Thanks @Onzadog, but yes I’ve had a look through that already I’m afraid.

The closest thing on there is the IRD MCX, which I actually had on another bike I sold a year or so back (damnit)

The only issue with it is flat mount, which is potentially a bit dodgy with a 180mm rotor. Could be fine though, so that’s my backup plan

Actually, 12mm axle is OK, or even quick release if something ticked all the other boxes.

What’s the reach on the drops you have on the Fearless? Is it in the 80-100mm range?

That’s the other key parameter here. If it is 80-100mm, then you can get a short reach dropbar like the Ritchey Beacon (65mm) or Corralito (52mm), then it won’t matter if your stem plate on the Cotic is a couple of cm or more further from the saddle than on the Fearless.

Look at the side profile relative to yours for example:

https://media.theradavist.com/uploads/2024/01/Ritchey-Beacon-Corralitos-Gravel-handlebar-review-3.jpg?w=1400&quality=75

Looks like the stem you have on there is 70mm+, so you’d be absolutely fine with drop bars and a short stem (say 30mm shorter than whatever you have)

If you got drops with a very shallow drop that would sort out most of your stack difference. These Ritchey’s have 40mm less drop than a lot of offroad drops.If that’s not enough, you could splash out on a weird stem from some Americans, like these

https://tanglefootcycles.com/discord/peeper-aluminum/

SST Stem

OK cool, yea this all makes sense.

The conversation that brought this up for me was actually about Pinion’s. Someone thought theirs was killing their rear hubs, as rather than increaing the lever length to achieve higher torque, as a cassette does, the gearbox gears down and then applies greater force through the belt/chain, through the same size rear sprocket.

I suggested it may instead be that their belt tension is too high.

Thanks @jameso, currently I have a 15mm axle steel fork with an IS mount (Soma Wolverine) — I could probably use a 220mm rotor with my mechanical caliper without problems… though a 180mm is fine

I have been considering a carbon fork though, and the ones I have my eye on are all standard flat mount

@bikesandboats, great tip, that’s exactly what I was looking for, thanks

I will pass on your kind offer though, as you probably wouldn’t have made the offer if you knew I was based in Switzerland :-)

I’d be wary – forks have to pass brake force tests but only for the rotor size and mount spec intended. FM forks are made for either 140/160 rotors or 160/180 so I’d stick to a 160 unless you’re not riding anywhere needing hard braking, traffic or steep hills etc. Or, bodge it and keep an eye on the upper mount area.

@jameso, I’ve always wondered about how this works. Does the quality of the brake not have a big impact here, too? I mean, how does the stress placed by a big rotor and average brake, compare to that of a smaller rotor and better brake?

I’m running TRP Spyres, and I only have a 180mm up front as the power is a bit lacking. I wonder if it places any more force on the fork than a 160mm rotor and a decent hydraulic caliper?

Even in my new temporary home in the foothills of the Alps, I’m still single speeding

By accident to be fair, as my Kindernay gearhub broke shortly after moving here, but SS works very well — if I choose my route carefully, I can get to peaks at over 1,600m with only a few hundred metres of walking

I would guess everyone is wondering if you’ve asked her if she’s on board with the towing plan before deciding if it’s a terrible idea?!

I think I had the idea last week or something, and a couple of days ago I caught her shopping for a tow rope. IT’s possible this wasn’t even entirely my idea in the first place. So all consensual in any case.

To clarify as there still seams to be some confusion: I do not have an e-bike.

Also, we’d be riding on very quiet roads or easy gravel, so hopefully minimising the technical difficulties of being towed.

Problem was that her bike skills were terrible and she just couldn’t get the hang of being towed

This was my main worry. Her bike skills aren’t terrible as she used to commute 20 miles a day not infrequently, but she’s never ridden for fun before.

@alpin, yep, damn expensive. Over £400 a month for each of us for health insurance and we still have to pay the first ~£1400 of costs. To be fair though, the reason we aren’t very well off is that my partner hasn’t got a job and Brexit may make that hard. My wage isn’t bad at all (nothing crazy — I am just a university researcher)

Ah, this is a more optimistic response than I expected.

I’m used to single speeding a lot of long climbs around here on my mtb, so I should have some strength in reserve if I tow her with my geared gravel bike. Only trail and error would tell how much stamina I’d have though. My thinking was that if we did a route that’s less than half what I would aim for in a long day out (which could be 3000m+ plus of ascent), then I should have the legs to give her perhaps a 50% assist (she weighs something like 60-65kg, me 75-80kg).

I will think carefully about what system to buy — the Trax was looking quite good before a11y’s feedback

Yea, I’d much rather have something with a lower-drive than overdrive. That’s the main reason I’m unlikley to buy one of these — although I’m not particularly keen on square taper either.

I also thought lower-drive was generally more efficient? But I’m basing that on anecdote only — Rohloff uses a lower drive to get the lower 7 gears; Schlumpf Mountain Drive are apparently more efficient than their Speed Drive; Hammerschmidt was apparently horribly draggy and was also overdrive.

