Most recent activity
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Plenty of metal has arrived in the post this week. A full set of tubes from Ceeway, plus plenty of braze-ons (already had to order another seat tube as I forgot the external butting for the top end). Frame design is just about finalised, then I can translate the dimensions onto the jig.
And the aluminium extrusion for the jig arrived, which is nearly bolted together. Managed to find some cones for a headset press that have worked nicely for the head tube and a plug made from an offcut of an old seatpost for the seat tube. Rear dropouts are spaced with a dummy axle and an extra tube through one of the hanger mounting bolts to keep the two dropouts in phase. All the dimensions will be referenced to the BB. Just need to make a mounting point on the back of the jig to attach it to the workstand.
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Welsh Ride Thing was a treat, if a little cold, wasn't fully prepared for it to drop below 0° overnight. Great riding though and the Solaris was perfect for it, good to see that LLS geometry is comfortable for bikepacking too. Can fully recommend the Alpkit Exo-Rail to use a seatpack with a dropper, rock solid.
I'd hit a bit of a mental block with the frame building, feeling overfaced with not knowing what I'm doing but @PhilDAS and @M_V have provided great inspiration with just getting stuck in. So, to that end, I've ordered the ali extrusion/some cones for a jig and trawled through the Ceeway catalogue to pick out tubes/braze-ons. Waiting on a quote from them and hopefully by next weekend I can start piecing bits together.
Frame will be made out of cheaper/thicker walled tubing that'll hopefully be more forgiving, mainly Colombus Cromor with a few Life tubes. I'm not expecting a fantastic frame but I'm happy to use it as a learning experience and if I get a rideable frame that'll be a great bonus. Basing the geometry on the Genesis Vagabond/Salsa Fargo, to replace the Plug.
- Clearance for 2.2 29"
- High stack/shortish reach/drop bar
- 100x12/142x12 bolt thru
- IS disc mounts
- Full external cable routing
- Clearance for 2.2 29"
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Not tempted by the SolarisMax to replace the old Solaris? Can't speak more highly of mine, from really techy stuff to bikepacking.
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Slow progress on the brazing front due to holidays and work, but I've made a couple more bags (one medium frame bag to work with the double bottle cage set up and a small top tube bag) for the Solaris. Doing the Welsh Ride Thing in a couple of weeks so need some more packing space, combined with a seatpack and a bar bag it should be plenty for 3 days. Then a fresh pair of WTB Rangers for some easier rolling, set up tubeless incredibly easily.
Did find time to braze on a little mount to the rack on the RoadRat to bolt a front light to.
Tidied up the Plug too, de-stickered the rims, trimmed the steerer and spent an eternity threading the dynamo wiring up the inside of the fork.
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Haven't got any experience with Stantons, but I can't speak more highly of my Solaris MAX, easily the best hardtail I've ridden; fast, comfortable, and stable. I'd be tempted to stick with 29" wheels, if you're basing it on a medium the wheel size will be fine for your height.
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Lush, really like how the asymmetrical stays have turned out.
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I've got the Clarks on my Roadrat, great for the price. That model is specifically called the M2.
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Assuming the Straggler is going to be flat bar as well (given you're using the Zee drivetrain) you'll need some road pull flat bar levers. Tiagra ones are cheap and look alright.
Wheels will work fine with 10spd MTB cassette but I believe they're fairly weighty?
Love the stem, it's a strong look, would love to have a go at one. Really encouraging to see you cracking on with another frame too. Is it Rattlecad you're using for the drawings? I'm stuck with having to work out all the mitre angles by hand from the info you can get from the free version of BikeCad, as £300 for the Pro version is a bit rich for me.