When I have bought shifters for the shop they come with cables and outers as well. However these come from Madision, I don’t know what CRC do as I do not buy of them.

I have tried Weldite grease and it is only suitable for those BSO as other grease like Rock n Roll superweb seem to give smoother running for hubs e.t.c. The red weldite stuff is fine though for greasing seaposts.

Cycling sockets, they are a bit thinner than car sockets. Park tool do a board with 3/8″ hex head, torx head and sockets (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 25.4mm), a 3/8″ drive or a torque wrench. Very useful things especially that 25.4mm socket as it fits over all the cassette/freewheel and BB tools and takes a 1/4″ drive. So you can fit a decent bar or torque wrench in and get it undone or done up properly.

A external BB tool with a long breaker bar/torque/wrench ratchet. I would recomend the torque wrench.

A torx key set and an allen key set. A decent set of flat blade and cross head screwdrivers.

A 13/14/15/16/17mm cone spanners along with spanners 8/9/10/15/16/17mm.

Cable cutters are essential as well as a crimping tool for those cable ends.

A park FR-5 cassette tool and chain whip

Chain tool like the park CT-3 (not very portable but it will las forever).

A chain checker like the park CC-2 here are other version but it will allow you to check your chain for wear and change it at 0.75% wear.

Pedal spanner

KMC missling link breaker

A rubber mallet.

That would be a very good starter kit. You can make your own headset press that works well enough for the home mechanic if you are careful from 12 or 13mm threaded bar big flat plate washer and 4 nuts. A proper press makes sense if you are a shop and fitting headset all the time.

I could easily build you a tool kit like this. Cyclus and Park make the best tools so I would stick to those. Although some icetoolz tools are not bad either.

That may seem like alot and it is but it is what you need to do gerneral home maintenence properly and to make it easy. Also do not forget a decent stand.

Reading this thread I do wonder how anyone gets up to 40 or 50 mph but then I remember I live in Suffolk it pretty flat here and long decents are several counties away. So from my perspective where the fastest you are ever going to go is about 35 mph (very breifly) around my way discs are pretty pointless as the short 35mph decent is always followed by a hill afterwards. Rim brakes are not history, I still use an MTB regulalry with canti’s and they are fine for Thetford.

For riding in the hilly areas I can sort of see the point but I do think take up will slow by club riders, certainly the clubs I know in Suffolk.

However having said all that, the Colnago in that link is a neat bike and I would have discs on a road bike over d12 which to me is completly pointless as I never get trouble with my cables or shifting and there is no battery to charge which I would forget to do.

Mavic 717 with a decent set of hubs A2z, shimano or hopes. 717 are narrow enough to fit some Conti Gator Skins 26×1.2″.

I am abit confused by this post as I thought the Whippet as a 26er and folks are talking about fitting 29er wheels would they even clear the fork bridge.

After one nasty ride I had no choice but jetwash the bike, it could not go in the car that thing was caked with thick heavy mud clinging to everything. At one point I could barely move it. The jet wash got rid of the mud but afterwrds the BB and the front caliper were goosed. If I clean my bike I normally do it with a bucket and brush.

That’s why the Kona’s so good, transmission is so direct, no noticable flex.

Jet washing will kill bearing and forks e.t.c. Your bike may run better now but in the long run jet washing will make than maintenance bill more expesive. Don’t ask me how I know.

I ride a Paddy Wagon, it not as light as my steel geared road bike but is a hoot to ride and is fast too. Damm good ride and comfortable too with 28c tyres. The ultrasports it came with though are crap in the sense they puncture easliy. I like the most of the rest of West Suffolk Wheelers am now using Conti gator skins – no puntures any more and it still a great ride. On single speed (it has a flip flop hub) I have done 100 miles + on it thats how comfy it is.

If you had the money and £400 is enough you could try the Cinelli Gazzeta but you would need £750 thats a good bike too (thinking of them for my shop).

http://www.chickencycles.co.uk/index.php?cat=1&sub=118
Scroll down the page they come in three colours.

Its not aa rip off. A hire bike will have a hard life and may get jetwashed which will kill all the bearings and forks. It will be expensive to keep them going.

If you are buying new rings you might as well buy SS rings though but if you are buying a second set of cranks that come with decent rings then use those if that works.

I use a 9 speed TA ring on my saint cranks in the middle position with 1/8″ chain on one of my SS and I have no issues. No guides or tensioners either and yes it has vertical dropouts. 34:16T on 26×2.3″ tyres.

The other single speed uses an 8 speed middleburn chain ring with a 3/32″ chain again no guide/tensioner nonsence, vertical dropouts and flawless perforance. Even older Shimano triple cranks on this one. 36:18T on 26×1.7″ tyres this bike is meant for mudplugging.

The blizzard is a steel bike is it not. Why not get a Pipedream Scion R853. I have a couple hanging on the wall in the shop and they are a lovely thing.

There are closeup photos of the frame on my website
http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk that are not on the pipedream site.

Clicking is not the noise of a pitted hub. Is it the hub that is pitted or the cones. If the hub is pitted then putting new bearings and grease in is the best you can do. And yes the hub will keep running but it will not get any better.

