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That LOOK is beyond cool! Anything other than trispokes or a disc wouldn’t be right!

Bars look like Stooge Moto’s. Similar to Surly Sunrise bars as well

Pm sent

I’ll take 3rd dibs on spesh saddle if it gets to that!

@Qebrus - Yeah there’s been a few trips I’ve wanted to do for a while like Newcastle-Manchester on the Great North Trail etc. Might consider building it up with drops and Gevenalle Shifters for touring.

@buttrockanthem - YES BRO! I wanna move back to Manchester at some point later this year but we’ll do some big whips next time you’re up

Yeah I’m in the same situation at the minute. Saracen is getting all the love at the minute cause I’m probably going to ride it a lot when it’s all done. You’ll get first shout if I do swap them out.

Really happy with the fact it worked tbh. Really didn’t fancy spending any sort of money on a new hub or bodying the freehub body

Shows the sheer variety of human form I guess. I just wish they had even a little bit of backsweep, I’ve had to turn them basically fully backwards so the rise acts as backsweep. I’m either looking at Salsa Bends or Stooge moto bars which are the other end of the spectrum

Looool yeah those white glasses really are an acquired look. I love 90s styling but that white glasses are a step too far.

I’ve considered spraying the rim but I feel like it’s one of those jobs that just never looks perfect; always a bit bodged. I’m going to keep an eye out for matching parts for now. Bars are defo a priority for that bike at the moment.

After riding by myself since June, I coerced my dad and uncle to come along for a little pootle with a dash of premium North East gravel. It may have been nice a few days ago but it’s always worth packing an extra layer or a waterproof up these ends.

Working on the Saracen so much has given me the big to do a few things on my Surly that I’ve been putting off due to a lack of funds and necessity. I really want to build up a matching rear wheel but this Halo just WILL NOT die. I can’t bring myself to replace something that is so reliable and hardy even though the white rim and hub offend my eyes. Been wanting to change up the bars for a while now as well. As much as I love Nitto for the fixie points, those For Shreds suck and are probably the most uncomfortable bars ever. Looking at either some flared drops or some Moto style bars like something from Stooge. Only time and budget will tell I guess.

Updates on the Saracen today as well. Finally brought myself round to getting the cassette installed with the ‘9 of 10’ configuration. Took the 13t out so I’m a bit worried about the jump between the 11 and the 15, but this isn’t going to be a bike where I’m in the 11 much anyway. Maybe trying to get a 10 speed derailleur to work on a 9 speed cassette when I’ve literally never worked with gears might be overestimating my ability but you can’t learn without just giving it a go.

On a positive note, I’m back to work in a couple of weeks so at least I’ll have a hipster wagon to show off to all the people who have 0 bike knowledge.

How long before 1x and chopped down bars lol?

The tan walls have already contributed lol! You won’t need to be flexible if you’re just sprinting up every climbing in the big ring 😂

Always loved the look of those 11sp Red Chainsets! Not usually into straight road builds but that gloss carbon finish in the frame looks SO GOOD! Can’t wait to see this finished

Okay so I did some more research and the 9 of 10 is definitely the best way for me to go. Cheers @ectoplasmosis! Managed to pick up a 13t for cheapish so hopefully it works out. Wanted to keep the jumps manageable so thought just taking away the 11t wasn’t too bad. I’m not that fast anyway lol

Never knew such a thing exists! Sick! Any idea where I can buy one from? eBay has a few results but with extortionate shipping lol

They’re sort of reminiscent of RH Humptulips Ridge! Budget version

Don’t fancy parting ways with em do you?

Time for my next insightful proverb and lesson in building bikes up. “When you assume, you make an ass of u and me” however the “u” is also me. I assumed that because a wheel had a free hub body and not a screw on freewheel that a 10 speed cassette would fit, no problem. Oh how wrong I was.

Got myself a sunrace 11-42t for cheap and got all giddy when it was sliding onto the free hub body no problem. Went to put the lock ring on and it didn’t even thread. Spent a little longer, thinking I might have not put the last cog on right. After a bit more fumbling, I looked up the hub and saw it was a 7 speed hub. After a little Googling I’ve realised that 7s freehubs won’t work with a 10s cassette. Anyone got any ideas how to resolve this or am I going to need to sell the wheels on and keep looking?

