Current Projects chat and miscellany

I didn't think the pompino could fit such fat tyres.

clearance is still fine

Interesting, i thought they only fit 35's

35 plus mudguards probably

Ha wouai trop LOL...Quessconsmar.com

Get a sscx specific frame?

The Kojak in 650b 35mm made for great winter tyres and likely to fit your clearance too.

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Cheers for the heads-up. These look ideal.

Why would i want to do that?

Because getting a frame builder to put on cantilever studs is going to cost you money + money for new paint. And still the frame will not be optimised for mud and big tyres.

@hulsroy got there first but I was going to say why not buy a cross check frame. Or pompino for cheaper. I would have thought brake studs and paint would cost at least 150, which is the current price of a pomp, and a cross check will be more but not massively so.

I'm scared of brake integrated shifters. I'm running bar ends on my bike at the moment,but want to be able to shift from the hoods on the new bike I'm building (the custom Hartley Cycles that I asked about earlier in this thread). I only really hear horror stories about long distance/touring with STI/DoubleTap/Ergoshift so have been put off of them, anyone able to convince me otherwise? The other option is Gevenalle GX shifters with an MTB rear mech, but in a lot of ways I don't really see them as being much less failure-proof than a set of normal brifters so am a bit confused.

Look at Charge new Plug, massive clearance for 42mm and above.

I wouldn't worry about it, if you want STi, go for it.

11 speed is okay for touring but the chain wear quicker unfortunately.

My advice would be to go try it out and see if it fit your hand well, with reach adjusted and what not, this is the most important factor as you spend 90% of your time riding on the hood.

I was thinking to go with 10 speed Rival, going to test ride a bike to see how I find DoubleTap but it seems like a good group. Thanks!
I think I need to get over my fear of "overly" mechanical things. I ride fixed a lot, carry a chainbreaker, and the bike will have adjustable dropouts. If all fucks up on the road I just singlespeed it.

My recommendation if you're a little wary about variable gears, is to learn about working with it, some kind of course or even a friends.

Having that knowledge will make life a lots easier and more relaxed about touring with integrated shifting.

Even if it fucked up, you can set the dérailleur to sit at a gearing similar to how you run fixed(single speed.

thanks for that.

Interesting to know it's possible, with chainring/crankarm clearance. Guess there's a small compromise in terms of stiffness, but I'd rather have the mudroom clearance.

My worries are not in working with variable gears so much, I work as a bike mechanic/teach people to fix bikes so actual indexing/set up/etc is fine, I've just seen a lot of dead brifters and it scares me a bit. I hate having to just replace something rather than being able to fix/service it. Dead barcons/DT shifters so much easier to deal with. Think I'll just HTFU, enter the 21st century and run 10spd with brifters and a compact. No 11spd cause chains wear out too quick and are £$£$£$.

I run 9 speed deore on the rear, 9 speed 105 on the front, 105 Sti, 10 year old bike and no bother. It seems to got little love when I got it freehub body was gone, sestpost stuck so not exactly well maintained either...

Get old 9 speed is the touring mantra. If you dont mind used parts, deore 9 speed lasts for ever it seems and old 9 speed is mix n match.

Or look at how Thorn specs their bikes they go for durable parts.

You seen a lots of people abuse their bike, your set up will last a lots longer as you're a mechanic and being very aware of issues before it become a problem (frayed cable in shifter).

I put a massive chain stay bridge in to bring some stiffness back. Had it out today and gave it a serious thrashing, was actually surprised it held up. Went so hard I managed a double pinch flat in a single drop off.

It climbs and descends way better than I thought a cross bike would and I'm now super confident on 32c. Can't wait to race this winter!

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Went for the boring option and picked up a T3 today. Won't be racing on it until next season, so naturally I put 740mm risers on it.

I put a massive chain stay bridge in to bring some stiffness back.

Only problem with that is that when it gets really muddy the bridge can act as a bit of a platform for mud to build up on. Hopefully I can get away with a single bend, no bridge, reasonable stiffness and still fit a 41mm Surly Knard for bashing around on in Summer. I've got a mountain bike for anything that requires bigger tyres.