Newly finished … or at least it would be if the 30t On-One TT ring wasn’t inducing combined chainsuck and chain drop 😐

I’ve just bolted a few more bits to my Stooge this afternoon. I’d echo what Cheezpleez says, it’s a lovely frame (both colours are stunning in the flesh) but a very different beast to a Swift … although they’re both rigid steel 29ers, I think it would be difficult (and a little unfair) 😉 to try and draw any comparisons between the two.

I think it’s the first one Pete. The route’s interesting enough, if you break out an OS Explorer 18 and squint, a fairly obvious route will appear … that’s pretty much what they’re using 😉

are they the people who the run the welsh ride thing? The stories I’ve heard about that sound ace.

Yep, WRT, BB 200, Elan-back, etc.

There’s some folks over here from your neck of the woods … generally they’re more scary than you sound so might take you up on your offer 😉

18g wow, thats light

Actually the smallest one is 8g 😉

Most of this years Rab bags (and many others) feature it … look for ‘Hydrophobic’ in the blurb.

For a synthetic bag – Lamina is usually the default answer.

The OMM is really designed for MM … single night where you’ll put up with near death experiences to save weight.

There’s a few folk over on Bear Bones that use Buffalo bags but not often due to the weight and bulk.

Have you considered a down bag with the new water resistant down?

The Salsa Minimalist rack could be just what you’re after but again you’ll need P clips.

The Monkii cage and Monkii nuts would be a good option for fork mounted cages – cyclemiles.co.uk

unfashionable

… yep

out of date

… it’s just coming up for 40

makes you smile

… oh yes and it tends to have that affect on everyone 😀

If you don’t want the end result to be a burnt mess (pan and food) I’d suggest hard anodised aluminium with a non stick coating. Coated Ti is available but the price makes standard Ti pots look cheap.

Ti + eggs = poaching for best results.

In my link the etrex 20 is bundled with TOPO UK and Ireland…do I need this bundle?

TOPO isn’t the same as OS. If you want the detail of OS you’ll need a Discoverer sd card which will give you 1:50k OS mapping.

The 10 doesn’t take an sd card so OS mapping isn’t possible. I’d suggest the Dakota 20 or eTrex 20 depending on whether you want a touch screen or joystick. Don’t expect iphone resolution and be aware that you’ll need to either buy a ‘bundle’ or a seperate sd card if you want OS mapping.

I was thinking 2 season bag as I will have a down jacket with me anyway but also wondering about quilts and even consider just sewing some pertex to a very fluffy blanket and using that.

A Buffalo summer bag might suit you, Pertex and pile, centre zip, waterproof(ish) and not too heavy.

I had a brief ride on one at the start of the WRT, very impressed … as everyone else who had a go seemed to be.

RE: Stoves – They won’t suit everyone but if low weight and small packsize are important you should be able to get your cooking set down to below 100g excluding fuel.

8g meths stoves

just ride with a 40 – 60 litre pack

Just how much stuff are you taking?

riding with around 12kg

Ah yes … 3 x too much 😉

Any pointers on meths volume required to boil a mystic mug (approx, I know there is many variables to consider) and best places to source wind shield & plastic meths container?

Depends on the stove but 15ml – 20ml should boil a 450ml mug.

Bear Bones stoves all come with a fuel bottle. As Composite says, a foil platter will suffice but will become brittle pretty quickly. The best stuff I’ve found is .3mm thick, it can be cut, folded and bent but it’s very robust and will pretty much last forever … I have stocks 😉

The Mytimug will fit in an Anything cage but the cage is actually a bit big for it. The Monkii cage is a much better fit … if you buy the ‘V’ style cage you’ll have zero issues with it coming loose.

In fact I don’t really have a plan anymore (stove/pot/mug/type). I have given up trying to make a meths burner, so will probably use gas.

The lightest, most packable set up would be a bear Bones 8g stove and an Alpkit Myticup … that should give you a good basis for a sub 100g cooking set-up. The Myticup will also fit into a Monkii cage okay.

If we skirt round the ‘organised’ bit then there’s still a week left to enter this years Welsh Ride Thing. 3 days through / around / over mid-Wales, make it as hard or as easy as you want and as ever, all money goes to the Air Ambulance. It’ll cost you £20 pp and for that you’ll get a T shirt, more tea and cake than’s good for you and a warm fuzzy feeling inside 😀

pannier rack

I’d be very surprised to see any of those.

