What you done t' your bike today

[Hyppy]

Photos of the frankenbike monstrosity will probably appear tomorrow, along with various bits for sale.

Talking of frankenbikes, seen this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVfZX2P0eEM So good!

[PaulE]

Photos of the frankenbike monstrosity will probably appear tomorrow, along with various bits for sale.

Talking of frankenbikes, seen this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVfZX2P0eEM So good!

Compared to those, mine will be positively boring and practical... Thanks for another happy excuse not to write!

[faustus]

Finished off the last bits to get the Speedball rideable! Needs some finishing touches, and the rear mech maybe upgraded/something silver to make it match the rest. Pedals also for something silver perhaps. Change of tyres to slightly narrower soon, rear is almost touching the chain in lower sprockets. Fully built it weighs ~32.5lbs. Now to test ride it later!

[whitestone]

Not mine but Cath's...

She was wanting to swap out the road tyres on her winter bike for some lightweight off-road do anything (OK - gravel) tyres. She'd taken the rear tyre off and was trying to get the new tyre to seat - the bike was already tubeless so should have been simple.

Would it seat? Would it b*ggery! The beads just wouldn't slide on the (proper, not Gorilla) rim tape. I spread a good dollop of washing up liquid on the tape and hey presta (see what I did there? ) one tyre seated. Even better it pretty much held air. Added sealant and move on to the front wheel.

If the rear wheel was frustrating this one (same tyre - WTB Riddler - and rim) just didn't want to play. None of the "tricks" you might normally employ to get a tyre to seat worked: washing up liquid; extra tape in the rim well; strap around the tyre. None! After two hours(!) I gave up, went upstairs and grabbed a mostly unused Panaracer Gravel King that she'd not liked as they are skitty in the wet. I had to really struggle to get the tyre onto the rim but once I'd done that, the beads popped into place first go Add sealant and reinflate.

The front tyre was still fine this morning but the rear had lost air - I'd partly expected this as I think the rim tape isn't quite right as pretty much any tyre she has on the rear slowly deflates over a day or two.

Really not sure what's up with the Riddler - might be that the tyre is slightly out of spec and is just a bit too loose to grip the rim, might be that the rim well is slightly too small for the tyre - though why the rear worked without extra tape, maybe some moulding excesses left on the beads (need to check).

Will get a report when she's back from her ride as to how things went.

[gecko76]

Broke it.

Thought it felt a bit wrong. Sure enough the down tube has pulled out of its socket. Ah well, it'll knock back in easy enough, but what glue to use to keep it there?

[fatbikephil]

Epoxy resin? Not araldite but professional stuff which is runnier so should flow right into the joint.

[Johnallan]

Sorry to see that Gecko!

I Cleaned up my Stooge single speed as I'd kinda agreed to sell it (again) to a mate. I'd figured that the back issues wouldn't be helped by rigid SS MTB.

It looks cool AF cleaned and stripped of all mudguards etc. so I took if for a ride. My back didn't snap and it's ace to ride, so I'm keeping it.. again

[fatbikephil]

Sorry to see that Gecko!

I Cleaned up my Stooge single speed as I'd kinda agreed to sell it (again) to a mate. I'd figured that the back issues wouldn't be helped by rigid SS MTB.

It looks cool AF cleaned and stripped of all mudguards etc. so I took if for a ride. My back didn't snap and it's ace to ride, so I'm keeping it.. again

Defo a case for building up good core strength tho. My back does give an occasional creak if I try to pedal to hard at a too low a cadence but a solid core really helps. Posture is important too, keeping your back straight and your chin pointed up, rather than crouching over the bars as you heave away stood up.

[faustus]

On the subject of speedballs, been riding mine this week and enjoying it. Needs some finishing touches still, and to put the 2.6s on that I planned. Hope chainring didn't play well with the worn chain, so have got a surly stainless chainring on the way, and new chain and cassette much later.


EDIT: on posture, this is an upright bike with short reach (420mm), I got really swept bars and I'm more upright riding this than anything else I've ridden. Might be good for recovery John?

[Johnallan]

Speedball looks mega!!

I doubt it's a coincidence that I've been riding road and gravel bikes a lot this year, trying to go faster, using the drops and aero bars, and my back finally popped.

My Speedball and Scrambler (SS) are both fitted with short stems and Jones bars, actually giving negative reach as bar ends grips are behind the steerer


Photo from first ride after hospitalisation....

Feel like Mary Poppins spinning along, but it's super comfortable to keep a straight back and upright stance. It's also way more fun than churning out endless miles in pursuit of racing form

A night on a thermarest is still asking for trouble, but daily 90 minute bimbles are great!!

[Hyppy]

Looks at clear blue sky. Looks at forecast. Reaches for the zip ties.

IMG_3265.jpeg (229.16 KiB) Viewed 1160 times

[redefined_cycles]

Speedball looks mega!!

I doubt it's a coincidence that I've been riding road and gravel bikes a lot this year, trying to go faster, using the drops and aero bars, and my back finally popped.

My Speedball and Scrambler (SS) are both fitted with short stems and Jones bars, actually giving negative reach as bar ends grips are behind the steerer


Photo from first ride after hospitalisation....

Feel like Mary Poppins spinning along, but it's super comfortable to keep a straight back and upright stance. It's also way more fun than churning out endless miles in pursuit of racing form

A night on a thermarest is still asking for trouble, but daily 90 minute bimbles are great!!

