I’ll be at the Stanmer Park one on Nov 4th…

Yes, cuddly types do race… not everyone’s a racing snake.

CX is good for you! 😀

Good for the mind, body and soul.

Repeat that to yourself when your lungs are about to explode out of your chest! 😯

Yes to all of the above… and yet, you’ll love it.

It is addictive and the most fun you can have with your pants on! 😀

It’s neither Fish nor Fowl is it?

Do we have any Gravel races, or events in the UK? (I wish we did because I’d be well up for it….)

And what’s wrong with a CX bike this kind of use anyway? Seems like another niche of a niche of a niche that the Bike Industry wants everyone to buy into.. $$$$$$$

SRAM simply cannot make well-functioning frt derailleurs.

My SRAM Red persisted with the exact same problem for months.. a simple test is to leave everything as is (shifter, cable, housing etc) and simply swap out the frt derailleur for a Shimano or Campag.

I did and the shifting was flawless – same cables. housing etc. Proving that the SRAM frt derailleur was simply just crud.

The problem is, that once I’d done that, it was slippery slope to getting rid of ALL teh SRAM crap and replacing it with Campagnolo, which is flawless.

Scrumtious build!

Frt derailleur cage is too high and you need to put ferrules on your cables – otherwise great.

Oh, and what about a leaf blower? 😀

Certain models of Campagnolo housings do not require ferrules… check the instructions in the packet.

Went to enter it today and… SOLD OUT!!

Bum.

I’m deeply saddened by all this… I was a big fan of George Hincapie’s, not so much Armstrong, Landis, Barry et al.

A sad day for cycling indeed.

Interesting that several who doped and were still competing have retired this year (Hincapie, Barry)… methinks this has to have been forced upon them rather than a personal choice of their own making.

And as for those still competing – Leipheimer, Zabriskie, Van de Velde, Danielson etc… good to see they’re all banned now.

I ride there all the time.

Next time try Jay’s Lane from the bottom (Jobson’s Lane) – that’s pretty darned steep but is short. At the top, turn left at T junction, continue down to Jobson’s Lane again. Then go right (south) to Highstead Lane at Lickfold (fork right, by ‘Shotter Farm’). Then continue on as Highstead Ln becomes Easebourne St… and go up the most motherf***g steep hill you’ll ever ride. It makes the Koppenburg look easy.

The last rider I took up that road puked….(!) 😀

I stopped reading Dirt last year… just got fed up with how juvenile the writing is. Whatever they write about, it all comes across as a bunch of 16-year-olds “Orsum” clap-trap.

I like the colour.. but suggest you ditch the red highlights… they just don’t work.

Spending £30 – £50 on entry fees just isn’t worth it.

Course layouts could be a lot better – it’s a complete waste of an entry fee shooting off the line in an MTB race to then be standing next to your bike queueing to enter the first section of single track with a big bottleneck of riders. Race organisers need to think much better about how to funnel riders into the course properly.

As for entry fees – the average MTB race/Sportive costs £30 – £50 and you get a couple of water/feed stops plus a waymarked course (sometimes poorly way marked!).

By comparison, the Tour of Flanders Sportive costs £25 to enter, has incredible signposting, marshalls at every junction & roundabout over the entire 160 mile length of the course, Police and organiser motorcycle marshals/outriders and the most incredible food stops you can imagine – well stocked, plentiful, almost no queueing, friendly staff, etc etc.

WAKE UP organisers!!!

Ride what ya want.. each type of pedal has its advantages/disadvantages. Do you always ride the same tyres in every terrain? The same forks? Even the same bike?

I ride SPDs most of the time for trail use – but flats all the time for DH.

4 weeks ago I rode down the Champery World Champs course – on flats – and there’s no way I’d ride it on SPDs. It was barely manageable on flats so far as I’m concerned.

Thanks for replies.

Yes, I’ve thought about going 1 x 10spd – but to do that I’d need to buy a Shifter, Cassette, Chain and rear Derailleur.. so as others have posted it ain’t cheap!

I’m off up to Peaslake now for a 4hr hoon around on MTB – will then pootle over to probably Cranleigh to watch ToB come through while enjoying a nice Cappucino!

Both the cotic and genesis look ace.

…and are very heavy!

I’ve had both – and sold both.

Neither is a good CX bike – they are marketing to a current fashion trend.

Both are great hack bikes, made for larking about on, and if that’s all you want they’re great.

But don’t expect a proper, fast, nice riding CX bike out of them.

Did you mention the poor spoke tension to them Digger90?, i’m sure they would rebuild the wheel with correct tension free of charge as they pride themselves on faultless builds and customer service.

No. I’m sure they would have done, but it would have meant boxing/packing and sending the wheel back to them and waiting a while.

I have spoke keys and truing stand so did it myself.

I’m happy with JRA’s customer service – they seem good. The point is, it should not have happened to a handbuilt, £400 wheel set in the first place.

You think an Inbred is comfortable???? Mine was a jackhammer compared to many bikes I’ve owned – I got rid, quick.

Cheap gas pipe steel is awful no matter who’s brand it is. Good quality, expensive steel that’s well made is “Real” and is MUCH more comfortable than the cheapo stuff.

