Perhaps I should have said ‘high end carbon road frame’. If I went metal, I’d probably go for a custom frame from Donhou, Feather, Saffron, Burls etc.

Good shout on Pinarello – I’ll check them out.

I’ve had a Ritchey Road Logic – LOVED the way it rode, but the really short HT just killed my back.

I’m wishing I’d not sold my Colnago C59…

I have a pretty much brand new pair of Schwalbe G-One’s in 38mm if yer in need of a pair…?

email in profile.

Where can I get info about the Devon event?

Googling around doesn’t produce any info…

Did the 100 on Sunday. Great course, very CX-bike appropriate and loved it.

How picturesque was that? :-)

I got it to work perfectly fine. YMMV.

10spd Campag Veloce shifters, Xenon rear derailleur, Shimano 12-28 10spd 105 rear cassette.

Set it perfectly on the 5th cog and you’ll find the shifting is fine. There is approx 1mm total difference in width between Campag and Shimano 10spd cassettes – therefore you are looking at approx 0.5mm difference at top and bottom ends. It’s not noticeable. In fact, my Campag/Shimano mix shifts smoother, quieter and better than the Shimano 105 shifters did.

I had the same problem – in fact, worse.

Over the course of 2 months I ordered – and returned – 13 pairs of shoes from Wiggle, CRC, Merlin and other places. Fortunately most of them use Collect+ so not a problem, but I paid postage on a couple of returns.

Then went to Sigma Sport to try on several pairs and ended up buying Lake CX237 – spot on sizing, nice wide toe box and forefoot, bang on.

Very happy with the shop and the shoes. Wont bother with shoe shopping on t’Interweb again.

Charlie, Are there places on the route to buy food or do riders carry everything for 100 miles themselves?

It’s my first time at the Gravel Dash this year. How does your advice above

eat and drink every 20 mins

reconcile with the statement below taken from the Gravel Dash website:

– Expect no marshals on route, expect no food stops (but I may sort something).

My Planet X XLS Medium for half your budget?

See ad here if interested… http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/planet-x-xls-size-54cms-medium

I’m 5’9 and a bit… I like road bikes with a 55cms (ish) effective TT.

My summer bike is a Colnago C59 in 52S

Saddle height in the pic is 73cms from BB centre to top of seat

You have a good eye – Yes, it’s a 53cms.

5th ride on it today – gotta say I literally couldn’t be more pleased. It’s a very well balanced bike, precise steering, good handling, is a great climber and rolls extremely well along flat and rolling terrain. In short, a very good bike indeed! :-)

Merry Christmas all…

Here’s my Ritchey Road Logic new winter steed freshly built up (steerer tube will be trimmed next week):

As mboy says, life’s too short to ride cr@p bikes.

I spend as many, if not more months, riding my winter bike as my summer bike (typically Nov-May vs. Jun-Sep), so why not be delighted with your winter steed, and look forward with excitement to the ride?

Here’s my new winter steed freshly built up (steerer tube will be trimmed next week):

Thanks guys!

@Dibbs – no, search not broken, I looked at that thread but I want normal, good quality bearing grease for Road hubs – not waterproof/Marine grease thats as thick as chewing gum. I have a tube of that already.

It’s quite clearly a failure of the bonding, so hopefully it’ll be warrantied.

Beautiful!

38c Schwalbe CX tyres front & back on my XLS are fine, with plenty of clearance.

Exercise performance deteriorates in colder weather – there’s a ton of published research available about that, such as this:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/microsites/lds/EEC/ICEE/textsearch/09articles/Sandsund.pdf

Very sorry to hear of your loss.

I did a bit of Googling around and found this which he might like… £13-£15 on Amazon

Too right life’s too short to ride crappy bikes…

After several years buying cheapo winter bikes during the winter and realising that it’s no fun riding something that has a dead, plank-like feeling like many cheap frames do, these past 3 years I’ve bought a 2nd frame identical to my summer bike and built it up with lesser components -that way I was always riding a great frame that fitted me perfectly all year round.

This year however, I’ve got myself a Ritchey Road Logic for winter and Spring Classics duties. They reputedly ride brilliantly.

Can’t wait to get this thing built up!

BITD I raced CX in California and was sponsored on a team for 4 seasons… one of those seasons I rode SS CX, having got into it via a winter of fixed gear riding for training/developing a good spin.

I had a great time!

In every race, everyone blew past me from the gun and by the first corner I was dead last. By the end of the 1st lap I was significantly far behind.

BUT… remember the tortoise & hare? On a SS CX I found you get into a good, fast rhythm and just kept that going for the whole hour, whereas everyone else went out like bats out of hell at the start, then the speed dropped off from the halfway point of the race. The last 15mins of every race I was overtaking lots & lots of riders left, right and centre.

I never won a CX race outright on my SS CX, but my God it was fun. And seeing the look on my compadres faces 50 minutes into a hard race as I went past them was priceless.

:-)

Lake MX237,

Wide enough for my F width feet in their normal fitting. Their wide fitting must be like boats!

Their road CX237 is identical, which I use on the road.

