There are some strong women riding this year for sure. Including Lee Cragie who isn’t on the groups start list but is riding.

I’ve heard she’s just picked up a cracking new bike to ride it. Apparently.

cut 1-2cm off the bottom of the post?

If this is what I think it is and who I think it is, I would suggest this has happened :

Someone is interested in buying the brand/design/IP, new owner wants all documentation, original contracts etc, including any NDAs that may exist. Current owner, (let’s call him Mick) suddenly realises, ‘oh forgot to get Ben to sign an NDA when we talked about this informally, better do it now’.

I think it’s just tidying up loose ends and paperwork. Sign it or don’t. Can’t see it making any difference either way.

the Shand, which to my eye is let down by the hose/cable routing

what’s wrong with the routing?

The ‘difference’ I suppose is in having a frame made exactly to your own specifications, where you have personally been involved in it’s conception, design and construction to a greater degree than a normal off the peg frame.

The problem with this is that framebuilders on the whole don’t like to be labelled as ‘welders’ simply building bikes to someone else’s design/spec. You’ll find that in a framebuilder’s early career they’ll be much more accommodating, scared to say no to any work coming their way. Over time they will develop their own style and will find it easier to say no to people.

Over the weekend at the Bespoked show I talked to literally hundreds of people. It’s hard to give time to everyone and I find you do have to prioritise time spent. You get pretty good at identifying early on in a conversation whether the person you’re speaking to just wants to chat (which is fine) or is asking questions because they might be in the market for a new bike. I try to give everyone as much time as I can as we’ve sold bikes 2 or 3 years down the line as a result of chatting to people at shows who weren’t in the market at the time but appreciated the chat.

*ahem* one of the above may have been a guilty party *cough*

If it was me (or someone on our stand) let me know. Either by email or happy to chat on here. The show was a little awkward for me at times but happy to try and rectify anything (in public if need be).

I’m just making this assumption as I don’t think either of the other 2 mentioned were at the show?

Didn’t try and sell anyone a £4k frame though!

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Shand Stoater[/url] £1950

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@bedfo another UK manufactured full suspension bike you say?? That sounds interesting… I’ll need to look out for that. :wink:

I suspect the main issue is that everyone enters through the same entrance, thereby ensuring that everyone passes through the pumps in the same direction (assuming the universal pump layout® planning scenario has been followed*). Otherwise there’s potential to have a ‘head-on’ incident.

* pump lanes parallel to roadway

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Shand Stoater @ £995[/url]
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Tie a piece of string round one dropout, loop the string along the length of the frame, round the headtube and back to the other dropout. Looking at the spaces between the seattube and the string on each side will give you an idea if the rear end has been whacked out of alignment.

That said, what you describe is normally a problem with dropouts not being same height (or axle not seatted properly). That would account for clearance being ok at the chainstay.

Also, try fitting a wheel without a tyre and see if the rim is parallel with the seattube.

Beachriding around here in East lothian is far from boring too

@coastkid sorry to hijack but if I wanted to plod round some East Lothian coastline, can you give me any pointers to where to start from. It’s not an area I’m particularly familiar with despite being relatively close. email might be better.

I’m running 4.8s on my first ever fatbike. I’ve never ridding anything smaller and I can’t really think why I would? I’m really not sure what I’d gain. If I wanted all out speed, I wouldn’t be on that bike anyway. My biggest issue to date is the downright terrifying floatiness when hitting a patch of mud. I’m sure that float is great on sand or snow at 2mph but at speed it’s just scary as hell! I doubt a 4″ tyre would be much different.

Bahookie Single[/url]

Having a bike with 700x38s on that I can comfortably ride on rutted and banged up paths I’m fundamentally failing to see what the point is.

Because not everyone is going to be able to fit 700x38s on their road bike (think seattube clearance or fork crown clearance), The RoadPlus gives you the additional volume but at a diameter much more likely to fit your frame.

But the noise alone would put me off sticking it on a road bike, and for that application I can’t really see any benefits if I’m honest.

Really? In certain gears it can be a bit ‘whirry’ but a well worn in hub shouldn’t be making any more noise than you’d get out of a derailleur system. In fact I’d suggest it would be quieter. Unless chainline is a bit funky .

@Shand – new model? Very Fargo’esk presume it has a shorter top tube to run drops

Aye, new model. The ‘Drove’. Shorter reach and taller stack for drop-bar specific geo.

That’s my point….a flared drop ( think midge etc) set up just like a normal bar…grips, shifters brakes on the grip part of the drops.

Really? When I’m on the drops is when I’d want to grab a brake lever. Up on the flats, I’m just pootling.

So those stand ones take MTB controls, not road?

ah, my bad, didn’t read the part about MTB controls. Too busy trying to get the shameless olug in….

Are people doing that? MTB controls on drop bars? Shifters on the flats?

But will someone make some dirt drops, that fit normal mountain bike controls, for a decent price, and make them available in England?
I’d buy them

Like these?

Shand ONE flared drops

In a previous life before I thought that that running a bike company might be a good idea, I was a programmer and authentication was one of my specialist areas. I’d managed to expunge all thoughts of SAML from my brain until reading this post. All I can say is that thinking back to those heady days of SSO has reminded me what a great decision starting a bike company actually was!

I didn’t know Ricky Gervais rode a mountain bike.

