Go from Boot up the bridleway to Burnmoor tarn but don’t head over to Wasdale, instead turn left into Miterdale at the tarn. Either go around the tarn on the boggy bridleway, or turn left before the tarn on some nice singletrack past a derelict house, and pick up the bridleway (really only a sheep track) on the opposite hillside. The downhill (on what is according to the maps a bridleway, but very narrow) through upper Miterdale is one of the best in the Lakes, very exposed, and just a narrow track. Stay right when you come near a fence, over a Meadow and down to the only house/farm in Miterdale. A few hundred yards after riding through that farm, stay right onto the small bridleway to sample the best bridleways/tracks of Miterdale forest, and head for the road once you had enough. Takes two hours, if you want more, head over Irton Fell into Wasdale, and climb back up to Burnmoor Tarn from Wasdale head.

1.90m (6’3″) with 36″ inside leg measurement, 58cm frame and short-ish stem.

Only IS is correct (i.e. not post mount), but it can be on the seat or chain stays, see

Rohloff cable routing

albeit this is with the on-one slot dropouts using a Monkey Bone.

Sven

A previous build of mine was a Rotor steel frame (German make, but welded in the Czech republic), Rohloff, Magura, Syntace finishing kit, Speedtec cranks, but Mavic rims, XTR front hub, and some other bits

Liteville – I think – are not welded in Germany, and 2Souls aren’t either IIRC, but some custom manufacturers around, of course, such as Noell.

As for gears: Could also use Pinion, or Acros had some hydraulic gears on show once, not sure whether these are available to buy, though…

Nicolai frame, Magura suspension and brakes, Rohloff gears and chain, tune finishing kit, cranks adnd chainring, Schwalbe or Conti tyres, cannot think of rims at the moment, anything else missing???

I went with bike alpine but that was ca. 1995, but Richard is a nice guy.

http://www.bikealpin.de/tour-details/tour/transalprunde-um-den-montblanc/

Code Studio ???[/url]

I stayed in the lazy lizard about 10 years ago, bunk beds with 4-6 sleeping in one room, but nice relaxed atmosphere, a little alternative, great at the time, but 10 years on, I would look for something else (depends on age to some extent I suppose).

I also wouldn’t take bikes, too many bike shops there with a great choice, plus you may want to drive to some of the closer National Parks around (Arches, Zion, Bryce,…) while you are there, and not having your own bikes to carry with you makes things easier.

Will be a great trip in any case, though!

Sven

Just to add my build with rather short track ends on a Scandal, and using a Monkeybone on the chainstays (I hadn’t spotted Rohloff’s comments on that either yet)

No problems yet, and wheel removal is relatively easy (needs removing the QR, but no loosening of the brake caliper required). I am using a Surly Tugnut on the driveside.

Deutsches Museum,the world’s largest museum of science and technology

I had both my MTB frame and stem powdercoated at the same time, pretty straightforward. (not really a colour though)

Getting the stem painted in the same colour as my road bike is one of the next things on my list…
Sven

Big thanks to poolman from here as well, looking forward to the half-term holidays in autumn more now than to the summer holidays…

Hi poolman/Neil, I would certainly be interested as well, just about to book flights to Valencia, not Alicante, dropped you an eMail.

You could take it to ‘our’ workshop if the back pedalling method doesn’t work, Peter always gets those things undone.
What size sprocket do you want to try? I have one or two hardly used sprockets in my spares box….
Sven

2 smashed rear mechs in 15 years is not much, but then 5 or a few more services on my Rohloff in 10 years (with the same rim all the time) is even better; less time servicing, more time riding, what’s not to like (apart from the weight, but I’d rather worry about loosing body weight than a few hundred grams on my rear hub).

Back to the OP’s question, I am still toying with the idea of building a 3 speed Sturmey Archer bike, cheap, light-ish and less restrictive than a single-speed for when it’s not too steep.

