Singular Swift. EBB for ss, it also gives a nice stiff bb area for uphill. Or run it geared, alfine etc. Long chainstays and big tyre clearances. Run mine 100 sids or rigid. Front triangle not small, so you can get a frame bag and two water bottles in. On a Brooks, holding Geoff bars with sids, mudhuggers, and light wheels and tyres its comfy and fast and dry cross country. If you want to try something different alfine/ 29+ front etc its flexible to whims.

I’d like to try a Sherpa, Jones or Ritchey P29 though…a Pegasus would be lovely in titanium. Prob 68-69 ha is about optimum compromise for xc all day and keeping it still engaging going along.

New Swifts due this year. For throwing a bike over a gate though, a carbon frame and fork is much better throw. That oo whippet would be ace geared.

For true xc all day, from uphill steep offroad to onroad you cant gear a ss for thst range without suffering at one end. Gears make a better day out if you’re including road sections or you’ll be going slow.

XS 24″
S 26″
M 27.5
L 29
XL 29+

If you want to convert what you’ve got, if you buy a new set of carbon road forks that takes a wider front tyre at least, it will also have a full length uncut steerer tube. You can then put more spacers on, below a high rise (4 axis Ritchey 30 degree) stem then the riser road bars. While your only supposed to put 35mm spacers on steerers I think, I’ve never had a problem with more. When you’ve cut one off, you realise how ‘kin tough they are. Forks are pretty cheap. The whole lot is probably £200. The higher rise stem will finish a smidge closer to you, so you might need an extra 1cm on it, to keep the same saddle to bar measurement. How long are you cranks? A few mm on the crank length will drop you down a smidge to the bar height!

A pilates video (Karen Voight), good Chiropracter, glucosamine/ chondroitin sulphate/ hyaluronic acid & Vit D supp help me (beside Ibuprofen). Trouble is keeping taking/ doing it all when you better. You have to start paying in now your back/ neck/ shoulder bank balance is at zero/ in the red and get back in the black for your cycling vibration and posture withdrawls. You’ve used up your starting credits.

Lusso Pro Gel Bib shorts and a Brooks Imperial for me too. Yep UK made. I think I usually get them from Merlin. They have a thicker ‘long distance’ multi layer pad.

Never owned any real fancy £100+ shorts though.

You need to be looking at stack height.

Its not just head tube length, its also fork length and internal or external headset, plus how much the bottom bracket drop is below the wheel axis that defines your height relative to the bars.

You need to be at around 650mm, otherwise your reliant on headset spacers, flipped up high rise stems and bars that go up from the stem which have just come out.

In my wanderings (I’ve a bulging disc) getting a high stack height is the difference between having a back ache the next day and not on a lower front end.

As a pure road bike, I found the Specialized Roubaix carbon had about the highest stack I could find. The big carbon tubes and head area disguise it, but on a 58/ 5’11” bars are level with the stem upward.

For the gravel bike, a Salsa Fargo gets you high. Its 29er derived, so its got a 480 carbon fork (unlike a road 390 fork), so you’re 4 inches higher before even looking at the head tube. Stack height is 671mm on the large with 38 reach. You can put more comfortable tyres and a 100mm fork on it to take stress off your shoulders and back. If you’ve got the cash the titanium Fargo has the most comfortable frame. The CutThroat is the carbon version, but supposed to be stiffer and its slightly shorter in the head tube, so would be less good for you.

Add a Thudbuster, a Brooks Imperial, some thick squidgy bar tape, a SID 100 and a decent spread of gears and it’s like riding along on a Chesterfield. Any tyres fit the new framesets. Any. Older non boost bikes take a 29 x 2.4 rear and upto 29 x 3 front on the Firestarter fork, if you want to go bigger than a typical gravel tyre – not just knobblies, Schwalbe do some larger light road tyres like 2.25 G-Ones for max cush.

If you still get trouble, don’t discount an offroad trike just because they’re a bit out there. They’re alot of fun (remember go-carts). You’re completely lying down, and when you stop to admire the view, its like you’ve brought along your own deck chair. It’s surprisingly civilised. I had a go on Dad’s Ice Trike and liked it.

Drug use in The Tour levelled up and spread opportunity.

Comparing my Swift (71-72 HA) and a 456 Evo carbon 65 HA i think (currently rigid with Lurcher carbon fork 480 AC running it 650b).