There’s a fair few folk in your neck of the woods on the Bear Bones Forum

I’m sure someone would be up for it 🙂

Wilcat Gear Ocelot review

AlpKit Koala review

Also worth looking at – Bikepack in Poland

would have to get a good mount for above the fire place too!

Be more use in the fireplace 😉

Pete, it looks like it’s come from Ikea … which isn’t a good thing.

This might be of interest for anyone considering an Arkrose.

Arkrose Content

What’s the WRT?

Welsh Ride Thing

WRT entries open in a few days. It’s May 3rd-5th this year so takes care of the slot in May … give you a good chance to try any kit out, etc.

I ride single speed and I can tell you with certainty that there is still shed loads of maintenance.

There is more with a geared bike granted. Cassette, derailleur etc but you still spend a considerable amount of time maintaining the bike especially for xc duties.

Most people dont ride single speed because it reduces maintenance. That is only a small factor. They ride single speed because its without a doubt the purest and funnest form to ride.

Hammering the trail and putting the power down whilst out of the saddle is incredibly fun. Silence etc is just a biproduct. The real reason to go single speed is fun. In abudance.
Sorry, my mistake … I bow to your superior knowledge, please accept my apologies.

not a lot of people seem to be using panniers, is there a particular reason (other than mounting complications due to disc calliper) or are these just more for single night trips? I plan on doing a few 4-6 night trips with a small rent, and can’t decide between panniers and extra wheel trailer kinda thing – or both for longer trips

I’ll stick my neck on the line here and say that most of the bikes in this thread are loaded with enough gear (except food) to cover a trip of up to a week. I’m not going to say why panniers / trailers aren’t always the best idea … because everyone has their own opinions and I really can’t be arsed getting into the whole debate 😉

Its like saying single speed drastically reduces your maintenance commitment.

It does … which is one reason why quite a few people choose it 😉

I want to go away for a night or 2 this year i will be taking the cross bike so will have to play around with the bar mounting storage situation also looking to get a small 1 man coffin style tent instead of bivi anyone have any pics of this setup on a cross/road bike?

Depending on the width of your bars, a Wildcat Gear harness should fit well. You’ll be limited to how wide a dry bag you can fit but you’ll usually find something. Pod dry bags tend to be shorter but fatter for a given capacity.

Plenty of pics of loaded crossers over here

Travers 29+ that I had for test … ready for the ‘off’ on the Bear Bones Winter bivvy.

My usual bike. Inbred 29er sporting Enabler forks and a SS rear wheel in the front.

Same Inbred – different day 😉

How much would your setup weigh?

I various set-ups, the lightest would come in at 490g for tarp (proper full coverage not a micro affair), midge proof bivvy bag, pole, lines and pegs.

Weight for weight a well set-up tarp will give you nearly as much weather protection as a tent but much more room. Quite often you won’t actually require a bivvy bag under a tarp, so condensation becomes less of an issue.

I can’t see any reason why you can’t spend the same number of nights under a tarp as you’d be willing to spend in a tent.

If we were talking about a bivvy bag only and no tarp then that’d be a different matter 😉

Is the WRT usually an oversubscribed event? I am not sure I can make it back to blighty for those dates, I wouldn’t mind doing it, but could do with confirming nearer the time

There’s no number limit but there is an entry cut-off which will be April 3rd this year … and as Chew says, a liking for tea and cake will be handy 😉

Entries for the Welsh Ride Thing open on Feb 1st … not really like Bearded Man or Trailmasters but certainly multi-day.

WRT

Bear Bones 200? There’s a new route for this years ride in Oct but I could email you a gpx for the route from previous years if you fancied?

BB 200

Lots of pics from this weekend just gone

There’s the BB 200 in Oct. Completely new route for this year so no one will have an advantage.

Phil Simcock covered the 205km in 13h 8m last year 😯

Bear Bones 200

Looks good that one Tiger, nice size and weight too.

Unless you want something very specific the Rig 7 is hard to beat.

Bear Bones guide to the Rig 7 – part 1

Bear Bones guide to the Rig 7 – part 2