Happy to build your own?

I know from using them, Mavic A719’s are tough, build up really nicely, and easily run 700 x 32 to 29 x 2.1’s (Mavic rate them for 28mm to 47mm). Not the lightest rims you’ll find tho’ – I will give you that, but I’ve never had to put a spoke key on mine since building them.

(Ok, I know they aren’t 700 x 25, but I guess it depends which end of that scale you favour / how bad you roads are – mine are rubbish so the narrowest road tire I run is 28).

You should be able to get close to ~£200’ish with XT hubs.
More money will get DT Swiss XR331 rims (which look kinda similar’ish).
Good opportunity to consider a dynamo based wheelset (like my Vaya will be getting over the coming months).

:P

Didn’t have a plan – as evidenced by riding around for hours in the torrential rain. Oddly entertaining it was too (especially the traditional comedy models of ‘dinosaurs’ on Teignmouth sea front).

This very afternoon I bought a Bontrager Ion 700R.

Run times look ok, and the beam shape / colour looked pretty good in the back room of the shop (with the lights off).

I wanted something small and self-contained, for an hour or two’s pottering about when I’m on a bike that’s not got a dynamo (or not yet got a dynamo).

Still on charge, so I dunno what it’s like to ride with!

Surly ECR forks might be worth a look. Perhaps not the lightest fork you’ll find, but I’m liking mine (plus they have lots of options to fit all kinds of racks).

I run a Salsa Enabler on the front of my Swift which suits it really well (if you can live with 135mm OLD front end). I’ve not ridden a set but the ‘standard’ Salsa steel forks get well enough reviewed too. The new Swift ‘touring’ forks look useful, if was was going back to a normal width front end on my Swift, I’d fit a set of them.

Why? – I find I can’t get on with / don’t like suspension (plus there’s less to break), I don’t seem to like the way suspended bikes handle. I like front racks too, which don’t really work on suspension forks.

Subjectively, but yeah, Jones bars work well with rigid bikes.

:wink:

Took my Singular Osprey road bike out Saturday evening when it cooled down, and stretched the definition of ‘road’ a bit.

Dynamo lighting FTW too – this has really opened up the times I can ride.

Hmm, you mentioned one thing that’d really help our issues on the previous page:

“I don’t get enough sleep as it is”.

Only really echoing other posters here now, but decent sleep is critical to recovery / rebuilding / repairs – it’s like a free training session, get it right and you’ll notice the difference.

Add a decent balanced mixed ‘ancestral’ diet (which is to say, from whole foods, primarily plant based, but feel free to add in whatever decent meat / diary / fish you like), exclude crappy processed sugary / salty junk and you’ll be fine.

:wink:

I’ve not long fitted a set of ECR forks to my 26″ Genesis Altitude (with a 26″ wheel). I’m really pleased with them.

I’ve not long rebuilt my only HT … with rigid forks.
None of my bicycles now have suspension – I don’t seem to get on with it.
I’m an old man now tho’, so I don’t spose I’m missing out on much.

As an aside, but in the interests of completeness, whilst I don’t mind gears, I don’t really like indexed shifting either, so tend to build stuff with friction shifting where ever possible.

Happily no incidents to report to trigger any of this – more a question of just looking at other people on the road. The most visible commuter I’ve seen of late was wearing a lot of reflective stuff, and had three low-powered blinkies on: helmet, bag and bike. Very easy to see, without being overwhelming by *just* brightness.

I’m a daytime lights user too now. Not long ago I replaced my helmet – the first bit of advice from my LBS was to get a white one that fits. I also now tend towards quieter roads or carefully use pavements.

When I run I use a green coloured Glo-Tube on strobe for stuff coming up behind me, as it’s an odd enough colour for people to be curious about – red / white / amber are too commonplace.

I’ve noticed the same general lack of attention thing described in BadlyWiredDog’s T5 incident up the page ^. I drive a LR110 (with daytime running lights) and plenty of people seem to be utterly oblivious to that on the road too ?

I wonder if ‘people’ think about agricultural traffic in the same kinda way as they do about cyclists (given the slow, difficult to pass issue)?

There’ll be plenty of coming and going soon, as the combine’s will be out any day now, and by the time you add in tractors and big grain trailers, nobody is going anywhere fast in the countryside.

I went with a touring plus about a month or so back, and it’s been great, I’ve been really pleased with it. I don’t need any of the performance stuff as I just ride for the fun of it and pootle along at tourist pace (plus I’ve got a Fenix 3 which can do all that other stuff should it ever be required on a bike).

