Tsk, and you didn’t drop in 🙁

Glad it’s going well, Rob. The option to flip the middle finger at your current employer must be overwhelmingly tempting! 😈

I get on well with the Tifosi reactive lenses, have had a couple of sets for several years now. Pretty good value too.

Hmmm.. that does look good! Ta for the tip.

Me and my Flo as we hit the outskirts of Santiago after a 10 day, 790km ride on the Camino de Santiago from St Jean Pied de Port in France, across the Pyrenees and then west through the north of Spain.

The Flo is absolutely superb as a touring bike, has the relevant rack mounts and also the (steel) frame breaksaway into two parts for ease of carriage. I think I was carrying about 9kg in the Vaude panniers.

My mate who I was riding with has since got a Cross Check, and I’ve just built a Fargo, and we’re giving it some serious thought as to whether to do this again (it was just such a great experience) or something else like LEJOG off road.

Zoolander is clearly of impeccable taste and wisdom 🙂

Yeah that’s confused me all right… 😕 If that announcement supersedes the email that I had which cancelled the order then I’m confused but happily so!

Oddly enough I am also just about to build up my first 29er today (a Fargo) and had been looking at trying a Carnegie bar in flipped mode (1″ drop). All sorts of choices!

@bikepimp – yes, you won’t need the stepdown if you’re using Shimano cranks.

@headsup – interesting, as I’ve just had to replace my King BB (MTB) AND get my BB shell re-faced because the bearings stuck to the axle, the driveside cup then came away with the driveside crank when I tapped (and I do mean, gently tapped) it out and stripped the BB thread… wasn’t happy! The driveside cup metal was smeared flat, which I guess backs up your comment on soft metal.

Thanks, OCB – I was wondering about moustache bars of some sort but I figure I’ll be fitting full drops at some point anyway for the Soras, and something like the Carnegies would be close enough to flat to fit normal MTB kit on.

Feel free to drop me a line (details in profile) if you have any further info on the ones you’re planning on flogging, there’sa set on CRC which is on my wishlist… 🙂

As Zoolander. Found no difference to pedalling effort / speed changing from 175 to 170, but it made a helluva difference on my Superlight to pedal strikes in the ruts on the Ridgeway / around Wiltshire.

Lighter too 😉

What Stuey01 said! Have fun and take it steady.

Ta. Yes, I run the RL520s with bar ends on my Traveller’s Check for the V brakes on that, I really like them. I was looking to use STI brifters though on the Fargo, as I have some old Sora 9 speed ones kicking around.

I have run those Soras with Travel Agents on the Vs, and they work well, but the Travel Agents for MTB BB7s are different from those used for Vs.

So by the time I pay out for a pair of in-line Travel Agents at £27 each end (which also look a bit gash zip tied to the frame / fork…) I figure I might as well have got the road BB7s 😕

Or maybe go for those Lyras that are on the Classifieds…

Likewise – had to laugh at “as we are sure you are aware”!

Thanks, tr – looks cool, literally! How do you find it on the handling / comfort / accessibility of shifters/levers in that setup?

Questions, questions… 🙄

TJ is on to it. The ‘tax on petrol’ is not about putting a value on the externalities (external damage) incurred by the use of cars/lorries etc. Much as we don’t value water properly (it’s hugely undervalued), we also don’t look at the wider costs and benefits of the various forms of transport.

Picking up my new Fargo frame this Saturday morning from the LBS after it’s been faced, and building it up that afternoon 😀

That’s a really intense video, I’m in bits here – “I’m nearly James Cracknell” – jeez-us…. 😐

Aye, nice little bimble as a 12 hour pair with a mate who’s doing his first event – he’ll love it! 🙂

The Moto Rapido was fine run rigid, although that was with carbon forks and its seatstays are also carbon, so a fair bit of comfort built in from the flex.

Lightweight as possible, for sure – it’s a long ride. Tubeless also turned out to be a good move, as two of the guys got multiple flats on some of the sections.

Did it in March 2010 in a (long!) day with some friends and no, a road bike was (and probably is) not an option. The biblical rain for the first 6 hours didn’t help.

I was on a rigid Salsa Moto Rapido, running tubeless 2.1″ Ralphs at quite low pressure and only just had enough traction. A couple of mates had semi slicks on and were constantly taking tumbles, one getting bruised to the point where he had to bail (he nearly made it too 🙁 it was at Bingley)

And yes, a bell is a smart move. Air horn klaxon possibly even better 😉

It sure is…! 😀

Chain Reaction seem to have quite a few conversion kit options here , and a few other places stock similar.

There was also a thread or two on here about it a while back e.g. http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/help-with-dt-swiss-240s-hub-conversion

Hope that’s of use. I’ve always run mine as QR, so ‘fraid I can’t advise from direct experience of converting them though.

I love my Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1 (here) – very funky layout and versatile options for whether to use the inner / outer / both.

You could go lighter but at under 1.1kg all in / 0.9kg as outer only, and a low pack volume, it suits me just fine. It was also a bargain when I bought it 🙂

@Rob – just say the word, I’ll head up to yours on the Ridgeway! 😀

The Giant one looks a lot like the BBB one? Going a bit cheaper (at Ribble) too here Gets generally good comments from people, looking to get one myself.

The initial wear rate on the tubed versions is high for the first few rides, but then seems to settle down, so they do last, IME.

The UST versions, being thicker, are lasting really well. Love ’em. The UST Rons are even better though, even if a mad price!

Stayed at The Blackcock Inn (no, really…) here[/url] last year, food and beer was good, about a 10 minute drive away (unless of course you’re an eejit like me and leave the bike lock keys in the room and arrive at the race with a locked bike…).

Well, well, the Chrome option seems to be working – so far… Ta muchly!

Tsk, sounds potentially naughty – do tell!

So my wife keeps saying… 💡

Love it, brought back some great memories from a few years ago – thanks!

@footflaps – took pretty much the same pic when I did Trail 401, what a hoot that was – rode up from Crested Butte in sunshine, encountered a snow/lightning storm midway on the way down, then back to full sunshine. Ace!

I’ve got the Velo and it’s fine as a showerproof, primarily it’s a windproof. Very handy nonetheless.

To throw another option in the mix, I got the dhb Minima jacket as a last minute purchase before doing JOGLE a couple of weeks ago, and it may be the smartest buy I’ve done in a long time. It packs down to fit into a jersey pocket, is light / airy enough to wear just as a windproof but turned out to be very waterproof (and it certainly got tested!) without being overly sweaty. About the same price / slightly cheaper than the Velo too 🙂

Road: 254 full fat, Imperial miles London-Paris – midnight from Trafalgar Square, Arc de Triomphe 23:00 Paris time (so 22:00 UK time).

Off road: Kielder last year, 100 miles (although by all accounts it was a tad more!).

Got the Ride Across Britain starting next Saturday, 953 miles in 9 days, desperately unfit – eek!

That’s excellent, still chuckling 😆

Oh god, it’s in medium… not enough organs left…

Likewise using KMC links with a Shimano Ultegra 6700 10sp chain, no problems so far over the last year, hopefully JOGLE won’t prove me wrong next month…

Spin and Grin, Turn and Gurn

Hehe, sorry Matt – great minds, etc. 🙂

Current Traveller’s Check incarnation is also running bar end shifters / aero-lever Vs as yours is – it’s a hoot. Some old 700c Panaracer Smokes also just about fit in there but the Bonties roll faster.

Think I’d go with Sam’s definition (as it fits my ‘monster cross’ bike!) This was my Cross Check, now become a Traveller’s Check but the same thing basically other than S’n’S couplings.

Some people might see that as a typo, y’know 😉