Members' bikes

[Torslanda]

Didn't the Middleton Velomancer do well?

Depends whether anything fell off on the way home!

Apologies for drawing BLUD . . .

[Si S]

Didn't the Middleton Velomancer do well?

Depends whether anything fell off on the way home!

Apologies for drawing BLUD . . .

All good mate. I managed to persuade the caps to fit by trimming them off at 45 degrees at the back, they only fit as is if the stay is absolutely perfectly central in the hole, the old design is much better IMO.

[Jurek]

Be interested to hear how you get on with those.
I have Ergon GP2 on mine and they have the tendency to get a bit 'sticky' after a bit of use.

That was one of the reasons I went for the Biocork version, which are meant to be a little bit less sweaty, but we shall see. Also thought they'd be a better match for my honey Brooks

Pity they don't do the GP2s in Biocork, I wouldn't mind the short bar ends they have

That immediately makes me wonder whether I could dismantle my GP2s and molish the bar ends to   Biocork grips..... *Goes off to find 4mm Allen Key*

Having done some investigative, I'm certain that is do-able.

*Ahem*
http://tinyurl.com/yb597mer

GP3s are too large for handling the fold nicely IMHO, though you might be able to retrofit GP2 ends onto the Biocork GP3 bars. They won't fit the GP1s, I think

These arrived today.
I confess to being somewhat disappointed that the bulk of their material is not cork, but rubber.
No cork is sight at all, in fact.
I'm not sure how that is going to get round the sticky issue - they may well find their way back to Merlin Cycles.

[Paul D]

I like the colour; the whole thing has the look of an Open UP, which can't be a bad thing.

I've spent about 2 years considering what I wanted from a gravel bike (read 'non-technical bridleway distance covering bike'). What I did know for sure is 35mm CX tyres are rubbish for anything more than muddy fields.

18 months ago I bought a second hand Singular Gryphon as a bit of a technology demonstrator, and learnt a lot from riding it for a year. The main thing it taught me is (as closetleftie coined upthread) I like a low roadie front end, and like to be able to use the hoods, which flared dirt drops don't really allow.

Ultimately I realised what I wanted was my audax bike position with 2.2 tyres so I could just let it go on offroad descents. So a one-size-smaller-than-I-would-normally-ride 29er F&F was sourced and here's where I am at the moment; similar to your yellow bike Mike, but steel and without having to build myself new sized wheels / buy more tyres etc as I have loads of 29er disc wheels. 25lbs as it is in the picture.

I'm enjoying it a lot at the moment. It has certainly rekindled my interest in Veloviewer explorer tile chasing, as I'm as happy on the road as off it. It might yet make an appearance at Iddu's Salisbury Plain 200 in August.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Very nice! Is that the Troll (or Ogre – I forget which is which)? I briefly considered one last autumn but wasn't sure about making it work with drops, also the horizontal drop outs could have been a problem as I wanted mudguards. I now think the guards were probably a mistake but hey.

[Paul D]

Neither, it's a Karate Monkey, Surly's standard 29er. I liked that it still has a ~72° head angle, unfashionable for modern MTBs but perfect if you want a road bike with 2.2" tyres.

Others on the shortlist were the Singular Swift (which I had in the past, but they've slackened the head angle on recent models) or the Salsa El Mariarchi (which has a ridiculously short seat tube, a problem if you're 6'2" and buying a medium).

[Chris N]

Looks good Paul.

Salsa El Mariarchi (which has a ridiculously short seat tube, a problem if you're 6'2" and buying a medium).

It's a very compact frame, for sure.  I'm not quite 5' 11" and I'm using a long Thomson post in a medium frame, and there's not much left in there.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Okay. Looking at your avatar I might be tempted to say the bike has changed since you were a kid, the riding hasn't!

