i use a planetx tempest frame with flat bars, 40mm nano tyres. great for gravel and super fun on the local trail centre red routes

the head angle can affect handling a lot. there is a great wee app on iPhone – measurement app – which has an angle measurement tool. great fun for assessing your head and seat tube angles with a new rigid fork ! i love messing about with interchanging sus and rigid forks

i recently bought a sony rx100 after several panasonic tz models. really delighted with it. it is the mark 1, they are still available new at good value, ie under £300

i rate komoot highly, i used it to plan a gravel tour of slovenia and it was outstanding at accurately guiding along paths, singletrack and forest tracks . in romania it was a bit more hit and miss ( some of the routes were not really passable on a bike ). i found that playing about with it in your local area is good to understand its strengths and limitations.

thanks everyone. the frame is a very old Tinbred. I bought three of these on eBay many years ago, for myself and two friends. the two large frames are still going strong, as reinvented gravel bikes! they can take a 700 x 38 tyre. the third frame was a medium and the rider was too big for it, so a combination of a tall seatpost, not enough inserted in the seat tube and an overweight rider!!

I got it fixed many years ago and its been going strong, however there has been wee cracks in the weld for some time.
Rich thanks for your input. ill try to forward some images

thanks for the help. This frame has been ‘fixed’ before, I guessed the reason was poor quality titanium, in which case rewelding would end up with the same result, but maybe the reason was poor welding ?
epoxy and fibre seems to be robust in joining bamboo tubes and repairing carbon fibre frames, so i thought I could do a home DIY. the bike is riding well, I just thought a bit of strengthening would give piece of mind. Koogia, what materials should I search for online ?

there’s a brilliant little area to the east of wanaka, on the shores of wanaka lake, great swoopy, rolly trails, labelled as black but more like uk reds

agree with the tempest , a brilliant frame. I use it on trail centre red trails, it fairly spices up the trails, very grin inducing!
as per milfordvet I use an old xtr triple chainset 22 32 42 i think, with a 10 speed 11-34.
it gets up any gradient fully bikepack loaded and still has a good top end gear. there doesn’t seem to be a real life downside to a triple. i have never had an issue with a front mech ever, and the weight penalty is negligible.

slovenia is fabulous for outdoor stuff. we ‘gravel biked’ for 8 days in the western part. roughly following the trip described in bikepacking.com

the soca valley is stunning and the town of Bovec is crammed full of activity providers. white water kayaking/ rafting, mountain walking/climbing, via ferrata, etc etc.

Soca Rocks, Bovec, is a hostel and activity provider well worth googling.
the gravel route using bikepacking.com and komoot was nearly all gravel and single track. there are loads of woodland and meadow paths between villages. i couldn’t recommend slovenia highly enough ! its a really special place for a biking holiday.

check out a few days of the wild atlantic way. fabulous scenery, warm seas to swim in, great pubs, cafes eating etc. slow wee roads so don’t take on big daily mileages!
west cork and kerry are particularly good, as is connemara, donegal

a pal of mine joined us on a gravel bike pack holiday around slovenia. he used a specialized hybrid, absolutely fine, only change was an easier chainset. lots of options about for small money. That and better tyres. check your bike, its surprising what sort of tyre it may cope with

i have used it extensively in ireland, slovenia and romania to plan gravel based bike packing tours and i have found it to be excellent. the best was in slovenia where i planned a 10 day tour in the western part. the komoot app consistently steered us on to gravel paths and single track through forests and meadows. really happy with it!

i have an ican cx frame that i use as a road bike and an ican mtb frame my wife uses as a touring gravel bike.ridden constantly for 4-5 years now. both great light value for money frames. highly recommended !

ive flown many times with bikes on ryanair. no problems, however it is more to do with baggage handlers at the airport rather that the airline. airport staff at bucharest were particularly a PITA making us deflate tyres and dump co2 canisters.

old ghost road is a great spin, although a bit of a pain with logistics getting from one end to the other, but that appears to be the way with a lot of NZ trails. if you are in wanaka there is a great wee park made by locals and well signposted. its great fun red and mild black single track. bikes to hire in the town

i have one. does what its supposed to do. nice balance, very versatile. cheap. i like it !

i bought the 29 gravel wheels from Hunt for my wife. lovely wheels, feel light, spin really well, and come with a nice touch in extras – included the disc rotor 6 bolt adapter and external lockring for bolt throughs.
very well presented. i would definitely buy again. i also built a set of hope hubs on dtswiss rims. really nice too, a wee bit heavier and maybe stronger ? time will tell

yep, agree with the nanos, a complete PITA to fit and even harder to fit tubeless. (on a dtswiss rim)

i built a tempest frame up bout three months ago. really like it. cheapest ti frame by far, but also had a lot of features that suited me that other more expensive frames didn’t have.just back from a tour of Transylvania. i like the way it handles, coping well with both road and mtb trails. so far i highly recommend it. i have 3 tinbred bikes of various sizes , all ancient now but still doing a job either for lending to bike less friends or using with cx wheels. can’t fault any of them

i have the XL , I’m 6′ exactly, i have flat bars and a 120 stem. feels really comfy, its been bike packing 8days in romania, and is at home on gravel and red grade mtb trails. seems really good for the money.

they are brilliant animals, you are lucky to have them, enjoy!

