Members' bikes

[Exit Stage Left]

I've just got a new bike with a view to PBP, I popped into the LBS in Wednesday and they had one that someone had been testing. They put a different saddle on, a Turbomatic 4, and some gel under the tape. They've also swapped the brakes over to my preferred left hand front and fitted a different stem to match the position on the old bike. Here's a picture.



and the review of the actual bike. That's not me by the way.
Hewitt Chiltern  Review - BikeRadar

[oncemore]

My newly-created 27 speed Bitsa on it's test run today.

[corshamjim]

That Bitsa looks great.  I was ogling some mudguards like those in my lbs today.

[LEE]

I've just got a new bike with a view to PBP, I popped into the LBS in Wednesday and they had one that someone had been testing. They put a different saddle on, a Turbomatic 4, and some gel under the tape. They've also swapped the brakes over to my preferred left hand front and fitted a different stem to match the position on the old bike. Here's a picture.



and the review of the actual bike. That's not me by the way.
Hewitt Chiltern  Review - BikeRadar

Classic.  Hope to get a closer look in August.

[Tewdric]

N+1..

RobGul's old Galaxy frame and parts-bin bitsa componentry.  Child seat bought for £15 on ebay.





SMIDSY that you buggers!

[oncemore]

That Bitsa looks great.  I was ogling some mudguards like those in my lbs today.

Thank you! Doubt you'll find the 'grds cheaper than Parkers (source of mine):

26" Mountain Bike 60mm Full Mudguards Black RRP £21.95 on eBay (end time  31-Jan-11 16:59:54 GMT)

With the adjustment at the drop out ends not as "good" as say SKS models - but a whole lot cheaper! Parkers usually have a few size options listed.

[Karla]

Here's the Olmo Giro frame I bought from Ibrahim, built to be my winter bike.  28mm GP 4 Season tyres will hopefully stop me breaking my wrists again, 7 speed should keep working for longer than 10 speed when filled with winter crud, 36 spoke wheels should survive the torture of snow-covered potholes and the yet-to-be-fitted mudguards mean that I can throw away the hated raceblades that have previously marred the Spesh in the wetter months.



This Italian is fast and red.  I think I'll call him Enzo.    

[Tail End Charlie]

Beaut. There's a lot to be said for fewer gears and down tube levers on a winter/ hack bike. Nice one.

[interzen]

Beaut. There's a lot to be said for fewer gears and down tube levers on a winter/ hack bike. Nice one.

I'm thinking 6 fewer gears and no DT levers myself 

[Tail End Charlie]

Beaut. There's a lot to be said for fewer gears and down tube levers on a winter/ hack bike. Nice one.

I'm thinking 6 fewer gears and no DT levers myself 

One step at a time, he'll soon see the light. 

[jogler]

Having ridden the Langster more in the last 3 weeks than the previous 3 years I quite like the abdication of choosing a gear.My legs & lungs are lagging behind slightly compared to my brain

[Karla]

Beaut. There's a lot to be said for fewer gears and down tube levers on a winter/ hack bike. Nice one.

I'm thinking 6 fewer gears and no DT levers myself 

I've already got one of those but it's off the road atm.  I've told you why via PM, DKUATB 

Just to keep you happy, the shifters are 8 speed so I could swop the rear hub and increase my gear options when the cassette wears out.  It could then be a 7 speed and a singlespeed, all in one bike!

[interzen]

Beaut. There's a lot to be said for fewer gears and down tube levers on a winter/ hack bike. Nice one.

I'm thinking 6 fewer gears and no DT levers myself 

One step at a time, he'll soon see the light. 

'Course, if you're going to do an Italian bike with lots of gears, then you need something like this:


P1000110 by interzen, on Flickr

 

[Karla]

The crankset's Veloce, does that count?  Since the rear mech's RX100, the cassette's HG50 and the shifters are 105 (8 speed), probably not.

[gene hunt]

New tyres, FSA chainset plus black bar tape, that is it now leaving it as is.

[Dinamo]

Very Nice, Gene.
But I preferred it with brown bar tape 

[Rhys W]

Here's the Olmo Giro frame I bought from Ibrahim, built to be my winter bike.  

This Italian is fast and red.  I think I'll call him Enzo.    

There's something very cool about an Italian thoroughbred that's not afraid of the winter (mudguards, tough wheels, older gearing).

