Peregrine (if you can find one), or a Vaya.
Mine are on 47 and 42 respectively, both very comfy all-day mixed condition bikes.

I’m a big fan of the Timber! bell. I ride a lot of shared paths with my (elderly) mum with one gently ting’ling away.

She gets confidence (as a rider) from noticing that people are curious about the sound as we gently ride along behind them, and pretty much most of the time will turn to look from a decent distance away, just to see what is making the sound. With a normal bike bell that wasn’t happening, people would just kinda step to the side a bit without really turning to look.

It makes a better ride for her, as she isn’t having to try to work out what people / dogs / children are going to do as often as she was, and people do seem to find them genuinely less threatening.

As NormalMan says up the page a bit, on a smooth path, a gentle shake of the ‘bars is all that’s required.

(Embrace Michael Douglas’s Falling Down character, it’s far easier in the long run (having now just reached 50)).
:wink:

[Terrible photo of my] First generation Swift.

It’s all green lanes / farm-tracks. The nearest bit of moorland is up behind South Brent.

There’s a decent density of (often muddy & steep) tracks broadly to the north of Totnes in the area constrained by the main roads between Totnes and Newton Abbot, Totnes and Buckfastleigh, and the A38 up along the edge of the moors.

Unhelpfully I don’t have any routes, but I’d probably start off up the old turnpike road towards Littlehempston, and pick up the lanes heading out north and west from there.

I kinda just pick and choose depending on how long I’m out for, but wherever you end up you’ll have to join them up by using lots of the little back country [tarmac] lanes.

I’m a big fan of Stihl’s BioPlus lube in my saw (346XPG) & on my bike chains. ~£20.00 for 5Ltrs.

I find it a bit less ‘sticky’ than a lot of bar/chain lubes (but it’s still stickier than a straight bike chain lube).

MTB cranks and friction shifting an option?
I run (11-32) 9sp 770XT rear, & 10sp 780XT (triple) front on my Vaya – shifting via Dura-Ace 7700 bar-end shifters (& it works perfectly on friction mode).

This is maybe a bit of an outlier, but I bought my (5′ 5″) partner a Genesis Borough a couple of months ago for exactly the kinda riding you describe, with added long rambling days out in the countryside. If you hunt around, they were discounted down to about £500.00 in some places.

The main selection criteria for her was getting the best fit, after struggling with a too stretched-out, racy Kona XC bike for a while, and this one turned out to be perfect.

Usefully, it’s all normal sized tubes, so upgrades are easy, although everything works fine as is for now. Not noticeably heavy either. It’s also F&R rack friendly (which might / might not matter).

I always seem to manage to get a bit of a cat-nap in somewhere along the way.

I certainly like a good quality, long nights sleep before hand, and very definitely for a few nights afterwards. Avoid alcohol before having it done, and keep topped up with water / simple good quality food during the session.

Ask for a bit of a break if you need one rather than fidget / get stiff – I always ask my tattooist if he’d like a quick bit of a break too if he looks like he needs one, or has been going a while.

Going over my collar bone was the only place that caused me to jump a bit, my ribs / elbows seemed to be ok?

I could be making this up, but I don’t know that caffeinated drinks are a good idea immediately before / during either (are they?).

Great thread.

~65km ramble through the Teign Valley / Eastern Dartmoor / Wray Valley in mid-November 2016. This was about the most prefect day for riding a bike in the countryside as it would ever be possible to wish for.

135mm hub dynamo that is wide enough at the flanges to make the most of the width, (and not have to build a ‘skinny’ 135mm front wheel).

I moved on from the Blackburn racks, as the platform is a bit small, and kinda oddly placed (for me).

I use the Racktime Topit racks on most of my bikes now. They’ll take small panniers, but I only ride for the day, so everything I need goes in a drybag on the top.

Or – in a drybag, in a Wald 137 basket (don’t knock the idea of a basket until you’ve tried it :wink: ).

I’ve got a Swift Ozette rando bag, but it’s not a great fit with those racks – sure it works, but only ‘ish, I can’t get it to feel especially secure – it does fit almost magically well on a Nitto M18 tho’ (as does the Wald basket). Other rando bags might work better / differently I guess, but everything I looked at ‘needed’ that tombstone on the back of the rack to lock down onto securely.
That said, a Porteur bag might work ‘better’ than a traditional rando bag?