TA Specialites Chinook x10 are damm good rings. I have a ramped one on my single speed without guides/tensioners or any of that nonsence and have never dropped a chain no matter what I try and do – although I do not have funny chainlines like you 1×10 ers do.

I do not believe on hardtails everyone needs guides e.t.c to keep the chain on if the chain is the right length, chain/rings not worn e.t.c If you have a full susser that different then you will more than likely need a upper guide and stinger of some description.

Why not all I have ever riden in the MTB world are 26er’s and I get around trail centres just fine.

I have not worn out an alloy chain ring for a long while. I do use qulaity ones though and I change my chain reguarly. These things help alot.

If I were to build a 16lb MTB over my 26lb Orange I would end up loosing 4.54 kg I would have lost ~4.5% of my total bike + me mass.
I am 94 KG kitted up.

That means my acceleraion is ~3.6% faster on flat smooth ground. Up hill on bumpy ground it is going to make some difference but not alot. The main difference will be on long climbs as you will tire a little less qucikly but not by much.

Lets say you do a climb at 7 mph and you have 100m height gain over 1000 m (I will assume the same tyres, pressures e.t.c) and you are me with at 95 Kg kitted up. Given the weight of the bike + me on either bike is nearly the same the rolling resistance will be nearly identical and I ignoring air resistance at these speeds. I am also ignoring the rotational K.E energy of the wheels as I want to do these sums today.

Light bike energy used in climb
= (101 x 9.81 x 100) +(0.5 x 101 x 3.1^2) ~ 99600 J
Ornage bike energy used
= (106 x9.81 x100) + (0.5 x 101 x 3.1^2) ~ 105000 J

Given the slope is 1000 m long and the speed is 7 mph or 3.1 m/s the time taken is 323 secs. Therefore the power output of me on the light bike is 308W 😯
On the heavier bike my power ouput is 325W. The difference is real and both figures would be higher if rolling resistance, air resistance and rotational K.E of the wheels is added in but the differences are not big either. Also I do not think I could sustain 308W.

Now doing more sums in my simplified model, if I was able to sustain 325W (I can’t) on the lighter bike I would save about 16 second at this power output on this fictious climb over being on the Orange. Which at my level of competitiveness is going to make sod all difference when I race but could affect placings for those after points.

P.S these numbers are fictious as I have ignored rolling resistance, air resistance and rotational K.E of the wheels. I have also assumed a flat hard climb at constant gradient and a rider who maintains a constant speed. When all these factors are taken into account I am sure the difference in time will be a fair bit less.

When I have tried light bikes I have felt a noticebale difference in the way it rides/ acclerates/ handles but I don’t think I was any faster in the real world.

Given the bike is small percentage of rider+bike weight unless you are a 50 kg featherweight then shaving 1kg or so of he bike to get it to 16lb is not going to make that much difference to the rate at which you can climb. The fittness, stamina and skill of he rider is far more important in determining overall pace.

That is why I don’t bother trying to make m bikes lighter, if I want to be faster I should get fitter first.

The black route is best avoided to heavily eroded. You have to head down the un marked trials. Alot of Thetfords trials near the balck route are eroded though. There is some proper single track left but unless you know where it is… The BCP side of the forest is better and there is the Santon side which never gets ridden much.

Budget wheels are all that heavy. Never tried them as I build wheels.

All hardtails are single speeds with the right sprockets (no tensioner needed). So find a frame you like then single speed it. That’s what I would do.

I would not buy a new road bike for £400 unless it was a singlespeed and even then it will a bit comprimised. Cheap road bikes means a cheap finishing kit but worst of all cheap hubs and cheap headset with poor sealing and wheels that will not stay straight. Any cheap bikes mean lots of maintance. If £400 is all you have got look for second hand but look carefully there is alot of dross out there or buy a singlespeed.

EBC for the above reason and that they know a thing or two about car brake pads.

I like the Mavic 521 rim or if your riding a nmore freeride/downhill then try the 721. I have never had any issues with Mavic rims just pick the right ones.

I like Hope hubs (I have a pair) mated to 721 rims but I would buy them again due to price. I normally build wheels for customers with XT hubs and have a couple of XC wheels built using these. I would use these again for my self without hesitation, although the hopes have given me years or faithful service.

The one thing about Hope they do use decent spokes – Sapim race it what i use as well. If you get custom wheels make sure they use decent spokes. Also avoid annosied nipples, they may look pretty but alloy nipples will sieze in short order and make any subsequent truing more expensive.

I have never had any of Hopes wheels has anyone put one in a jig and measured the lateral and radial run out?

I like cars but only now do I have a car worth less than my bikes and even though its a £500 car it is the best car I ever owned.

That review did say it were stiff. It may be a fit issue but it may not.
Have you tried a more comfortable saddle such as the Sella Italia C2 or something similar? You could also try a 28c tyres as that should help a bit. Also narrower tyres on wider rims like the velociy a23 can also help. I say help but possibly not help enough. The frame can make a big difference to how the bike feels but so does the saddle, bars, fork, wheels e.t.c.

