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agreed looks good

it's under a press embargo until it is done i'm afraid

this weeks swinley report:

waking up around 9 and then rolling around in bed to 10:30, only to finally leave the pit at 11 i thought this might mean that i'd escaped "going for a ride" this week and could sit there refreshing the same 3-4 sites until Monday rolled around. excellent.

however around 11:30 my parents decided to get to work "doing the garden" and i stood there with a stark choice, help carry bags of wood chip, being directed to place each one individually while they created their perfect vision (yes it runs in the family), or elope, to the woods. it wasn't much of a choice, much like a Vietnam draftee. i reluctantly topped up my water bottle, loaded two beverages, some skittles and set off.

same old same old ride over, except it now clicks on the downhills, which is merely a lateral move in enjoyment imo. the whole way there i thought "right i'll just pull up to pips seat have some drinks and set home, i rode yesterday anyway so i'm off the hook". much to my annoyance when i arrived at pips seat it was occupied by some santa cruz types, luckily i was acting as a voyeur through the brush and they didn't get to see my rather obvious annoyance.

what now i thought? am i actually supposed to enjoy this wonderful few square miles of forest on this bike i spent all winter fetishizing? annoyingly the answer was yes.

I set off down the gravel trails on the usual rout, out past the south sign thing, on the wide gravel road to the flow section of the blue trail, a route suited for my lack of gears and tyre volume. Half way to the flow trail a bunch of voodoo and vitus types saw me descend a hill rather shakily and asked "is that even comfortable???", all the users here will know it's not but i could not let on such secrets to the enemy so shouted back "not particularly but very fun", was it convincing? no, i really want a trek pro calibre.

arriving at the blue trail it was rather empty which was nice, last time I attempted this it was rather packed and i was on a fixed gear hoping a some 45 year old on a e bike would collide into me like a articulated lorry hitting a toyota yaris. swift, quick, the opposite of me on the trail. today was a marked improvement however, i'm noticeably more comfortable on a single speed, it feels like my home territory, saying that however i still had cages on which made putting ones leg out rather annoying, alas i got through it. I shall return next weekend with some japan made mks collab pedals fitted and hopefully look a little less dyspraxic.

it's at this point I thought i'd try pips seat again, so finishing my loop up to the lookout and back to ceasers camp i checked the bench to see if it was clear; delightfully it was. It's a good bench for those who know it, good view, premium dog watching spot, not too hard to get too, low traffic and away from most the mtbr's. a good spot to reflect, opens one phone and do what they would be doing at home, but in nature.

a couple of messages in groupchats, some browsing of the web and a can or so later ballmers peak was setting in and i thought it a good idea to cycle home with the explicit idea of replicating the route i took yesterday but with my inhibitions and sense of fear that comes with age nicely lowered thanks to performance enhancing drugs.

I set off, albeit wobbly, it was good fun, down the ceasers camp fence trail up the 9 mile ride trail, confident / dumb enough to not cover the brakes, felt like i was in a crust video, which is always the vibe i seek replicate while cycling. I revisited the stairs and dirt hill and absolutely sent it hoping i wouldn't feel it if i fell, absolute joy to hear the clicks and the slight slip of the mud tbqh. inspired a lot of confidence of what the bike can do for the next time i'm on it. i would recommend this unconventional training method.

Arriving home my parents were just packing up for lunch, it seemed i had successfully avoided holding trellis up so they could see if it "created the right vibe before they committed", a successful ride on all levels it was

and finally, the gravel outfit?

supreme beanie
decathalon buff
supreme snake skin flannel
tnf gilet

a bit warm but not unpleasant due to the winds

this is what toxic masculinity looks like

A nice wall shot of the new brake now it’s not freezing cold

when you can tour 3 subburb estates in a lap around town and not touch a single road 😌

was quite fun visiting places i used to cycle round as a kid, the big dirt hill which used to be terrifying, the stairs i would not dare cycle down for fear of falling, the hills i'd hate pushing my bike up. coming along now and just doing all of it

i guess i'm bragging about how i could easily out cycle a literal child

@snottyotter thank you! please do if you’re ever swinley way.