I did quite a bit of reading up on which GPSr first tho’ – given the touring does come with some challenging behaviors if you don’t change the settings (simons_nicolai-uk’s post up the page a bit refers).

I did expect to miss the OS level of mapping, (and was ready to pay for it), but as it turned out, I rather like the map it ships with, along with updates using the maps over on garmin.openstreetmap.nl[/url].

I picked mine up in one of the ‘sales’ Halfords seem to keep having.

You can augment the battery too if you need more range (dynamo / external pack) – but I expect that’s equally true of the 5nn/8nn/1000’s too.

Decent quality, tasty whole foods every time!
(Calorifically dense is a bonus, as they are easier to carry).

I take apples / banana, and some variety of (sugar-free) Nakd bar or Raw Bite bar. Another couple of months and it’ll be roadside apple / berry time too!

Is the question *really* about the (subjectively rather generic looking) modern, full-suspension ‘mountain bikes’?

If it’s wider than that – here’s an example of I’m not really sure I understand the question:

I was out on my Vaya last night – (technically a touring bike, albeit mine has a full XT groupset and Bonty XC wheels) – riding on a mix of tarmac, rutted green lanes / farm tracks, and [even] a bit of foreshore.

So, much the same kinda riding I’ve done for the last 20+ years, on pretty much whatever bike I’ve been out on at the time. Sure some of my bikes are better suited to one end of that variation than the other, but it’s really only a question of degree through most of the scope of my rides.

I’m going with Singular. I have, err, a few … and they are all very much the kind of bike [frame] I’d have made [for that type of bike] if I made my own bike frames.

Saying that they are the kinds of bikes I’d make, is a meta-arguement, as I do make (in the sense of assemble) all of my own bikes (so they *actually* are the kinds of bikes I’d make).

It was the Peregine that did it, based on nothing more than a few photos and a quick couple of e-mails, and it was on order (& my original 2008 MkI is sat happily behind me as I type this – last outing … 8 days ago).

Anyway… :wink: it’s Singular for me.

It’ll only partially meet one of your requirements, (in that you can get them singularly) but if you do want a single, small’ish pannier, maybe have a look at the Altura Arc Panniers.
Them come in either a 15 or a 20l version.

They’ve only got a haul-loop to moving them around off the bike, and no internal pockets tho’ (but you can get around the latter by using drybags to organise your stuff & Alpkit do a decent range of lightweight drybags).

If your rack’s deck is wide enough, maybe use a rack top bag as an alternative to a single pannier ?

I was kinda skeptical about feeling any difference between 170 and 175, given I have both [on different bikes] and didn’t think I could tell the difference.

However … going from 175 to 170 on both my Peregrine, and on my Vaya made a noticeably positive improvement in comfort: I’m assuming the BB drop is the key thing.

My Osprey tho’ is still on 175’s and is very comfy as it is, so will be staying on 175’s. Doubt any of that will help you tho’

:D

(My kittens are nine now! 8O ).

The only time I was ‘careful’ about doing one was cutting my Condors carbon steerer, (it’s a material I don’t really know anything about so didn’t know how much I could recover with a file if I missed).

That one had sacrificial headset spacers in place as the template (and a slow, very careful cut with a fine hacksaw blade). You could use a couple of stems either side of the spacers to constrain the movement a bit too.

I normally just do mine freehand with my disc cutter, then use hand files to tidy them up, usually with them just sat on the edge of the kitchen table for the support. Draw a quick line with a bit of french chalk and away you go!

:P

Studding, lots of nylocs and big repair washers (backed by plastic washers to save scratches)?

Looks pretty sweet in that top picture – I’ve been thinking about going a bit fatter and have been back-and-forth, twixt my V1 with a 650+ wheelset (like this) vs a V2 Swift and a 29+ wheelset.

Still not come to a conclusion, but at least I can see how mine’d kinda look (and you know … I rather like it).

(x-post comment).

:wink:

No real views on the specific bit I was on, so it’s maybe kinda out on that point, (although the website does say ‘fine views’) but I suddenly found myself on a stretch of the Middlewood Way whilst out running from Stockport earlier this week and was pretty impressed by it.

Out riding with my mum; sitting out yet another torrential rain shower.

I’ve come to quite like the Schwalbe Smart Sam’s on my Peregrine (47-622 or ’28’ x 1.75’s). They seem to roll quite nicely on tarmac with a bit of pressure in them.

They’ve not proved to be especially robust riding through the stuff left after hedge flailing tho’ – but that’s a pretty tough test for anything …

Agreed!

