It’s also far more environmentally sound to have a long lasting set of bearings. I know lots of people don’t care about this stuff, but I think it’s valuable to think about.

My god, that looks amazing. The future is coming!

It ain’t funny. A lot of part time cyclists, full time motorists here having a good chuckle. It’s antisocial, rude and not funny.

I wonder about an iPad and an external keyboard? I think that’d be a good simple setup, and easily doable with that budget. Apple do a student discount too.

Araldite and a couple of cable ties

Mine has been “repaired” like that for about a year and half now. Works perfectly. I repaired it halfway up a climb in Machynlleth with just zipties, no araldite. Job’s a good un.

gravity-slave, what lighter packable shell would you recommend? For less than a 100, some roadie gear is crazy money!

I’ve only done a little road riding – I only have some short bibs, and a short sleeve jersey. I’m trying to work out what clothing I need next. It’s another world outside of baggies and a camelbak to put stuff in.

/\ I love Cotic!
Keep up the great work Cy!

This is all true. The dropper post was bought 2nd hand on here years ago, and fitted to the Cotic Simple I had at the time. I was revolutionary for my riding on xc loops, no more pausing to lower my saddle or not bothering and then not being able to really rip the downhill. I can’t recommend a remote dropper post more highly.

😆 @tomaso

I’ve got a Prophet, bought second hand. It’s awesome. I run a tapered fork, a gravity dropper, 1×10, short stem and wide bars. It is light, fun and great in the gnar.

And cheap as chips on the Bay.

Oh Big Al! He taught me how to build wheels and I will always have a soft spot for him…

I love Hope, I have Tech X2’s, hubs, headsets, etc.

But.

That is one UGLY lever, even ignoring the gopping colours.

Schwalbe Big Apples. Big and badass, fast and comfy. Don’t get punctures. Sorted.

Trek Domane for commuting and it’s amazingly comfortable, pretty much all road buzz is removed and pot holes aren’t pot holes anymore

The marketing strong with this one is.

Don’t get it lacquered. The whole point of raw is that it’s, well, raw. The lacquer will go rubbish when it gets scratched, a raw frame can be cleaned up. The aluminium will be fine.

Yes, yes you should.

I have a wee piece in it! The Boneshaker guys are ace.

Well, no, I never mentioned changing things in a short period, you said that.

Of course, it is my opinion that the majority would win, and only a minority lose, if you want to put it in such competitive terms. Everyone would benefit in terms of air pollution alone!

It’s coming, I’m sure, one way or another. IanW, I love that man!

No offence b r, but people seem to lack so much imagination when ideas like this are discussed. There seems to be a collective refusal to wonder at just what the implications of a change such as largely removing private cars from our society might be.

Maybe we could fund far more buses, amazing and safe cycleways, extend the train network, compress and diversify cities, removing the zoning concept that creates the epic commute. Maybe we could localise energy production and democratise public transport, de-privatising it and reinvest all that money that subsidises motorways. Maybe children could safely walk to school on their own, empowering parents to work more, levelling gender inequality. Maybe there would be less of a discrepancy between poverty in urban and rural areas, as the cost of private motoring wouldn’t be unduly forced on the rural dwellers.

Call me a dreamer, but my god, it could be amazing!

I don’t have anything helpful to add, beyond saying that I’m really glad sometimes that I’m not a giant. I get towered over by men all the time, but at least my bikes look rad. 😉

Lots of not very silver options, they’re much rarer. I’ve plumped for the Miche one, I got to the “oh what the hell” point. Why has silver gone so far out of favour?

Hmm, ok. Ben my email is in my profile, could you fire me some pics?

Except none of those are 1″ threadless Jonxmack. Ben – what kind of thing did you have in mind? I don’t really have any spare parts for swaps – might I well be able to get something…

Weren’t CRC clearing Cane creek 1″ headsets recently for £5?

No!! Gutting.

Yeah, but headset maintenance, urgh. My colossal laziness at servicing my own bikes makes me reject those options outright!

Aha, the Miche seems like a good find! Chris Bling, well not sure I can justify that. You see though, that Campy has caged ball bearings, which surely must be a piss take for £50.

There just doesn’t seem to be those £40 cartridge bearing jobbies that you can find by the millions for 1 1/8th.

The same response to all the stupid new “standards”: Just say no.

There are quite a few road frames cheap as chips in Bristol Bike Project if you’re local to there.

I just rode LW and AC last night. I don’t think I have any, but I’m scratching all over right now just reading this thread. Ticks/lyme disease really scare me.

You can wild camp absolutely anywhere with a bit of confidence and common sense stealth. Don’t make loads of noise, stay one night only, and pitch in the evening not the afternoon and you could camp outside someone’s house. It may not be legal, but it follows the “if you’re causing no harm, you’re alright with me” Marley philosophy.

Tout Terrain make a rack you might be interested in:

http://www.en.tout-terrain.de/accessories/racks/

It’s called the Sherpa and is designed to carry a backpack on a bike. Might be ideal for your trip, which sounds awesome by the way, so good luck!

Lightwave make ace tents, I’ve got a G20 and it’s brill.

Thanks for the help everyone. I think there doesn’t seem to be anything around to tempt me away from the old faithful Mavics.

Those H Plus Son rims look like they might be a bit too full on roadie to me.

I’m also really not going to run stans, as my experience of them is that the design makes tyres a nightmare to get on and off, which is a sacrifice you can make if it’s going to be run tubeless, but seems pointless if you won’t be. And I definitely won’t be!

Can anyone discern the differences between the TN319 and TN719?

Has anyone tried the Rigida Taurus rims? I don’t think I can bear the idea of Sputniks I’m afraid mugsys, my bikes have always been disgustingly utilitarian, and I’m keen to have something that pleases me aesthetically for once.

Well, the first time I went to the alps, I had a bike with 63mm of elastomar sprung front travel, v brakes and bar ends. I don’t think you’ll die. And I don’t think your bike will either.

Before you completely disregard backpacks, I’d have a good look at Wingnut packs. The harness design puts the weight on your hips, they are very stable and extremely comfortable in my experience. If not, I’ve had some experience with Wildcat and think they are fantastic.

Like somafunk says, as everyone who has ever worked in a shop knows, Avids are soul destroying to work on, they are so awful. Go Shimano.

The easiest way to do that would be with a trailer. I’ve got a Carry Freedom Y Frame Large. It is amazing. I’ll be taking it to collect a load of wood from a local wood project on wednesday. Its amazing what you can carry. The large flat bed means you can add whatever you want to it: a box bolted on for shopping, unbolted and stuff lashed on with rope, passengers.

My normal cargo bike though has an unholy amount of luggage carrying though. With a Tubus Cargo rear rack and some big old panniers, that’s a fair amount of food shopping. Then upfront I’ve got an Old Man Mountain Cold Springs rack with a stolen shopping basket ziptied on. I carry loads in that, and you get used to the heavy steering very quickly.

Have fun, carrying stupid large cargo loads on bikes is crazy fun!