I’d drop the Swifts HA a few degrees for a bit more stability on high speed downs. Though the ‘feedback’ is kind a fun and the immediacy has its attractions.

While the slack 456 bike certainly is more stable going down, and it doesn’t matter much going up, they’re a bit lifeless steering ‘going along’. You get used to it inside an hour, but the sharper head angles are better for steering around puddles and the like for us XC mincers: I think a slightly more responsive steer, is a bit more pleasurable on a few hours of undemanding just undulating XC, wheels on the ground.

I think for XC a high sixities is about optimum balance, for having a bit less sketch on a high speed descent and still some life in it when going along on an XC all day ride. HA is going to be as individual as picking wheelsize and gearing. Downhilling and bike park I’d definately say go slack. Actual singletrack, morw old school, especially rigid where you want to steer around things a bit more, I think its OK a bit sharper.

They list an XL and its in stock. 520 CT seat tupe/ 650 ETT I’d say it was for 6’2″ and up?

That fork…it’s got a big high gothic arch and the legs are thin and wide giving huge potential clearance. 29+ front maybe.

The spec sheet says 650b is 2.8 or 29/ 2.3. 36 max ring. 1.2kg frame.

506 axle to crown carbon fork…I think my Lurcher carbon forks are 480 and I think they take a 3″, they’ve certainly got alot of clearance, so these forks might take a bigger front tyre too as they are taller and boost. A bigger front may be possible…

Mezcals will be slower.

Tests show the Mezcals have higher rolling resistance and are heavier. So they will be slower to spin up and take more energy to keep there.

They are 100g heavier than TB’s at the same size. I’d consider 100g on rim weight very siginificant when buying them. On tyres it’s even further from the axis of rotation.

There’s no point going narrower than 2.1’s. Its the sweet spot. If you look at the weights a narrower ‘gravel’ tyre at sub 1.5 inches its no lighter and sometimes heavier than TB.

700/ 29er sizes…

Thunder Burt 2.1 Liteskin 435g
Thunder Burt 2.1 Snakeskin TLR 515g

WTB Riddler TCS 37/ 1.45 465g
WTB Riddler TCS 44/ 1.7 560g

Maxxis Rambler 40/ 1.6 434g

Mezcals 2.1 TNT 680g

The sweet spot is a TB at 2.1 on a 23/25 450g Stans Arch mk3/ Wtb Kom 25 inner rim. Narrower rims and tyres barely weigh less and offer less comfort and probably have more rolling resistance if we believe the science offroad.

Which is why…we need to ditch the road chainsets and swap small chainring, small sprocket mtb drivetrains in. With a 32 oval x 10 sprocket you can spin to 26mph with a 2.1 at a 100 cadence. That was about 5 seconds of my 2hr New Forest ride last week before tucking, down the biggest gravel steep downhill in the New Forest. If you extend a gravel bikes chainstays from 435 to 450 mm you have room for even a 2.4, like on my Swift and Fargo for max bike flexibility

You can have sufficient gearing, wider tyres, lower resistance, more comfort and no more weight. Most gravel bike designers are too hung up with road bike legacy choices of narrow tyres, high head angles and uncomfortable low stack heights still.

I put Schwalbe Pro One’s on those Hope rims, with stans yellow tape and caffe latex fluid, stans valves. Went up with a track pump. Run them at relatively high pressures (80-85 for road) over a year. Think it was two raps.

Canyon Exceed CF SL 7.0

Light carbon frame, SID with remote lockout, light carbon wheels (Reynolds), 12spd Eagle 34/10-50. Decent XC tyres (Aspen/ Rekon). 22.5 lbs.

£2.5K

I’ve been waiting for this. I was expecting a CutThroat but this isn’t. Why are they teasing out the tyre size so slowly? It’s painfull to watch.

Modern membrane waterproofs.

Work great out of the packet, then the following year, you find yourself with a ‘soaked’ jacket and getting cold with a heavy sodden jacket. So then you buy some waterproofing spray, and find yourself asking WTF when you spent a considerable sum on it is it not waterproof. Breathability? Well I’m fine with a windproof pertex top on, so when I really want to stay dry and not soaked caught out in an emergency, is the industry supplying me with this crap. There isn’t even a subset of waterproof ‘waterproofs’ with moderate breathability anymore. Give me a breathable waterproof that still beads water off for life please.