In better news, managed to sort a seatpost. I never understood why all frames don’t just have a 27.2 seatpost, but 26.2 is good enough I guess. Also bought some matchy matchy bottle cage bolts to hit the free shipping amount lol

Yeah price is definitely the main thing I’m bothered about. All the tyres I’m interested in are around the £30 mark so not too bad. I was really hoping I could get some of the Gravelkings but yeah they’re like ben’s teeth

Alignment will come with practice, I guess! I’d love to learn to do this, but have no facility to weld whatsoever. Can’t wait to see the progress

I also had a pair of Halo Twin Rails on my fixed gear for a while and they’re so hard wearing and super versatile so they’re a consideration in 2.2. Also Halo, they do the H Block in 2.2 which looks really cool and a little more aggressive than the twin rail, which was one thing (when riding single track and gravel) that let the Twin Rails down.

Down the more street vibe tyre, I like the look of DMR DJ Motos. Seem to be pretty fast rolling but not sure about how hard wearing they’ll be. A dream tyre would also be Maxxis Holy Rollers as well cause I’ve heard lots of good things, but they’re so expensive to get to the UK for some reason.

That wishbone weld looks awesome! Has that more modern look to it. Subbed!

As far as the setting tool allowed. Sits probably 15mm below the top of the steerer. I might see what the garmin mount is like on my surly, but kind of like the out front mount look.

I’m okay with fucking this expander up cause it was £8. Think I’d cry if it had happened to a Hope one lol

When you said VO my wallet cried a bit, but £19 ain’t bad!

One thing I’ve learned from only the initial parts to building this bike? No matter how much you plan and plan again about what you need and what will work, you’re always going to get it wrong.

And so begins the saga of the top cap bolt.

I’ve used expanding compression plugs in my fork steerer on my Surly for ages now, even before I put a carbon fork on it, so planned for the same thing with the Saracen. Bought myself a cheap-ish one from Tredz while I was picking up a few tubes and the sort a while ago, so no problems there. Installed it into the steerer after I’d pressed the headset cups into the frame and got that little buzz when I felt things were coming together. Oh how very wrong I was

The top cap bolt seemed to be around 10mm too long and ended up bottoming out in the plug. This wasn’t a problem I’d had with any other plug because they’re usually threaded all the way through, but not a problem I couldn’t fix. I knew I needed to cut it. My train of thought went something like this:

“Should probably measure how much shorter I need that bolt.. Taking the top cap off will help me do that better.. yeah I’ll just screw it all the way down to the bottom and measure the difference.. God I’m so clever, I really should’ve went into mechanical engineering”

I screwed it down to the bottom of the plug without a moments hesitation, measured the difference (all smug with myself) and went to take the bolt out, only for the plug to SPIN IN THE STEERER TUBE.

So now I’ve got an expander that I can’t tighten up again because there’s a bolt in the way. Never before have I felt so much like I deserved some slices of bread as ear muffs.

Cutting my losses, I decided I’d just hammer the star nut in and be done with it. Bought myself a setting tool cause it’s useful to have the tools anyway and spotted the Nukeproof Garmin mount cap. Since I was planning on doing some touring and longer gravel outings I thought I’d give it a go. Gotta qualify for free shipping n all that.

Fast forward another week and I’ve hammered the star nut into the steerer, no issues. Go to put the top cap on and the bolt doesn’t even reach the star nut. This might have something to do with the fact my stem stack is a bit taller than my steerer.. At this point, I deserve a full stottie baked around my head.

We all know the only way to nurse a bruised ego after all of that trauma. I went on a trawl for some longer 50mm top cap bolts and came across capsmith.cc. They claimed their 40mm brake mount bolts would work for a top cap. I’m a sucker for anodised Ti and even if it didn’t work, I’d have a use for it. ANYWAY, it worked and now I’ve got a bit of bling.

More things coming soon!

TLDR: Sometimes you don’t know it all. Instead you should just buy the nice Ti parts you want and not feel guilty about it..

Top lad! More to come soon