22k of drying-out bridleways around Farnham and Puttenham. Bliss..

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/anybody-use-700-29er-disc-wheels-with-slicks-on-a-26er/

I’ll swap you for my 125mm Brand X then 😉

Why not just use a BrandX 125mm dropper and accept 15mm less drop?  Seems the easiest solution…

Very happy to hear that Tori Amos is lovely.. 🙂

I’ll go with Jonah Matranga (Far lead singer, does solo stuff too). Utterly bloody lovely bloke

Sorry, I completely missed that! I do apologise, and thank-you for the input – the BB shell is sealed with no vent hole into the seat tube so I’d just need to flush out the swarf.

I’m based in Surrey/Hants borders area, and we do have a machine shop at work (but no machine reamer of the correct size), and one locally that we use for production work actually.

Right, bit of a technical update for all those suggesting what I was asking was an unsafe frame modification that would wreck the frame…

I’ve had a look down the seat tube myself (something I should have done first, but we’ll gloss over that), and there’s no big lip, no internal butting, nothing like that – what is preventing the seatpost from inserting further is merely the edge of the original factory reaming.  The outer diameter of the seat tube is a constant 32.0mm including paint thickness, and the top 190mm has been reamed to accept a 27.2mm seatpost, giving a wall thickness of just over 2mm allowing for paint.

To prove a point, I put a 26.8mm seatpost in, and surprise surprise, it went all the way in.  So all that needs to be taken off is 0.2mm all the way round – well within the correct tolerance for that size of reamer.

My guess is that back in the ’80s, the inner diameter of the tubing was merely a nominal diameter that was required to be reamed accurately for the expected seatpost size.  Which is what I will be going back and asking for, seeing as I’ve already paid for it.  But nicely, because you know, civilised and all that…!

Bobbin Wagtail is probably well under your price/quality range, but just been reduced from £595 to £415 for the complete bike…

https://bobbinbikes.com/collections/adult-bikes/products/wagtail?variant=32867736961

If it weren’t for the travel issue, I’d have said take the fork out to 150 and get the Bird AM9.

I’d have said the new Bird Zero AM Boost as well. If it’s just the colour/graphics, have it repainted?

Edit: Sick Bike Co hacksawsurgeon fits the bill (pics show a 44mm headtube but description says tapered) exactly.

I hope the “whingy ****“ comment wasn’t aimed at me..? I’ve tried throughout to take pains not to moan or whinge (as I’m not), merely query the situation and ask for input, which has been gratefully received and I’ve accepted that I was being partly unreasonable in the way that I was feeling.

I have, however, found it interesting that several of the people who are working/have worked in bike shops have been the ones that have said they wouldn’t have charged the full amount, or at all – whilst those who (I assume) don’t have had the opposing view.

Thanks – I try to take a balanced view of things if I can and am happy to admit when I’m in the wrong.

For those thast asked, the seatpost has 325mm of insertable length, the current insertion depth is 190mm, and there is a further 80mm below that until the upper bottle boss.  I’ve never had a frame with that little insertion depth on a seatpost, so naturally assumed that there was only something minor preventing the seatpost from inserting fully, and that having a reamer run down it would rectify this.

Cheers for the input – I thought I’d steered clear of “rant” territory tbh! I’m just bad at judging whether I’m overreacting to a situation, hence asking others’ opinions.

The frame in question is extremely low mileage and I doubt has done more than a handful of rides in its life, but I take the point – especially considering that aluminium ages in a way that steel frames don’t. I did state originally that the seatpost could be cut down if required, I just thought that extending the reamed depth was an alternative option (on my ’09 Voodoo the seatpost can be inserted all the way down to the bottle bosses), but if it isn’t a good idea, then no bother.

All input and comments have been appreciated, thanks 🙂

Frame is the ’87 Cannondale SM400 20″ that I had for sale in the classifieds after a full restore.  The NOS seatpost I fitted to it would only insert about halfway into the frame and I (at 6′) could just about ride it – I wanted to have the factory reaming depth increased in order to allow shorter riders to fit the bike without having to cut the seatpost shorter thus restricting it for taller riders in the future.  As it’s an aluminium frame, with a continuous OD seat tube and decent wall thickness, I has assumed that it was only a small lip at the end of the factory ream that was preventing deeper insertion of the seatpost.  As mentioned before, even a 4″ increase in reaming depth would still be well above the upper bottle boss, and well below the weld junction with the top tube.

I’m not having a childish whinge at all! I felt put out at the time, but often have difficulty in ascertaining whether it’s me being unreasonable (as I have a habit of being) or whether it was justifiable. Hence I thought I would seek the opinion of the hive mind. If you look back at the previous page, you’ll see that I concluded that yes, I was being a little unreasonable, and gracefully accepted that. 🙂

In response to your other remark; yes, I am a little odd..

Fabric Scoop?

I was very clear when I dropped it off that the reason I wanted the seat tube reamed was to increase the insertion depth of the seatpost. The bottle bosses are well below where it would have needed to be reamed to, so there was no other physical obstruction that could have been reasonably expected to interfere with that.