i was going to add the WI freewheel to this but then i remembered a friends clickster was louder which is all that matters for a free wheel

yeah, unlike most stuff which comes out of the cnc mills of america, europe and japan it's noticeably better than every other mini v on the market, in set up, design and build

guess it's on the list with like, hope hubs, and uhhh.....welll.....ummmmmm i'm sure there are more?

shout outs to @cake for the mini moto and @amey for bringing it to his attention

dropped out of work early to fit this last night, a couple of pages back is my last experience of trying to fit a rear brake after moving my wheel back for increased clearances. TLDR on that one? the brake just sort of exploded

now thanks to the American made brake made from American made 6061 aluminium straight out of sierra Nevada I can finally over come this problem. thanks in most part to the short curved arms that give plenty of clearance for cyclocross tires or wide fenders. The spring tension is independently adjustable for each arm which means the brake can be precisely centered on the wheel and adjusted for return strength.

With a simple pivoting quick release on one arm, it’s easy to open the brake to remove a wheel. The cable enters the brake through a barrel adjuster at the top of the curved cable noodle. This adjuster makes it quick and painless to fine-tune the cable tension of the brake without tools.

Like the rest of their brakes, the MiniMoto has sealed stainless steel bushings in the pivots. These precisely machined bushings are what contact the brake posts of the frame and give the brake arms a smooth surface to pivot on.

There’s a reason this brake won CX Magazine’s “Best Rim Brake” award.

as you can imagine, with such enginerring quality as this, it was a breeze

it was not however, due to the weird, awkward and slightly vengeful frame design of the on one pompino (fitting traits of a design hailing from the uk) if you want to run a 35mm tyre and not lose your paint you have to run a mini v brake slammed all the way down, which just doesn't work with most short pull levers

mr paul did make this easy, i give him that, you set the cable tension before the spring tension so there is no faff. but the weedy ass cable tension bolt which came on it could not grip the cable and kept slipping when really grabbing at the brake.

Remembering gcse physics I promptly swapped this out for a larger washer and hey presto! i was ready to go

honestly, the sort of solution which would have made nasa proud.

you've done the classic here, where your "thrown together build" looks good enough to be a done project

next 30 pages is slowly losing your mind over cnc and import fees, i can respect that

Other projects take priority over trying to make this "fit"

big mood right here

not fond of trying the tiny stem?

this is some HIGH TIER wallet inspection from mr king, i am floored

agreed, straight to FBNPNA

ban cult in the gravel thread is really the natural ending for this thread

repost?

mods, please help, there is shitposting in this thread

sorry cant be seen to endorse any kind of motorised transport for fear of it being dragged up and used against me in the zoomer's "peoples courts of climate crime prosecution"

sad to hear you were an early b(l)oomer

this evolution of boomer amey surprises no-one, as sad as it is to see

This is sepukku

how to make your otp bike a "GRAVEL BIKE" guide

1) buy a fitting half frame bag
2) sew patches to it, the more obscure or Instagram account related the better
3) repeat step 2 but for stickers
4) find some niche bottles, rapha is fine, but if you pay import tax on them that's better
5) swap the saddle, options are a brooks cambium or a flite, there is no other options
6) swap the stem out to one half the siz
7) re wrap the bars in some gaudy or outdated cotton tape, the more niche the better
8) add mudguards, metal or plastic both valid schools of thought
9) some form of saddle charm needs to be added, be it a pizza slice or keyring,
10) prepare yourself, get a nice shirt on, put shorts over your bibs, take off your spdsls

congrats, you're ready to ride a 15 mile loop around your house taking in 1-3 bits of bridal path you saw while driving the dog to the vets.

proposal, patagonia, snow peak, arcteryx, manastash, and wander, klättermusen, tilak et al are all cool because they're not cycling related, although make incredibly bike friendly clothes

what does this say about cycling as a branding tool?

thonking

i find it very hard to articulate but i would say these people are too "engineer brained"* to create compelling clothing for these sorts of prices

*this is a slur

this goes so hard

low stand over bikes looking so good rn , will be a fine build B)