[Paul]

New tyres, FSA chainset plus black bar tape, that is it now leaving it as is.

Least plausible sentence award.

I mean this in the nicest possible way. You do seem to get through a lot of permutations.  I'm not being critical - if I had the time/inclination/bits to experiment as much as you seem to I would too.

For the record, this incarnation of this bike looks lovely. Sadly, I can't seem to get on with the On One/Planet X sizing: I tried a large pompino (on paper, the correct size for me) and a medium kaffenback, but couldn't find the sweet spot with either, whatever I did.

[interzen]

Here's the Olmo Giro frame I bought from Ibrahim, built to be my winter bike.  

This Italian is fast and red.  I think I'll call him Enzo.    

There's something very cool about an Italian thoroughbred that's not afraid of the winter (mudguards, tough wheels, older gearing).

Frighteningly enough, the Super Record rear mech that I took the piccy of is destined for someone's winter bike, along with the rest of the SR groupset  Obviously more money than sense, although there was someone of my acquaintance in York who ran full Dura-Ace on his winter bike 'because it's reliable' ...

I'm currently having Bad Thoughts about getting a Pompino frame and building it up with carbon forks and a Sturmey AW-3 hub gear Might kill the cravings to do some fettling until the Alfine-11 turns up ...

[Sergeant Pluck]

that is it now

 

I think it looks all of a piece now.

Aside from the saddle obviously, which needs to be black 

Here's the Olmo Giro

I like that.

[Deano]

Very Nice, Gene.
But I preferred it with brown bar tape 

I agree - the saddle and bar tape need to match.  Have you tried it with gears, or a Mag wheel?

 'Tis a pretty bike, though

[gene hunt]

New tyres, FSA chainset plus black bar tape, that is it now leaving it as is.

Least plausible sentence award.

I mean this in the nicest possible way. You do seem to get through a lot of permutations.  I'm not being critical - if I had the time/inclination/bits to experiment as much as you seem to I would too.

For the record, this incarnation of this bike looks lovely. Sadly, I can't seem to get on with the On One/Planet X sizing: I tried a large pompino (on paper, the correct size for me) and a medium kaffenback, but couldn't find the sweet spot with either, whatever I did.

Thanks for the comments, did not mean to play around with this one so much, the large is spot on for me, I have a kaffenback as well.

Very Nice, Gene.
But I preferred it with brown bar tape  

I agree - the saddle and bar tape need to match.  Have you tried it with gears, or a Mag wheel?

 'Tis a pretty bike, though

I only had black bar tape but I think I will switch it back to brown.

[Rhys W]

Frighteningly enough, the Super Record rear mech that I took the piccy of is destined for someone's winter bike, along with the rest of the SR groupset  Obviously more money than sense, although there was someone of my acquaintance in York who ran full Dura-Ace on his winter bike 'because it's reliable' ...

Well, there's something to be said for maybe higher-quality hubs or headset on a winter bike, but mechs get covered in crud and eventually get sloppy. Good hubs will outlast 3-4 rims. I currently have Chorus hubs on my bike, but they did 3 summers on my best bike before being relegated, and the rear has had it's internals rebuilt and a rim replacement (on the 3rd now) in the last couple of weeks.

There was a guy on the clubrun today with a carbon frame, one-piece carbon bars/stem and deep section carbon racing wheels. He was also carrying about two stone of excess weight.  Call me harsh, but when I see this kind of thing I just think "idiot".

[interzen]

After my first winter in York, during which the transmission on my touring bike took an absolute pounding due to the sheer amount of salt that was put on the roads (in stark contrast to recent events, it seems) I decided that gears-inna-can, whether there's 3, 8 or 11 of 'em, or singlespeed (fixed or free, depending on conditions) were the way forward, if only from an ease of maintainence standpoint eg. take grotty old chain off, clean crap off bike, put nice new chain on, lather, rinse and repeat.

Being the tight-fisted git that I am, it's easier and cheaper to buy and replace a bunch of chains than a complete transmission

A full Super Record (or similar) groupset on a winter bike does strike me as being extreme overkill, although I have no doubt that the owner of that bike has his reasons for doing so, and the bike shop certainly weren't complaining

[cycleman]

3 shots of the thorn lwb recumbent as requested by paulson