Interesting to hear that other shops would have said “Sorry, can’t be done”, and not charged. Maybe if they’d said “That seems like an unusual request – we’ll charge a little for our time to have a look, and the full amount if we can do the job”. Standard practice in my industry generally – we quote to have a look at whether the work can be done, then the final invoice is based on whether or not it was completed.

Thanks for the constructive input! Very helpful 😉

Sick Bike Co Wülf or hacksawsurgeon?

Appreciate all of the replies – I’m not moaning per se, hence why I was asking if I was being unreasonable in being a little miffed. The replies from sillyoldman and aP have pushed me towards thinking that yes, I was being a touch unreasonable. It’s not the shop’s fault that they couldn’t complete the request, and it would have taken them their time to get to that point. Calling it halves on the bill would have been nice, but it’s not their job to be nice.

The seatpost is vintage NOS which is why it hasn’t been cut down btw. Seat tube is straight tube, hence my assumption that it could be reamed to a greater depth than the manufacturer had as the wall thickness wouldn’t be reduced to any less than at the ST/TT/SS junction, and the middle of the seat tube is relatively unstressed anyway.

Bob

Giving stables a full, floor-lifting, bank-turning, new-shavings muck-out. Pretty reluctant to actually let the horses in after that as I know they’ll never really appreciate it..

28:50 (if you go 12sp Eagle) is an almost identical ratio to 22:40. Given that most double setups would be (have been) running 22:36 as a winch gear, how low does she need to go..!?

I’d be looking at Boost 29/650B+ for future-proofing, but with a threaded BB for compatibility personally.

If you don’t like the Bird, how about the Pole Taival? Nice and exclusive: https://polebicycles.com/taival/

The TR build is within budget and the XL is nicely big.

New Zero AM Boost Eagle starts at £1650..

Zero AM – SRAM GX, X01, XX1 Eagle 12 Speed

Bought a 26″ Voodoo Wanga setup SS/rigid a couple of years ago on a whim for £150 just to see what it was like. Ride it almost every day to commute (flat, 4k) and usually most weekends as well. The big geared FS only generally gets used for more serious riding.

That top tube is utterly hideous..

crankrider – there’s more to ISO than just ISO9001…  The older (C)EN standard for bike safety has been replaced with ISO4210:2014, and Veritas do provide testing to that standard.  Sick may well not be ISO9001 certified as that’s simply a quality management system, but they may well have submitted frames for ISO4210:2014 testing.  If they have, and the frames have passed, then in theory they’re as safe as anyone elses.

Another vote for the Bird Aeris 145 – or if he wants something more “trail”, the 120.

Tesco Slim Stretch for work and the (horsey) yard as I can ride in them, and at £15 a shot I don’t care when they get trashed (which they will). Generally have 2-3 pairs on rotation. Next Slim Stretch for going out (which is about twice a month) so spending above £30 on a pair seems completely pointless when I could spend it on far more interesting things than jeans .

As per someone above,  for short local rides I just take keys, phone, multi-tool (which has a chain tool), quick link, and water bottle in cage. Worst that’s happened was a puncture (first in about six or seven years) and I had a five mile walk home pushing the bike. Could have waited at the nearest pub for the other half to pick me up but I fancied the walk and had nowhere else I needed to be.

I don’t really have friends per se, so most of my riding is done alone – been out a few times with a work colleague who I (think I) get on with, and is a faster/fitter rider than me so I enjoy the challenge of trying to keep up! Been out with my next door neighbour for some local rides lately and he’s a decent enough rider that we have a laugh so that might expand in the summer.

I think once you get into adulthood, if you’re not friends with people you knew when you were younger then you don’t really tend to make new friends; that doesn’t bother me especially as I don’t seem to get on with many people, and even fewer get on with me!

Hugs from my dogs. Better than anything else I’ve tried..!

Sadly at 6′ I think that’d be a smidge on the small side, but a bargain indeed! I think I’ll be looking for used anyway tbh.

Interesting about the Kona Unit – didn’t know about them, cheers!

I thought the sliding dropout Bizango was ally?

I used to pretty much not ride in winter at all; then I bought a £160 rigid singlespeed with horrible Hayes disc brakes and a pair of CrudCatchers permanently attached.

Result: I ride in the winter, it gets no money spent on it and no maintenance other than a hose and some GT85 thrown at the chain if I remember. Means the good bike stays good and I find it easier to motivate myself to go out when I know I only have 5 minutes of cleanup afterwards.

I’d say have a go on a Bird Aeris 120 – short(er) travel 650B but with the longer/slacker geo.

If you’re going 1×10 with a wide range cassette then use SRAM – the rear mechs don’t need all the mucking about with Goatlinks, RAD cages, etc, that Shimano does.

Actually, it covers supplements.
https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Vegetarianhealth/Pages/Vegetarianhealthqanda.aspx#supplements

For some people, taking supplements is preferable to killing and eating animals, so..

Some good stuff at http://www.bosh.tv as well. Since going from veggie to vegan I’ve really not missed the dairy, and have started dropping weight as well. Tbh, the dairy industry is just as bad, if not worse, than high welfare meat, so if you’re doing it for ethical reasons it’s something to think about.