Mind you, good quality, expensive carbon that’s well made is “Real” too… and good quality, expensive Alu that’s well made is “Real” too..

i.e. a well designed, well made frame that’s made from high end materials will (usually) ride far better than an inexpensive frame that’s made from dirt cheap materials (no matter how well that dirt cheap frame is made).

Just to counterbalance this, I’ve bought 3 sets of wheels from JRA.. 2 sets very good, no problems, last set (road wheels) the rear wheel spokes went very loose after a couple of rides.

Turns out ALL the spokes in that wheel were very, very loosely tensioned – certainly not good enough to keep the wheel straight and certainly not good enough on a £400 set of handbuilt wheels.

May have been built by a trainee or junior? Or maybe just a Friday afternoon pair?

epo-aholic,

If yer looking for some I have a pair of genuine Frogglegs you can have for £20 posted (have had a minor mod done on them to make them easier to adjust). Black.

Or, if you want to go Bling (these are over your budget but are DEFINITELY worth it) I have a set of virtually new, hardly used, Avid Shorty Ultimates complete in original boxes/packaging for £110 posted,

email in profile if interested.

Also, I can answer any question you like about CX canti’s if you want – I’ve owned a great many sets over the years (have been racing CX for 20+ years now!)

Read this article – it’ll make you weep re PF BB’s and also most ceramic bearings…

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Bearing_Breakdown_2822.html

That’s weird – because the 2 SRAM 10spd chains I bought both needed pliers to install and split the split link whereas the KMC 10spd chain I replaced them with didn’t…

To answer the original question, the only way to tell is to add up what you think you’d get for it in parts and advertise it complete for that much (less the cost of all the individual postage/packing & hassle).

Someone may buy it for that… OTOH if it doesn’t sell complete people will always ask if you’re prepared to split.

Aha!

Thanks…

Perhaps we could make an e-Petition to get the Government to import some gravel roads from Iowa and Kansas so we could all buy Salsa Warbirds and have somewhere appropriate to ride them?

All Stans ZTR rims are great – I have a set of Flows and a set of Crest’s on Hope Pro II’s – both for my 5 Spot.

Use the Flows for ‘big days out’ like FoD, Morzine etc and the Crests all year round. The Crests can certainly take a hammering, that’s for sure – mine are 2yrs old, thrashed each week, and still perfect. The Flows even more so….

Oh… I just Googled it.

Looks like it’s the new niche in Kansas and Iowa…. great. 😕

Gravel Racing????

Army Surplus?

What’s wrong with the Tour of Flanders?

There wasn’t 25k riders (more like 15k) but if you did the full 250kms distance it certainly wasn’t crowded.

Google not working today then?

They are 2004.

You need 2 seals.

Try eBay, TF Tuned and the other usual suspects.

From the comments it seems that it may surprise some folks on here that there is such a thing as someone who is proud of Britain, proud to be British, but who is not a Monarchist.

I love my country.

I do not believe in nor do I support monarchy.

I’d proudly represent Great Britain if only I had the talent.. and if I won a medal no, I would not sing a song in praise of the Queen.

Each to his own – which Piers Morgan’s puerile tweet fails to recognise.

All those bike-specific chain lubes are a waste of money.

Just use small drips of any old oil you have in the shed. Unless it rains, chain lube on a road bike lasts ages.

A proper set of road clipless pedals makes a big difference (I have found) to your ride.. so much so, that I hate using SPD’s on my road bikes now.

TBH there’s not much difference between Shimano and Look clipless systems, I’ve used both interchangeably for years. Agree with the post earlier saying just buy a cheap or mid-priced set, as you really don’t seem to get much performance benefit from the more expensive pedals.

Have not used Speedplays but they’re marketing themselves heavily and sponsoring several pro teams in 2013… could be good, but then there’s nothing wrong with the large/wide pedal interface that you get from Shimano or Look.

I currently use Shimano Ultegra. Approx £60.

Just pathetic – what sad lives these people must have, taking drugs to do well in a Sportive???

Honestly – who among us wouldn’t have done that if given the opportunity? I know I would. And I’d have probably come across as a knob too… 😀

OK, his quotes are nonsense.. “Smashing it up the River” is total bolx, and honestly.. who gets into a bath wearing their cycling kit?

But, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt… film crews and producers in particular ask people to do some really stupid things and may well have scripted his lines for all we know. I’m sure he didn’t think getting in the bath wearing his kit was a good idea all on his own.

The finger of blame should be pointed at Halfords for creating THE most annoying TV adverts ever seen in recent history. Francis’ stupid pranks portray an image of cycling that is totally wrong, but if that is the nonsense Halfords wish to project then more fool them!

Godzilla – he could well be interested. I’ll link this thread to him…

Stumpy – needs 31.8 did, sorry.

Turner Flux meets your criteria – they can be real rippers on the trail, can be built as light XC type (but not strictly speaking a race XC bike), can be built burlier for more fun on jumpy downhill things (although the 5 Spot takes that to a whole other level).

I had a Flux and loved it for the type of riding you describe.

It’s not a problem at all as when pootling along on the bike you don’t really notice it of course.

It’s only when you swap to another bike you go “Holy Sh1t the steering’s much nicer on this”…

Some comparisons:

Frame HT Angle (degrees)

Cotic X 71

Singular Kite 72

Planet X Uncle John 72

Santa Cruz Stigmata 72

Planet X Kaffenback 73