Tubeless.

Crap all over the floor. Ballache getting tyres inflated and staying inflated. Dried crap inside the tyre adding weight. Can’t then change tyres easily for conditions. Tyre anxiety…will they or won’t they go on then go up. Gopping toxic mess in there if you have to put a tube in to get home on day all over your hands. Syringes, valves. Get it right and it’s good for just 3 months.

I recently went back to inner tubes on my Swift and it felt like an upgrade to my cycling life. No mess. Immediate inflation. No difference in ride quality as I swapped back to a tyre with a lighter more suppple compliant carcass. Weight was the same. Zero ballache, mess and crap. I didn’t puncture before or since.

Doesn’t the X01 11spd have ‘zero loss’ shifting and the gx doesn’t?

I bought the X01 for that reason and run it with a lowly NX mech. 32 with 10-42. Best shifting I’ve ever had after decades of XT. It’s as fast and sounds like a mouse click. Shifting is just as instant. Maybe i just got lucky but I rate that zero loss tech. X01 shifter gets a big thumbs up from me. Never had less trouble with gears over a few years with it.

Anyone else think it’s a bit odd that a company the size of Specialized just sells one hardtail e-bike in their range – the LevoHT? It’s bottom end stuff as well, Alivio and Suntour fork. Even the rims are relatively narrow for what the gains might be with wider tyres. You can’t buy a well specced Spesh e-bike hardtail if you wanted to. It’s a £400 bike dressed up, retailing at £2250 with a motor. They’d be better off selling it as an e-bike frameset. Is there no market for e-bike hardtails?

Merlin have ’16 Pike 26″ 150 or 160 solo air tapered forks at £399.

I noticed that DT had been testing gravel rimmage, and have decided on 24mm inner/ 28mm outer for their two Gravel rims G540 and G531 – for tyres ‘upto’ 53mm/ 2.1 in 29 flavour (not just for 650b conversions).

https://www.dtswiss.com/en/products/rims/road/gravel/

It seems your old Flow’s are now bang on trend and those years you spent thrashing down mountains and getting air were entirely mispent, and they were only really suitable for gravel mincing! Just keep to the bigger gravel tyres.

Interestingly your Stand Flow EX are about the same weight as those DT Gravel rims (circa 550g).

For fast, comfortable and light (circa 500-550g) I like 29x 2.1 Thunder Burts.

I use the lightest raceskin with some Continental ultralight 29 tubes. They don’t hold any mud either in the winter. Surprising grip even through deep mud.

After removing my tubeless Ikons (TR/EXO/3C), it felt halfway to riding an E bike, and I was shooting up the hills. A slight amount of sketch on fast downhill gravel compared to Ikons, but overall a lot faster. Very little, almost no road noise.

I havn’t tried the Clements. If you need grip, the Xkings are surprisingly amazeballs on road, but for me Thunder Burts rule for mincing around the New Forest, although the summer loose ball bearing gravel has been replaced by perfect ‘hero’ gravel the minute. No heavier than a narrower cross tyre either.

I had an early rigid Spesh Stumpjumper (1988) which was Tange Prestige. Felt like it had a zip and a bounce, but so did I back then.

My old DNA 26″ titanium (early 90’s) I built up with titanium forks (V brake). Ran that hard XC and I loved the bike. I can’t say I ever felt the forks twangy or had an issue. Though I was lighter then. Still got the bike. It also has a Royce titanium bottom bracket, titanium seat post and bars!

Pretty sure there were/ I bought the J&L ones, you can still buy an ebay for £200. I had no issue with them, though the bike has sat in my spare room for the last 15 years, and I’ve be riding other bikes. I see they do 29’er ones now. The shorter 26″ length might make them stiffer, don’t know.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/J-L-Titanium-Rigid-1-1-8-MTB-Fork-for-26-29er-700C-Straight-XC-CycloCross-508g/122334172950?hash=item1c7baf5716:m:mkOjMW1YyPXnJLXwUJmn3wA

When I’m in my van, at a junction at night, head torch only bikers appear further away than they are. I know they aren’t and are wearing helmet lights, but non bikers might not, with a fleeting look.