UK supply might be a challenge, but Pass & Stow racks came up a lot in my research. There seem to be more options now than when I was looking, and they’ve been covered above – Specialized Pizza Rack (supply bumped on to Feb 2017 I think), plus the Surly and Pelago porteur racks.

The new ‘recommended’ feature might [also] be triggering some of this kinda thing – it’s worked pretty well for me in highlighting genuinely interesting stuff, but as far as I can see the algorithm draws on extended networks too (as well as the close ones), so you might find that PeteHuu has some kinda following / follower relationship with the people who have now attached themselves to you.

I’ve had a few random people pop up on my ‘stream in the last few weeks too.

Bots and ‘favours’ will be in the churn somewhere I’m sure.

In the lanes of South Devon I’d go with:

1. Young women (often on their way to / from the stables, which is even worse, given you might have expected them to have an awareness of the issues with traffic in narrow lanes, given their performance when they are on their horses).

2. Holiday makers – they generally have no idea of where they are / where they are going so drive by peering at the GPS and driving in the middle of the lane to avoid the hedge. They all seem have vehicles that in terms of perception, far exceed their actual physical dimensions on the road. None of them have reverse.

3. Main roads / towns, it’s kinda everyone. :?

4. On the rare and frankly buttock-clenchingly horrible occasions you have to use the A38 Devon Expressway to jump from one lane to another, it’s the big Euro trucks and courier vans, then anyone else.

A Madison Universal Light Mounting Kit[/url] is your friend.

The red square section is a bit of tapped alloy that receives the bolts – I don’t think it’s especially clear from the product photo, but it’s obvious when it’s in your hand.

I actually use one on the offside stay of one of my *front* racks to mount a light down below where a bag would otherwise obscure it, but it’d work just as well on the rear (unless you have some unusually perculiar rear rack of course).

2 x dynamos & my Swift Industries Ozette randonneur bag.

Ergotec (Humpert) or SQlab do some interesting wriggly ‘bars – from quite constrained sweep and rise to pretty big sweep and rise town / cruiser bars.

(As do Satori, but good luck finding a distributor in the EU for them).

Followed [part of] one of the South Devon rivers through the country lanes and up onto Dartmoor.

I can’t speak highly enough of my Wald basket / cargo net combo.

:P

Salsa Vaya ? Perhaps a bit on the heavier side, and I don’t think I’d race CX on it, but certainly a capable enough bike for a decent range of riding. Mine’s happily running 42’s.

I’d suggest Moon Ring(s), having now seen them (and seen them easily!) on a wet, gloomy moorland day.

Western edge of Dartmoor.
Raw cold, made all the more biting by the torrential rain and strong winds, oh, and slippery roads (with bonus autumn colour still just about holding on).

:D

RestlessNative
is that a ‘go vegan’ sticker? how topical

Certainly is!
You’ll often find me riding in sandals too (& I have a big beard)

:wink:

I’ll throw this one in too then:

Rebuilt just before the summer with Surly ECR forks and Saint/XT running gear with Hope M4’s f&R … and yeah, inner tubes. Also has Titec H-bars (in 25.4 of course) with ergonomic grips, and front rack, all to add unfashionably useful comfort & practicality.

Salsa Vaya? I think they are now a bit more geared towards adventure and a bit less towards smooth touring as a complete bike aren’t they?

(Mine was a frameset and self-build, so doesn’t look very much like the complete bike spec anyway).

The amount of space will be the issue I guess …
I normally (*1) use a Wildcat Tiger with an Alpkit drybag shoved in it.
I do tend to use a long pedal strap to just tighten everything up a bit and limit the wag when the bag is only partially full (when I can’t decide what to wear) – plus it’s an extra luggage point / strap if I need it (or if something breaks).

(*1) I sometimes use a Bikepack.eu bag.

I pay a lot of attention to top-tube length and BB drop – those number make the biggest difference to me.

Maybe use bar-end shifters on friction?
You’ll get away with *all* kinds of gearing options then.

(I run almost everything on friction these days given the freedom it gives me in mixing up component choices (plus I prefer the way it feels)).

