Bike24.de also now have the full kit of levers and callipers in stock.

Think I’ll wait for somewhere that is doing separate left and right levers though. I don’t NEED a new brake at both ends and don’t need a shifter on the left hand side. That will give me a chance to let you all test them first too. ;)

can you run these 1×10? I thought they are 11 speed?

Should have been clear – yes, they are 11. I currently run 1×10.

[Tangent]I’ll be continuing to run 1×10 by removing a spacer from the 11 speed cassette since my freehub isn’t compatible[/tangent]

Bike24.de just got the levers in (according to their site) but not the complete kit with calipers. You could put them together with the caliper yourself, but I’m just going to wait for the complete pre-bled kit (I only need one lever and brake anyway, as I run 1×10, so will keep a TRP at the rear for now).

That’s the first place I’ve seen them in – I’m hitting refresh constantly on various sites as I need a new setup for cross season. I’m going to be running last year’s knackered drivetrain and a goosed BB7 until they come in.

50/34 and 11-25 for me. Relatively lumpy round here, but it’s not exactly the alps.

50-11 gives a taller top gear than 53-12, and getting an 11-25 insteading of a 12-26 or whatever was a cheaper way of getting a slightly taller top gear without the expense of chainrings.

Horses for courses but this works nicely for me.

I also have an SLR which I find comfy – though it’s not the most durable.

I have a couple of SLRs. A second hand SLR at 135g (claimed, actual is more like 150g) looks a bit worn and tatty but is functionally fine.

A secondhand SLR XC is wearing much better. Slightly heavier at 185g or so though (claimed at 170g according to their website).

Next time I need a new saddle, I think I’ll juts pick up another 2nd hand SLR

IMO if you’re not paying in cash then try and find some kind of 0% finance deal. Or buy on a credit card and then move the balance on a 0% balance transfer if you can find one

This. We are being charged a 1.9% transaction fee by the dealer on the portion we are putting on credit card (also putting a large deposit down having sold the old car). Any balance not paid off when the 18 month interest free expires will be transferred to a new card for a small balance transfer fee.

This is a good deal cheaper than the APR on a VW car loan, or a bank loan.

If you want to be clever about it, you could put the monthly credit card payment in an ISA, and just pay the monthly minimum, so you then just pay off the credit card with the ISA funds when the interest free is up.

23.1lb FF29 here. Your spec doesn’t look too bad, but you could save a bit by going with a normal 11-36 cassette rather than the one-up! It’ll make you stronger too = win, win.

Otherwise, I’d just replace things as they wear out. As above, there is cheap weight to be saved with foam grips (KCNC are cheap and nice).

I tend to run second hand SLR saddles now (150g – 180g in reality), which are a good weight for the money (and comfy to my cheeks). The claimed 135g seems optimistic though.

I tend to go for mainstream mid range stuff, (XT level) as it is a good balance of longevity, price and weight. Whenever I use other slightly more niche stuff, I almost end up coming back to XT or similar which it wears out prematurely (like the Token BB I had recently which sounded rubbish compared with a standard XT).

Thanks. Struggling to find many reports of people who have actually run Archetypes for tubeless CX, although in theory it should be possible.

I know what you mean about the Challenge open tubs – sidewalls seem too porous and I know Addy blew one off a rim. I’ve been meaning to try the Grifo clinchers they have on the website some time.

Strada say the archetype can be run tubeless with tape and sealant. Any experiences? I know the stans rims are a doddle tubeless.

All of the above conflicting opinions are valid points! Thanks all. Hmm, decisions…

Gordymac – didn’t realise you were lurking on here. Small world.

Graeme

dirtyrider, out of interest, where did you get your XC90s? Germany? Fancy a pair but put off slightly by the pricing.

Ultremo ZX tubeless on Stans Alphas here. No issues. Went on okay (no wrestling and inflated instantly with a track pump) – been inflated for a good while with no punctures.

I’ll be putting Schwalbe One 28mm on the commuter soon too (also on Alphas)

Is it for race use? I reckon that skews the priorities a bit since it changes a chain drop from a tiny inconvenience to a total bollocks.

It is indeed for race use, hence my hesitation. I’m currently running 1×10 on the MTB with a clutch mech and N/W chainring with no drops, and the current CX bike setup is 1×10 with a regular chainring and mech, but with an n-gear jump stop and lightweight bash.

