I returned to cycling in 2009 after a break of a few years, before that it was only BMX and my first big bike was a GT Peace 9r, which I wish I’d never sold. Although my main mtb has 6 gears, I’ve always owned a singlespeed in one from or another (MTB or FG road). I tend to use it for the work commute and shorter local rides. Consequently, it ends up being my most used bike, despite always being the one that’s mostly cobbled together.
I think Alexandera Houchin is an extreme example though; quite a tough gear over a hard course like the TD and you see a monstrous effort. Her Blog makes very interesting reading too.
https://alexandherrastro.wordpress.com/

I’d love to bring back most of 4-later’s content;
Vids
Bits
Exotics
Mostly The Trip though. I’m still surprised there were only a few episodes of that.
BBC2 Sci-Fi film at 18:00 on a Monday.
Channel 4 film seasons.
Betty Blue on TV every now n then.
Get Stuffed? All of Raw Power, played like BBC4 is doing with TOTP.
Actually, Top of the Pops.

I did the Fairies Fairly Flat 150 a couple of years ago and I thin k that took about 9 1/2 hours elapsed. I was a bit dismayed at the end and rode around the block a few times at the finish to get just over 100 miles. I wanted to do a 200km after that as I didn’t feel too bad. Still haven’t done more than 100k since though……

/\/\/\ well done, that man!

I suppose just if there’s enough room to clear a 29×3 under the fork crown. It’s not a deal-breaker, but I’m wondering whether to buy a new tyre in that size or not before it’s released!

Sorry Brant, I feel like I’m badgering you and should just wait and see, but…..in theory, how would the Twentyninbrootzipped fork play with a 29 x 3″? Enquiring minds want to know.

@akira alternatively, sit on the rotor for ten minutes and it feels like your cleaning someone elses.

I’ve always found this a fascinating subject and can heartily recommend Melvyn Bragg’s The Adventure of English. He really gets over the point of where English actually starts. There’s very little of anything the Britons would have spoken, the closest being Gaelic, Welsh and Cornish. Very little of Roman and Viking origin either, except in place names.The core of it being, as a German lady I met once, an underdeveloped German. Then Norman french. I think it’s only later when Latin and Greek started being incorporated. You then get a sense that American English is closer to the English from around the time of independence. Add into that all the other pidgins, creoles etc. and it’s a great subject.

Reply To: Sanding down painted carbon and aluminium…?This guy…….
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/going-full-retro.html

Are you talking about TA Cyclotourist cranks? If so, Shimano do fit nicely and if I remember correctly, 118mm for a triple, 113mm for a double and about 110mm for a single ring. You’ll also need a 23mm x 1mm puller.

That’s what I think the yoot call a nice bike #Epicyclo. I’m at the start of something similar;
I was given a 1938-ish Dawes Efficiency Tourist in a terrible state. The frame and forks are 531 and ridicululously light, though with enough vintage….quirks…..to make it less straightforward.
Headset is one of those headclip types, but at least it’s 1″, so bodgeable. 110mm rear end, but no brake mounts, as it had Resilion cantilevers. So, it’s going to be fixed-gear or coaster braked.
Also, being 26 x 1 3/8, with generous clearances, 650B or possibly 700c wheels for better tyre choice.

No real experience to offer, but had to have a look after reading this. I reckon it looks quite nice, if a bit pricey. But then, if its an insurance job; why not?

I admit I’ve only really just become aware of this, but read through that autocar post and I’ve come to the conclusion that I have absolutely lost any anchoring in reality I may have once had. It looks for all the world like RE is just a brand name for some money laundering operation. Maybe Jordan Childish needs to be taking notes how to really do it properly.

Sort of. No canti mounts. Also, there was a little quirk with the older KM forks that wouldn’t let you use a rotor any larger than 160mm. That was sorted, so I’m pretty sure you can use any diameter you want.

