no worries, if you’re nearby edinburgh you’re more than welcome to have a shot

I’ve had mine with various setups over the past 2 and a bit years that I’ve owned it and I love it, I’ve used it for loads of different things but there is a definite setup which it work best with.

But I can categorically say that the bottom bracket is MUCH too low with 26″ wheels – I have mine built with 26 x 1.5″ tyres as I type, it measures to 265mm which is usable but you have to be very aware of where your pedals are or they’ll clip going round even the tamest of corners. I’m only running it for a few weeks until I get another set of wheels sorted for it.

You also have to be aware running V-brakes on the rear that the brake-posts are closer together than on most other brands, meaning that SOME brakes (my shimano are fine – but the tektro’s or the cane-creeks I would otherwise have used) don’t have enough adjustment as the pads to get them to fit properly. This was using Open Pro’s.

700c, singlespeed, no mudguards and discs is what the bike works best with.

(gears are a faff with the trackends and chaintug thing)

(and full-length mudguards are annoying if using singlespeed as the drilled hole is so close the axle-slot that the mudguards can interfere when you’re tightening the nuts.)

it’s also too flexy to be used for carrying bags and panniers on a regular basis. It’ll work, but if you’re doing it more often than a few times a year then you’re best off getting something a bit stiffer. However unloaded it does have that lovely steel ‘twang’ that people wax so poetically about.

Colin

to use the trigger shifter on the tops you will need a negative-shim.

Too late for the front triangle, but for the rest of the bike, file your fillets hot; makes the work MUCH easier.

From that photo it looks like the heat’s been on the tubing for a long time, what sort of torch is he using?

Lots more internal gear hubs.

They ruin your spin. They theoretically get you through your deadspot quicker at the expense of having an awful pedal stroke. Don’t even think about it on a full susser, you’ll be bobbing around like a nutter.

Not gone yet, but, the Forest-Cafe in Edinburgh, spent the best part of the last 5 years sneaking in booze and avoiding paying their corkage. Only now am I seeing the value in the place which has always been free to all for arts and music, which unless they raise enough money may soon be dissapearing.

It was from an online place on offer.
http://www.winstanleysbmx.com/product/19082/DK_Sentry_24Inch_Bike_2009
This is the current equivalent model though it has lots of small niggles sorted. This one has a euro Sealed Bottombracket (well worth the extra money).

If you want one, BMX Cruisers come up on ebay for dirtcheap. There’s currently a REALLY nice haro x24 sitting wih no bids a £150

one of these, cost £140 brand new … taught me more about how to ride a bike than I had learned in the previous 7

none that I know of … but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. north london is probably you nearest but check lfgss… else get a bunch of mates together and have a few games. it’s a great laugh.

THIS is on wednesday night, perfect for a minging snow-day.

Worlds sexiest rims.

I own a roadrat and my flatmate owns a pompetamine. If I was to buy now I’d get a pompetamine. (I got mine a few years ago – before the pomp came out. This is due to a few minor issues with my rat, but don’t get me wrong it’s a great bike

Pomp have a standard road headangle = quicker handling than the rat.
Pomp is quite a bit stiffer than the rat – the rat being as flexy as a very flexy thing. Not so good if you plan to do any regular touring on it.

Running singlespeed and discs is easier on the rat
Running discs and a rack is easier on the pomp

The CS mounted disc arrangement on the pomp means you need to slide the disc caliper backwards and forwards to account for the wheel moving backwards and forwards in the dropouts when tensioning your chain.
The SS mounted disc arrangement on the rat means you need to buy a disc specific rack for the rear to clear the caliper, but if you do so it causes no problems. It does however look like an ugly cludge.

Both are a pain if you’re running full length mudguards and singlespeed. (the rack mount gets in the way of your spanner loosening your wheel bolts (not a problem if you’re running more modern kit with allen keys, but a pain if you’re using a bolted hub). Also if you change your chain tension or sprocket sizes you need to re-adjust your rack to the new wheel position.

The rat has closed cable guides, of which the centre one on the toptube is daftly placed (I kept cracking my knees off the thing) whereas the pomp uses ziptie mounts. Personally I change kit a lot and would prefer ziptie mounts rather than having fully closed guides.

The rat is more versatile than the pomp, but suffers from being jack of all trades master of none.

—————————————–

As for how much I know the bike, I’ve owned my rat for 2 years, using it as a longdistance touring bike 3,500miles of the silk road. used it as a workbike for 6 months (I’m a courier) and currently use it to bike-polo on.

The pomp as I have said is only new (my flatmates, but it is really goddamn pretty)

yep, roadrat fits the bill … bit more hassle to fit a rack to a bike with a disc, but once it’s on it’s on. The chainstay mount disc thing is talked about too much – it limits singlespeedability with trackends and in practise seatstay mounted discs don’t actually pose THAT many problems.

Roadrat is a great frame if your touring is occasional but if it’s going to be regularly loaded with touring weight get something stiffer. It’s as noodly as noodly flexy thing.

your wheel will explode and you will die. (truth)

did cy not say that since that since the redesign that the soul and bfe were just as strong as each other? it’s just that the bfe uses cheaper and heavier materials yo achieve the strength? was sure i read that somewhere

Playing bike-polo (brake control, hard cornering) and all the playing on bikes between games. (can now ride backwards and manual on my mtb)

For those with thursday free, Edinburghbikepolo.com

nudge nudge. We’ll be playing inside to hide from the wetness then onto the Tourmalet for a few pints.

Not been in to the bike chain, but surprised that noone’s said how good the bikeworks are?