I’m still wondering if I might drop the chain occasionally placing the bike down over barriers etc and so the bash might still be necessary. I think the only way to tell will be to get it built a bit before the season and rider it a good few times before the first race. RaceFace chainring arrived today, so now I just need to wait for the new shifter to arrive before I can get rebuilding.

Will report back with findings

Please do barrykellet.

Birdage – your experience sounds positive, but I see you are running an n-gear jump stop. Are you not running a bash? I’m keen to lose my bash as I find that mud gets jammed between bash and chainring in really muddy, grassy races. Hmm, maybe I should leave the n-gear as a fail safe on the inside, even with a narrow/wide chainring.

Bumpty bump. Any more real world experience of narrow/wide chainrings on CX bikes WITHOUT clutch mechs?

New 40t RaceFace ring just ordered, and I’ll be pairing it with a new 11spd 105 short cage mech and 11-28 cassette. Wondering if I should ditch the n-gear jump stop and bash guard that I was running for the past few years with regular chain rings. How are people’s setups standing up to CX abuse?

My Garmin watch defaults to running. This probably fires off KOM lost emails as soon as I upload a ride, before I then go and change it to a ride. Has the user changed the ride yet if you look at the page?

If not, no harm in flagging it, which will draw to his attention that it is set in running mode (or you could leave a comment on his ride)

Have you had a shot in a 5 Series rather than an A6?

Sadly not,. Using the barge like A6 as a reference point was probably a bit narrow minded. No doubt the A6 lovers will be along in a moment to tell me it handles brilliantly.

Z4 would be interesting. Rare enough and different enough to be interesting cars. I’m sure a bike will go, but I wonder how much of a faff it is?

We thought about a 1 (now 2) series too, but decided against the faff of the boot. A 1M or 135 could be a good giggle I suspect.

Good experiences/ideas thanks. That’s the issue I’m having, finding interior of 5 series or xf so much better than 3 series or any golf-ish vag pocket rocket that I get led to that direction, ten lead myself away because I don’t need all that space. Sending myself round in circles!

Driving a Scirocco, and having driven a new Golf, I’d be put off 5 series size cars by the handling. Having driven an A6 avant for the day, it felt like a barge compared to our Scirocco. Fine if you like going fast in a straight line, but you would definitely enjoy Golf R/S3/135 more if you like the twisty bits I reckon.

The Germans do fast big cars well, but you can only defy the laws of physics so far…

VW Scirocco fan here. Ours is the 140 TDI, but you could get the 2.0 TSI (which is the same enginge as the Mk6 GTI) or the R. Handling is pretty good for a FWD car, as it is short, low and wide – I think you’ll find it handles better than your Golf. I have roof bars now that we have a young son, but when his seat isn’t in, you can easily get a bike in the boot with just the front wheel off.

Alternatively, the Mk7 GTI is a bit more economical than the Mk5/6 (at least on paper), partly due to stop/start. We looked at 2nd hand Mk6 Ed35s, but as they cost almost as much as a Mk7 GTI and will cost more to run, we’ve just ordered a Mk7 instead.

Unfortunately, the bike carrying requirement will rule out most more interesting things (unless you want to run a rack on the back of your Porsche?!)

You can ride where you like so long as it is responsible. Woods in your local hills = fine.

Paths busy with hundreds of walkers or on a wet boggy area = debatable.

Paths which cut through someone’s back garden close to their residential home = not fine.

Hi Steven, sorry for butting in here – I see that you weigh lots of bikes and frames. Do you (or leffeboy?) have a rough weight for a Stooshie frame (with or without forks) in a roughly small/medium (51 – 54) size? I am Stooshie curious but as it will be a race bike, I still value something relatively lightweight.

Cheers

As a kid, I rode home from my summer job one day holding something in my hand. I thought it a good idea to therefore use my right hand to change my left shifter. That ended quite abruptly face down in the road. Oops.

Cool, thanks for the responses. PixelMix Jnr is sufficiently young that it doesn’t matter if he can’t see much really, as it won’t mean anything to him. We’ll still go with our plan, as at least being in Mytholmroyd means we have options to stay lower down towards Hebden and the shops, cafes etc if we prefer.

Excellent effort. We are getting the train to Mytholmroyd on Sunday morning and hoping to stand somewhere towards the bottom of Cragg Road. Not being local to the area, and having only been to Hebden once, can anyone confirm if that is likely to be a good or a rubbish idea? We’ll have PixelMix Jnr with us, so I’m hoping that the crowds aren’t going to be too deep if we walk up the climb a short way.