Yeah, I think its 2011 too. The model that still had canti bosses, but the dropped toptube and brace tube of the later models. I think that was one year only. If you run a plus tyre on the front, it just works a leeeeeetle bit nicer than the KM fork and like I say, all the bosses you could ever need.

Think it would make it way too twitchy. I have the ECR fork on mine though. Same length as the KM, but with 5mm more offset, which makes plus tyres handle a bit nicer. Naturally, all the mounts.

Didn’t fancy that 800 quid one???

What you need to do is remove your current brake and find something called an Odyssey Pitbull brake and install that. Ride with that for a week, then re-install your current brake.
Hey presto- it more wonderful than you can believe it!

@MarkBrewer honestly, it’s like a GCSE project.

The only problem I found with the route sheets is that you have to be meticulous with ticking off the last direction, if only mentally. And be strict with that, even if you’re riding with someone else. Tiredness might hinder that process, especially on a longer ride.
Having said that, plenty of people, myself included, still use the sheets exclusively, so it’s not impossible.
Belt and braces then? Fist half via route sheet, then Garmin as you get tired?

SkillswithPhil! I enjoyed that; not too poncy, no exquisite agony biffbaff either!

I thought Parks and Recreation was good for a while, but petered out towards the end. Ron Swanson though is one of the best characters on TV for a very long time. Did you know that all that woodwork is actually all his, er, woodwork?

It’s surprising how old League of Gentleman actually is now.
Bit highbrow, but I’ve been working my way through Johnathan Meades’ old programmes on YT.
Are people watching The Prisoner online or DVD? I loved the original series when C4 showed it in the 90’s. Anyone remember that dreadful reimagining from 10-or-so years ago?

Help him, help him!

@malvernrider funnily I was thinking that the Koa I had was one of the nicer Al frames I’ve ridden.

All aluminium bikes for me;
Claud Butler CRX which was probably one of the 2nd generation of Aluminium where they figured out that you cant just swap like for like with steel. Horrible ride.
SE Floval Flyer which just felt absolutely dead.
Bianchi Pista Concept that I’d swapped with a mate. Stiff, focussed racing bike, horrendous to ride on the roads.

Amazing as always. What boggles my mind even more is what marketing gold Mongoose have in Chris, yet where the hell could you even buy a Mongoose mtb in the UK? They really should just let him draw something up and I’m sure its sell by the container-full.

Did anybody else get the impression that Madonna might not actually be very well? When she was being interviewed, she looked like she was in some discomfort and the way she was descending those stairs gave me the impression she was a touch arthritic. Falling backwards off the stage notwithstanding though….

I have a Rawland Nordavinden, that fits 35mm tyres easily and uses 55mm drop caliper brakes.
Hubjub had them in stock a while back. Pretty light, springy ride if you’re not after a super modern bike. Does gravel just as easily as tarmac.

I’d say just sensible. How about 3×1? Single cog out back with a triple.

Uncle Gary.
Nasty Gash.
The Electric String Quintet.
The Jimmy Saville Experience.
Heavy Skab.
Shovel.
The last two were old bands I was in, but you can have the names.

It’s not a bad idea. I was given an Apollo kids full suss recently. It was in basically perfect condition, just needed the brakes and gears sorting out. My daughter already had a bike, so I tried selling it. Even for £15.00 it was near impossible to sell.
Will you means-test applicants?

Napalm Death’s Peel Sessions could be suitable. Or Sunn o))) Black 1.
Pearls before swine, mind you.

@epicyclo I’m beginning to think that that would be very close. Also keeping in mind how people used to cycle to work and with a change of wheels, race etc. at the weekend.
I’m not personally in this situation, it was just to see where other peoples sorta datum points lie.
How much bike do you actually need to tick the “cyclist” box. I’m starting to build up a mental picture of what my one would be like.
A one-bike-to-rule-them-all is impossible IMO, but that’s not what I’m getting at. I think it’s more about how far you could pare the modern bike back. My own ideas thus far;
1) Steel (I think 4134 minimum) frame and fork, slackish.
2) Rigid for purchase price, maintenance costs etc.
3) Single speed or SA AW, with road-y cranks.
4) I think 700c, 2″ clearance, rim brakes for cost…..
This all rather incoherent as usual.

