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Did you see the fella on the hand cranked trike at the 24hr, top fella, he was over the moon when Keith Bontrager had a long chat with him.

Scurries off for a photo of Jonesy racing DH....

fat bottomed girls springs to mind, but it's not a fat bike and Freddy wasn't into the other :)

Can't make out the race plate, what race was it ?

It's a lost love story.

Good luck with the search for the old steel flame :)

Had a vist to Lee Valley, this must be a good day to vist HH then :)

Don't be putting me on no lists, wrong bike type and wrong mindset and no track licence, unless it's like roller ball :)

Any photo's of it being ridden or better raced ?

That link shows the apidura fitted with an open cable running underneath the tube :)

good to go.

I think where talking about both styles of bag :)

or it's late and confusing :)

By top tube bag, you mean one that sits on top of the tube ? yes.

Depends on how thick the velcro fixing tabs are, and where they sit when you attach a bag to where the cable stop/braze on is.
The velcro should sit underneath the brake cable ok, you might get some contact but shouldn't be enough to really affect the brake operation.
You could be creative and use a biro pen outer as a sleeve and just wrap the velcro around that for a small top tube feeder/phone bag.

Running a full length outer cable would solve problems with rear brakes, maybe not pretty but functional.

jeff80, glad this popped up, looking at a later 1957 Superbe project bike which is maybe 90% original/complete and after a spray down and wipe over with wd40 is in fairly good order(not as rusty as it appeared) wavering more to a damn good clean and polish and the rougher patina befitting it's age than the full strip down and re-paint.
I dated mine as a 56 SA hub (4spd dyna rear hub) and a 57 frame, although i am not sure on the frame, and a lot of Superbe's where made. I did notice that the frame dating guides are not super accurate for some models and claims Raleigh have re-used serial numbers over varying models over time.
While our bikes are very different, but fairly close in age, something on yours has caught my eye.

On your frame you appear to have 2 grease-nipples, (head tube/BBshell) are they both standard/original fittings ? or later shop fittings for the owner ?

I have a similar fitting on my BB-shell but it appears to be a flip top oil port and is on the drive side of the shell, i haven't noticed a head tube port (and the bike is tucked away again until i get round to collecting it)
Still looking for info and manuals on mine before i start playing with the electrics :)

Will be following your build, can't wait for the re-paint, i will blame the yanks for the ebay prices on bits :) as a lot of my looking around has been on american sites who really like doing the full works and better than new showroom condition rebuilds(thus not so many parts about)

More of a hiker myself than bike packer, but you can learn loads from looking around and it's just the way you carry things (on back or on a bike) going light is win/win.
For silly lightweight the Marathon Des Sables is some good reading and they have a ban on gas, mostly for transport and re-supply in the desert heat.

I belive the americans refer to what we call meths(or similar) as de-natured alcohol, asking for "meths" stateside they might assume crystalmeths and call the police....... :) breaking bad...

Trianga stoves have a screw on top to seal them, the home made burner units you either burn dry or decant unused fuel back into the storage bottle.
You can get clone/copies of the Trianga burners which are a bit cheaper, even though genuine units are hardly costly.

The Americans have lots of out-doorsy shooting/fishing/camping stores so you should be good with gas over there (except for internal flights when you will have to ditch fuel/gas cans)
For better info look to american based cycle forums, and look into re-supply options on your intended route. Walmarts are pretty handy :)
Esbit solid fuel cookers might be worth checking out too, use a 4gram tablet to get going and stoke with twigs to complete cooking, solid fuel tablets are easy to get as well and transport friendly (double check that yourself before flying with them)
mtbr has a good bikepacking subforum, and bikepacking.net is mostly USA based so good info on there.
Depends on how light you want to go, if you can find 3 or 4 small stones to sit a Ti-pot on then you just need to carry solid fuel tablets, the Esbit Ti burner itself is silly lightweight though, and the americans love solid fuel tablets as they have a long shelf life.
Go to youtube and search for esbit cookers.

I started on hexi cookers, then alcohol jelly which got hard to find (pre-internet days) been on gas for years as cooker units got lighter and screw on gas cans became available, nice and easy to use, clean burn and fast boil times. Starting to sway back towards solid fuels again partly down to chatting with yanks and thinking the Marathon Des Sables would be fun :)

Just my thoughts on alcohol stoves.
Pro's
Light weight, cheap, fairly easy to find fuel (meths from B&Q, hardware shops, painting decorating shops, maybe even some larger super markets) no moving parts, nothing to go wrong.

