32c isn’t very ‘gravel’, that’s a ‘cyclo-cross’ size tyre, i don’t know where the distinction starts and ends though

60psi on those would be a good start, if your teeth start to fall out let some air out until you start getting pinch punctures, then put some air in

where the hell am i going to get rim brakes for my fatbike?

depends on the titanium, depends on the carbon, it’s not so much about the material but more about how it’s applied

your Argon might be designed to be stiff, it’s a race frame, you can buy carbon bikes that are designed to be softer and comfy over rough terrain

edit – DAMMIT

snapperdan – Member
Perfect ride for a CX bike pretty dull for a MTB. That mud was horrific it sucked the joy from the ride for me and my rear mech with it, good job I had a spare mech hanger

as said, it’s not an MTB ride, but congratulations on understanding the ‘reliability trial’ bit of the event ;-)

highlandman – Member
I’ve done lots of fast sportives on a flat barred ‘road’ bike (rigid steel 29er) without issues or comments received; why should a club run be any different?

clubs runs tend to be a group of cyclists in tight formation moving at speed whereas sportives tend to be dribs and drabs of free-spirited pedallers meandering all over the road?

my back garden’s* about halfway

*not a euphemism

i wouldn’t accept that on a new bike, whatever the cost or saving, so i’d do this

Still waiting to hear from their customer services

before publicly wringing my hands about the situation

you can read the less tabloid version of what actually happened here

do you mean she is here?

all the above route ideas are great, but if you don’t mind a bit of route-plannng yourself then the FietsKompass App is a wonderful bit of technogeekery, drag and drop a route to fit your distance, and your phone tells you where to turn thanks to numbered signs at each junction

short answer – depends

long answer – manufacturers all size their bikes differently so someone’s 56 might be someone else’s 54 and someone else’s 58, add to that different manufacturers having different headtube lengths for the relative size which will have an effect on how low or high the bike feels, and then different models in the same manufacturers catalogue having different headtube lengths means there’s no hard and fast rules

the only proper answer is to go sit on a few different bikes and see what feels comfortable to you, and talk to the person in the shop that knows about these things

no experience myself but a friend had an Airnimal and it was seriously quick, he’d regularly come along with us on our normal road bikes and it was never a problem, apart from the tiny wheels allowing him to get frighteningly close when slipstreaming :-)

have you seen the Ritchey folding bike, that’s a ‘proper’ road bike that pivots in two

what do you want to do with the bike?

the Bowman is designed longer and with a slacker head angle than your normal cross-bikes like the Kinesis and Vitus which tend to have racier angles for, um, racing

if you were just going to jaunt off-road and do mountainbike-lite stuff then the Bowman is better suited to that, if you wanted to flick round corners on a race course any time then either of the other two

i’d ring Exposure and get them to look at it, they’re very good at that sort of thing

you could have gone up a size :-)

dragon – Member

I’ll be honest I don’t get a whole chunk of the handbuilt thing, bikes are to be ridden, not as jewelry and trinkets.

the two are not mutually exclusive

brooess – Member
Meanwhile I’ll keep riding my steel fixed with 700c wheels which is pretty much the same as my Dad was riding in the 50s and 60s

ahhh, i remember when 700c was the new standard and we all had to swap from 27″

:-)

have a look at who Coca-Cola own, as a company they’ll be just fine

not covering the brakes at all and holding onto the grip with all fingers, by the time you’ve reached for the brake lever you’re over the bit you wanted to brake for and you didn’t need it anyway

mostly

if you’re staying put the best place to camp would be near the Oude Kwaremont, the race goes up there three times so you get to see the the suffering a few times instead of just the once, and there are big screen TVs in the village square and in a field above the village so you can watch the rest of the race, there are also food and beer stands dotted around

it’s where a lot of people congregate to watch and get quite pissed so the atmosphere is pretty good

another vote for Shimano CX 70s, they just work without all the usual fiddle-faff that’s associated with cantis

you are, for posting an old video that’s been discussed before :-)

:-)

he could have just said he didn’t want to go to Centreparcs

i’ve used copperslip on the bolts since forever and never had a problem, and i’ve had a *lot* of shoes

when it dries out depends, quite obviously, very much on what the long-term weather has been, it can still be glippy in places well into what might be called Summer, and can vary day-on-day within that

the start is generally the King Alfred statue in Winchester, well that’s where the SDW Doubles etc are measured from

there was a batch of Archetypes that was iffy that wouldn’t build well and kept snapping spokes, which is what Strada are referring to, mate had some wheels built up with them and they went constantly, they’re okay now though i think as referenced by comments above

any wheelbuilder will have their favoured rim-de-jour and i’ve always gone with what they say because they probably know more than me

“still looking fresh”

“They look absolutely fine”

good hard facts there

if you’re calling it the darkside then MTB shoes and cleats, as soon as you stop calling it that then you’re ready for proper road shoes

depends what you’re riding over, how you ride and to some extent what tyres you’re running

45 sounds about right but if you’re pinching all the time either add more air or refine your technique, it’s not a mountainbike

the rings will be designed to fit Shimano cranks and not other ones specifically

i’ve filed down chainrings to fit cranks before, come to think of it, mostly on Middleburns

looks too small to me too, unless you like riding around bolt upright with your arms dead straight, which some people do

yes, it’s definitely worth a go, one of the friendliest and fun events out there

it’s as hard as you want to make it (although the course is quite up/down hard and technically tricky in places), as a soloist you can do what you want want regards to laps and time out, it could almost be encouraged to stop for a pint and some chips if the sun’s out

anyone posting Larson-esque style cartoons needs a thump with the Ban-Hammer :-)

oh, and this one, just because i always say ‘She’s looking’ good, Vern’ halfway through someone pumping up a tyre to see if anyone gets it

yes, The Far Side has informed my life

i’ll stop now

just too many, but probably this one because i still write ‘cat fud’ on the shopping list

you might have trouble arguing ‘a few knocks’ over ‘crash’ because you want a new helmet, but yes they do

he died over a year ago, so quite a long bit of string

amazing is such a subjective word

those Velobici tops aren’t really cycling jerseys, they’re cycling-style tops you can ride to the pub in to show you’re a cyclist