Sven

I rode bikes with derailleurs for 15 years, then a Rohloff-equipped bike (in fact two or three frames worth) for 9 years, and both over the last two years (not at the same time :). There may be disadvantages to internal hub gears, but perceived drag, and weight and its distribution are not really amongst them, currently wheel removal due to the horizontal dropouts annoys me more…

Half a pound more at the rear? People who now run 1×10 don’t complain that suddenly the weight distribution of their bikes changed as they lost front derailleur and chainrings. Also, the weight is thankfully in the hub and not further away, a heavy rim makes a bigger difference (to acceleration). Drag? Some friends still believe I have a little eMotor in there, and I am not that fast. I also think that a super-tacky Evo triple-Nano compound stick-to-rocks tyre creates more drag than a Rohloff, if the latter does at all.

The only reason why I changed chainrings (and sprockets) in the last few years was to try slightly higher/lower gears, and change ‘the looks’, wear is hardly an issue. Which is the main point, with a few oil changes over the years, one return journey to Rohloff for a service, and no maintanance other than oiling the chain even after very muddy rides, I can spend more time actually riding my bike rather than servicing it, and that’s what counts most to me.

Gratuitous pic of my latest build and cable routing (since ir_b posted his):

A627(M) is shortest and quickest IMHO, only going anticlockwise if there is no traffic and I want to cruise at constant speed

I can vouch for Martin doing exceptionally well even on steeper uphills, let alone when pointing that long beast down (the ‘beast’ as it happens).

I have a soft spot for Broughton in Furness, go for a coffee in the village bakery & cafe (just been there this morning, closed on Mondays, though).
A few nice walks in and around Eskdale Green incl the Japanese Garden.
As said above, Muncaster, Ravenglass, and the railway worth a visit, there are remains of a Roman bath outside Ravenglass, but they are remains, nothing much left sadly…

ca. 1991 Suntour XC Pro cranks, square taper, of course…

Good to see another bike with the Rohloff/Maverick combination, snaps.

rosscopeco, I would love a custom-made frame with the Paragon swinger dropouts, or even a modified Soul/Solaris; bare dropouts look nice, but I have to admit that your bike looked even nice in raw, but maybe that’s just me.

Noodles are just for tidier cable routing, Rohloff always recommended that one uses their outers, but I use SP41 now, I think tension makes a much bigger difference than routing/noodles/outers…

Got them on the shifter end too.

Same here…

…hangs below the dropout and that’s always put me off

I bought the hub almost 9 years ago (had a different frame then), and went on and on about how great it is during the first ride with friends, until I smashed the box on a rock.

With the Monkeybone it’s possible to get the click box quite neatly behind the caliper

I didn’t know this, maybe the next frame (that would be #3 while still with gears #1) does not need to have disc mounts at the chainstays after all.

Also working at the University and living in Singletrack’s very own Todmorden. The train indeed arrives at Victoria which is less convenient than Piccadilly, but nothing that a short bike ride through Manchester couldn’t sort, plenty of people with bikes (or Bromptons) on those trains that also serve Littleborough and Hebden Bridge.

That looks close to what I consider a perfect bike!

I did, but that was back in 1994ish, and it was a tour guided by bike alpin[/url], I wasn’t even allowed to drive a car yet, and can’t provide any tips, sorry…

Since you mentioned Cockermouth and the fact that you are prepared to spend up to £150, then The Trout in Cockermouth is your best choice, renovated to a high standard after the floods, and the food is very nice, too. But since you also mentioned vegetarian, you can always walk from there to the Quince and Medlar (less than 10min walk past a decent bike shop) for great (but not cheap) vegetarian food. Plenty more choices as you head further east/south, of course…

In theory, you can convert it into a fixed gear bike, but it would be a rather nice one indeed.
In short, the main two problems I can see are: 1) The ‘drop-outs’ are indeed horizontal ones rear-facing which is what you want for a singlespeed/fixed gear, however, they are not real track-ends and only designed so that one can move the rear-wheel as close to the seat tube as possible for aerodynamic reasons, not to tension a chain, so you would have to check whether you have at least 1/2 inch movement; in the worst case, you would have to play around with a few chainring/sprocket combinations. 2) Most fixed gear rear hubs are spaced for 120mm, but there should be some around for 130mm.