Pretty sure car lights are a set height above the ground, which people get used to figuring distance. A head torch is much higher, and at a junction, you will appear to be further away, up the road in the dark. So you might get people pulling out infront of you.

Just saying, i think there is an optical affect with helmet lights, though everything is better than nothing and bike and helmet lights are a great option, and using it directly as Oliver does above clearly saves him having accidents.

A driver side on to the road, at a junction, I think having a front light low on the bike, visually makes you appear closer to the driver as he looks sideways, and so he’s less likely to pull out.

I commuted for 6-8 weeks last year. Fluro jackets & gloves (diff colours), top end flashing lights, fluro bike, white helmet…

I reckoned about every other day, my life would be out of my control and in someone else’s hands. People sometimes pulled out after seeing me, because I’m on a bike and not in a car, and obviously more expendible. I’m experienced riding and ride proactively to keep safe and really concentrate on what’s around me.

My ride time co-incided with mothers dropping off kids at school, which doesn’t help with traffic and frankly they’re all in a rush late for school, as are everyone else. I’m just in the way of their deadline. I found it safer on the main roads than backroads. On the main roads, junction visibility is better and fewer parked cars. People seem to be concentrating more, despite or because of the greater passing speed.

I reckoned if I kept riding, eventually, by sheer mathmatical probability I’d be in an accident after 1-2 years. It’s a big retirement area where I live, and frankly it’s bad enough in a car somedays.

It was a shame, as I was fitter & faster, happier and enjoyed my ride to work. So now I drive, and instead I’m slowly killing myself silently, by not getting the exercise of riding to work, never mind the planet. Its only 5 minutes faster over 20 min ride. I have to say I look forward to and enjoy my weekend rides more when not getting knackered commuting to work. But I’m slower.

We have a Birdy and a Bike Friday in the family. I’ve had goes on both.

The Birdy is highly engineered, as the Germans do. The suspension works. It feels fun to ride and also really stable at low speeds. It’s very adjustable to get your position comfortable, folds really really quick for commuting. For train commuter travel the Birdy folds and unfolds in an instant (just seconds) and that’s better for that. When folded it doesn’t wheel along, but I think you can buy an accessory that makes it do that.

The Bike Friday is immediately smoother on the road though. The steel frame/ fork and the bigger wheels (10 rather than 8 I think) – the Birdy we have I think is a New World Tourist) seem to make a big difference. If you want a folder for air travel etc, it’s a much better ride and better bike – it takes frant and rear racks etc. It feels like a normal bike on the road. It’s not quite a looker, stand out like the Birdy, that pops (in lime green) but of the two, if I had to get rid of both I’d keep the Bike Friday. They used to be imported, but I think they’re harder to get hold of outside the USA now. They turn up on Ebay though. Drop bars or flat. A range of frame sizes. I’d happily tour on one. With a loaded bike its a big bonus to be able to ‘step through’ a low frame, as you can’t tip the bike sideways too far, as it off balances like you do getting on a normal bike. Folding it down is much more of a process. The bits on it, like deore hubs etc seem to make it alot more serviceable. If I wanted to travel around Europe with a bike, the odd train, the odd flight, mostly cycling where I fancied, it would be the perfect bike for that. They’ve done a good job designing it. Its a few years since I saw how it folded. Its best thought of as a travel folder, the Birdy a commuter’s folder. I think Bike Friday have brought out a smaller wheel version which folds quicker for commuting.

If we get a FTA with USA in the coming years, the Bike Friday’s they should get cheaper to import.

Your condemming us to narrow tyres and a stack of spacers for aesthetics?

A Vaya gets to 630 with only a 1cm longer fork (+ a 1cm lower headset, 0.5cm more bb drop and a 3cm on the headtube).

I think it can be massaged aesthetically. No worries. Different bikes for different folks. Tempest is a lovely thing.

I realise alot of roadies want a more aero heads down posture. You’ve got to sell what people want, regardless to a degree. If you’ve gor flexibility, a good back and powerfull legs, its the faster posture.

I’m 5’11” and 46 with a dicky back. My Specialized Roubaix (58) and a Pipedream Moxie (longer) both have a 630 stack height in my size. Most ‘modern’ 140ish 29ers will have a 630 ish stack. They’re popular not just for wheel sizing to rider but because the bars are higher and less weighted. All day bikes are better with weight off the hands and your back less arced over.

