Search results for:

2016 Arkose framesets on Evans for under £300! I swear they weren't there a couple of weeks ago?!

Fun new parts didn't arrive so I'll take proper pictures when that happens. But here it is anyway.

The position is stupidly aggressive. Really need to swap the stem back. Also enjoy my cable gore.

I agree with you. Mistakes are always going to be made. If the driver slows right down and rights the wrong as safely as possible there's no need to take it any further than that. If he has any sense of shame or embarrassment (it sounds like he does) he'll never make the same mistake again.

Basically even though he's made a huge mistake I'd rather be cycling on the road next to him, given his response, than your average driver.

They're £7.50 now, still might be too good to pass up though! There's a 700c version too

I think I want to go 700c. My friend pointed out that as there's only clearance for 42mm in 650b it might mess with the geometry too much. And considering I can probably get 700×38-40mm there's not massive advantage to 650b.

And you're right about the Brooks. I think I might keep it. Maybe I'll keep the two and and swap my current saddle on (it's the titanium Fabric Line) if I want to get somewhere in a hurry and the Brooks for touring. Or whatever.

Probably wisest to just keep as many parts as possible for now, ride around with different combinations and sell what I don't want after a month or two!

@jontea those look pretty good, thanks. Schwalbe G-One seem to be the other typical recommendation. New wheel budget, I don't know. Under £200 seems to be the sweet spot for me. I don't want to be getting to the point where I'm spending £100 to save 100g or whatever and I'm not bothered about aerodynamics I don't think. Maybe nice light rims and 24 spokes? And keep these 36 spoke beasts for the full touring setup.

@Lanterne_Rouge cheers, will have a look at that. Have to think about it.

Okay, 95% sure I'm going to go for this Kona. It's pretty comfortable to ride with a shorter top-tube compared to my road bike.

Questions:

• I'm wondering, should I keep the Brooks? It's in great condition but I think I'd prefer something a bit racier.

• What are the best 700×38 road-ish tyres that can handle a little bit of gravel and mud?

• Are there any cheap 100×15mm dynamo hubs out there? It would be great to have a front wheel that would fit my 29er and this bike but all the hubs I've seen are either £200 or QR. How much faff is it to swap a dynamo wheel from one bike to another?

• The rims are Freedom Ryder 21, hubs are Shimano FH-M525A. Unknown spokes. But basically the wheels feel super heavy. Can I build/buy a lighter wheelset for cheap that'll be sturdy enough for smashing around off-road? Switching from cheap ~1600g 18 spoke roadie wheels to these is going to make me slightly sad.

As much as I hate to admit it the anti-disk people are right in that you can get more than enough stopping power with well-adjusted rim brakes (assuming that it's dry and you don't have loads of weight on the bike). What are your brake pads/rims? Koolstop Salmons are incredibly good.

Will get some pictures tomorrow but here's a little teaser of what I've done to this bike:

• put on moustache bars
  
• switched to MTB shifters
  
• new headset
  
• black seatpost
  
  

I had to take it to a "fix your own bike" session at a shop to change the headset and the mechanics couldn't get enough of it!

It's also got the rack on and a document basket tray thing (liberated from work) attached to the rack.

I haven't solved the cantilever/rack mount issue but I've got some exciting parts on the way that will indirectly solve the problem...

Edit: I also have a bunch of quicklinks and now that I've got the 11-42 on there I can mess about with chain length again. So I'll be able to go back to fixed if I want to!

Have you looked at the Faran? It's got better clearance. Although still only 2 cages.

Their sizing (with the extra sizes) is great

GOAT’S CRUST SCAPEGOAT: NO SHOES, NO PROBLEM – MORGAN TAYLOR

Am I supposed to know who Goat is? I presume he's the owner of that bike but even that is unclear, since it's not stated anywhere in the article who he is or what he does or why I should care about him or why his name is Goat

1' 8"? Shouldn't you be on a balance bike?

Rocket Ron? 480g, ~€20 each on bike-discount at the moment.

Ah right, good to know. They should have done it 3 years ago! And they also should have done a 1× road/CX/gravel groupset! I don't know what they're playing at

Not sure, I was looking at the framesets a couple of weeks ago. So probably 2018 models, yeah.

The Arkose 4 has a full carbon fork, Arkose 3 and below is alloy steerer

The Arkose 4 has a full carbon fork, Arkose 3 and below is alloy steerer

I think SRAM is better for gravel stuff in almost every way; for some stupid reason Shimano won't let you go above 11-32 with drop bar levers. If you ask me 50/34 and 11-32 is just barely low enough for gravel riding (try riding up a 30° gravel slope into a headwind with bikepacking bags on 34/32 if you disagree). Having said that a Wolf Tooth RoadLink and new cassette is a good whack cheaper than changing the SRAM groupset to 2×11.

If you're really not sold on 1× you could also consider swapping your current groupset onto the Pickenflick. You'd get a fair bit of money for a complete Apex 1 groupset on here/eBay.

However I do think you should give 1× a go! It's just really nice not having to think about your front derailleur. Doesn't sound like something that you'd notice but it does feel a bit more relaxed.

Ah, interesting. I ride on the tops quite a lot so maybe my reach is too long and I'd be better off on the hoods with a shorter reach. I'm about the same height as you. Something to think about for me!

555mm reach for 184cm? That seems really short. Do you use an ultra-long stem?

Really nice!

Maybe the rack is his front brake - just give it a kick when you need to stop

I still don't really understand how disc rotors can apparently do this when chainrings seem much more deadly and never cause any problems.

There's some real morons in the Twitter comments too

Taking handling to it's logical endpoint

Edit: I bristled when I saw what you'd done.

Overlay it in Photoshop?