:wink:

I had an Eastern Dartmoor version of exactly that kinda thing on my Vaya at the weekend – it’s like ‘mountain biking’ was back in the early 90’s!

#1. The Vaya might not be a gravel bike – I’ve kinda lost track.
#2. On quite draggy, but tough, 700 x 38 Specialized Nimbus Armadillos.

hello gorgeous Stumpy that I used to see every Saturday in the Totnes dealership, before getting dragged past by my loving, but misguided parents

Was this Hot Pursuit’s first iteration, in Fore Street?
I had quite a bit from them back in the day.

Friday morning – Stepcote Hill – Exeter

Friday afternoon/evening – Plymouth Hoe

First time in ages I rode with a bag (on me), rather than on the bike as I’d somehow forgotten what a horrible experience that is!

Allowing for the random turning on-off and perhaps just loosing sight of enough satellites here and there to ‘know’ where it it, but isn’t the routing / not routing going to be [mostly] down to the quality of the data in the currently loaded map tho’?

I’ve had a look at the [uk] maps over on garmin.openstreetmap.nl with a view to getting a Touring/810/Oregon shortly, and the maps I looked at, based on what I can see on the ground, look to include everything I’d expect (but of course, I won’t know what the Garmin ‘sees’ the road/path/track as tho’ until I try it, so how much they match reality on the ground isn’t in any way meaningful if the underlying code that describes what it is, is duff).

Back along, I did a couple of seasons on a 26″ Onza (T-Rex). Pretty much entry-level, but a great way of getting into it – and a bike I never got anywhere near the limits of.

I was completely rubbish (and I’d be even worse now), but enjoyed the challenge no end. I don’t think I’d have got with it on a MTB tho’ – having a trails bike gave me the confidence to try stuff I’d otherwise probably not tried, (given that they are much easier to chuck out from under you). I only had the odd ‘go’ on 20″ versions, I can see how they work well on some stuff, but now, I think I’d probably head towards a 24″ bike.

Trials Forum would be worth a rummage.

I found that it definitely improved my riding generally, especially when picking my way up things.

Hmm, I think I’ll dig mine out from the back of the store and give it another go!

(Hopefully it won’t end with a “What plaster cast for a broken […]” thread).

:P

I use my F3 on the bike, but really only as a datalogger when I ride – simply as I mostly dawdle along looking over hedges and the like rather than ride with any great pace / effort. It serves a similar function on walks too, but I do use the ABS sensors then I realise, now I think about it (assuming I’ve calibrated them first).

Mine gets *most* use when I run tho’ – the additional data from the new ‘running dynamics’ is great, and I find that data really useful – a huge step up from my 910XT.

Mine does get waypoints loaded onto it, but only as a backup / sense check against a map (and in some cases map & compass) – my instinct is that I’d use a gpx file in the same kinda way (which I must try one day!).

As my days on the bike get longer, I’m actually looking to add an Oregon 600 (perhaps an Edge 1000) for ‘full’ navigation on the bike – having a map is great, but a bit unwieldy perhaps if I need to just get somewhere I don’t know.

The 920XT is a decent bit of hardware too, I upgraded from my 910 about 14 months ago, and if the F3 hadn’t been so close to release at the time I’d have got the 920XT without a second thought.

I get the convenience of the HR versions, but wonder how tight you’d need to have it to get consistently robust readings?

I’m not especially liking the inside shape of the Tiagra 10sp front mech, mine seems especially sensitive to how the angle of the cage is set, relative to the chainset, so that might be worth a quick look too?

(The mix of road and MTB in this context shouldn’t be the issue in and of itself – I typically use XT on the back of my road bikes).

I’ve never had an Inbred, so might be talking rubbish here, but I’ve got something in the back of my mind about the Inbred having ‘quite’ a high BB, if so, that might affect the handling a bit more than you’d otherwise expect from just adding slightly longer forks?

Looks fine the photos tho’.

:wink:

Probably no help whatsoever, but …

I’ve [literally] just fitted some ECR forks (~465mm A-C) on my recently regenerated Genesis 26er (with a 200mm rotor) …

… and have happily run 29er PII’s (470 A-C) on my ’92 Kona for ages (180mm rotor). Both feel / work great (subjectively, of course).

I dunno about your frame but that Kona there, is from a time before such big numbers even existed but I’ve never given the leverage a second thought. (The Genesis doesn’t count on that question tho’ as it was built to take [upto] 130mm forks – (and has done)).

Condor have a 59mm deep-drop caliper here.
I’ve used a similar drop [of] brake on my old (mid 1980’s) Raleigh Equipe.