I’ve had many cross bikes, steel, alloy and carbon (I used to race on a team years ago) and have had a CAAD X and currently ride the Planet X XLS.

Of those 2, I think the Planet X has by far the better ride quality. It handles all types of terrain well (tight/twisty vs open/fast), accelerates well, etc. To me, the Cannondale wasn’t quite as capable everywhere that the XLS is and didn’t do it’s stuff quite as well.

Downsides?
At this price range they’re all too heavy: you get a reasonable frame (not a great frame, but an ‘OK enough’ frame) that’s got fairly cr@ppy components on it, with really cheap/heavy wheels. My XLS with 105 weighs 23lbs.

These days I don’t race anymore, I just thrash around the woods, so it’s perfect for that – plus it makes an OK winter bike as it’s impervious to cr@p weather and has disc brakes. I even rode the full 254kms Tour of Flanders on my XLS this year – although there are better choices out there for that kind of thing, it’s definitely not a proper road bike.

I disagree with the comment about not enough mud clearance… there’s plenty. If you’re racing, you’re not gonna be running 40mm+ tyres anyway – it’s not Monstercross! Besides, you’d be too slow and you’re restricted to max width of 35mm in any case. Plenty of mud clearance with 35’s on my XLS.

I’ve heard of other ways of avoiding airline baggage charges! Check out the price of couplings too – £625. I had a custom titanium frame with couplings built for the same money in China.

Details please… have Googled around but cant find any info…

April’s possibly too early for big climbs, because the high mountains will still have snow on them and/or the weather could be iffy.

My recommendations:

1. Lake Como
Stayed in/near Bellagio – did a lap of the lake (100 miles), rode Madonna di Ghisallo climb (a classic), the Sormano (ridiculously steep), rode to Lake Lugano and back, plus lots and lots of BIG climbs on both sides of the lake.

2. Bormio, Italy
The Stelvio of course (from both sides), plus the Gavia, Mortirolo etc…

3. Pyrenees
Just got back from riding Tourmalet (both sides), Col d’Aubisque, Hautacam, etc in the Pyrenees – also great but April too early for these, plus…

4. St Jean de Maurienne – has 5 out of 10 of the TdF’s top climbs in the vicinity: Col du Galibier/Col de Telegraphe, Col de la Croix de Fer/Glandon, Col de la Madeleine, Col d’Iseran, plus Alpe d’Huez is not too far away in Bourg d’Oisans

A bit ore than OP’s budget, but does anyone have the Park Tools TW-5 1/4 in drive torque wrench?

I always trust Park Tools and at £74.99 am tempted…

Any actual owner reviews?

Thx guys…

These come with Western Europe maps – is there a cheap/no cost method of also downloading USA onto them as I’ll be visiting Boston/Massachusetts later this year?

Tomac for sure.

Cant see Miliband as PM…

Cameron not so convinced about either

Clegg.. well.. just really?

perhaps you should vote based on the issues and policies put forward at an election rather than pinning colours to a mast

Would be fine if the parties actually got on and did what they said they would in their manifesto’s… but they don’t. They’re usually empty promises – more like short-term advertising slogans than genuine statements of policy.

The Koppenberg isn’t unrideable if you enter the full distance as by the time you get there the folks that entered the shorter distances will have cleared away. At least they have by the time I get there, but maybe I’m slow (9hrs for the full 250kms).

You read some people saying don’t bother riding the proper long course because all the hills come in the latter part of the course, too many people, blah blah… to my mind, if you’re gonna do the Ronde, you do the Ronde. Anything less than the full length and you’re just kidding yourself. And you’re missing out on the whole point of doing it in the first place.

I’ve done it 3 times – loved every single second of it, although very painful every year.

He rides about as well as my Grandmum…. yawn.

Been using Sta-Lube for 20+ years now… http://www.amazon.com/Sta-Lube-Marine-Trailer-Bearings-14-Ounce/dp/B000KKLLPS

Its Marine grade “Boat Trailer Bearing Grease”. Very stringy and sticky.

Very effective and good for hub/headset bearings on winter bikes.

I should have said, an HR readout is a must – preferably one that doesn’t use a chest strap.

Black Friday?

Another irritating American import intended solely to fuel rampant consumerism.

We keep pondering the same question, as we’ve been to Morzine 8 years running now. Definitely wanting somewhere else.. but we hear most places are good for 2-3-4 days at most (Pila, Les Arcs, etc) but not enough for a whole week of DH only.

Have you tried a Transition? They are very ‘poppy’ playful, smile-inducing bikes.

When I got it, I literally couldn’t believe how poppy my TR450 is and owners say they Covert and Bandit are even better.

Interested in this thread as I’ve often wondered about Are too – although how do you reckon it’s cheaper? Whenever I look at flights they’re much more expensive than a flight to Geneva..

My ride focus is fast, pretty aggressive style. Love swoopy single track, rough as hell, and smallish jumps.

Dave Turner has posted on MTBR saying any thin grease, including Vaseline, works fine in Igus journal bearings. It is not there to lubricate the bearing but rather to keep water out.

Yep, me.

Anything less than the full 250km just isn’t taking it seriously…. :D

See here http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/flanders-cyclo-whos-going-and