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That looks unfortunate, is the calliper OK?

You can't ride offroad in the UK right now, it's the wrong year for it. We're waiting for August 2024 at the moment.

Speaking of adding 460ml of storage to a bike though, I would like to try and get a bb bottle cage mount on there. I have a ziptie thing that has been sitting "in a box" for a while which I might try and strap on soon. Other than that though it's just the whole Gearing Issue that I need to sort out (I'm procrastinating on it because it's boring)

Imagine actually paying parts + labour + shipping fees just so that you can have a less compliant seatpost and an extra 460ml of storage in your frame bag. (I calculated this number using geometry geeks data)

That's not even including the cost of some of these stickers to replace.

FAQ:

The bike looks too small for you, I can tell from the height of the seatpost and also I know your inside leg measurement

The bike might actually be too small for me yes, but it's the bike I've ridden the most and done the most long days on, and at this point the cost/effort of finding another QR carbon forked CDF with enough steerer and swapping all my parts over and selling the old frame etc seems quite pointless considering I would just end up with... the same bike, but with slightly more room for a frame bag.

Why did you get silver headset spacers?

I'm very loyal to my LBS and they only had silver headset spacers.

These alturas actually fit much better and weigh a lot less, so I don't know. Anyway, I was rushing to get everything ready for this weekend for my aforementioned Norfolk tour, but I just checked the weather and it looks torrential all of Saturday so I'm cancelling it. I'll have to try and do a test ride another time.

I was well beyond my bed time by the time I was done, so I thought I may as well stay up a bit later and attach the panniers and see how they look. They look kind of small honestly, considering they weigh 1.2kg combined. Also the attachment system on this generation of Super C isn't that good, nor is the anti sway hook very adjustable. Kind of annoying.

Also my front an rear panniers are of different generations so they have different attachment systems and even worse, different logos. I am not sure if this is going to be acceptable.

Eventually after a long time sitting down, taking the rack off, putting it back on, swapping bolts in and out, squinting at places that it seemed to be rubbing, using my phone to try and see how level the rails were, hold the rack next to the fork, typing "TUBUS TARA CROIX DE FER FORK HOW DOES IT FIT" into duckduckgo etc, the whole 7 stages of grief, I arrived at acceptance; I would have to bend my mudguard stays. In all my mudguard installations I have never resorted to this, the least honourable method of mudguard installation, but I couldn't see any other way forward. This trip to Japan had better be mind blowing as it has caused me to sin against my own personal system of spiritual judgement.

All I had to do now was attach the Tubus Tara that I had got from eBay several months ago. The only issues were:

• I got it second hand so didn't have all the mounting kit
  
• It was getting a bit late and I had work in the morning
  
• Also stupid piece of congealed snot Tara didn't want to easily and seamlessly bolt onto the garbage genesis Croix de Fer fork without messing with the useless, pointlessly bulky SKS bluemel mudguards and the waste of space quick release.
  
  

At this point I became sad and discouraged, my only solace were these blue fried snacks that I got out of curiosity a couple of weeks ago. They brought little comfort.

At this point I was pleased that the mudguard needed only minor adjustment to fit acceptably... I felt as though things were going well. However this was to prove a naive belief, derived from imperfect knowledge of a cursed world.

With the rear rack ready, I got to work on the front. As everyone knows, the main thing to do when taking a bike touring is to add as much weight as possible to it to ensure you have a good time. So first order of business was replacing the nice carbon legged fork with a gaspipe number I've had sitting in my shed for just this occasion. I took the fork to the bike shop earlier today with a bit of tape where I wanted them to cut it down. The mechanic seemed slightly worried.

"The tape isn't on quite straight, it's higher on one side than the other, which height should I cut at?"

I was touched by his concern, but assured him that I'm not operating at a level of fit and finish that requires my steerer to be cut to the mm.

Don't forget, the higher the STACK the closer to JANNAH.

Yes very good, this is what I'm thinking of getting for sure...

Big night for tinkering last night. Firstly I read somewhere that the Real Bike Touring Pros run their racks with the bolt threaded from the inside of the frame and a nyloc on the outside, so that if the bolt shears you can easily remove and replace it. This is the kind of knowledge that bores a hole in my mind and will not let me sleep. The only way to exercise the demon was to perform its bidding. I also spaced the rack out so it no longer interferes with the other attachment point.

I think it would be very slightly better with a smaller spacer, but this was all I had. Might do a big Accu order one day (I do one of these per year but no matter what I order I always end up with 15mm bolts when I need 20mm, cap head when I need dome, etc etc).

That is quite appealing (and a useful link) but in the end I feel like half of the pleasure of this for me is setting up my bike and transporting it across the world, riding it, and then hopefully bringing it home again, with all the memories of the trip embodied in it until a Qashqai driver gets a Snapchat notification, swerves, knocks me off and crushes the frame beyond repair.

I may well look them up for other services they provide however!

I want more faran content.

I guess this sounds like something I can hopefully overlook so long as there's not a strong fish taste accompanying...

Seems like it would be good to have some kind of stove as a back up but maybe not worth going crazy as my actual need to cook might be very low. Useful to know thank you.

Speedy stitchers are next level useful, you won't regret owning one.

Where'd you get yours from? Are they easily accessible in .jp? I'm contemplating whether I should just buy one as it could come in handy for the minivelo...

Eggs I could maybe manage, fish it has probably been too long and it seems kind of unappealing at this point. I'm trying to work out how much of a stove setup it's going to be worth purchasing/bringing...

I just went and counted and realised that my current cassette is only an 11- 32 anyway.

AAA is just the sound I make when someone suggests we ride further than 75km.

Aye I think I've been inputting the tyre size as 700 x 35

if you're always using 27" you don't actually need to use gear inches you know...you could just use ratios.

From what I read there are plenty of 10-15% climbs in Japan, which sounds pretty savage to me... I live in Cambridge and don't really ride for fitness, just for commuting + fun.

The CDF only has a 105 rd which fits I think 32 or 36? Not 46. My faran has grx400 2x10 with 30x42 on 650b as my lowest gear, which is fine, but I don't really ride that bike loaded.

From what I've been reading on cyclingabout dot com I want to target 20 gear inches if possible. 30x42 is 22.6 on 700c tyres

I am open to trying the alvio conversion but until I can find something or someone that will tell me exactly what I need to buy to make it work I'm hesitant. Everything I see is like "it might work" "it should work" "you can get it to work"

At least spa sell the crankset + 11 speed rings all together + a bashguard for 90 bucks. I don't like it much but I can just take it to the bike shop and get them to do it.

Grx minimum small ring is 30t which is basically only useful for track cyclists or mountain bike uplift venues.

It's a good idea, but the Japanese seem to love British tat so I'm sure they'll consider my genesis with carradices "meccha kakkoii"

I'm still yet to take the minivelo on a plane. But the time is coming surely.

Conbini Food

You think I could get away with this as a vegan / vegetarian? It is something I considered and obviously doing so would save a lot of time + weight... But I am a Worrier so I like the idea of having some self sufficiency...