Sorry to be a bit thick. Can a TCR not accommodate 28mm tyres? Or did you want even bigger than that?

Heh. She doesn’t want it, does she?

Good luck for the best outcome.

You made some big compromises
If supplying an Xt/SLX drivetrain with around 500 miles of riding on it, plus 2 perfectly functioning tyres,brand new brakes, new cables, a frame with a freshly tuned rear shock and new bearings (not by me I may add) and wheels that are as good as new is a ‘big’ compromise for 400 quid, then remind me never to sell you a bike on the clasifieds. Simple fact is you haven’t seen the bike so are in zero position to make such a statement.

So you think that offering your opinion of her breasts on an internet forum should be taken as a compliment?
Or bragging about the opportunities you’ve had to shag her?

Given a number of posters suggested I only did it so I could ‘shag’ her, I felt my comment was reasonably justifiable (albeit flippantly put), if you took it as me ‘bragging’ then I suggest you dont know me very well.

Given as wrecker says its an anonymous forum that a; she’ll never read, b: the comments were meant as flippant humour and c: I know the girl fairly well and what she would and wouldn’t be offended by, I’m fairly comfortable shes not going to be terribly offended by those 2 comments.

There’s no point in saying “you don’t know me”. This is an internet forum. None of us know each other. We can only go on what we read. As for being goaded into the sexist comments by others, yes, you were, but try and be the bigger man, especially when a friend’s involved.

As for your parts list, yes, I get it, but that doesn’t matter. The point is that SHE doesn’t care about the parts list. When she saw the bike, her attention went straight to the mismatched and worn-out parts.

Anyway, she may come round and decide she likes it after all. But I don’t think that listing the parts is going to convince her. If it was me, I’d be saying “I wanted to help you and I did my best with the budget I had. Yes, I had to use a few ropey parts. Sorry it’s not what you wanted. What do you want to do?” I don’t think that guilt-tripping her is going achieve a satisfactory outcome for either of you.

He respects her enough to spend a significant amount of time and money on building her a bike

Yes – I get that. But it wasn’t the bike she wanted. He made her a promise to build her a full-suss bike for £400, but in order to do it he had use some ropey parts. And he blames her for not liking it (“ungrateful” etc) I’m sure he entered into this with the best of intentions, but he made a mistake. He should reflect on this, rather than moaning on here.

a few flippant comments

Ah – the sexist’s defence no.3.

See also “God – it was only a joke love. Lighten up.”, “Take it as a compliment” and “well, boys will be boys”.

She may take the bike, she may not. In order to avert conflict, she may apologise to him for not being eternally grateful. But whatever happens, she’ll regret ever having got involved with him. He could prevent her from feeling like this by admitting his mistake and removing the sense of obligation. As it stands right now, his entrenched position isn’t helping.

The tyres are worn as is the drivetrain

You made some big compromises in order to bring the bike in at a price point. You did not consult her on those compromises. And she wasn’t happy with them. I wouldn’t be happy with them.

Instead of being all hurt that she didn’t like your worn-out bike that she didn’t ask you to build, how about you just say to her “Yep. I thought I was doing you a favour, but I ended up building something you didn’t want. Sorry about that.”

Secondly, what ‘ derogatory and disrespectful things’ have i said about her

So you think that offering your opinion of her breasts on an internet forum should be taken as a compliment?

Or bragging about the opportunities you’ve had to shag her?

You don’t respect her.

Mine arrived yesterday. It’s going to be an Ebay special.

Yes – I’ve signed up. Three commutes per week plus a decent ride each weekend will get me to the target.

Re fundraising, I was going to buy the jersey.

OK finished it.

Captures the spirit of adventure cycling, I think. Brilliant stuff.

Brilliant 🙂

I lived in Port Macquarie for a while and cycled those roads, frequented Gordon Street Cycles, and surfed that beach!

Are you looking to impress a lady friend??

Yes. I’m going to treat the project like some sort of test of my masculinity. Therefore, I will fail to adequately consult her, then build her a bike using a combination of cheap and worn-out parts in order to meet the “challenge” of building a bike to an arbitrary price point.

Then, when she is disappointed with the result, I’ll start a ranty, foul-mouthed thread on Singletrack World about it, wherein I’ll make several sexist and disrespectful comments about her.

Strava

Anyone want to buy a late eighties ladies frame made from lovely 531c?

Yes. I absolutely do. Pics, c-to-c measurement, rear dropout spacing and price please 🙂

Go British

Cold-setting of frame (126-130mm) – you can DIY with a plank of wood. That’s all a bike shop will do.

Cable stops: You can get them brazed on but you can also buy band-on[/url]

ive got a really nice (but old and tired) raleigh 531 racer frame i want to upgrade to a 3×9 setup….

ive decided to go for 3 gears up front and not 2 because its hilly round here and im lazy at times. and ive also got 3×9 sti levers i was going to use anyway. as far as im awaire, the levers will work with any long cage MTB rear derailer. i have to get a road tripple front mech. and im going to buy the SPA cycles touring tripple chainset.

am i blindly approaching any pit falls? ive also got 3×9 bar end shifters that i could use if the STi will have compatability issues.

any advice (and PHOTOS!) would be great
cheers

I did EXACTLY this a few years ago 🙂

Then some little scrote nicked it out of my shed 🙁

Build story with pics here

This happens wherever hobby geeks and mainstream consumer culture collide. Women must get sick of it

“IPod you say, dear? Tsk. What you need is a Thorens turntable and custom tone arm, connected to this amp I’ll make for you using these old valves I’ve sourced from old Soviet military radios. What’s that? You can’t listen to it on the bus? Well screw you then, ungrateful, know-nothing little minx.”