I’cant find the figure for Jones, but with the fork arangement and standard spacers it must be same ballpark. Salsa sell every Fargo they make at a premium, because to get a comfortable fatter tyre drop bar 29er front end, you have to pay them, and only them. So I could argue that 630 stack height for normal bloke size, is pretty standard for a ‘soft’ mamil roadbike, cutting edge enduro and premium adventure bike from Jones and Salsa. The Tempest is better than most recycled cross bikes, being halfway there but it’s still a lowly 588 on a 57 frame. Two inches lower…and my finger hovers away from buy now despite its titanium loveliness. I go back to Bike24 and see Salsa want £2700 just for a frame and forked Titanium Fargo. The Tempest is a steel for sure.

Like high head angles, low front ends, nobody values as you get older, stiffer…but richer. I realise a high rise stem and angle the hoods up, gets you about there, but then you loose a comfortable drops position if the bar shape isn’t designed for that angle. Just sayin, I think the market is bigger. Maybe thats not a market Planet X has its fingers tapped into of late, becoming more road orientated after you left. I’m looking forward to your new bikes by the way now your back.

Very long head tubes look dorky, so you have to spread accross fork length and head tube and spacers to get it visually balanced. The carbon layup disguises the very long head tube on a roubaix. While your at it give it long chainstays for stability and to help get a bigger tyre in. I cant see how a properly designed gravel grinder needs to be ‘tyre restricted’ at both ends? Is it not all self imposed Brant? A throwback to big chainrings, crossbikes and narrow Q factor? I am a fan by he way, just asking the horses mouth.

Running a big ‘manly’ chainring limits your tyre width. While narrow tyres spin up faster, but you loose some of the gearing because of the small profile.

A Fargo can only run a 36 chainring, but can run a 29 x 2.6 in the rear, which actually gives you a wider gear range. With a 38mm and a SRAM 10x cluster you can get the same range.
Even with light tyres, will it’s ease of pedalling get you spinning up your steepest slope, when your tired, into the wind and after an off? A 42-42 wouldn’t for me, but it depends what you ride up, how fit you are, how heavy your ‘rig is’ and wether you take it ‘off piste’. Tyre size for truely mixed riding, I’d say 2.1 Thunder Burts give a better (more comfortable) afternoon’s biking. 2.2 Ikons if you wan’t sketch free marble gravel descending…but then you’re slower on the road.

A higher front end is more comfortable for most week end warriors, middle aged who buy these bikes, unless your a fit supple roadie and enables a suspension fork to be swapped in. While gravel isn’t gnar, the higher speeds put more force through the forks. I seem to run through 50mm of travel after an afternoon of non spectaucular gravel grinding and I’m back at the car and taking a look…a carbon fork (connected to an Evo 456 carbon and carbon barsc& seatpost) is nearly as good though when I’ve compared and contrasted with my other bike over the same ground.

I’m also not sure that the 71-73 derived roadie head angles are much help when you putting out the miles on road or gravel. There’s not much fast turning action going on there. I’m sure slacker head angles make more sense for everyone (except twisty singletrack) from Froome down.

On the face of it, narrow higher pressure tyres, short forks, large chainrings, long steat tubes, narrow bars is how we used to do it 20-30 years ago…and I enjoyed it then.

It’s an especially great deal, and a great bike though. The American hipster brands would charge at least double for it and Titanium is especially lovely. Carbon can be made lighter for the same strength or stronger for the same weight. It’s also capable of very sophisticated layup’s for springiness and stiffness in the bottom bracket. Its harder but not impossible with metal tube profiles and size. Neither does carbon rust.

I think these bike are best for roadies who cut road sections with offroad forrays. For mountain bikers who link offroad sections with road sections, a drop bar 29’er is more suited and useable & flexible year round…though a narrow tyre can cut through mud.

Brant – how about a new Fargo beater (on price). Call it the Tyke: def:Yorkshire dialect, mischevious, cheeky and course…

Where does the GFA say that there can’t be border infrastructure?

All I can see reading it, is that that the British Government should ‘remove security installations’. Just those 3 words.

I assumed that means all the military hardware that was stationed.

https://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/today/good_friday/full_text.html

There is no border between NI and Ireland because Ireland and the UK joined the EU on the same day.