The cable shifter isn’t terrible though, surely. That’d certainly be better than the Schlumpf button for proper mtb riding.

A Classified hub would be better still, but they’d have to more than half the price to get close to this.

I used to have one of these:

https://www.merlincycles.com/fsa-v-drive-drop-stem-147997.html

(although sold out atm)

Work have offered talking therapy too which I’ll try although I find it hard to talk about as there’s no “big cause” I can point to to explain it if that makes sense.

Yea I’ve always struggled with this. No particular thing I can point to in my life that left me like this, nor any set of things. Indeed nowadays talking too much makes things worse.

Karmer point is important here, in that it’s about changing thought-actions patterns. I’ve had some limited success with this, but it’s hard work.

This thread is enlightening.

I’ve only tried flourexotine, but the only thing I got from it was erection problems after I stopped taking them. Given andybrad’s positive experience, this just supports the claim of others that what works is highly personal.

I had more suicide attempts during my late 20s/early 30s than I can count. The only thing that really helped me was intense meditation — Vipasanna specifically. I still have regular suicidal ideation, but unlike a decade ago, I can just observe the thoughts without feeling the need to act on them (just like I can observe my desire to murder Jacob Rees-Mogg without taking it seriously).

I don’t think minor differences would phase me at all (ocd overridden my mild colourblindness)

It’s also a pretty new hub (although old stock I suspect) so not faded

But it’s possible my rear is the turquise that you mention, chestrockwell

It’s kind of this colour

I’ve considered shimming down to 25.4mm but it doesn’t seem worth it

It could well be worth it, the drop in OD should reduce stiffness more than the general range of wall thicknesses eg between a Thomson and an average seatpost of the same size.

I guess by worth it I was going on the lack of options at that diameter, but may be I should take another look

 commuting along Lake Geneva

Alright for some! Enjoy..

Yea, I’ve got lucky with this one… only been here a few months, but the UK is going to feel even grimmer if I do end up haiving to come back in a few years time.

Those Bikeyoke seats look great actually, although I do already have too many saddles so will prob focus on the post for now

KCNC is looking good then

USE is a good shout too — if I can get hold of one over here in Europe

Yea, I’m avoiding the Thomson Elite for that reason, but the Masterpiece is I think cleverly butted, which must remove some of the stiffness

KCNC seem to be much lighter than carbon for the same price point (oh, I guess I’m considering Scandium too)
https://r2-bike.com/KCNC-Seatpost-Ti-Pro-Lite-AL75-272-x-350-mm

It’s a 27.2mm seattube — I’ve considered shimming down to 25.4mm but it doesn’t seem worth it

As for droppers, I’ll probably pick up a non-remote thing for this build, too, and switch them accordingly (it spends most of it’s life commuting along Lake Geneva to my new job, so no need for a dropper most of the time)

Depends on the tyre

I’ve run 48mm slicks on 29mm rims before and that was all good

But some treads won’t play well with wider rims — the Maxxis Minion SS 2.3″ is a good example, which looks horribly square on a 30mm rim

If you are happy splashing out, the 29 x 2.2″ Teravail Sparwood are fast and tough in the ‘durable’ casing version (tanwall’s available)

No, because small pleasures, and the UK has way bigger problems

My ‘bike for life’ 2013 Seven gravel disc bike had a 1, 1/8 non tapered headset, IS brake mounts and 135mm quick release axles. That’s only 10 years ago FFS and it was cutting edge at the time! Now try to find decent forks and in some cases parts for any of those!

Right now I’d see that as a bargain S/H option and get a light steel fork made for it. IS mounts are perfect for BB7 road brakes. I know, all a bit low tech for some but it’d be a great winter / gravel bike.

There are also a number of straight steerer carbon forks around — Ritchey, Soma, Whiskey

 like the the Paul kit is ethically made in terms of people, processes, and durability.

This alone is a very good reason to buy something in my opinion, and I missed this before (and you did allude to it in your first post, to be fair)

Although in this case I guess I would respond that, looking at this from an ethical angle, a more effective solution may be to pick up a second-hand pair of hydraulics and donate some proportion of the hundreds the Klampers would have cost to some sort of cause that you feel passionate about (probably no shortage of them, especially at the moment…)

Supporting companies doing things well environmentally and ethically is great, but in the case of Paul it’s always going to be small and niche and barely make a scratch into Shimano and Sram’s

So, there’s my second 2 cents on this that, for the second time, doesn’t actually answer your question :-)

I feel similarly to @joebristol. I can’t imagine how they are going to be better than hydros, and I’m not sure they’ll require less maintenance/be less faff, especially when Stooge’s are externally routed. Do your Hope’s need a lot of attention?

All that said, obviously I don’t have an actual answer to your question. So I would be keen to hear if you do get Klampers and find them better than your hydros.

