I’ve got a stubby set of control tech ones on my hard tail, great for climbing as they always have been. Flatbars only though, they look gash on risers.

Epic appalling build quality. I had to change a door on one last week and the fit and finish was atrocious. And for the love of god whoever signed off on the design of bolting the door trim to the window regulator needs a sharp stick jamming up their arse. Hateful cars.

Big fan of CRV’s. I have an old 2001 one used for commuting and bike duties and she’s done 300k and still going, brilliant bit of kit. We had a 2010 one and again superb build quality. Just bought a 2015 Jazz for the mrs and the first thing i did was get in the back to see how many bikes i could get in haha.

Haha i remember when this was at the Melbourne motorshow some years back, i went to open the door and the handle fell off, it was painted balsa wood and glued on! Still have it somewhere!

For an ace all rounder and probably cheap in Albion, you can’t go past a mk1 Honda CRV. the one I have has starship milage and just keeps on ticking, absolutely bombproof, fold down flat seats lets you get a stack of bikes in the back, and the rear boot floor folds out into a table for those impromptu carpark card games!

Still looks fresh today and she’s 13 years old.

how did you go?

fit and forget!

I was a always a Flite fan until i rode with a Fizik Arione, now all my bikes have Ariones. Beautifully made, light, visually perfect and spot on for my arse. Saddles are such a personal thing that I don’t think you can recommend a definitive “the one” to anyone. There are some gopping looking saddles out there though.

Perfect!

Love these threads, top work oh and Sazters mini van is ace too. I’ve got my eyes out now looking for a suitable donor!

I’ve got one on my roadie, handy for those moments on a big climb when you miss shift thinking you are still in the big dog.

Mine was off eBay “Alero” brand whatever that is haha

Give them a ring Monday mate, you might strike lucky. They are top lads to deal with and I’m pretty sure they would have them. I might have some kicking around if I find them I’ll let you know

The boys at 1250 bikes in Frodsham do a shop ride on a Wednesday night there. Unfortunately they aren’t next week.

It’s my old stomping ground and well worth a play about in.

I can’t wait to come back to the UK next year so I can ride all my old haunts including Delamere.

Sketchy footage today must be the storms in the area.

Kittle for the win today, Jack Bauer should get a jersey just for having the best name!!

Try tartybikes.co.uk

I’ve bought lots of Magura stuff off them in the last few year

the first one is awesome!

This is the end of my street

Local trails on my old Marin

I find Specialized stuff a bit too, whats the word….. leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.

Audis of the bike world.

Well that sucks mate. There are some massive weirdoes running bike shops here, its almost cabal like! My mate has just opened a new shop and would appreciate the business if your interested and more than accommodate your needs.

Urban Pedaler

I get all my powder coating and frame repairs done at a place called GripSport here in Melbourne Oz. They only do bikes, so when i got my latest build PC’ed it was a no brainer. They face all bearing surfaces and do a proper tank strip and media blast before it goes to the coaters. I assume Argos in the UK (not the Laminated book of Dreams merchants) are their equivalent.

No dropper and no Di2XTR… I’m out.

This is why I build all my bikes from the frame up. The thrill of the chase and all that!

Nah I didn’t. If I was going to metal primer I would be in the realms of a full strip job! To be honest I was probably half arsed when I did it so I guess if I was to go the full hog I could get good results. Happy with my powder coat job as it is haha

Not sure maybe because of the multiple angles. I cleaned the frame meticulously as well as scotch padding it to give it a key. I’d say it’s good for smooth flattish surfaces but with frames it’s no where near durable enough to take the beating you give a frame.

Got my frame back from the Powder coaters and it looks a million times better.

Sent you an email fella

I work up the road in Bentleigh mate.

If you can organise shipping and money I can pick it up and send it on it’s merry way

Mark

I painted my Giant Trance frame a few weeks ago with it. Looked great until it started to peel. Frame is now at the powdercoaters where it should have been all along!

Learnt on a Raleigh Budgie… a fine steed if i recall. Then a Raleigh Boxer, Striker, Grifter, Chopper, Tomahawk and a myriad of others

But my first bike was a trike, won my first race on it in 1977, Queens Jubilee Street Party.

Big Jens sur le plaque!! Man is an animal.

Have to agree Mike. Yorkshire looks just beautiful on t’telly and brought back many memories. and look at the crowds!! Fantastic effort.

I bet beach road in Melbourne will be chockers tomorrow!!

I think the cosmos favours tubeless when it fancies. Ive put them on in no time and other times I’ve raged for hours only to collapse in the foetal position under the workbench. I found the with experience that rim profiles must be the culprit. On Mavics the HansD’s struggled, on my Nukeproofs (sunringle basically) they glided on. Oh and use shaving gel to seat them, nectar of the wheelgods!

I converted a Giant Trinity to road duties from a full on TT spec. Only problem i have found is the slight toe overlap when turning. I find it more than comfortable for extended rides. So if the frame fits, why not!

its all relative boys, no one really cares. I personally wouldn’t dream of spunking 5 grand on a brand new bike, but i would spend 5 grand building one from scratch. Madness I tells thee.

Back in the dark ages around ’92 I bought a Raleigh Dynatech Quantum and it was over a grand which was a massive amount of money for a lad just out of college! Yet today a grand would buy you a stonker of a bike and would be lightyears ahead of the tech of that bike.

Of course there is fashion element as all walks of life, but as someone who has been riding bikes for over 30 years off road, a modern bike is a joy to ride but still no more fun than the bikes we rode as kids, because fun cannot be bought you create that yourselves.

So quit whining and just ride what you have and remember that solid gold feeling you got when you first rode a bike and hold onto it for life.

Thanks for the input fellas, now then now then.. how much would these be to an ex cheshire lad living in the colonies?

Love my hard tail, perfect for those days when less is more.

There’s no problem if you are an OCD freak like me and mask them up proper

As for paint, nothing special but the primer I used was an etch primer. About 4 coats with a sand between coats. Base coat about 4 coats and then 3 coats of matt clear.

Thanks! Honestly the sanding was a killer. Took me a few weeks to get it to a state where i could shoot some primer onto it. The colour was the easy bit!

I resprayed my Giant Trinity recently. It was a massive ball ache. Getting the old clear coat off without damaging the underlying gelcoat took ages, with just pure sanding with about 5 different grades of paper. Then i had to use adhesion promoter as well as a decent primer to get a good base to paint on.

I hope the results are worth it

Before

During

After

KHS 650 superb bike. Hated it. Probably because I bought it complete and didn’t build it from scratch as is my usual m.o. Flogged it on without any guilt.

I love my Flyxii hard tail, had it over 18 months and its never missed a beat. All the stuff like head tube and BB shells were immaculate and not a single problem was encountered when i built it up. Nice balance of stiffness and compliancy as well. Soon to be parted out between a new 29er and a Giant Trance this winter.

We have 9 infrared ovens at my shop and we also have 2 blown ovens for larger jobs. Our process allows us to put out an average 35 cars out the door a day. Technology is always changing but the old adage of prep is the key to a good job is as true as always.