Ok price, but old design, and getting forks, as the steerer tube isn’t tapered could be an issue. Would rather pay more for a 2015 model which is much more versatile in what can be fitted to it.

Another for LSN, had a few done there, nice finish

Have a look at Retrodecals they may be able to help

For controls, you have 2 types, proof of passage, either a stamp or receipt i.e. the cafe stop, the 2nd type is info, normally it will be something like how may miles to somewhere on a sign post, or who is the Rev or name of a church, or details from a post box. Telephone boxes used to be used, but there aren’t may left now, so don’t seem to be used anymore. The questions should be simple and easy to find the answers.

Not be facetious, but we are talking about a 60 mile ride aren’t we? What would you be picking up on the way?
(again, not meant to be spiteful, just enquiring about how others live their lives!)

DrP

Guess it depends if I have any dinner sorted for after the event, have bought potatoes, eggs (ridden over 200km with no breakages) food wise. Farm shops are pretty cheap, various Rapha and Altura clothing found on route (all returned to owners during/after events).

Just because an event is 60miles/100km, doesn’t mean you don’t have to ride the the same or similar to get there & back. Unless it’s a hilly ride, I struggle to justify driving to anything under 200kmm

The ‘cafe’ stop requirement can be fulfilled by proof of purchase, have done many audax’s using Co-ops & Freddo bars, so you can keep costs down to an absolute minimum if you like.

A problem with cafes is that if you come with a large group of riders, service will be slow due to the numbers, minimal time spent at controls esp on a 100, or the start of a ride will be advantageous, as you never know if you will have mechanicals / get lost later.

For 100km, would add a small lock in addition to what you would carry on a normal ride, panniers are useful if you are going to pick up stuff on the way, I also saw a couple (not to a tandem) with a pheasant near Longnor on a 100 last year

Open Pros’s are Ok, but if you can find some NOS ones from the 90’s would go for them over new ones, as have found new ones wear quicker then the older models.

For a budget option, Rigida(now Ryde) Chrina’s are OK, but have found some just don’t want to true up, others work fine. Neither these or Open Pros are that wide as noted, fine for upto 25mm though.

Built up a Stan Alpha 400 a few months ago, and was the easiest rim I have yet to build with, pricey, not to shallow, but real nice.

For the Rapidfire+ pod, how do you intend to fit it, given that a MTB handlebar has a diameter of 22.2mm and drop bars are 23.8mm, and that’s only upto the point where the STI’s attach.

If for using off road, would look at the Barfly 3.0, [/url] as kit keeps the device on top of the stem, reducing the chance of any potential damage in a crash. The plastic is high quality, and is easy to swap between bike with one hex bolt to undo.

For the fitting, it’s the same as the XCRacer above; undo the bolt, and the plastic is flexible enough to allow you to pull it apart to clip over the handlebars.

Without knowing what 8 speed Shimano you have, if you were looking at 105, would be looking for 5600 or 5500, both are going to be hard to find as they have bee OOP for many years now, if looking at current Shimano Tiaga (4600/4500) or Claris calipers would work fine with older shifters

For bar & stem, pick your price point, and favorite brand, nothing really bad out there nowadays. Easton make good stuff, just like many others.

For brake calipers, these really need to match the brake levers, ID what you have and either get appropriate, or why not look at just replacing the pads with a modern compound.

Doing an Audax back in August and found a mound of them up near Oxenhope, mainly of the 50+ special interest variety, not a very common find anymore.

3 large left in Wakefield store about an hour ago

Have been riding audaxes for the last 4 years or so, and have cut down over the years on what I carry, but if doing a new route in bad weather will still carry far more than on a familiar route with sun forecast. Knowing where you can get food, possible bail out points or just a familiar riding area make a difference to what you need.

I do carry a decent amount of tools though, and all have been used at some point, for me or on others bikes.

I didn’t know Idia worked for them, wouldn’t be surprised really, I saw him a couple of times on the first day on the ride, and that was it, he had been publicizing the use of the Eliptigo & how he planned to ride the event quite a lot before on YACF.

Guess they are a bit like recumbents those who ride them love them, those who don’t aren’t quite sure, or don’t, or are curious, at the end of it, they are all human powered vehicles.

A lot of the brands mentioned may have disappeared from the UK market, but are still going strong elsewhere, or like Onza, Vitus, Nukeproof and others, have been bought by bike shops and are used by them as brands.

For Trek and buying brands add Lemond to that, they totally killed that brand, as well as Klein, Gary Fisher has become a bit marketing term for the geometry, and they have done pretty decent job with the Bontrager brand, although it has nothing to do with what Bontys were BITD.

Add Parkpre (bikes) Bullseye, Kooka, Clark Kent, MachineTech and many others to the list of MIA brands

Never used one, but 3 riders did on the Mille Cymru ride last year, they seem to like them, Idia[/url] is a big proponent of them.

