Innovation

Democracy

Freedom…

“What Gravel/Adventure bikes need is a bar/shifter combo which has a high wide position for offroad and a low narrow position for onroad.”

Ah, you’ve articulated what I was thinking far better than I could manage!

Yes, that’s exactly what I feel is the problem with off-road drops. The wide section is low, when it needs to be high.

So yes Scotroutes, I’m aware the Loops are flat/parallel when viewed side-on, and IMO that’s exactly what makes them better for mixed riding than flared drops. You’re right that there is a big difference in sweep as well, so I guess what I mean is that the sweep of Jones loops makes them feel far closer to a flared drop than a conventional MTB flat bar, even though they are still different

Probably not very close TBH… Even a 3.0″ 650b tyre is only about the same diameter as a 2.0″ 29er one

To me, having my hands on the back-swept section of my Titec H-bars feels similar to the drops of the On One Midge’s and Soma Gator’s I’ve had.

Looking from above at flared drops vs alt-flat bars, specifically Soma Gators and Surly Open Bars, they appear quite similar.

But if we all stay healthier we’ll live longer, and that’s probably more expensive than dying young

That’s what Phillip Morris said

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Finance_Balance_of_Smoking_in_the_Czech_Republic

Somafunk, I think that looks great as well, and I think you’re on top something.

Having ridden mixed on/offroad with drops myself (On One Midge, so wide flared ones) I don’t think they make any sense as they feel way to sketchey of anything remotely technical. I realise the idea is to get the drops the same height as you’d have a flat bar, but that seems a bit strange to me as then the hoods and tops are too high. And it looks weird :-)

With the Jones Loops (or the Titec copies, which I have), the wide-backswept-bits feel pretty much the same as being in the drops of a super-flared drop bar like the Midge, while the forward looped bit feels like being on the hoods of a set of road bars set at the right height (i.e. not really high so as to make the drops comfortable off-road). So there’s no compromise, unlike when using flared drops.

The only problem of course is that this set up means you have no access to the brakes when using the forward looped bit. I think someone should design some brake levers that work on Jones-like bars which can be accessed from multiple positions…

I think you’re right Restless — I was very happy when I matched the blue logo and forks (I actually duct-taped all the other decals on the bike specifically to leave that match). And in MTB mode the Swift forks ride perfect.

Perhaps I’ll leave them on for summer at least, and come winter when I’ve more often in gravel mode I’ll think about something shorter. Those other Singular ones that you suggest, Andy, look potentially ideal.

TBH, I think the main reason I’m contemplating changing them is just that the 29×3″ clearance on the Swift forks looks crazy when I have my skinny 40mm tyre in there. It rides OK, I care far more about looks than I admit to most…

Yea, I think you’re right — it may not be the best fork.

As for the bike, this is all I have for now, but I think I’ll take a couple of before-and-after pics next time I switch modes, as it’s quite a nice project and something I’ve not seen before:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SqB26Tp1iu972ZYvobPnqiGDPJLFJFZd

Cheers :-)

I’m wondering whether I can get away with them on my weird 2-bikes-in-1 Genesis

It’s a 650b frame, and I regularly switch between 700c wheels and a 27.5er rear 29er front

Currently have Singular Swift forks on, which are perfect for the 27/29 set up, but a bit long for the 700c.

The F8 forks may be a nice balance, up may flip that around and make the 27/29 set-up a bit c**p

Second the gravel kings

I’ve got the 43mm version and they are great, and set up tubeless super easy

This is worth a look:

Best gravel road tires tested – part 1

Thanks for the replies :-)

I assume it isn’t a chainring issue as when I’m in the smaller sprockets or the largest one, all is quiet, but I could be wrong and I have had it for a little while (the teeth look good though)

It’s a 10sp cassette on an 11sp Hope freehub with a spacer on the inside

It’s only particularly noisy when I’m on the largest few sprockets (but not the largest one) and pedalling hard — the chain then rubs on the bigger sprocket to the left. I’ve definitely not missed out any spacers, most of the cassette is one-piece anyway

Hoping it’ll will settle down but I’ll have another look this weekend anyway

My partner has a pair of Aksium Disc wheels going, about a year old I think.

Looking for £85 for the pair, I just haven’t got around to advertising them yet.

Good condition — she’s not a rough rider and hasn’t gone a great deal of distance on them.

I’m in Leeds, drop me an email if that helps.

That pegs idea sounds good.

I’m not at all surprised that other people use a similar idea to temporarily seal the sidewall-rim, but what does surprise me is that this isn’t right at the top of things to try if you’re having trouble getting the bead to seat.

For me, just holding the rim/tyre with my hand as I did made a massive difference immediately and involved no hassle at all.

