1×11 on mine. 11-32 cassette with a 38t chain ring.

Seems to work for most stuff. Something a bit “spinnier” might occasionally be nice but I can live with it.

Bike Park Wales in general.

Some nice bits of trail but so disappointing to find myself at the bottom waiting for a bus after 10 mins on the bike. Not my idea of bike riding.

I suppose it depends what you use your CX bike for. I’ll put a grud guard / crud catcher on mine in the winter to keep some crud off and to keep my bum dry. That’s for mixed road / off road rides though rather than pure road. I probably won’t do much in the way of just road riding but if I was going to then I suppose I’d consider full guards although the aesthetics (or lack of), really put me off. I might just get a decent turbo trainer instead. That doesn’t help if you need to commute by bike of course.

I’m just changing the 40c WTB Nanos that came on my Arkose for some 35c WTB Cross Boss tyres. Partly because I want to see how it feels with a skinnier tyre, partly because I want “proper” tubeless ready tyres to set up tubeless (the Nanos it came with aren’t the TCS ones). If I switch back to Nanos I’ll order the TCS version.

I want to mix road and off road sections so tyre choice is always going to be something of a compromise, especially when things get a bit wetter.

You could always put a smaller chain ring on for hills but then that may limit you on the flats and downs. I do like 1×11 but admit it’s not necessarily the most versatile setup.

I like it 🙂

Swapped the bar tape for something thicker straight away. Put a 90mm stem om instead of the stock 80mm to give me a tad more reach. The tyres are a bit draggy on the road but that’s the compromise for off road grip. I’m planning to convert to tubeless but haven’t gotten around to it yet. It works pretty well off road though. Really quite capable with the 40mm tyres. The 1×11 gearing works ok around here (Chilterns), but if you lived somewhere really hilly you may want to change the ratio. Or not.

I haven’t ridden a large frame so can’t say how that would fit but I’m happy with the way the medium feels.

I have it on good authority that there will be a steel model. Probably in a 1×11 format.

Updated mine but not used it for navigation since.

I still struggle to get courses to download via Garmin Connect though.

On the whole, it really is rather crappy.

Ok cool. I might just give them a try then instead of shelling out for the “proper” tubeless ready version.

I haven’t sold anything for the kind of usage you are describing. Mostly its been for usage in magazines or books.

If you use an agency you normally have standard terms with them. They market and sell the images for use and you get a fee/percentage/royalty or whatever (depends on the terms of the agreement).

If you are dealing direct with a company that wants to use the images then you have more control. For something in print like a book you’d normally agree a fee based on the type of publication and the print run.

It can be a bit of a mine field to be honest. The NUJ website used to have some good guidance on rates but that was mostly for publications. Might be more difficult if it was say an image to be used on a t shirt or something but you could apply the same basic logic (what’s the usage? what volume? how long for?).

It would very much depend on the terms of the agreement.

You need to think about how much you are potentially giving over to them and how much, if any, say you get in how/where images are used.

Also with regard to royalties – 5% of what exactly?

My website, if that is of any interest –

I’m not a professional but I have sold images in the past and have been represented by an agency / distributor.

I ordered a medium. Should be here tomorrow 🙂

Thanks all. Much appreciated. Looks like medium is the way to go but if anyone thinks differently please speak up with an opinion.

Cheers

Thanks guys. I had been thinking large but now leaning towards medium.

Any more opinions?

I’m sort of in the same situation – but not quite.

I mostly ride MTB and have bikes to cover most options (hardtail, full suss, SS). I also enjoy a bit of road and have a Cannondale Synapse that I really like (so not quite the same situation as you there).

I like the idea of a bike I can use for some winter road riding, but also something I can use for a bit of gravel/lanes/towpath type shortcuts or just mixed in with road rides for variety.

So similar to you but different. You’re not likely to find someone with exactly the same set of circumstances, preferences and priorities though…..

