all albeit in a slightly compromised way. Sold it though because I didn’t need one ‘do-it-all’ compromised bike at that point. Jones is probably the one, looks weird (weirder) with skinny tyres but surprisingly nimble.

Pompino. Awful, then some tosspot with rigid panniers cut me up on a corner and brought me down because he couldn’t stand a singlepeed bike overtaking him. Gave it away.

Knee replacement has made all bikes fairly challenging over the last couple of years and finally had to give up on my Ritchey P29er. Gutted as was previously an absolute joy to ride. Road bike is more bearable since losing the clipless so it’s staying for now.

Weirdly the Jones has become easier to ride which I put down to the contrary nature of the bike itself.

Tried several different tyres on the Downs but always revert back to Ardent EXOs. Have never sliced on flint at 20psi. Thunderburt on the other hand…..

God feel your pain! Haven’t had it for about a year but occasionally feel the warning signs doing something innocuous like getting out of a car and I’m instantly into embarrassing hip-swivelling physio which has fended it off to date. When it was really bad only the diazepam could really touch it although the knee replacement helped a bit!

Done it a few times on a Tripster ATR, great on some sections but really leaves you beat up and sketchy on some of the long, flinty downhills. Was perfect on a drop bar 29er with 2.3 tyres, wouldn’t want any more than a rigid 29er. Most important to me are good sidewalls and lowish gearing!

Was getting back to something approaching normal riding after a knee replacement that didn’t go as planned and took a long time building up a 2nd hand Ritchey Road Logic to rekindle the road love. Came off first ride out when front wheel washed out after oil on the road. Fractured collar bone, fractured hip and bruised ribs but luckily bike not too bad! Also glad I was wearing the knee pad. Totally bored now.

My Joey has done road, touring and single track. I use an exotic fork for wider tyres and clearance on the front. Singletrack is interesting,,,,

Depends what you want to do. Both work. For Falmer, Friston and more twisty, flinty stuff hardtail or rigid MTB is great. For more Downs, linking up road and bridleway Cross or Gravel is great. Some fantastic loops taking in sea, country and urban.

I’m in Lewes and some good road riding round country lanes locally or to High Weald or Pevensey.

Similar to the rides round here condition-wise which was perfect for Singular Gryphon. Just got rid it though as ultimately the weight of was a slog after long, muddy rides. Now it’s either the rigid Ritchey for all conditions or the Tripster for thrills (and spills) and dryer rides. Too old to feel beat up beyond a certain point now every ride so a little comfort is good!

Interested in comparisons from anyone who’s rode a Speedball and a Jones Diamond?

Great tyre except that it got a great big slash in it on the second ride out on my regular loop. Had to cut it off it was so tight. Never again.

If it hadn’t been for the toe-lap and the flaky paint I’d still have my Peregrine. Great bike fully loaded up but enjoyed the Gryphon off-road far more. Both now gone (sob) but still have the Cross Check I started out with which having been through numerous personality changes just gets on with it.

Can’t help but sympathetic, usually just shift onto largest cog, smallest chainring and set limits after setting height, angle etc.

My big problem is getting the guard not to rub on the chain in the highest gear, tolerances in 11 speed seem so minute compared to 10 speed.

Or could be my cack-handedness…..

Don’t know how I ended up with just rigid mtbs, Ritchey P29er, Jones and Gryphon. The ability to run plus tyres in 29 and 27.5 flavour has delayed  getting bouncy forks and led to endless experimenting with different tyre/wheel size instead.

Isn’t that a Gryphon above? With straight bars? Brrrr…..

If you’re just on the road I’d have thought a Ritchey Road Logic with 28mm tyres would be fine? I’ve got a P29er too and thought about getting a Logic for ages, bit too pricey new for me to justify though.

I was never entirely happy with my tripster in pure road guise, always felt like it was lacking something (maybe that was me though). Now it’s shod in wider knobblies and does a bit of everything it’s great!

As above Airnimal Joey is great off-road. The older one has less tyre clearance at the back but you can still get a 2 inch mtb tyre in Exotic carbon forks at the front. Comes to a stop really quickly in bog though….

Thanks for the advice Shemer. I’ll take that as reason enough to keep the bike! Been on the turbo trainer alot and it’s definitely easier on the road bike.

I’ve got 95 degrees btw. My physio refuses to do single degrees but I think it’s closer to 97!

Yes. They had to force the bend under general and put me on the ‘movement machine’ for 12 hours. It had got glued in such a way that I couldn’t get past a 70 degree bend whatever the effort or pain. Get a slight click in the joint every rotation but hopeful this will fade as I get the miles in.

Hoping singlespeed is still an option cause I’d finally got my perfect build before the op but will just have to see how it goes.