I’ve got a bike built for this kind of stuff. I’ll not recommend a particular model, but just say I think if you are trying to replace 2 bikes with 1 then multiple wheels is a lot of help, i.e. a 29er with a set of 40mm Nano’s on it will likely be every bit as quick as your CDA but a wheel change would have into a different animal in a minute

I have a somewhat mutant CDF built single speed with Titec H-bars and a 120mm stem. It’s probably the most fun bike I have — I’ve been out for big 40mile (50% on 50% off road, from the doorstep) rides on it out of choice over my MTB.

I think it depends totally upon what you are riding. If you’re on very easy MTB trails, a CDF would IMO typically be a lot of fun. But on the road things will always be a little slow and dull

(the half marks are from the people who only picked one to abandon — the two they didn’t got half a point each)

SO far…

Ha, yes it seems the precise question has been somewhat lost on the way, probably at least in part to my rather unclear wording

So to clarify, I was asking which 2 would you abandon, which 1 would you keep

If the thread gets enough responses I’ll try to put them into a little summary graph

I tried it, didn’t work as well as I’d thought.  A 27.5 x 3.0 tyre is often only about the same diameter as a pretty skinny 29er tyre (like 1.9-2.0″). I think a fatter 29er tyre (2.4 Ardent or Racing Ralph or something) is about 20mm larger diameter than a pretty large 27.5+

If you account for that and get some slightly longer forks up front it’d be fine. Or if you don’t mind a slightly quicker front end it’ll also be fine.

Sure, you can always lower the seat manually, but for my trails this would involve getting off the bike roughly every 30 to 60 seconds to do so in order to fly down a 20m long techy descent or hop a couple of logs. Completely unrealistic. If I lived somewhere with big climbs followed by big descents it would be different

In my younger days I’ve had long travel hardtails, big 7inch travel freeride bikes, 27 gears etc. etc., and my current bike is 1×10 with a big 42t cog at the back. I’d be happy to abandon all that, but a dropper is something I really can’t imagine riding without and not feeling somewhat frustrated a good deal of the time.

I’ve not done exactly what you’re going for, but something along the same lines.

I have a 650b hardtail with a set of 700c wheels on at the moment for light offroad/gravel stuff with lots of road links in between. When I want to ride proper MTB trails, I put a 650b in the back and a 29er wheel at the front both with 2.4/5 inch tyres, and switch the (set-back) rigid post for a dropper.

It’s a nice way of changing the geometry with a simple wheel and seatpost change, without having to faff with handlebar and stem and fork length.

If you could pick something up that was quick and responsive enough for proper road riding with 700c x 25-30mm tyres on it, but had the clearance for a 45mm 650b tyre at the back and 45mm 700c at the front, you could do something similar.

The new Pinnacle Arkrose would do it I think, or the Genesis Fugio, probably loads others I’m not aware of

I have pretty major self-esteem problems, too, but I’m starting to wonder how much of the way that this impacts me is influenced by the fact that most people are overconfident themselves.

For example, I’m a university researcher, and this lands me in a culture where (apparently) 94% of professors think their work is above average… Even if it turns out that I’m an average quality researcher, who is realistic about my abilities, I may still come across as having relatively low confidence.

So I’m increasingly wondering whether the under-confidence I have is no more biased than the overconfidence most seem to have (and perhaps less so). Recognising this as a possibility seems, to me, a potential start towards a kind-of contented realism.

It’s hard to live in a world of overconfidence and maintain your sanity without succumbing to self-serving delusions

Nice link here:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/you-are-less-beautiful-than-you-think/

Planet x have a lot of dirt cheap tubeless tape last I checked, in quite a few widths.

If you’re happy sitting in front of ebay you’ll have loads of options. Quite a few Genesis Croix De Fer frame’s come up for one.

If you were looking at full bikes then you’d probably find a bunch of Pinnacle Arkrose’s and many more Genesis’s, which you could probably pick up cheap leaving a bit of budget to upgrade.

I built a weird single speed, flat bar (very sweepy Jones loop like thing) Genesis Croix De Fer to commute and play on and I swear its one of the most fun bikes I’ve owned

Bump… wondering whether to head up this weekend…

But if we’re going to be that specific, we have to start calling UK mountain bikes Bog Bikes or something… Not many of us (regularly) ride bikes to 3,000ft… :-)

That sound happens whenever the hub is working but your legs are not :-)  Hopefully you’ll get used to it!

Oh Jesus, those photos capture exactly what I’m after… Stunning… if only weather like that in Scotland wasn’t so hard to catch.

So Loch Eanaich looks great. I’d actually spotted that before and wondered whether you could do that, then walk 5-6km south from the loch up and over to the track that ends near the Tom Dubh summit. From there, there’d be a steep (but hopefully well surfaced) track down into Glen Feshie, and a long valley cycle back to the road.