For the cost, they don’t seem that expensive vs a mid range road/MTB bike

Never got all the lack of love for the Kaff either, have had a Mk1 for must be over 6 years now, has never let me down. Not the lightest of bikes, but not particularity heavy with racks and fenders either (mine came from PX stock with a carbon fork, maybe this makes the difference?) Have only used mine on rides upto 100km, but if needed would be happy taking it much further.

Have had them for a couple of years, much better than the stock Tektro cantis my CX bike had fitted OEM, the pads’s aren’t that great, they were transformed with a set of Swissstops.

Not sure where you are getting the mini idea from the CX9/8.4 are full sized linear pull (v-type) brakes.

Order a fork on Thursday, standard delivery, arrived this afternoon, not slow here

for 8/9/10 speed cassettes current hubs will take them all, no need for spacers for an 8 speed cassettes

If your looking at using a Halfords type rattle can paint, just prime the plastic, Halfords grey is perfectly good for this, and the Halfords colour will go on fine without damaging the plastic. Alternatively, use Tamiya TS (not PS) sprays

Great item description, they can’t decide on the wheel size and a rigid suspension!

Ventura CP50 700c 22 Inch Pro Road Bike – Unisex.

27 inch wheel size.

Rigid suspension.

Looks decent for the money if you fit.

Up to them if they want to work on it, but time to find a new LBS if they can’t source something as simple as a crank (on the basis that they really couldn’t, not just within a very limited time scale)

If you have worn out the crank through a worn chain, you will probably need to replace the cassette as well, this will normally wear out much quicker than the crank, are you sure you are replacing the correct part?

Try this

Problem with PX prices is either they have very limited availability as in the Standard spokes, or just a few at the price you first see, as in the Race, most as 59p each (only 265mm & 269mm in silver @ 30p), which is more than Spa do them for.

You could Google it No POP, they won’t accept it.

Tech Docs (http://si.shimano.com/) go back to 6500, Tri-color was years before that, would be asking on Retrobike if no-one can help on here.

SG-X could be a lot of chainring from Shimano, would be looking at the Tech Docs[/url] for your chainset(crank) and taking the part number from that, for the exact chainring you need. it’s very simple.

For example an XT FC-M780 cranks 42t chainring is Y1MM98110. Alternatively, just Google shimano 42t chainring xt 4 bolt

HitmanPro via Malwaretips Drac links to, you need another PC/Laptop which is unaffected.

On the RAAM subject, never have been able to find out, did she actually qualify like everyone else, or just turn up? anyone know?

9 speed Campag Daytona (Ergo shifters), not upgraded much of the drivetrain since 2000, originally it had Campag Avanti 8 speed, missed out of DT shifters (thankfully), moved to W’Yorks a couple of years back, so hilly locally, use a 53/39 front and 13-27 back, no probs on the Strines, Holme Moss etc.

2xcompact = double compact / 50-34

I have a similar bike from the sound of it, 1995 Pearsons 531, about 6/7 years ago, put 3T Ergosum’s on it, nice mid range bars.

For the gearing, you haven’t said what you cassette is, but if riding as a road bike, even in the hillyest parts of the UK, you should be able to get a way with a 2x compact up front, and something with a 27T at the back. Triples are an overkill for road bikes.

If you ride with a club, talk to the old timers about what gearing they used in the 70’s and 80’s even for really steep stuff it was standard 53/39 up front and a max of 23T at the back. Hard guys back then.

New pads will do the same job just as well, this topic from last week covers what’s available.

If you really want to change the calipers, Claris, Sora or Tiagra will all have the same pull ratio. If looking at 105 up, you would be best looking at the non-concealed cable generations like 5600 (105) & 6600 (Ultegra).

Salsa, Surly and a lot of other brands are QBP

Shimano spares are incredibly easy to get, if your LBS has a Madison account (and most do), just get the part number from the Tech Docs[/url] and order it.

For current Shimano brakes, you are using the funnel & a syringe? By using the funnel, you should always have a full reservoir during the bleed process.

It’s a tool, how you use it is up to you, why not set yourself a challenge of how far you can go in a month/year, or ho much climbing you can do, your only competing against yourself then.

For KOM’s now you often have to pick the right day with the right wind direction, and the right type of bike, gone are the days when you could just go out and get them on any ride.

How many speed are you running, if 11 just get a Shimano compatible 11 speed hub/135mm/disc hub’d wheel, and use a Shimano cassette, as the spacing for 11 speed is the same for Campag, SRAM & Shimano.

Swissstop Blue BXP here, previously used the green, prefer the blue

Luton Cromwell Tools have hex keys in stock KEN6025500K, currently at £10.31 for a 9 pce set