It seems to have taken forever but after 9 months, 2 operations and flip knows how many hours of physio I got back onto the Downs this morning. Only a short loop on the Gryphon but it was rough ground and I went up (and down) a hill.

Slightly painful but it will improve and I’m feeling pretty joyful right now!

Howies?
I’m not sure how sustainable Morvelo is but some of their products are and they’re local to me. I tend to buy second hand anyway. Reuse is the 2nd Law.

Sustainability ain’t difficult, it’s making the links between social, environment and economy. So clothing where the people who make it are paid a fair wage, have good working conditions and there’s no detrimental environmental impact in producing it.

4th year driving a Leaf.

The worst thing about driving it is having to listen to the ill-informed shit about batteries and sources of electricity production etc. It is more sustainable and non-polluting than a fossil fuel vehicle. Fact.

The charging infrastructure is messy and has a long way to go before it works properly.

Range needs to be around 200 miles to be enough for most people as an only car. Saying that I get about 120 and it’s enough for me. I don’t pay for my fuel, get free charging at work and there’s a few free chargers about. A 6.6kWh onboard charger makes a difference IMO as you get a useful amount from the fast chargers dotted around.

2 more years and they’ll really be there. Some very good second-hand deals around, as a runaround car it’s a no brainer.

They are excellent to drive, actually makes commuting more fun.

Also been looking at the new Soul, looks nice.

Nice one! Really well done. I singlespeed the Eastbourne-end sections but there’s a few hills on the SDW which would give me the heebie-jeebies on one gear.

Got mine from Brick Lane, some 2nd hand (unused)hope hubs and local wheel build. Worked out cheaper than buying mid-range off the shelf.
3 years on still sweet and true!

Getting on a bike within a month!
Swelling on one leg from knee replacement and sciatica in the other preventing anything. Tried to turn the pedals on an exercise bike the other day….

Doing my nut in, too young for this!

Only ever ridden rigid, Jones Diamond and Singular Gryphon are great although not dissimilar. P29er also good but a bit more aggressive.

Always been Stanton and Travers curious. Stooge Speedball also looks tasty.

Jim you’re South Downs right? Is that the Tripster that’s cracked?

That’s really useful to hear fallsoffalot. Will give it a go. I’ve been sitting in a chair, starting with my leg at relaxed bend and my toes wedged against the wall and then sort of wiggling forward with the chair so the leg is pushed back.

Did look at the cold therapy but thought I’d try a, icepack compression cuff first. Seems to work fairly well with a good chiller effect.

Thanks jambalaya for bumping this. It’s really helping me get a bit more perspective.

Thanks again. Shermer, I was tackling the stairs in the ‘classic crutch’ way one at a time. Can sort of navigate them normally but a) my leg doesn’t bend enough and b) we have really steep stairs and I nearly fell down them. Good extra challenge for tomorrow though.

Just wanted to add that I recently turned 50 and would have hung on if I could but the knee had got too bad. I got sciatica because of overcompensating with the other leg and walking to the shops and back constantly left me aching. Was starting to affect the riding too. One bad rugby tackle when I was 20 and this is the end result.

It does worry me that I’ll possibly have to have the op again but who knows by that point we’ll all be on autonomous ebikes….

Thanks for the healing vibes and really useful to hear other experiences. I haven’t found that much in terms of real-life experience so good to know.

Difficult to know how I’m doing in terms of progress and where I should be at this stage. Doing the exercises and getting about ok on 2 crutches up and down the stairs. Finding it hard to get any real bend in the knee mainly due to the horrendous swelling. It’s like very compacted styrofoam that you can’t push against.

Had the op 2 weeks ago and it went really well the first day. Problems started with the meds. I can’t take codeine, morphine, opiates or ibruprofen so when they gave me stuff I was zombiefied, nauseous and really dizzy. Not the best state to do physio. Meant I wasn’t eating anything either. Took 6 days to get out of hospital but I’ve picked up since. On a mix of paracetamol and gabapentin and lots and lots of ice. Pain is worse at night. Especially when I hear the bikes mewing in the garage.

Approaching the exercises a little gentler now. Was probably overdoing them at first and ended up with a pulled muscle a couple of nights ago. Ahh more pain.

Tomorrow I hassle the local pyhisos for an appointment. Just need to know I’m on track.

Thanks again.

I was trying out a Haibike Enduro or something at work and never appreciated that when the assist mode cut out at 15.5 and you instinctively put more effort in you can get an EAPC up to 26 mph up hill very easily….

23mm on an old Roberts all the way up to a 2.35 Big Apple on a Gryphon.
Can’t tell any difference.

Up and down the SDW most weekends on Landcruisers and not one puncture. Probably jinxed myself now.

Also a big fan of the 32cs. Never had a problem. No problem in getting them on Open Pros either. Didn’t know they weren’t available anymore. Boo.