[Chris N]

Here's my no-longer-fixed Ti fix:

1x10 with a Microshift bar end shifter, 40T N/W ring, 11-36 cassette and Shimano Zee clutch rear mech.  Have also fitted new bars, S/H cranks and running the Panaracer Gravel Kings tubeless at 45 psi.  Cushy.   And yes, I know I need to trim the steerer.

[Chris N]

The boy's Frog:

He's got pedals since that photo was taken - yesterday was the first time (after about a month of having a bike with cranks) that he really took to pedalling. 

[Kim]

I found myself standing beside a display of Frog bikes last week.  Molishers of children's bikes have really upped their game in the last few years.   

[Paul]

He's got pedals since that photo was taken - yesterday was the first time (after about a month of having a bike with cranks) that he really took to pedalling. 

Awesome.

[sg37409]

The boy's Frog:

I like that a lot

[zigzag]

while the tt bike is attached to a turbo i borrowed it's wheels for a road bike. it would also benefit from a -17° stem, whenever i can find a suitable one.

[Paul]

Nice wheel alignment.

[Jurek]

while the tt bike is attached to a turbo i borrowed it's wheels for a road bike. it would also benefit from a -17° stem, whenever i can find a suitable one.

That's a storming looking bike.

[rogerzilla]

The ancient Brooks Professional that bikenerd gave me in 2008, still looking like new after its latest Proofiding.

20170618_205039 by rogerzilla, on Flickr

[LEE]

>>BIGGER<<

1959 (according to the Sturmey Archer date stamp) Raleigh Trent Tourist.
A bit of a project.

[Sergeant Pluck]

40T N/W ring, 11-36 cassette and Shimano Zee clutch rear mech. 

I’ve only just noticed this. What is a “clutch” rear mech? Bike looks good. Proper mudguard coverage - are those as-is or have you added flaps?

[Torslanda]

Clutch mech has a 'lock' which stops the cage bouncing down and causing chain slap.

The jury's still out...

[rogerzilla]

The Holdsworth is finally done, and it's a turquoise greyhound:

20170806_105406 by rogerzilla, on Flickr

More curly lug porn here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm25ViSi

Weight is pleasingly low for a bike with a leather saddle, hub gear and no titanium or carbon fibre in sight, at 21 3/4lb without pedals. 

Only remaining issue is that the cable ferrules don't fit the stops terribly well.  I've tried a few types but I think I need some with rounded ends.  The hole in the stop is only big enough for a bare cable, so a "diver's helmet" type isn't right either.  At the moment the cables just have plastic ferrules which at least don't mark the paint.

Some might say it's a horrible mix of old and new parts but it was never supposed to be an authentic build - old parts are generally heavy, expensive and crap.

I'm particularly proud of the 2BA grease nipples, which are entirely decorative, especially as the BB is a UN55 cartridge.  Argos had some vintage ones for which they wanted £40 each, so I bought some new ones from eBay for about two quid and they look perfect.  BA fittings really aren't all that rare!

[Ham]

Looks very nice - does that swept fork mean you end up with less caster angle?

[rogerzilla]

Looks very nice - does that swept fork mean you end up with less caster angle?

That's just the way they used to bend them, with a tight curl instead of a banana shape.  The slightly slacker head angle probably does mean a bit more offset than the usual road racing 43-45mm.

[hubner]

The Holdsworth is finally done, and it's a turquoise greyhound:

...

Some might say it's a horrible mix of old and new parts but it was never supposed to be an authentic build - old parts are generally heavy, expensive and crap.

The paint looks good. the bend on the forks looks perfect.

There's two things that really spoils it though; the deep section rims and the frame size is too small. Apart from that, the parts don't look too out of place.

And amberwall tyres would look better!

[rogerzilla]

True, but frame size is 22.5"...if they had proportionally-sized top tubes then I'd need an absurdly short stem.  I have the saddle very high for my height as I used to get knee problems years ago.  95% of inside leg.  And the rims are the only really narrow ones available in 40h for the rear hub.