The standard homebuilt-carbon practise is to use closed-cell foam or even polystyrene for your mold which is cheap and can be melted out with acetone after use. why on earth did he use wood? Can anybody read swedish?

http://www.bmeres.com

fizik microtex falling apart in the wet? my fat arse … best tape I’ve tried for durability though I admit I prefer slightly less padded tapes.

that Brooks stuff is gash, No padding whatsoever, (not just less but none) and soaks in water in the rain. only get it if you have been sucked in by the fact that it is leather and brown. blech. fashionable but there are much better tapes out there.

Cork tape feels lovely, but I can never make it last more than about 2 weeks before it starts getting ripped up and falling off.

Aye, been a stoker when the captain decided to try do skids round some corners. Properly scary. Dinnae trust your pissed mate to ride on the front of a tandem

If you wanna go play, a bunch of us Edinburgh people have been meeting up every thursday night for about a year and a half.

always a lot of fun to play.

This week we’ll be playing off Breadalbane street in Leith from 7.30 onwards. You can Email me, or we all post on edinburghfixedgear.co.uk if you want to catch up with us there. Any bike will as long as you’re comfortable riding it, we have mallets to borrow.

Stick with ATAC’s … spd’s may be getting better, but still not as good as atac’s

Eggbeaters feel much more floaty (worryingly so at times – I didn’t like it, not feeling connected with the bike) and wear out/break in record time … AVOID.

Get Time ATACs, more float than an SPD but not as much as an eggbeater, more robust than an SPD, hold the cleat well even when using worn cleats (unlike shimano)

Best pedals I’ve ever used. From what I gather, look use a similar system though I can’t vouch for those.

oy euro, what tune is that?

Cycle tour through Iran
Some big bike-polo tournament somewhere
Win the british Cycle Messenger champs (as if)
Learn to manual proficiently.

as for chainstay length, how heavy are you (and is that weight upper body or lower)? can you manual and do you? wheels on the ground rider or do you try to pop off every lip you can find?

Designed one, but built myself:

many framebuilders will want you to work WITH them, letting them pore over what you want and modify it rather than just build any old design someone produces. Quality control, no framebuilder wants to have their name on a dud which doesn’t ride or fit well – because the customer designed it. Not saying that this is the case, but you might get a few no’s before you find someone to build it.

BikeCad is great for messing about with design, i did that then transferred it to a proper cad program afterwards.

Figure out your contact points, bars, saddle, cranks from the fit on your current bike, then decide how you want to change the handling. The front end geo has the biggest effect on how a bike will ride, then bb height … 320mm is really really high unless you’re running the longest of forks.

I have a Formula hub on open pro rim on the rear which has just passed the 5 and a half year mark … this is a vouch for getting a quality wheelbuilder to build it more than anything else.
Probably about 50,000 miles on it(bike courier).

Any stock cartridge bearing hub with an open pro(defacto road rim) built by someone who knows what they’re doing.

It’s had about 4 sets of bearings and a few minor true ups in that time.

Hearsay says that deepsection rims are heavy and weak but I’ve no experience to talk of.

Settlers of Catan (another +1)

if they’re the 2003 (grey legs ECC on the right leg and qr), then equal positive pressure in both positive chambers (outer valve on the left leg and under the ecc on the right) until you get 25% sag standing up positioned as if you’re descending. Then pump up the negative (middle valve on the left leg) until just before the travel starts to reduce.

Done Slovenia, Bosnia, Serbia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan over the past few years on various trips.

This year hopefully Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran

… call it a cyclocross alleycat. Job done

People will think you’re REALLY goddamn cool

If your hands don’t touch your bars are too wide …

slack is a pig for the twisties.

I like my bikes to ride a bit more backwheel happy (I’m a skinny whippet type so prefer shorter stays to hold the front wheel up) so I would go for something short travel, steep, short CS for popping (rubbish) manuals with a low BB to keep it a bit more planted in sprints…

If possible I’d kinda like gold lined obscenely-floral (think hetchins) bi-laminate lugs on an Ivy green MTB frame with a drilled BB and wishbone stays,
71/73 with a long toptube to use a 70mm stem and wide flatbars. Low BB (280 or so), supershort chainstays (390-405) for singlespeed, setup for an 80-100mm fork. Trackends. Really low toptube a la Evil/dialled

Current vanity chariot custom is (yes I’m lucky enough to own a custom yin, in yer face) a clearcoated fillet brazed, 69/73 with a medium toptube to use a 90mm stem and wide flatbars. HIGH BB (310mm), supershort chainstays (405mm) for singlespeed, setup for a 130mm fork. Sliding drops, 460mm ST C-T, standard stays and a condor Aero road bridge.

Did that mean anything to anyone? Can you tell I’ve been thinking about this too much?

Platt Fields BMX is brilliant. enough said

nope, not enough tyre clearance on a roadrat with 26" wheels. a perfectly true knobbled 1.7 fits, but with any slight movement in the rim you're stuffed, and it lowers your bb a fair bit too.

Thorn bikes are great (i've owned one) but the sizing is odd and they ARE beefed up mountainbikes, so if you're looking for a roadie style tourer they are NOT what to go for.

What we ride? whatever we can get our hands on.
Old mountainbike with a decent rear brake seems to be about right …

grasscourt polo is a bit different – what that johnstone wheelers site links to – is all done on specific bikes they are brakeless foot-retentionless fix-wheels, stopping is not a problem as their are rules about right-of-way and other stuff. we don't play on specific bikes and we don't play these right of way rules.

Here's mine.

Edit: ah i see uist beat me to it.