I’m running the older Iron Cross wheel set . This is the older 2012 version which has a hub which is only 10 speed compatible. New versions (which come in Comp, Pro and Team versions) are 11 speed compatible. I’ve had them for a year including a full season of Scottish CX with no issues. Your local shop should be able to get a deal on them from paligap if you ask them nicely – I’m sure I paid a bit less than the £425 shown.

Lighter than the Hope/Crest 29er combo I used to run (which got moved to the 29er).

I flew with Easyjet as an under 16 many moons ago. Admittedly that was within the UK, so might be different though. Vaguely recall my sister and I being shown on to the plane by the cabin crew.

The signposted route changed a few years ago from the “classic” route I believe.

I followed the classic route based on a GPX file from the South Downs Double website. There is a link to my GPX and strava segment (East to West) in that article.

Edit: Actually, my strava segment isn’t linked in that writeup. It is here.

I got one and ignored it (I was caught out by the price rise and had only paid for a one hour ticket, then over stayed). I didn’t hear a peep from them.

A friend got one, wrote to them with a sob story about losing his ticket in the vents in his Land Rover and they wrote back to confirm it was written off.

These were both a while back, so I suspect they are taking a harder line now.

This might help for anyone too tight to pay for parking. ;)

Hope will now do you a disc wheel with Alpha 400[/url] or a weight weenie version with XC6 hubs[/url]. I suspect that this will work out at better value than custom speccing something, so it would be hard to look past the Hopes.

We have a 3 door Scirocco and a son who is getting on for 1. Still in the rear facing seat with the base left in the car 99% of the time, so not quite as big as your child.

It is a bit of a faff getting him in, particularly for Mrs Pixelmix, who is quite petite. The combined weight of child and seat is a hassle for her, and the alternative is crouching in behind the passenger seat to put him in the seat which is already in the car. As a result, we are swapping the Rocco for a 5dr GTI later this year (Mrs Pixelmix suggested something practical but doesn’t want a big car, so I interpreted that as a GTI with 5 doors). Whilst the 3 door is manageable, life will be a bit easier with the extra doors.

On rare occasions where we have had him in the back of other people’s cars, it’s been a breeze to pop him in and out.

Kinesis FF29 is great rhid. I got my frame 2nd hand from ebay in mint condition, and built it at an XT level sort of spec, with Rebas and a collection of used or good value bits. Think you would struggle with a £1000 build if you need to buy everything, but it will probably no more expensive in the long run, as you will only end up upgrading the others. Think I spent about £1,000 and I used wheels I already had (Hope Pro 2 Evo with Crest).

Off topic: If you want a rigid fork to get you going until you can afford some suspension, I have a spare Kinesis rigid fork for sale. :)

This chap doesn’t sound very happy

Heard rumours of a targeted outfit in Midlothian recently, not too far from Morningside. Not good to hear.

I had a Hope HTII cup fall out once. I thought I had knackered the frame but both I and a LBS looked at it and concluded that the frame was still fine. Phew.

As above, if concerned, Saints apparently have longer threads.

PS – I can measure the width if you like to see what 23mm equates to. Mine are on Alpha rims

I ordered some Ultremo tubeless when the Ones came out as I couldn’t be bothered waiting. No complaints – no punctures and give more confidence than my rubbish old Luganos.

The only downside of the Ultremo is that there is no 25c option (which I might have gone for in the One), but to be honest, they are comfy enough if you drop a few psi and they seem to have a relatively wide profile anyway.

I wouldn’t hestitate to go for the Ultremo tubeless if you are still struggling to get the One.

matthew_h beat me to it. Thought his address was pretty fitting.

Classic NIMBY

hels – for my sins, I’m a property solicitor in Edinburgh. My personal email is in my profile if you want to ping me an email, and I’ll send you figures from the office next week if you want.

I’d agree with most of the above comments on solicitors etc., although I think the £600 for Mov8 is estate agency, not conveyancing. They don’t actually do conveyancing in house and send clients to a Glasgow “firm”/conveyancing factory.

Ah well, I’ll bung them on then, cheers. Plenty of material there so I guess some surface corrosion won’t cause an issue.

Hmm, that’s what I was fearing, but I was hoping that someone suggest something that I hadn’t thought of that can take a bike upright.

Looks like I’ll be continuing with the roof rack on the family hatch until we can find the space to get a van too. Grumble grumble.