The GFA says that each country should ‘commit to the principles of partnership, equality and mutual respect and to the protection of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights in their respective jurisdictions’.

Which means Ireland is required to respect the border with the UK?

As I see it, Ireland is hijacking the GFA for the purposes of trying to achieve a borderless NI/ Ireland border for the purpose of furthering chances of future unification. But not playing ball with the UK could lead to a severe fiscal shock, and fundamentally the EU (Germany) has made it clear already that they will have to enforce a border of some kind (standards policicing if nothing else) with the UK if we leave. The UK can choose to ignore having infrastructure on our side, but Ireland, inside the EU can’t. They’re only other hope is for the NI community to be sufficiently put out by the ‘border’ that they will opt for unification in a future vote. Will the NI population be put out when there is a pre-existing CTA and they can even hold both passports?

Many, in fact most countries, share a land border with another, and manage it fine. Give that only a small fraction (5-10%) of goods are inspected between most borders, I can’t see having goods inspected away from a ‘border flashpoint’ being unsurmountable. Either that of Ireland will have to have inspections between itself and the EU.

I remember the UK made it clear, that border, tariffs, standards were all tied together on the NI/I border, and that all matters should be mutually discussed together for this reason when negociations began with the EU.

I used a Cateye Volt 800 on the front. Not too dear. Properly powerfull to see well on full power on dark country roads, adjustable down for more run time, on with pulse or flash. Use a Cateye TL LD1100 on rear set both lines to a random pattern.

I commuted for a while, but even with a white helmet, nightvision fluro orange or yellow jackets, night vision socks, lights on and a bright red/ pink Roubaix paint job etc, people still pulled out. They see you, just if they’re gettng impatient and need to pull out, they see you as expendable. Glad I had road hydro discs.

Even with all the safety gear, observant defensive riding, I realised after a few months, my life was out of my hands momentarily almost daily. Concluded it was just a matter of time before something happened. Drivng to work is also killing me slowly silently with lack of exercise though in comparison, just its less obvious than the danger of commuting.

The cateyes seem well made. Some people will still chance your life though. From a drivers perspective, I see people with only helmet lights on sometimes. From a junction in pitch darkness these cyclists coming towards me look further away higher up the road than they actually are. I think a lower down light, actually is perceived as closer in pitch darkness.

When driving, thise dayglow fluro orange overshoes some roadies wear whizzing around are highly visible.

Sunset Bikes have an Orange Crush S at £1079 in all sizes. 150/ 27.5/ long ETT. They do C2W, i’m not sure if you’re aloud sale bikes or not these days, some seem to.

The new Spa Cycles Wayfarer has discs (spyre), high spec Reynolds 725 frame, full mounts, includes a Tubus rack and mudguards, choice of chainrings and very good handbuilt built wheels from a touring specialist. For an extra £125 it comes with a good Sp front dyno hub and front and rear lights already wired in for you. Fully customisable. Long fork steerer so you will get a level or high riding position. Decent solid Deore bits for commuting. With 9spd you can match road and mtb stuff. Have demo bikes for sizing. A grand for CTW.

https://www.spacycles.co.uk/m1b0s21p3866/SPA-CYCLES-Wayfarer

A BMW 325i M sport coupe (Tarmac) and a Volvo V 90 estate (Roubaix) are the best cars you can buy but at different times in your life.

Your younger self will hate the Volvo’s softness. Your older self will hate the BMW unrefined ride quality. Which is best for you depends where you are at in life.

I’ve got the one before the present version. Its very comfortable. In part, the carbon frame disguises a tall head tube which helps anyone with back issues, and the frame seems to combine a stiffer bb area/ bb30 prob also helps withbeing comfy over bumps. Its stiffer uphill while being comfyier than my Salsa Caseroll that preceded it. Probably only realky possible with carbon. Nicely made. My wheels had ok rims but the spokes kept loosening and couldn’t get them tubeless, so swapped them for a Hope set and everything is tickety boo. With a restrap large frame bag sitting inside my 58 perfectly, its a lovely all day ride. I have stiffer (maybe) faster bikes but an hour or two on them and I know it. For normal people a single ring might be even better. I liked the diverge but they seemed alot dearer when i was looking in carbon. There isnt much space around the tyres to go larger, so i your looking for semi knobblies on gravel i dont think there is the space, but new ones may be different. Bought in the sale, so price was reasonable. Road discs are good. Highest head tube you’ll find if your searching for high stack height. I believe its their biggest selling bike.