Add the Burma road, the Corrieyairack, and it’s would already look a good plan for a Cairngorms week.

Glen Affric looks ace too, and that route north of Dingwall looks a great long day out.

Thanks for all the tip-offs, some plans are converging in my head :-) Hope they actually emerge…

Not having a laugh, just having a guess as I said, obviously a very bad one :-)

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>Also phrased badly, as I meant not the best for gravel-type riding. I’m aware that more technical MTB riding up there is sweet and have done a bit around near Glencoe myself.</span>

My assumption was rather basic… that the bigger the mountains get the harder it may be to find easy (and still wild) riding. But I know that’s not true for the Cairngorms as they’re much less steep and rocky than the North West Highlands tend to be.

I suppose i’m thinking in relative terms as well. For climbing mountains Glencoe, Skye and Torridon are well worth the journey as England and Wales have nothing that compares. But for riding I would imagine the returns for that long a journey aren’t so great, as there are much closer places worth visiting.

Oh, and that Badger Divide looks Perfect :-)

True, but there are always exception and they still seem reasonable guidelines.

It’s always easier for me anyway, as my downhill days are over and my rigid days here to stay; the combination of rigid bikes and 29er wheels is probably the least broken rule on that list. Until you get to 27plus. And the weird 79er I just built myself, come to think of it…

When I was pondering this question I found this article really useful:

https://www.bike198.com/26-vs-29-mountain-bike-debate/

The summary, ‘ideal’ wheel size by trail type:

– Tight and twisty: 26″ and 650B
– Open and rocky: 650B and 29er
– Racing and FSR [forest service road]: 29er

And ideal wheel size by bike type (if you are quite tall as is the guy writing the article):

Singlespeed and Hard Tails: 29er
Short Travel Race Bikes (100mm and under): 29er
Trail bike (140mm and 150mm): 650B
160m+: 27.5″

Here it is…

Chainstay clearance is great

But seatstay clearance is even tighter than I thought now the tyre’s been stretching for a few days… I reckon only 1-2mm space left…

Given that the whole reason I have steel frame is the apparent comfy ride, I assume there is going to be at least a few mm’s of flex… So I ended up switching the Thunder Burt for a 40mm Terrene Ellwood this morning. The Terrene actually comes up closer to 45mm, so there’s barely 5mm difference between that and the Burt, but clearance is much better

Yea, true, I think the title of this post is a bit misleading actually, as I’m hardly worried something bad is going to happen.

All I really want is to finish this (or any) bike, ride it and not feel obliged to p**s around changing bit for quite a while…

Overthinking it hey? Ya, that seems to be the dominant theme of my life.

OK, this sounds like a good plan. The only annoying thing is having to remove my mudguards whenever I want fatter tyres on, but I can handle that.

Now the next dillema, given that I need new cassette/chain/chainrings on the Genesis do I take the chance to go 1×11… The things MTB’s do to road bikes.

To keep with the Genesis theme, the 2018 Fugio looks fabulous…

This has gotten on my nerves for a few years.

If I ever get around to it, one year at Xmas I’m going to collect enough of them to decorate a pine near the trailhead with these dog-shit-baubles and some tinsel, and perhaps a festive message along the lines of ‘Merry Shitmas’, or something more creative (if anything ever comes to me).

I’d second the Stooge Mk3 — can go 27+, 29er, or 29 rear and 29+ front.

You can get the wheelbase down to something like 423mm with the eccentric bottom bracket. It’s a lot more flickable and playful than the Ritchey P29 I had before, although not as fast of course.

But, I’m biased… I’ll be selling my Stooge frameset very soon…

Yes, definitely mud and rain is a major factor against train-served riding. That’s one reason I’ve been madly scouting out winter-proof rides in the Dales, and watching the forecast like a hawk (or more like an OCD sufferer) for those cold frozen days on the hills.

There is one route from Leeds I’ve been meaning to do — train to Wennington, a few road miles to the very wild looking Salter Fell Bridleway, a few more road miles to Gisburn forest and a lap of the red, then back to Long Preston.

Road riding by train definitely makes sense. From Leeds I can catch a train to beyond the North of the Dales, ride pretty much all the nicest roads through them, and back to my doorstep. Something like 100 miles and a fair few 1000ft of climbing.

Great, that’s pretty much what I was going to do with hers :-)

Hmm, that’s not how I feel about the half-plus on a rigid, as I always feel like it’s only the front end that’s slowing me down and the fatter tyre helps. And keeping a skinnier one on the bag keeps the thing quite nippy.

Think I’d agree with you for a hardtail though.