I know what works for me on the rough roads of Suffolk and Essex.
I know I have no issues on the Traitor Exile steel frame that I ride, it is very comfortable (my own wheels, C2 saddle, steel fork…). Unfortunatly no in the U.K socks them now but I might start doing so again). Also the Tifosi CK3 is an inexpensive frame is lighter and I think it is quite comfortable. They are avaialable as frame only as well.

Which is better Aluminium frames or carbon fibre frames, it all depends who has made the frame and that is rarely the bike brand themselves. De Rosa 838 is not a cheap bike but is made in the far east and a friend has starting importing them to brand them him self. So cheap carbon can mean rebranded carbon, that’s what Ribble and planet X do.

Although for club run and a bit of racing a featherweight carbon bike is not always needed. I ride a steel framed bike on Sunday club runs and it capable enough for me I use Campag Veloce and ride up 60-100 miles a week on it for the last 6 months and I am very happy with it.

I could race it but I won’t as I XC race instead. The majority of club riders that I ride with use Tiagra, 105 or Veloce. I rarely see a better speced bike on a club run. You should be able to build up a decent Aluminim framed bike for club runs and some racing for £700-£1000 depending on spec. I sell them.
Also you could try the Tifosi CK2 which is a carbon bike wih full mudguards and can take 25c tyres. It come with Veloce. Should be about £1500 (I can supply those too).

Try before you buy is best advise I can offer and talk to some club riders. However what ever bike you go for look at the tyres. Most in the West Suffolk Wheelers use Coninental Gator skins or the GP series tyres in the summer wih very good reason because we have tried the others and we didn’t like them.

I presume this chainring is orginally part of a multi gear setup, if so a 3/32″ chain will work fine. I run two single speed one with a 1/8″ chain and the other with a 3/32″ – the difference the 1/8″ chain weighs a bit more. Use a Z82 3/32″ chain cheap and chearful.

Since cables work well for me and are lot cheaper I cannot see the point unless you are a competitive racer. Also for me I would forget to charge the battery and end up in one gear on ride, probably a really tall one when hitting a big hill. Also cable systems are alot cheaper to fix when they go wrong.

I’m sticking to cables until cable systems are no longer sold.

Maany LBS inlcuding mine will pull the race of for you for free. I would recomend doing it this way as I have seem many crown seats with srewdriver marks and those need facing. Fitting the new race with a piece of wood and a hammer will do no harm. The proper parks tools will set you back about £180 (puller and crown race setter) + a fiver for 12mm threaded bar and washer + nuts to make a press.

The frame could be retapped to a Italian threading (it’s larger at 36mm) but then you would need an external BB with Ital threads (road BB) and use the axle pipe from a 68/73mm BB (as Ital BB shells are 70mm wide). A square taper 70mm Italian BB could run in a 68mm shell with a spacer. This would be cheaper.

I would not worry about the weight.

Thomsen elite 27.2 x 330 seatpost only weighs 241g I would not call that alot. I would change the tyres. Continental Raceking Supersonics weight in at 440g or so. That would shave a couple of lbs of striaght away.

One of my 26″ SS is 26lbs in weight but it use 721 rims, 2.3 Vertical tyres, saint cranks and other bombproof kit. I love riding it. Does that make you feel better?

I have two steel road bikes, both with steel striaght blade forks. One runs 28c gatorskins the other 23c gator skins. Stangley it is the traitor running 23c tyres that is the most comfortable. So some steel can be harsher than others.

However Alu frames do tend to be a bit stiffer but the wheels, spokes, tyres, tyre pressure, forks, handlebars, stem all make a difference to the harness of the ride. So you will just have to test ride to see what you like. If I was buying a Cross bike the Croix de Fer and Tifosi CK1 are the two I would look at.

edit

I have an mid ninites Kona rigid 8 speed as well and that alo of fun but I prefer my later 80’s Marin rigid SS for fun. That bike is perfect. I prefer it to my “modern”. I am a fan of old steel Kona’s, Marin’s and others.

Wheel building is easy. If you are near Glemsford Suffolk I will happily show you in my shop (I won’t even charge given you are determined to give it a go).

Well I am using Saint triple on one bike with a bash guard and no inner- bombproof and on the other I have used set of Shimano Exiage 300LX cranks with a middleburn ring (it’s a 1989 Marin so I felt period cranks are appropriate).

On both SS bikes I use 8/9 speed rings and have never had a chain escape.

So pick up a second hand set of Shimano, Raceface… or whatever takes your fancy and remove the ouer and inner ring and job done cheaply.

Well I am using Saint triple on one bike with a bash guard and no inner- bombproof and on the other I have used set of Shimano Exiage 300LX cranks with a middleburn ring (it’s a 1989 Marin so I felt period cranks are appropriate).

On both SS bikes I use 8/9 speed rings and have never had a chain escape.

So pick up a second hand set of Shimano, Raceface… or whatever takes your fancy and remove the ouer and inner ring and job done cheaply.

If I was only allowed one bike I would change my circumstances. I once had only one bike and I have no idea how I coped.

Traggic even more so someone blaming those that encourage cycling.