Stoater?[/url]

Handbuilt in UK, Columbus toobs, 105 hydro, 28 colours (not all at once), £1950

For the Lancia fans….

this :

inspired this :

more details :

Middle Ring All The Way[/url]

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Found this http://www.rohbox.com/ to allow SRAM STI shifters to operate a Rohloff, really quite tempted by that

I’ve been running one of these for a couple of months now and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s bloody great. I originally thought it was a bit of a solution looking for a problem as I don’t have an issue with twist shifters but I’m really impressed by how the system works.

Works well on SRAM mtb shifters too. Shifters on both need to be modified but it’s pretty easy. Same modification for both the cabe and hydraulic version.

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If my 1 1/8″ forks break and there are no 160mm forks with 20mm axles available then yes, I’ll be forced to change my perfectly good frame.

But you can’t have it both ways. You’ve been riding 1-1/8″, 160mm travel forks with 20mm axles. If we followed some of the reasoning going on in this thread, you should have been riding 1″, 80mm forks with 9mm QRs. That’s if you graduated away from rigid forks at all?

Have you ever destroyed a front wheel with an extra few mm in hub width would have prevented? Have you ever thought “my wheels are really flexy/weak, how can I get stiffer/stronger wheels?”.
It’s a completely pointless change which 99.9% of riders will never get any benefit from.

That’s not really the point of boost though. The point is to get that pesky chain thing out of the way of the bigger tyres people want to run.

Since when is saying Columbus tubing is slightly heavier than Reynolds a moronic statement?

Since the beginning of time?

All steel tubes drawn to the same specification weigh the same. Doesn’t matter where it comes from. It’s material science.

Seriously though, if you mean a lighter tube from Reynolds weighs less than a heavier tube from Columbus then you’re probably correct.

Generally slightly heavier than Reynolds tubing but considerably cheaper.

I **** hate moronic statements like that that end up on public forums.

the drop out and ID share the same diameter

Do you mean ID? ID is ‘inside diameter’. If the OD (outside diameter) of the axle is 10mm and seats into the frame dropout then the skewer you ordered is the correct one (again, assuming the frame is setup for 135×10). Don’t get confused between skewer and axle. They do different things. The fit of the skewer you have will be loose through the axle but when under tension, will stop the axle dropping out of the frame. With a thru-axle system the retention device and axle (that runs through the bearings) is the same part. In this system, there is a much closer fit when fitting the axle in the hub.

Does the 2011 Flux really have thru-axle drop-outs? Isn’t it just old school 135x10QR? So the skewer you ordered should be absolutely fine (assuming you have the 135X10 hubs and not the 142×12?).

When the wheelset arrived, the ID was indeed 10mm

I think you have a 12×142 hub and a 135×10 frame.

@ernie67

Avoid at all costs i’d say .
They might have improved , but i had one on a Trek District and twice the belt suddenly slipped off or jammed or something and threw me off in traffic .
Seriously lucky to be here to tell the tale .
I checked the tension with a special gauge etc. , but ended up selling in the end as i dare’nt ride it . Constant peddaling seemed ok , but it was when you set off and the sudden downward force must’ve thrown it off line or something .

I was riding with someone yesterday and their chain snapped. Not sure what to do now. Obviously can’t use a belt ’cause your one slipped and now I can’t use a chain because I saw one snapped yesterday. Are there other transmission systems I can try or should I just give up riding?

@PeterPoddy

They do seem to break a lot more than chains though.

Pish.

^uber fat?

4.8″

Fat by Shand[/url], on Flickr

Do belts need a shed load of tension? Seem to be some people saying they reduce bottom bracket life?

That’s one of the biggest myths with belt drives. If you’re tensioning your belt to the point you’re prematurely wearing bearings (bb or hub) then you’re a doofus and you deserved to be publicly flogged by the belt for being an idiot.

What I’ve seen is people over-tensioning to prevent a skipping belt. In all of the cases of belts I’ve seen skipping, the root cause has been a wonky chainline. The beltdrive is pretty fussy that it’s running in a nice straight line. That means proper setup from the beginning making sure the belt isn’t running at an angle wanting to climb off the sprocket. Even if the initial setup is done correctly, you also need to be aware that with every pedal stroke, the back end is going to flex and you’re chainline is going to become less than ideal.

If the bike is designed for a beltdrive in the first place and can be shown to resist the flex, you’ll not have a problem with the belt skipping and you’ll be able to run the belt at a slacker tension than you may expect.

Another myth I see (not too often though) are belts that just snap with no warning. Sorry, but I’m not buying that. If the belt is running true and hasn’t been twisted and damaged, it’s not going to snap. No matter how big a gear you’re pushing and even if you’ve never skipped ‘leg day’, you’re not going to snap a belt in good condition. It’s impossible.

What is more likely, is that the belt has been damaged (run out of true, bent backward on itself etc…) to a point where it has cracked across the width. This crack will slowly grow and will eventually snap the belt. But it won’t just happen without warning, it’ll create a visible crack and it’ll make a very obvious noise. If you leave this unattended and carry on riding it’ll break eventually. I had a customer who’s belt was damaged in transit (crack about 1/2 way across the belt) and he rode for 150kms until I could get the new belt sent out to him. I still have the belt he returned, cracked at this point about 3/4 of the way across but he spotted it in time and it never stopped him riding.

It’s like running a chain that has lost one side the link, or running a frayed braked cable and then complaining that it ‘just snapped’ with no warning.

I think beltdrives are great. I ride them on the commuter (singlespeed and sometimes Rohloff), mountain bike (29er) and more recently on the Rohloff fatbike. I’m not going back to chains anytime soon.

yerwhut now?

swap out this original Rohloff part :

with this doohicky sitting on my desk :

slight mod to the SRAM doubletap brifter and you’re good to go.

Simples.