I spent 22 years of my MTB life living in Enfield, North London and could be on dirt within 2mins of leaving the house into a network of green spaces: parks, woods, farm tracks, bridleways, footpaths etc. I loved the ability to pick and mix my riding across a mish mash of multiple spaces that most people only accessed singularly. I hardly had to touch tarmac to link them all together. We used to do trips to the Welsh/ Scottish trail centres / Alps every so often for some proper mountain bike terrain.

Now in Stroud, Glos. and ride from the door accessing a similar network, just with more hills and prettier. No desire to travel to ride, I enjoy the familiarity of local trails throughout the seasons.

I would not drive to ride.

I own an XC bike not a gnarpoon as it’s the best tool for my doorstep riding.

I’d avoid living somewhere I couldn’t ride from the door, if I did live somewhere without doorstep riding I’d likely take up another sport / hobby, but I’d always own a bike of some description.

Very well put @qwerty

Assuming you haven’t already done this, adding an insert to the front tyre may be the cheapest non-marginal thing to try next

Rimpact’s are cheap, and should allow you to knock another 2-3 psi off

I used to run a 29 x 3.0″ Minion up front with a Rimpact at about 11-12 psi (I’m 77-78 kg)

The Specialized Sequoia is prob closer to what you’re after

No, but the sort of riding I can enjoy is pretty broad

I can easily entertain myself on a rigid single speed or gravelbike if there are no hills or tech around

What I can’t handle is not being able to get away from crowds

So Gee has undergone his annual ressurection I see

I would think he gets a place regardless

Regardless of whether he’s still alive…?

So Gee has undergone his annual ressurection I see

I’ve a Fidlock, works great, but yes expensive

Lezyne Powercages are very secure ime

POWER CAGE

You could also just have a tough elastic band around your bottle and then hook it behind the upper part of the cage, above the upper bolt. Basically the same as a strap but less faff (and less secure).

not

Maybe I’m just being dim, but wouldn’t flat bar and drop bar compatible mean it was compromised in either one or both?

Yea it’s a weird claim to make, although the compromise is perhaps quite minimal nowadays, at least for easier riding. You can get dropbars with very short reach and shallow drop (say Ritchey Beacon), such that you only need to add a 10-15mm longer stem to run flat bars. Going from a 35mm stem with drops to a 50mm with flats isn’t a problem. There may be some cockpit height comprimise, but prob also resolvable, with appropriate stem choice.

So I’d say it’s not really frame design that makes it drop- and flat-bar compatible, but some modern bars do allow for this.

As above really. I don’t see this on Facebook, at all, aside from ill-moderated groups which I’ve long since flounced from. This was in fact a key component in the whole Cambridge Analytica scandal; the hate was exceptionally well targeted it at those who were most likely to be receptive to it, those who might object never saw the propaganda and so didn’t even know to protest until it was too late.

This is a snapshot of what Leave.EU was sending as targeted posts. Did you see it? I didn’t. If you did then that rather raises questions as to why the algorithms thought you might be a receptive audience.

I’ve never had that sort of stuff on my feed. What tipped me into quitting facebook was the amount of anti-cycling stuff I was seeing. I went through a period of feeling increasingly unsafe on the roads, which was partly due to a couple of cm-close incidents from drivers that were pretty much aiming their cars at me, but at some point I realised facebook was probably the bigger factor in my heightened anxiety.

The other issue for me is that I do like using the internet as an opportunity to learn about people and views that I amost never encounter in real life, so my youtube feed, for example, is often an incoherent mess.

Twitter is a cesspit of hate and disagreement because you can always find someone who has views diametrically opposed to yours.  The algorithm then feeds you those because anger is good for engagement, even if its ultimately really bad for your mental health.

Yep, I had to quit facebook for this reason, and even on here there are threads I have to drag myself away from.

In real life, I despise conflict and avoid it to an unhealthy degree, but on the internet I find it very hard to walk away from an argument even when it’s glaringly obvious how s**ty it’s making me feel.

I don’t see any sliding dropouts on that one

@richmtb, yep, that’s the same video I linked in my earlier post

So we have a perfect little echo chamber going on ourselves :-)

@ernielynch

https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/how-uk-newspapers-changed-minds-climate-change/

Like the UK right wing press more broadly, the Telegraph has shifted from being at the front of climate skepticism, to accepting the science but merely complaining about the solutions.

It’s moved from denial to delay.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-discourses-of-delay-are-used-to-slow-climate-action/

I agree. Attempting to create some sort of ‘victimhood’ really detracts from what we should be discussing; modern slavery. And if the bicycle manufacturing industry is linked to that, then ‘cyclists’ should be mindful of that, and perhaps apply greater scrutiny to their own consumerism.

I don’t think cycist are the victim here, but I can see how it came across that way.

My worry is to what extent people look at this story and think ‘well that’s another reason to ignore all this green cr*p and keep driving my car’, rather than ‘oh dear, may be I’ll do what I can to spread this message so Shimano get their act together, and try to buy bike parts secondhand and only stuff I really need’.

Given the Telegraph’s normal politics, I suspect they are going for the former message at least as much as the latter.