Signed book with stickers purchased. A gift to me, from me.

Thank you for posting the thread as I’d missed this.

Roll on November.

I’ve got some Poohbahs under the bed NIB!

Thanks folks – I’m presuming these are inner rim measurements?

@muke … that looks great.

I recently mused about gravelling my Mk1 Solaris but retaining the 100mm Reba – Think poor mans Cascade.

I’ve paused plans at the moment to do a full strip and rebuild but in the interim I fitted a narrower bar (720mm), some lovely Ergon grips with integrated carbon bar ends (sadly discontinued) and a 38T Oval chainring.

The bike was already built up as an XC bike so has 2.25” Peyote tyres and a reasonably light (for me) build.

I had my first ride out on Sunday. It’s slower than my “proper gravel” bike on the road sections but I enjoyed the comfort from a wider tyre and the suspension fork. The position of my hands on the barends was very hood like albeit wider. A bar mounted fork lockout was a good addition.

There is only a 5mm spacer under the stem and I have a negative rise stem so the front end is quite low but no lower, when the fork is locked out, than the hoods on my Fearless.

Makes me think a Cascade would be a great bike with a 100mm fork if it would take a larger chainring.

Is it hammered into your lawn inside a frozen sausage?

@tom – I don’t follow

@alan – unless I’m missing something (probable) I don’t need the wide range that the SRAM esc cassettes come with

@Yak – I’ve a few that I could try but currently fitted is a SRAM GX? With a direct mount ring.

Thanks folks :-)

@Daffy – thank you for the PSA – I’ve plumped for a red one – obvs red is faster.

Going to get a pod crusher now.

Looking forward to trying it out now :-)

@wheelsonfire – Although my fatty (Puffin) has a set of rather diminutive tyres (4.8 & 4.6) climbing is an absolute joy on it. It’s not quick but it will crawl up some crazy climbs – in the words of Grind Hard Plumbing – “places you can’t even walk…”

I imagine if you have the legs for it the grip coming from this would be amazing.

Thank you HR.

I was working on the basis that the amount of flex is somewhere between a soft tail and a hardtail.

I wasn’t aware/I’d not clocked its been dropped. Will do some further Googling.

Bike wise:

1 – A Surly 1×1 (An early one) to build up like this:

2 – A nice slack mid 80’s 531 lugged MTB – I’ve had a couple but late 80’s

3 – A proper XC full squish bike

On what channel/platform was this shown?

[registering interest as someone with a retro 29er with a 72 degree HT]

Hmmm … this is about the same money as my Fenix 6 Pro Solar was 20 months ago. The magpie in me asks … would this be a **cough** upgrade **cough**?

As a side note you need a 90mm (IIRC) to clear the fork leg … let me find a photo …

Found one – this was the same style fork as above on an Inbred 29er with a 1 1/8” HT

As someone who has run Leftys on a couple of non Cannondale bikes over the years the proper adapters are the way to go. I have 2 of the Lefty 4 All adapters and a Project 321 steerer. With both of these you get a ful suite of clamp adapters.

You need the lower “piece” of the proper adapters  for the lower clamp to clamp to – there is then a mild bulge for the crown race. The only time I’ve run one tapered was on a internal lower bearing arrangement otherwise you often end up with a too larger space between the clamps.

For a 44mm HT 2 1/18” internal (IS41?) cups work best with the correct steerer.

I really like the Lefty but dependant upon which version you have depends how fanickity they are – e.g. bearing resets.

Often not a cheap experiment but a fun one!

This was 2012ish on a tapered HT:

Thank you @Schmiken – I’d seen the YouTube video but must say it didn’t make a lot of sense!

The article is helpful.

I’ll see how I get on in position 2 – in the driveway test it felt okay.

@thols2 … Chapeau :-)

Uranus is slightly out of rotation but I think I get the jist

About 1600ish

This won’t help but …

I’ve always put a drop of lube (same wt as lowers) into the airside whenever it has been apart on all my suspension forks.

@jameso – Thank you – That reads like a line from an astrological horoscope :-)

My 2 cents …

with either drilling out ( or cutting off the end of ? ) the stops or using the adapters above you will likely not have the tension over the span as to not need a cable tie or similar in the middle.

I found this recently using some of the above adapters (albeit from the early noughties) and needed a stick on cable guide.

Thanks folks –  good ole GXP on this chain set.

Now to find a 3mm Boost ring…..

Standards are slipping Shirley its just a sticker*

I’d not ride it though as I’m not a fan of stickers.

*multiple stickers

@legometeorology … will the frame allow you to try a larger chainring? I run the same ratio on my Rohloff. In the lowest three gears would need a nigh on vertical approach to make use of that ratio – to the point that they just don’t get used. In fact I barely make it out of the top 7 but I do live in a baron hill-less wilderness!

I would be inclined to try a larger chainring.

Out of interest what ratio are you using on your Rohloff set up? (Sprocket and chain ring)

Great ride from PFP.

I’m always amazed when I see elite athletes looking so fresh at the end. There didn’t appear to have been a single bead of sweat on her!

Agree, that rim looked like it had broken clean through.

@lister … I’ve just switched from Discovery over to iPlayer as that first advert break was ridiculously long!

Agree the course does look good. I’d have broken a collarbone, wrist etc very early into the first lap.

It looks properly fast.

Were they ice(?) shirts shown being worn by some riders at the start?

Argh … I can’t find it on Discovery … what is it titled as?

Mrs LMTTM … “it was complex but it was also shit …” ?

I thought they were going to push the guy in the wheelchair into the cauldron

Jean-Michel Jarre Vibes

I’ve been mulling over trying a pair of these in TR form for a few weeks now but they are a pretty hefty investment and this is coming form someone with a collection of fat bike and plus tyres :-)

Dim question coming …

I’ve never ridden a proper road tyre. The closest I have at the moment is a Gravel King Slick in 40mm.

Will a 32mm GP5000 feel (and be) faster in a like for like comparison?

80% of my ride riding is B roads – are they okay (as okay as a slick tyre can be) on washed out debris?

Oh and if bought they would be going on some Hope 2ofive rims … should I buy some additional tyre levers at the same time?

Slightly left of centre but …

What about cable 105 brifters and some TRP cable callipers in post mount variant.

I find the breaking ( power, modulation ) very similar to my Ultegra hydro brifters.

I have a bit of a soft spot for Voodoo bikes, Hellfrauds or not.

I think it looks a good bike for an off the peg new bike – as other have pointed out a Halfords weekend discount deal would make it even more appealing.

Yes the fork may be harsh and longevity of upgrades may be harder due to the IS mounts rather than flat mounts but there are still a good number of cable IS mount options that would be an upgrade if needed.

Justice set is 👌🏻

Until a couple of years ago I’d always adopted the “single speed mosher’s” approach to riding. High/tall gear and grind it out.

As I’ve gotten into more road/gravel riding and started riding with a couple of guys who are spinners I’ve realised the importance of cadence.

I used to ride with a SSer who would wipe the floor with us geared riders simple because he never stopped pedalling. No coasting. No let off.

Riding a fixed gear bike has helped a lot in getting me into the mentality of just keep pedalling.

On a geared bike I’m better but old habits die hard and I still find myself pushing a too bigger gear.

Sooooo … my tuppence … don’t stop pedalling (ever) but do so in a gear that you can spin comfortably. The speed will come but it’s not an overnight change.

I quite enjoyed a bit of Mel C …