Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

LOL

The Hammerhead™ would have been huge pre-apocalypse.

I'm literally never out of my compact ring (34t) on my crosscheck... I have a road cassette (28-11) and am contemplating just getting rid of the big ring all together.

I can only envisage running into issues on big alpine descents, I can keep good speed on the flats no problem in the little ring, what do you more seasoned tourers make of it?

Get 36/46 instead.

Or put a 46 on for a 34/46.

Problem with staying on the 34 is cross chaining, mean going on the small/small combo can accelerate wear and tear.

Pedalling downhill?!

what Ed said. Around half (?) your gears will overlap, and the two rings at the front are used to keep a good chainline.

@tommmmmmm and my bikes from our tour of Northen Germany earlier this year. Shout out to @jtrent90 for making my extra rad rack bag

Also to add to chainring talk I run 48/34 and a 12-36 cassette.

36! Jesus Christ, do you have a coffee machine somewhere in that panniers?

*"good morning, coffee?"

"That'll be nice, make mine a flat white please".*

The only time I have used it so far was in the lake district when carrying the equipment for both myself and my girlfriend on my rear rack and climbing a 33% hill. I did a wheelie.

Had a search, couldn't find the answer. So ready for abuse when you tell me there's a thread dedicated to this. Here goes. Having no luck selling my equilibrium, so took my favourite wheels a719/xt hubs/ 32 paselas off the cross check banged them on the genesis. Awesome ride, just no room for mudguards due to caliper brakes, I'm considering getting a local frame builder to set the rear end up for disc brakes. Now I get to my point (eventually), I can't spend too much on a fork, so thinking of surly straggler, disc ready and all the mounts I need/want. Will the increase in a-c length (400 from 375) cause me severe problems?

Weird question, I cocked up and bought shimano 11 speed bar end shifters to go on my 9 speed rear mech, assuming they would have a friction mode like the ones I took off.

They don't appear to have that option, any suggestions how I could modify the right bar end shifter to work in friction mode? Or does anyone have a right hand bar end shifters with friction I could buy?

I've got some 6400 (?) 8 speed ones which work with friction if you fancy. I'll have to root them out but £25 posted should suffice if I still have them.

Alternatively, have you thought about just sticking a normal friction lever on them? They just have square bosses like a regular downtube braze on, don't they? I put some 7900 bar ends on a bike as downtube shifters and they worked, so I can't see why it wouldn't work the other way round...

It will make your bike feel slower to respond and you'll have to push your saddle a lots further forward, as well as the increase in bb height.

Can you not just switch out the brakes for a longer drop version with more clearance?

Also there's a disc genesis, if the fork is available separately it might be a better fit?

Just so you know, cable pull on 11 sPeed is different to 8/9/10 so can't work.

Best return it and either get proper friction (dis compe make good one) or get shimano dura ace 9 speed bar end or downtube.

He's after friction though so cable pull wouldn't matter, surely? I agree that its best to just swap it and get the right tool, but failing that: is it possible to remove the ratchet or anything I wonder?

@edscoble and @Cupcakes just had a look on surly, they have disc trucker fork at 390mm, so in the middle of genesis and straggler. Are genesis fugly unicrown jobs?

or get the disc trucker 26" fork. Its 376mm a-to-c and fits up to 38mm 700c tires

Hmmmm if the cable pull is different it might cause issues with the front mech too. Might just return them.

Where you read that? Or is it from experience? Cheers.

Shimano friction feel like crap, hence the recommendation of dia compe (or wait gran compe?).

Those friction have a much lighter feel, and feel more precise, the only problem is that the shimano derailleur tend to have a slight lags in feedback.

Got a friend/lbs mechanic running a 26" disc trucker fork on her Steamroller. Think she was running 37c with a little bit of clearance left, probably could have squeezed 32c and mudguards in fine. Will see if it's at the shop later and try and grab a picture...

Nah it won't cause issues with the front mech as its friction.

But honestly, best to change them.

376mm a-t-c is basically a standard length for an audax fork with mudguard and 28mm tyres.

367mm is a fairly common length for road bicycle with short reach brakes.

Lastly, 395mm is a common length for a CX bicycles.

I'm considering getting a local frame builder to set the rear end up for disc brakes.

I would advise you to have a really good think about it, add all the pro and con, the cost of the fork, plus the labour charge for the disc tab, cable routing (you'd need provision for full housing and on the seat stay), and cold setting the frame from 130mm to 135mm.

The new 2015 Equilibrium Disc is £500, I wager that the whole modification on your current frame, including the fork will be £300.

Lastly, if you wanted a tougher everyday bike with a front rack mount as well, the Genesis Croix de Fer is a worthy option, especially with the carbon fork that should feel nice and light for everyday riding;