“Camera you say, dear? Nikon Coolpix? Ha. You need this Leica M5 and an assortment of Zeiss lenses, each worth more than a family hatchback. What do you mean you don’t understand about f-stops and white balance and just want to take some snaps of the kids? Pah. I give up.”

Etc

Wow.

So you built her a bike, with “worn tyres and drivetrain”, because you thought you knew better than she did what she actually wanted. This is Extreme Mansplaining.

I hope she reads the derogatory and disrespectful things you’ve said about her on this thread. Some “friend”.

Mark Beaumont – The Man Who Cycled The World

Thanks. Frame ordered.

Not 100% decided how I’m going to build it. I’ve got a Spa cycles triple crank and square taper BB to begin with, but that’s it!

Just about to pull the trigger on one of these 🙂

Which under-bb-shell cable guide do I need? Running 1×10 if that matters

14:52 – Ironman Austria in 2006. Injury, kids then work have intervened since, although I’ve promised myself a crack at sub-13 in 2017. Training starts…
…
…tomorrow 🙂

Sell it to renton.

😆

Haven’t read all the replies, just the OP:

My girlfriend can’t possibly make decisions about bikes, so rather than her get her pretty little ovaries in a tizzy about it, I’m going to lie to her so she’ll have the bike I want her to have.

What could possibly go wrong? 🙄

A longer stem slows the steering down on an already slow steering bike.

Strewth. 😀

Come on – you’re not Steve Peat.

I fear that you could drop a ton of money on ANOTHER new bike, and you’ll find something about that you’re not prepared to compromise on either.

You could always get a bespoke frame built to your exact requirements, but then, would you be on here asking for advice about how to get a refund because you perceive that the bike’s not right and the framebuilder’s told you to piss off?

Not trying to be unpleasant here, but it really does sound to me that you need to step away from the minutae of design and set-up, and learn to enjoy just riding.

So then you need something just like the Trance but a bit longer

Or, y’know, a longer stem?

Renton,

I don’t post much on this forum but I have loosely followed your travails, in the same way that I don’t watch Coronation Street but I sort-of know what’s going on.

It sometimes seems like you spend more time worrying about bikes than actually riding them. It’s a sport – it’s supposed to be fun 🙂

So here’s a plan for you. Go on the classifieds. Buy a 2nd hand hardtail for £350. Ride it. Enjoy it. Get lost on it. Hammer it. Fall off it. spray it purple. Fall off it again. Fall in love with MTBing again. And forget about whether this-or-that two-grand frame has this-or-that top-tube measurement, or whether this-or-that internet fatso has reported this-or-that problem with this-or-that bike 😀 😉

Just seen the bike pic on Strava. No wonder the bars feel low if you’re running that much seatpost. The bike is too small for you. Yep – by all means try a riser stem…

Both the London Road and the Kaffenback are disc brake specific, which means you wouldn’t be able to swap the brakes over onto either of them.

Sorry!

I’ve done the survey but just thought of something else 🙂

I want a navigable route from the top of Calderdale (Warley Moor/Ogden) to Bradford via Queensbury-ish.

For purely selfish reasons because that would be my commute 🙂

Bob Jackson. Absolutely top workmanship and service. Beware they’ll have a lead time too, but it’s unlikely to be six weeks!

Soak in a basin of detergent overnight.

Soak in plain water to rinse.

Dry on radiator.

Hmmm… buy silver one for £150, get it powder coated at Triple S for £60, any colour I like…

Hmmm…

Hmmm…

Damn. I have my heart set on the green one.

Camelbak? Something like this[/url] is good for a full day out on the bike.

How about a windproof jersey?

A GPS computer[/url]?

Or just vouchers[/url]?

Nope, I just agree with him and think you’re being massively over-sensitive about a comment on forum

Well then, you two should go for a pint. You massive pair of spunk trumpets.

Oh wait – I didn’t mean it.

Stop being an arse. The point is that a load of people are manky bastards and need to have a word with themselves, not whether or not you’re getting sensitive about one little (insignificant) part of the post

Are you his mum or something?

Given that he’s now edited his violent fantasies out of his original post, it’s a moot point anyway.

Did you “mean” any of what you wrote?

That’s a shameful and offensive thing to write. Will you please retract it

Obviously I don’t really mean it. Don’t get so worked up. But it’s not offensive. Chucking litter all over the countryside is offensive.

You are far, far worse a person than the people you criticise.

We rented one for the day from here[/url] and had a day riding in the Dales. We are both sold on it and will be buying one.

You develop a joint language really quickly for communicating gear changes, pedalling/coasting, mounting/dismounting, standing up/sitting down (you have to synchronise it!)

That Hope BB is £72. Seventy. Two. Pounds.

Thanks all – I now understand my options:

1. FSA BB – £35 – Will last about 500 miles in Yorskhire weather, just like the current one.

2. 105 Chainset – £72 from hain reaction, plus a Shimano BB (I already have one)

3. Hope BB – £72

Not much of a choice!

I won’t use FSA again. Their BBs are so poor as to be unfit for purpose.

Thanks all for your help.