(I’m using something similar ^ (albeit an earlier version) on my Fratello, and they are working perfectly).

Good to know, given that I’ve got a pair on their way as we speak.

8O

I’ve made up an extra-long pedalstrap which I use on either/both of my rackless bags to just tuck them up a bit tighter to the seat.

(It’s only a bit of ~15mm polypropylene webbing with a metal pedalstrap buckle sewn in the end, but it works a treat, and could be useful elsewhere if something breaks).

Hmm, this bodes rather badly for my ‘just going to have a look’ at some surfski’s next month. :D

Silver basecoat, acid green/yellow ‘clearcoat’ over the top.

I’ve been using Racktime’s Top-it racks[/url] on the front of [some of] my bikes.

I’ve not yet tried small panniers (as I’ve not yet found any I like), but the rack has a 10mm rail, so should be fine.

On my Vaya:
(Holding a 13ltr Alpkit drybag).

On my Swift:

You can’t really see it here, but the Swift has Enabler forks, so the rack is bolted to the inside bosses of those fork, rather than to the outside, like you’d normally do (pending me building a wider version of the same thing to go around the 135mm front end on that bike).

As far as I can tell, all of the soft-flasks are Hyrdapak, just branded differently. I use Ultramarathon store anyway, so ended up with the Salomon ones (as that’s what they had in stock).

They get orders out of the door to you super-quickly, but you might find the Ron Hill Trail Fuel versions on the shelf somewhere if you are in a *real* hurry (assuming you live somewhere with a big enough running store of course).

Just remember to blow a bit of air back into them if they need to be a bit fatter to fit in with other stuff in your pocket.

Saturday: South Devon rambling …

Sunday : South Devon rambling …

I’ve been vegan for ~30 years now (for context). [Clearly] I’m no nutritionist, so can only speak for what works for me (and it works well).

In my experience, the answer is in whole foods.

Processed foods, scarily, especially sports products, tend to include lots of bulking ingredients that aren’t really of much nutritional value (primarily cereals & basic sugars (and that includes maltodextrin), or have odd mixtures of glucose & fructose, making them hard to process and/or triggering that horrible peaking > bonking sensation as soon as the basic sugars have been blown through.

During exercise I’ll usually just eat fruit, but I also use some varieties of Nakd bar, or Raw Bite bars. Simple, whole food ingredients, minimal processing, no additives.

Recovery – I make up a smoothie(?) containing : 1 or 2 banana(s), almond ‘milk’ and a spoonful of peanut butter. I’ll sometimes add in a bit of creamed coconut too if I’m out for a hard/long run the following day. If you want to add an additional supplement, Purition[/url] vegan raw hemp powder is the least processed one I’ve found (and I do use it occasionally) – plus they’ve made it easy to find the ingredients used …

Complete protein is harder with a pure vegan diet, but if you are ok with fish, you’ll do fine.

Book wise, dunno, I just make it up as I go along :P –

… but people like: Coach Matt Fitzgerald, Drs Mark Cucuzzella, Steve Gangemi & Tim Noakes all have interesting things to say about nutrition generally (in my view).

I race on foot, not on a bike, but the underlying nutritional principles are the same. I’m 6′ and crashed out during the autumn at 64kg. At that weight I’d reached the stage of being dead on my feet, not just during & after exercise, but on rest days too (so most days became rest days as I was too tired to do anything). I’ve increased my calories overall, added in a bit more fat, and now feel much better. I’m only ever racing myself anyway, but my performance has also picked up a bit (not just because I’ve got a bit more energy, but also in terms of being more resilient generally, both to injury and the mental aspects of keeping going – the wrong nutrition / too much fatigue impacts *everything*).

An easy (and in retrospect :roll: , common sense) summary is that you can’t train hard and reduce intake to loose weight at the same time (although it kinda feels ok to start with, that’s how I fell into the hole).

From the podcasts I’ve heard with Matt Fitzgerald, he talks a lot of sense, so that book ^ will be worth a read.

How are you getting your carbs?

There’s a fair bit of controversy about ‘diet’, but plenty of people do seem to be coming back around to finding that eating healthy, real food is actually working out pretty well. In a balanced diet, fat isn’t really an issue, but the simple carbs (sugars) primarily found in processed food are.

There was an interesting TRN podcast[/url] about healthy eating in recent weeks – granted it’s based on the US dietary guidelines, but throw that specific bit out and get down to the details, and whether you agree with none, some, or all of it, it’s something to think about.