:wink:

Andy_Sweet – Devon is pretty nice in Autumn

Sure is, especially South Devon. :wink:

We will probably start again easy, with a train down to the west country and follow our nose like before

Ah, you may know this already, but GWR now require you to book your bike slot in advance – the days of rolling up at a station and almost certainly being able to put your bike on the next train have gone now.

No problem if you are planning something properly, but for those ad-hoc take a train-to-somewhere-then-ride-home kinda trips it’s a PITA.

:x

I had a similar sounding requirement, which I finished last night (by soldering the connectors with the bike (Salsa Vaya) laid out on it’s side on the kitchen table).

This time around I’ve used a SON28 with Supernova E3 Triple (which isn’t really sold as a ‘road light’ as such I guess, but it looked great out on my quick test ride last night, (once I’d set it at the right angle). 99% of my rides are out in the back country lanes, so I’m not going to be meeting very much oncoming traffic).

My Singular Osprey has a Shimano Alfine (Ds-s501?) hub with a Supernova E3 Pro2 and that works really well on road and less demanding farm-tracks – the Vaya gets used like a 1990’s MTB (hence the triple this time).

Functionally no difference, but the SON feels noticeably smoother than the Alfine.

I don’t know of any dynamo lights that have output options tho’ – but some will charge from the electronics in the light itself (B + M Lumotec IQ2 Luxos U).

This’ll come up I guess, but what thread is everyone using with their machines?

I’ve got an old Singer like the one pictured above, but I’ve never really found a decent thread it likes … so sew by hand; which is a pain on big jobs I could just bash through the machine in a 100ths the time.

When I sew by hand I normally use 18/3 unwaxed linen thread (from years of repairing saddlery / rugs), it’s ok for webbing / lunges / dog leads, but it’s too big for VX21 / cordura, and way too big for my machine.

Decent lights and just carry on. Unless the weather is grim then … it’s turbo.

…go running.

:P

Dunno if this helps, but both of my 26″ frames have 29″ forks and 26″ wheels (f&r) and they ride (subjectively) really well.

You’ll notice that I like to challenge the conventions of the bike-photo genre, by playfully flirting with unconventional ideas around things like logo/valve/crank alignment, and clear backgrounds, lending each picture what I like to think of as an earthy, rustic quality, befitting of racked, rigid steel bikes in countryside scenes, oft single-speeding, but all built up organically for a purpose, not just bought off the shelf.

:wink:

1992 Kona Fire Mountain with PII 29er forks.

2010/11 Genesis Altitude with Surly ECR forks:

scaredypants
Not sure I’ve ever actually caught what any of the **** chimps is trying to say, so “uuggghhh, ugghhnnnnghhhhhh”

Yeah, that sums up my experience pretty much too :?
A shame in some regards too as some of it might be quite funny.

I’d go with the Fenix3 too, I’ve had mine ~18 months now, and it’s been outstanding throughout (Mine mostly collects running data for me, but it’s been plenty of cycle miles too, as well as open water swimming / hill walking / ultras … all been great).

It anything happened to mine I’d get another one without even thinking about it.

What follows turned out to be a list of entirely unsuitable forks, but I’ve carried on with it – in case it saves you time if they come up in conversation down the thread:

ECR or Firestarter forks are obvious, as they have all the options, but at ~480mm, they are *way* too long (having just measured my Vaya’s forks at just over 400mm A-C). Fargo forks are similarly well drilled, and a bit shorter, but still too long (~460mm).

Salsa’s Marrakesh fork would appear to be the closest, it’s got all the mounting options, albeit slightly longer at 415mm A-C, but … I don’t think you can them (other than as [part of] a frameset).

:roll:

This one gets most of my wet crappy winter miles in.

We are pretty casual in how we define ‘roads’ when we are out together too – that ^ was on the ride home from Haytor after the ToB finish up there on Friday.

Not as remote as some people are posting, but there you go, you take your adventure where you find it I guess.

Next bit of land is ~170km south of that bit of old coastal defense ^

I find I’m more sensitive to the shape of ergonomic grips than I’d perhaps have expected, so ended up feeling my way through a few different sets before settling on the ones I use now.

Probably no help to you whatsoever :roll: , but I found that the (Specialized grips) suited *me* better than anything else.