Both Speedbals do indeed look lovely but that light blue colour is amazing. One of my favourite colours..

Is that Stooge forks or are they both Jones forks on a Stooge bike!?

[faustus]

Thanks Shaf! Speedball's came with a stooge truss fork and a biplane fork. John's is silver so maybe he has something nicer like a Ti fork!?
Most definitely a 3 handed job to fit the fork and get all the right headset pieces in order!

[fatbikephil]

Finally got the new gravel wheels together (LB rims on DT hubs). As with the carbon rims on the Jones, they laced up and trued really easily. Weight wise they are only a shade lighter than the hunt all season road but with 28 spokes at each end instead of 24, and a few mm wider rims.

Got them taped up and the terravail cannonballs went on dead easy. I'm totally sold on the schwalbe clik valves - I attached the air line to the adaptor and they went up immediately. Just need to add sealant and then give them a shake down ahead of the gravel sportive I'm doing next weekend.

[redefined_cycles]

Finally got the new gravel wheels together (LB rims on DT hubs). As with the carbon rims on the Jones, they laced up and trued really easily. Weight wise they are only a shade lighter than the hunt all season road but with 28 spokes at each end instead of 24, and a few mm wider rims.

Got them taped up and the terravail cannonballs went on dead easy. I'm totally sold on the schwalbe clik valves - I attached the air line to the adaptor and they went up immediately. Just need to add sealant and then give them a shake down ahead of the gravel sportive I'm doing next weekend.

Clik valves. Are they cheaper than the Santa Cruz/Reserve equivalents Phil? Thanks for sharing the build. Always had high regards for the LB rims but never had the pleasure of ever building any. Reminds me of how easy the carbon DA wheels are to build, even well used ones!

[fatbikephil]

Decathlon tubeless prestas plus click valve adaptor kit (2 valves plus pump adaptor) £24. Schwalbe complete valves same price but not yet available. Not tried other prestas but no weedy screwy bit is the major bonus

[redefined_cycles]

Thanks Phil.

[Johnallan]

Swapped out the XT hydros for some second hand BB7's.

The XT shifter was Ispec ii, so I swapped some parts to make it band-on (thanks SJS cycles), then fitted a new run of cable whilst it was off.



Brakes fitted up with Jagwire Pro cables, a little bit of fiddling with mounts to get the right spacing, and jobs a good un.


Took it out for an hour in the rain, and all is well. Shifts n brakes as well as I'll ever need it to

[redefined_cycles]

Swapped out the XT hydros for some second hand BB7's.

The XT shifter was Ispec ii, so I swapped some parts to make it band-on (thanks SJS cycles), then fitted a new run of cable whilst it was off.



Brakes fitted up with Jagwire Pro cables, a little bit of fiddling with mounts to get the right spacing, and jobs a good un.


Took it out for an hour in the rain, and all is well. Shifts n brakes as well as I'll ever need it to

Niceone for sharing John. Cheeky question but are the XT brakes or bits off them up for grabs or have they gone in the bin. If up for grabs, how bad were they please.

[Johnallan]

The XT brakes aren't bad at all, they just squeal when it's been stood for a while. The contamination burns off after some use, then it does it again after a period of standing unused.

I find it annoying since I rotate bikes a bit, and my other Stooge with BB7's just works consistently, so I thought I'd make the change here as well.

I may sell further down the line, but I'm hoarding them for the time being

[redefined_cycles]

The XT brakes aren't bad at all, they just squeal when it's been stood for a while. The contamination burns off after some use, then it does it again after a period of standing unused.

I find it annoying since I rotate bikes a bit, and my other Stooge with BB7's just works consistently, so I thought I'd make the change here as well.

I may sell further down the line, but I'm hoarding them for the time being

Best get my hoarded SLX out then

[PaulB2]

Attempted to fit a restrap bar bumper to the gravel bike but my headset spacer maths was off -- I didn't take in to account that I needed a 5mm spacer above the stem so either didn't have enough room for the stem cap or had to lower my bars by 5mm. At the risk of overthinking it, should I apply a small amount of grease to the bumper bar spacer bit?

I also discovered that the mudguard mounts on my bike aren't perpendicular so now need to work how to get my ortlieb quickrack to sit nicely. One side goes on easily but then the other side isn't square to the mount.

[redefined_cycles]

On a mission to try and build up his bike to the best of my budget and keep him the SIDs, I had to order a thinner stack height stem. Ebay special ordered of which the previous owner had no use for it.




Old star nut knocked out as it was buried about 7mm too deep (according to my Pedro nut setter tool) and thus I hoped I may have some clearance for the top bolt to pinch down into it.


Not yet checked if its worked, but new star nut set gaining myself 5 - 6 mm for the top bolt to catch. But not entirely sure I want to be risking this top bolt on the stem only overlapping by a hairs breadth!!

[redefined_cycles]

Resetting the new star nut worked and I can preloaded the bearings. But it stills leaves me with the dilemma of whether I risk such a narrow overlap of the top of the steerer tube with the upper part of the stem


I hate making stupid decisions like this. Looks like I'll be buying yet another low stack height stem!

[Hyppy]

… whether I risk such a narrow overlap of the top of the steerer tube with the upper part of the stem

Imma say no, don't do it Shaf. But it's not my face, teeth, collar bones … 

I'm no engineer, but the fact that the top bolt is as good as clamping the top half of the stem onto thin air would seem a bad thing.