Con's
Slow cook times (may or may not be an issue) liquid fuel so if burner is not sealable (like the trianga units) then you have to decant fuel back to storage bottle.

If you go for one, practice cooking at home, see how much fuel you use for boiling water and some basic cooking, will give you an idea on how much fuel to carry.

I use gas :) funniest thing i saw with liquid fuel was the classic messy filling and trail of fuel which ignited. Funniest thing i saw with solid fuel was someone cutting a square out of the tent groundsheet to cook inside (very windy/wet night on dartmoor)

Pro's and Con's to each system,(gas/meths/multifuel/solid/wood) you have to decide what works for you and where you are going to be. Example outside the UK/EU gas can be hard to to get so meths/multifuel are better.

Got some shiny slinks knocking about somewhere........ the classy chrome ones.

Hokes needs the blue slink to match the frame :)

Hoke, Is it worth adding slime or stans fluid to the rear tube as a bit more protection for rear flats, might be enough to get you to work in time or back home in the rain if you pick up something sharp.

Thanks for the info.
The more i look at the second bike the more it looks home made.
Bike must be off the peg, where the side unit fixes to the bike frame at the bottom bracket shell must be a home made add on, i can see bit's that could have been light guards from a lorry in the side unit, either way it works, i like it.

Duty free's, maybe he just got through Calais :)

Eastern Europe ?
First thought was America and the bucket of boxes was .22lr ammo.(could be ciggies)
The second bike is interesting, any other info, is it an ex service/military bicycle or a civillian home made affair.
Appears to be a quick detach side unit and folding frame, and extra trailer, is the trailer original spec or home made.
:)

Actually.....
Mrs 853 dosen't always shut doors so cat leaps up for cuddles when she goes for bodily functions.
I think she is a borderline madcatlady.

Treating a 1957 B83 Brooks, so far 2 heavy coats of wax balm have been soaked up, coat 3 now and leave again for a few days.
Feeling more pliable now.
I think what came with saddle is just going to get the oily rag treatment, a strip and clean and only painting what really needs it to save it.

Sulking or sleeping now, not sure...... didn't get a pre-tea snack as tea is at 5 sharp so not long to sulk away on the window ledge.

Wish mine would hoover, but me the Mrs and the cat are all long haired :)

Mine (Moet) had been sleeping on the bedroom window ledge, as soon as i skived off it was also random cuddles time and i think i should have a pre-tea snack time.

Chucked him outside, it's starting to rain so he's used the catflap himself (humans open doors if you meow loud enough) and he's somewhere inside again.

A nice start to the day and signing on. Spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how the jobsearch site for the DWP works, and looking around elsewhere as i look for something exciting to do.
I have a little break, something senses this........ well if your not looking for ways to pay for my whiskers then you can feed me, then you can skive off :)

Any Raleigh Superbe owners on here ?

May well have my fixer upper project sorted with what appears to be a 1957 Superbe with rear 4spd dynohub.
Got as far as dragging it from dads shed, deciding it was maybe a 70s/80s model, knocked off some spiders and found some serial numbers (frame & Hub)
Bit of google-fu later, Sheldon Brown had one, hub's from 56 and frame is 1957, pretty complete...........and the lights and dynamo still work.
Might just start a photo heavy thread after some more research.

Sawyers got cheaper again, i paid £19.99 few months ago on amazon i also got the extra 3x1ltr bags for another £10 all in it was slightly more than only buying a filter from high street shops.

I have had an Aquamira Frontier Pro, similar size to the Sawyer and ment to be an issue item to american forces. They are not as highly rated, have a limited lifespan and the filter element cracked and dropped out of mine........useless.......the current versions have replaceable filters but still not to the same rating as the Sawyer.

The filters can attach to some plastic mineral water bottles, once you work out which ones and carry them you can just top up the bottles from anywhere screw the filter in place and drink away.

I am chopping up my old Aquamira for the screw fittings and aim to make a gravity feed bag for dirty water and somehow intergrate the aqua pre-filter into the line.
Lightweight, compact and can be used in many ways, would have loved one of these years ago.