Supacaz Galaxy Bar tape. Black with neon purple stars or they do a neon purple to black star fade.

Super Sticky Kush Star Fade

Super Sticky Kush Galaxy

Bike Discount have the Ritchey WCS integrated headset parts available separately if it helps @ £20. Detailed dimensions are on the Ritchey website. The WCS have stainless bearings.

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/search?q=ritchey+wcs+integrated

https://eu.ritcheylogic.com/eu_en/wcs-drop-in-integrated-lower-headset

https://eu.ritcheylogic.com/media/itm/magb1/Productfiles/33055008004/1521191866_HS-WCS-DI-Integrated-Lower.pdf

Ritchey carbon bars £37.50 here

https://www.merlincycles.com/ritchey-superlogic-carbon-flat-10d-mtb-handlebars-111734.html

620 wide, no rise, but 10 degree bend and cheap!

Yep it arrived.

Foam wrapped in the box. Paint work is perfect. The Celeste colour is indeed “Bianchi” Celeste – that green/ blue hue that I personally like. I don’t have any Bianchi’s and I’m not wanting to ape a Bianchi, but I do like that colour.

Internal cables, with pre inserted tubes that I guess I attach stuff to and pull through. Inside the head tube and wherever else it’s smooth finish. It looks the biz. Tubing is very sculpted. The top tube is very laterally oval – for compliance I guess like Cotic and others do with steel. The seat tube has a slight bend down towards the bottom. Big downtube going from squovial to a more oval towards the big BB. BSA bottom bracket. Disc brake mount on the chain stay. Rear seat stays are very laterally flat oval, again I assume for compliance. All threads clean no overspray.

Comes with rear bolt through, 142 pre installed. There’s a headset in a box with sealed type bearings and a seat collar.Frame weighs 1.2kg. I was wondering on the bottle mounts – it does have two, one on the seat and down tube normal position. Look like two sets stainless bottle cage bolts. Extra set of hangers and 142/135 swap out drop outs came airmail after I ordered it.

So it certainly looks a million dollars. And I’m very pleased with it. I shall take it home tonight and put a wheel in it to see what the clearance is, though I only run a Raceking 2.2. Chainstays are 44 roughly.

The geometry though isn’t quite as shown in that picture, but it’s close enough. Head tube is 120, Seat tube from center to top is 450mm. The actual top tube center to center is 58 so ETT will probably be 59 or so. not a deal breaker. My Roubaix is a 58 with a 110 stem, so I’ll run a 100 instead. I’ll have to look at my Woodchippers bar reach compared to the Spesh.

So pleased with it. Looks superb. Slighly dissapointed its not quite the exact geom advertised.. but its near enough – a short 29er for running drop bars, and it will build up super light for throwing over gates and lifting onto my car roof Thule rack for this oldie.

The forks that came are black painted as ordered. Kind of triangular in leg seaction – wider at the rear. 700g. Brake hose holder. I’m assuming as they make the frame, fork and supplied the headset it will all play nice. Forks were 70 pound. About 485 crown to axle center. 30cm on the fork steerer. Seem nicely made.

My Jagwire brake cables have arrived to make the most of the Spyres, which together with the Sram shifters (1×11) I’m waiting on to build it up. Would like hydraulics (my Roubaix has them) but was going to work out a bit dear, and I wanted to keep this one cheap and hopefully very chearfull and trying buying from China, from the guys that make stuff. I only brake offroad for the odd gate anyhow. If it gets down the SDW without puffing into carbon dust I shall have one over those American hipsters…

My SP-M003 frame got to Blighty in 14 days.

Parcelforce require £18.45 Import VAT and £11.25 clearance fee. So they’re looking at approx £230 to your front door.

Should have it tomorrow.

My Roberts Roughstuff is so equpped. There’s alot to be said for the old quill stem for ease of set up.

The only quick height adjustable aheadset system i’ve ever seen was fitted to Dawes Super / Ultra Galaxy’s a few years ago.

https://road.cc/content/review/70486-dawes-super-galaxy

It was made by NVO Components.

http://nvocomponents.com/technical/