Just an update. Not the mech, not the cassette, not the B screw. It was actually very slight chainsuck. I didn’t think I used the granny ring that much to wear it, it’s a middleburn but probably 10 or 15 years old! Anyway new chain ring now running sweet as a nut!

alpkit are excellent, its also well worth keeping an eye on eBay etc for good quality second hand gear.

the lightweight stuff, tents, bags etc even if best quality , tends to be a bit more delicate, especially when used by kids !

ok so, i think I’ve been a bit dopey. I changed a running gear that was running perfectly from old frame to new, that’s why I didn’t think of the chain. just tried a new chain and problem solved, the old chain was well stretched!
now need a new cassette to complete the process.
thanks for all the help, yes, I’ve previously managed to thread the chain through the mech incorrectly, set the B screw wrong, etc etc.
just a test ride now then off to Romania for a week of bike packing, happy days!

thanks again

thanks guys, maybe the B screw? although I’ve tried to set it correctly.

i have just bought and built a Tempest. looks well built, feels really nicely balanced riding around my backyard, getting its first big spin tomorrow morning. easy to build up, plenty clearance for nano 40mm tyres, used a straight bar. – and it is very cheap !!

61 here, i mountain bike, just back from kirroughtree black trail, and road bike 40-80 miles runs.
i have had a dodgy back for years, all the above are sound advice.i don’t do any core work, but do a few back stretches and found that a bit of running helps my posture.
the main point i would raise is to get a bike fit done properly. i have spent years thinking that i knew how to set up the bike, only to find i had the saddle too far back. moving the saddle forward a cm and lengthening the stem made a huge improvement in comfort, I’m not suggesting you are the same, but a good bike fit might help

yep, i have a beautiful old 26″ titanium mtb frame. it just about takes 700 x 40 wtb nano tyres. straightish bars and a carbon fibre lynskey fork. it has bike packed around wild atlantic way, slovenia, west of scotland and the mourne mountains. next month its for romania.

the 40mm nanos roll well on the road ( they have nearly a continuous strip up the centre, and they coped well with techie single track and rough bouldery gravel, tho obviously not as well as a mtb tyre.

i absolutely love it. i had drop bars on it for a while but enjoy the flats better for holidays where you are looking about at scenery! one problem is if its a 1 1/8 headset, you will have difficulty finding a carbon rigid fork.

my wife has a chinese 29er mtb with a rigid fork and 40mm nanos and she loves it, v light, well balanced and flies along. it has the advantage of taking broader mtb tyres
OP if you want a few photos, i can pm them

thanks very much guys.

i have 3 ti 26″ mtb frames. 2 take a 700 x 35 cyclocross tyre, the other can squeeze in a 700 x 40 wtb nano. one was a ti inbred and already had disc tabs,
one was an unbranded usa frame ( v nice ) i got vernon barker to weld on disc tabs. the final frame takes v brakes with a wee aluminium extender for the larger diameter rims.

all are used as gravel bikes. i haven’t tried 650b rims, but suppose should be ok

its a great way of extending the life of lovely frames

komoot is brilliant. on the iPhone on aeroplane mode. and free

i bought an ican carbon cx frame and fork 5 years ago. i use it as a road bike, touring bike and occasional gravel bike. it is light, well balanced and i love it!
i have had 3 sets of carbon forks for various projects – mainly turning old mtb bikes into gravel bikes. all have been faultless.

wtb nanos seem to do the job very well. i use them on gravel and light/ muddy single track . good grip throughout

loads of very good natural single track in tollymore and donard, great there scenery too, both are in newcastle area and give 2-3 hours riding.also loads of fairly easy to navigate walks up the mountains, especially staring from donard park (in newcastle).

i use this wee cheap one. works very well with room for a battery charger

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BABANHPK/banjo-brothers-handlebar-phone-koozy

if you don’t want technical singletrack then the boundary of Tollymore forest park on the gravel path has plenty of climbs through the trees, beautiful views of the mountains  and can be linked by a short, quiet road with Donard park. again staying on the gravel boundary path for good climbs and fabulous views. silent valley is just really a tarmac/gravel out and back flat run. pm me if you would like a gpx route

they just hold the water for longer, keeping your feet wet.

in cold/baltic conditions i generally use a pair of sealskin socks, same effect as waterproof shoes but as said above – they keep your feet warmer.

i use an app called komoot on my iPhone. really good.

used it throughout northern ireland on mountain bike and road routes, and used it for a 10 day gravel tour through slovenia. its free with a small charge to download maps.

blows the phone battery in 4-5 hours though, but i use a battery backup which works well

don’t know what your problem , however i had a  password issue and rang the number on the apple support page and can say they were absolutely excellent.

the first thing they made me do was update to latest software. then took over the laptop online. they then spent about 40 minutes going thro various areas until the problem was solved.

very impressed with the way they handled the situation, seemed to have all the time to solve the issue.

Thanks guys. Delighted with your help and feedback