Sorry, missed this at the time. 2017 fork is 5mm longer to clear a bigger tyre – yes it’ll fit, but it will raise the 2016 bike a bit and have a minor effect on handling.

Thanks, James. I’ll banish that thought then. I feel so at home with the handling that I’d hate to do anything that changed it, minor or not. :thumb up:

Well it’s arrived and just handling it I’m starting to see what the fuss about 72 points of engagement is. Wow, that’s going to feel instant after the 18 I’m used to!

Popped it on the scales as I had them out. 280g, so 30g more than the 772 I have, but that’s not material for this application.

I’ll lace it up in the next few days. If it self destructs in use I’ll come back and update. But your posts has given me confidence it won’t. Thanks for the help, everyone.

Cheers, ulysse. That’s really good to know.

Yeah, and not just nothing on STW but I couldn’t find anything either for or against anywhere on the WWW. Well not that wasn’t published by Planet-X/On-One anyway.

I think you’re probably right. If not a budget Novatec then from the cheaper end of Chosen, Bitex or Joytech’s catalogue.

Yes mate.

And they didn’t. Just a bloke in the classifieds trying to flog a wheelset containing one.

I’ve just de-laced an OEM wheel that had a knackered hub not worth fixing but a half-decent TLR rim, and found by happy coincidence that the spokes are the correct length to rebuild it with the Guapo. So I’ll soon find out for myself whether it’s junk or not. :)

Commuting? I’d say Arkose Alfine.

https://www.evanscycles.com/pinnacle-arkose-alfine-8-2017-adventure-road-bike-EV275630

But you said you’d prefer frame only, and they’re only listing the 2016 framesets only at the moment. And the 2017 frame/fork might be the one to go for as that combo allows 45mm tyres vs 40mm of the 2016 and earlier.

Idle musing: Could one fit a 2017 fork to a 2016 bike (colour aside)? Did the front end geo stay the same?

I paid the early bird price. Hadn’t realised it was £70 now 8O I’ve heard much of the entry fee goes to the local authorities in exchange for the road closures, which seems fair if it ends up benefiting the community to compensate for the disruption.

Will be in Killie tomorrow. Where’s the best pie to be found?

UCI, world-class, Fattys though

Just a regular fatty here. Only the top 25% are world class fatties.

I’m going.

too late to enter now

Online entries have closed but they’re still taking cash entries on the day.

My main gravel bike wheelset has tubeless 38mm G-Ones, and I also have a set of 40mm Nano Comps ghetto’d onto a spare wheelset.

The G-Ones have been superb on dry surfaces – hardpack, stony track, gravel road. I used them on last year’s Torino-Nice Rally and though I did get one puncture over the 770km I think I could have got that with any tyre. It was a small tear where the sidewall met the tread and the rocks embedded into the track were particularly pointy at that point.

They don’t have much tread though, so if I think it might be wet and gloopy out there I use the Nanos. Noticeably more rolling resistance on any road sections, which is the trade-off you’d expect.

Much as I rate the G-Ones, for the SDW I’d use my Nanos. There’s little tarmac and I’d feel more confident on the grass and chalk if it rained. Though the Comps I have hold air I’d look instead at the Nano TCS variant for the peace of mind that comes from having a proper tubeless bead.

I think that 28, 29 and 700c wheels all use the same rims, albeit with potentially differing widths. Is that right?

Not exactly. They may have the same circumference but road rims are designed to take higher tyre pressures than MTB rims.

@sq225917

The blurb talks about 29er or 650b wheels and 48mm tyres. The 48 refers to 650b only, presumably. What’ll it take in 700c?

@rOcKeTdOg any reason for the 42mm requirement, rather than 40mm?

Only, as evidenced by the multitude of suggestions in the replies, almost all adventure-road/gravel/gnarmac bikes will take 700c 40mm. It could be said it’s what defines the genre, and one of the things that differentiates them from CX bikes.

Was in a similar dilemma recently, except 11-40 not 11-42. I went for the Sunrace, because the ratio steps looked better and it was that smidge lighter.

Arkose X 2017?

Love my 1x Arkose. OP could buy two for the budget!

Stolen, shirley?

Apparently the scrotes don’t always take the bikes they steal home, in case they’re raided. Instead they just lock them up somewhere else until they have a buyer.

OP, have you posted on CTC’s forum? Just in case the rightful owner’s on there.

They’re great apart from weeping incessantly if you’re trying to go tubeless.

The P-X ones are the proper “TCS” tubeless version, so that’s surprising given that my “Comp” non-tubeless version hold air and don’t weep.

WTB do a third version, the lightweight “Race”, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a bit more fragile though.

Thanks whitestone and montgomery. Wary of hijacking the thread but I have a lot less seatpost showing (combination of riding a gravel bike and being less than tall), which I know doesn’t help the swagger as it puts more of the bag out behind the saddle.

About the best I could do with my Koala.

I think I might do the same as you, montgomery. Order one of each and see how they fit when loaded.

Interesting comparison pics!

Similar claimed volumes, as you say, but if you haven’t returned the Ortlieb yet I wonder if all the clothes stuffed in that would fit in the Big Papa (and vice versa).