For what it’s worth, I’m very tempted by the Arkose 5 that is currently on sale for £1200. For the price it looks like a great option – even if the colour is a bit iffy).

Plenty of threads about plenty of things around here. I’ve read some threads where the Arkose is discussed. I didn’t see anything that addressed my specific questions though. Hence my asking.

Ooops. Typo. I meant Pinnacle Arkose 5.

Beer after a ride. It’s the law.

Yeah there is the tyres issue. I thought about that but then really, how many tyres do you need? One decent set of slicks and maybe something with a bit of nobble on it for the winter.

Given that the 650b with 45c profile is supposed to be the same as a 700c with 23c tyres then in theory you should be able to run 700c wheels with a skinny tyre if you wanted to but that seems to defeat the object.

I can’t be bothered on my road bike. Run tubeless on my MTBs though.

On the road I run 28c tyres at about 85-90 psi (82kg), which seems good to me. Very rarely get punctures on the road so doesn’t seem worth the hassle to go tubeless.

Trail Addiction are good.

Endura Humvee Convertable jacket is worth a look. Light, waterproof, has a hood in the collar, converts to a gillet, packs up small.

Yes. Probably.

Any chance of a re-run before the end of the “summer”?

Next time. Hopefully.

It may be the standard, non “team”, Saxon Cross that you saw. It looks almost the same but retail is about £1500.

Interestingly, a couple of shop sites are showing the 2016 Whyte Saxon Cross (although not in stock), even though it’s not actually on the Whyte web site yet.

http://www.rockandroadbikes.com/whyte-saxon-cross-team-2016/p809

Seems to be £1999 which is £400 cheaper than the 2015 model. May be due to using own brand fork and hubs instead of Easton. Looks nice though. They’ve gone for the wedge type seat post clamp which is nice and seem to have removed the cable stop for the front mech which is neater. Looks nice.

Looks better. Simple as that.

Oooooo that is a good deal. My size too.

Having said that, I much prefer the 2015 models internal cable routing and 1×11 gearing.

But the 2014 model is reduced by £800…….

I’m quite tempted by the Arkose 5 –

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/arkose-five-2015-adventure-road-bike-ec071309

Looks good for the money (currently £1200), but the colour is a bit minging. Dull grey with a rather dodgy splatter effect. May go see if I can see one in the flesh as I can’t find a good picture online anywhere.

Garmin Fenix 3 here too.

I wanted a Garmin to keep it simple as I also use a Garmin Edge 800. Was previously using a Polar watch which was good but meant using two different bits of software / web sites to upload and download stuff.

The Fenix 3 does everything I need plus a ton of stuff I don’t need so probably a bit overkill. Works well though so happy to recommend it. There are cheaper options out there though.

All day XC? Do you really need knee pads for that?

Any chance of posting the off road .gpx Dr P ?

I didn’t look at the weight of the Saxon Cross to be honest. What would you expect the weight to be at that kind of price? What are you comparing it with?

If you have a Garmin device that supports Live Tracking via your phone then that works pretty well.

I’m currently having the same dilemma / debate.

I fancy getting a cross bike although I don’t really need one. Definitely an N+1 purchase.

I rather like the look of this –

http://whyte.bike/gb/models/all-terrain/cx-cyclocross/saxon-cross-team/

Thanks. Looking forward to the off road gpx. I’d like to do this ride some time although I’ll more likely do it as London-Brighton-London.

Just realised this is next Sunday. How did it get to be nearly August already? That being the case, I won’t be able to play. Bugger. Would be interested in the route if you have a .gpx to share though.

Oh I say, I like the sound of this.

I’m from north of that London but have friends who live in Brighton so could possibly arrange to crash with them and get Er Indoors to come down for the evening / drive me home again.

I don’t have a cross bike but this sounds like just the sort of excuse I have been looking for to get one.

What tyres though? Presumably not full on knobbly cross tyres given the road bit at the start so needs to be something of a compromise.

Keep me informed please. I’ll try to follow this thread for updates.

Cheers

DB 🙂