Sven

Santa Ynez valley and/or over the hills/mountains into Santa Barbara county. Santa Ynez valley (Solvang, Los Olivos,…) are quite popular for cycling training, even a certain US postal team went there every year (not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing). Also where ‘Sideways’ was set…
Sven

Caspian on the main street has a very nice interior, but the food is only okay/good.
Just around the corner is a tasty Italian, Casa Romana.
Some of the best food is served in a pub, the Vagabond close to the habour.
You’ll find the Harbourside there as well, probably a bit more expensive than the others…

Sven

I have just converted a Shimano XT disc front hub to a solid axle fixed rear hub using a 10mm fine thread axle to build a non-dished rear wheel. Also for commuting duties, I reckon the XT hubs are better sealed than many other hubs, and only cost £20. Details at Velosolo[/url] where I also bought the cog.

Sven

You may try out batteryfix[/url], the guy replaced the batteries in my 9-year old B&Q drill, and they have lasted well for the last 2 years, and are miles better than those that came with the drill.

I have no connection to them other than having used them in the past, I think he charged around £40 for replacing one pack with Lithium-ion cells, and reconditioning the other pack as a backup.

Sven

I actually have a Sogreni bell since Xmas, would have never bought it myself due to cost but since my sister moved into the neighbourhood of the bikeshop in Copenhagen that makes these bells, it was a nice Xmas gift idea.
I thought they looked stunning on pictures but not quite so great in reality, but they do fit on my oversized MTB handlebar just fine.
The clamping mechanism is a simple brass water pipe mounting piece from a plumber’s hardware shop (and hence got replaced with an old light handlebar mount), and the diameter of the bell is actually huge, I got it machined down now by a few mm and am happy with it (even though it could be louder but I don’t want to admit this after having gone through all the trouble…).
Sven
P.S.: Ben at Kinetics in Glasgow used to sell them but not sure whether he still does.

Did an Ironman in a Diver’s wetsuit and was fine, only looked slightly out of place but managed in 1h13min (the swimming, not the whole lot :) which was fine by me.

‘Unusual’ in the sense that it’s a combination of carbon and 853 steel.
Picture taken when bought new 3 years ago, but it’s actually a 2006 Jamis Eclipse.

I filed down the spider before when coming across the same problem, no problem, chainring is still pretty much centered thanks to the bolts even though I didn’t do a neat job on the cranks.

Finally, Seats are mentioned or car threads. I second an Altea or Altea XL, we had both mainly due to the high driving position, excellent cars! Got both as ex-Seat-owned cars, their website lets you search for the best deal all over the country.

Our Sony TV has a browser installed but it’s (apparently) a very basic version of Opera in which I have not even found out how to type an html address in (and I use Opera every day on my computer).
Our Sony BlueRay Player does not have a browser pre-installed as far as I am aware.
Cougar’s suggestion will work, I plugged an old laptop into the VGA port on the TV but the max resolution of the laptop was something like 1024×768 and hence only occupies a very small part of the 32″ TV screen.
Sven

Marsdenman had it right, there was a guy on eBay selling them initially for £250, then reduced to £175 (that’s when I bought one pair in June), the eBay name is ‘surplusbikebits’ (also known as bikebits2010), he had at least 6 around, and I think I was one of the first to buy one. They are not listed any longer but may be worth trying to contact him anyway. Email me and I can forward his email address/phone number.
Sven

1) Screwdriver for removal, and using the mounted new headset for ‘hammering’ it down.
2) Best is an old steerer tube that you partly cut lengthwise a bit (3 or 4 cuts), bend it apart slightly and then insert into the headtube.
3) DIY jobbies work okay but a mallet does the job, too.

Also, what cable cutters (ones that actually work)?

The best ones you can afford from a DIY store work fine and should still be cheaper than Park Tool ones (which work great as well, of course)

All in my opinion, of course.
Sven

Not the normal fork and needs a conversion kit (easily done apparently), but cheap!
Maverick SC32

I am not the seller but bought one recently (for a 26er MTB)