WTB Resolutes here soon I’m told

Ooo, what’s the whisper on these? Something like the Horizon but with a bit of tread?

I looked at building up a 27.5 wheelset for my Arkose but, like Dr P, couldn’t find a suitable tyre to mount on them if I did.

I’ve been interested by these too. Looking for something with more volume than my Koala, and ideally with less sway when I’m out of the saddle. I see Alpkit have a 17 litre Big Papa now as well. I wonder how that compares..

Build some? fast rolling cheapy xt hubs built into the budget road run of your choice with race spokes. Cheapy Chinese carbon rims?

XT hubs are indeed fast rolling and cheap, IMO, but not road 11-speed compatible.

You could still use an XT front, of course, but for a Shimano rear you’d need the FH-CX75, which isn’t that cheap, or the FH-RS505, which isn’t terribly light (nor available with fewer than 32 holes).

So you’re onto looking at the same Novatec/Chosen/Bitex rear hubs as most of the Far East pre-built wheels, except the sum of the parts would probably cost you more :(

I might be able to run SRAM GX instead of XT

If buying SRAM’s an option, Apex/Rival/Force 1 marries 1x MTB-range derailleurs with road shifters.

Those particular 10-42 capable derailleurs use road pull ratios, so you can use any SRAM road 11 lever (drop bar STI or bar-end shifter).

But a GX derailleur won’t run with 11 speed road unless you use a jtek style pull ratio adapter, similar to XT.

If you’d had 10-speed SRAM stuff lying around you would have fared better, as the MTB and road pull rations were the same.

Bliney. My guess is he used to nick one a night to get home from the pub.

Looks to me like your mail prompted an internal discussion on whether their site needing improving, which got forwarded back to you in error.

Hate to say it but they do have a point. The site *is* pretty clear..

You might find it easier (as I do) to have a second wheelset anyway than to keep swapping tubeless tyres around to suit your ride that day.

If you do build a second wheel up with an 11-speed road hub, you could keep a more knobbly tyre on your existing MTB hubbed wheel and put a faster tyre on the road one.

Cero ARD23 are 1500g for £285, if they’re still on sale.

have my longest ride to date of 280 km doing it :0)

280? Did your Garmin stop halfway back? :P

Was 375km both ways when I was fool enough to do the double. Never. Again.

EDIT It’s a good idea to leave after Dulwich Paragon.

Yeah. There’s always some people who don’t ‘get’ the Dun Run, thinking it’s a race to get to the coast first. And those people are Dulwich Paragon.

. I’m wondering if I could instead use an Apex or Rival 1x derailleur. The big question is, will they work with an MTB (X01) shifter? The gravel bike has straight bars & I like it that way.

No. SRAM 1×11 MTB and 1×11 road have different pull ratios. You could use a 10-speed derailleur, either road or MTB (10 speed are both same ratio) but they’re not rated to 42T rear. So really it’s just the 11-speed MTB derailleurs that are available to you, unless you’re willing to use a shiftmate or similar to convert the pull ratio on a 1×11 road der.

No experience with Schwalbe Marathon Supreme, but I do run the almost identical looking Vittoria Hyper Voyager tubeless. Unlike the Schwalbe, the Vittorias are not sold as tubeless ready but they went up just fine at 65psi, with no Stans coming through the sidewalls.

Really odd that the officially tubeless ready Supremes are more porous. Could you have been sent the right packaging with the wrong tyres inside? Hard to explain it otherwise.

I have the Nano comps that my Arkose came with, and whilst they’re a decently fast tyre the Schwalbe G-One is noticeably faster on tarmac whilst still being adequate on gravel/dry hardpack. I only now put the Nanos on if it’s going to be wet and muddy.

Edit – No idea if the G-Ones work on Crests, but they’ve been no issue on DT R460DB tubeless ready rims. The Nanos are on gehtto’d rims.

If you live far enough north, Epping Forest would be a good detour one day. The paths are that compacted type stuff that’d be rideable all year on 38mm road tyres, even if the off-piste would require knobbies this time of year. Cycling allowed everywhere by default, and the few bits where it isn’t (conservation) are signed.

What’s the difference between the XLS and Planet X Full Monty? Both seem suited with discs etc?

XLS is more a CX bike. Monty is more an adventure road (or insert 2017 name for gnarmac here) bike.

I’ve only done one CX race, but without a doubt my advice would be to go to a park and practice running dismounts, carries and remounts. Then practice them some more. The experienced riders keep their momentum up throughout. Find some youtube clips to see how its done.

I lost places at each obstacle by almost coming to stop each time I hopped off and back on. I’d get some of them back down the straight, only to lose them again at the next obstacle. I had practiced beforehand, but not nearly enough.

You’ll be gridded at the back for the start, so out of the way of the fast guys. But keep your ears open for shouts or “rider right” or “left” after a couple of laps as the leaders come round to lap you. Probably obvious, but that’s the side they’re passing you, not the side they want you to move to…

Now there’s an idea I hadn’t thought of, BearBack.

The hub on the wheel I’ve already bought just happens to be a DT 350. I was going to build the other up using a Novatec 772, but I might just see if I can’t run to another DT…

Cheers guys, gotcha.