Some very interesting answers here!
Ok, it’s not financial oblivion, just frugality.

@tthew no, you’ve had to sell all your bikes; this is a separate bike.

@trumpton nope, it’s one bike.
I had a Surly Crosscheck a few years ago and I remember thinking at the time that it could be a one-bike.
What I’m trying to explore is how much influence gear has over our experience of cycling.
I BMX’d all through my teens and early twenties and that really was one bike to do it all. I can remember a widely held prejudice was that mountain bikers were completely gear obsessed to the detriment of just riding (oddly, this didn’t apply to road cyclists). I got my first “modern” mtb in 2009 which was a GT Peace 29er and I loved it, it felt very minimalist, just enough bike to get things done. But as time, experience and money went on, I became more “into” the bikes. Now, currently I have a 7yo Karate Monkey, with a reasonably budget conscious build. I love it, but I do feel little pangs of inadequacy if I turn up for group rides and everyone seems to be on £3k+ bikes. This is totally my problem, of course, but peer pressure and media marketing can be very strong.

Well, thanks for all the replies on this; quite interesting as it wasn’t what I was expecting.
Obviously, being male, it’s not a subject I’ve needed to really consider much before, but I’m also conscious of not wanting to do the usual cycling-man thing of foisting my lack of knowledge and understanding onto my eye-rolling partner.
At the moment, money’s tight, so it’ll be a build, possibly a wide-tyred/gravelly/hybrid.
It seems to me the best compromise would be for us to look at less WSD bikes, but rather WSD contact points?

My special place in hell is reserved for Ed Sheeran. My daughter thinks my reaction to Galway Girl is hilarious and neither her or my wife can quite comprehend why I hate it so much.
You just have to listen to the lyrics and let it paint a picture of what this girl is like. A smoky, alcoholic who he leches over in some Oirish theme pub. The equivalent of posh students in novelty guiness hats on St. Patricks talking about how their father had an Irish beater on their grounds, lovely people and the Craic and all that.
“Dancing the ceilidh, listening to trad tunes” Is possibly one of the worst lyrics in music history.
That and driving at 90 down country lanes.

I’ve had my KM for about 7 years now and I love it. I don’t consider it to be overly lardy at about 14kG with a fairly tight-budget build. Oddly, a friend had a CrossCheck that felt a lot heavier and difficult to see where the weight was. It does have a Knard on the front, and the thick, cheap one at that, but the ride quality more than makes up for it.
Are you looking at the new KM or an old one? As others have pointed out though, the UK price of Surlys has gone sky-high, whereas I think they used to occupy a niche of good value, versatile bikes, they’re now priced into fancier territory.

I remember Glynn Lewis coming to our trails, something like 20 years ago now with a mint signature one ( Rufty Tufty?). Remember thinking he seemed very dodgy.

Similar to what others have said, the parts in an AW hub at least are all hardenend, so if just drilling, then some ability to anneal and re-harden would be a must. Also, from the few I’ve serviced, the space inside is pretty well filled. You could possible lighten the gear and spring carriers, scallop out the sides of the planetary gears and I think that’d be about it.
I’m not sure if the Aluminium shells are any lighter, but I imagine they’d be thicker, so with access to a lathe, you could probably turn off a fair amount from the outside diameter of the shell. Otherwise:
28h hub shell? These are quite common.
Radial nds/2x ds lacing for a 36h hub.
Alloy nuts and spacers with the shortest possible axle you can use.
Also, if I remember correctly, the cogs are quite hefty, but quite hard too. You could drill or scallop one of those, use a 3/32″ rather than 1/8″ and use a smaller chain. Also using as small a cog and chainring combination will get rid of some mass.