Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

That's exactly what I've done on my RoadRat - Red Salsa Vaya fork + Soma Porteur. I'll grab a picture later.

Y'see, i'm all for bike packing... but I think this would be a better setup with panniers in place of the (undeniably cool looking) micro racks and bags on the forks/stays. Packing all of that stuff up and taking it off/putting it on the bike would do my head in.

Apart from no-matched paint that fork looks very similar! But certainly worth the swap for low rider mounts.
I do really like the look of some of their hard tail mtbs.

V-nice! Do you find the saddle bag affects the handling at all?

Freshly completed, frame courtesy of @paulm (I'm pretty sure he's posted it in here before). Next stop is to pick up a pair of lights for the dynamo, mounted on the front rack and the mudguard.

1 Attachment

Thanks!

Do you find the saddle bag affects the handling at all?

Not really. It used to wag the steering a bit but spreading the Bagman struts out to triangulate things fixed that. I know it's there, but soon got used to it.

It's a shame they don't make the Bagman II anymore, it makes much more sense for heavier bags than the standard Bagman.

Agreed. I've got both sizes of Bagman II and they function much better than the older version. Bloody ugly though.

FBNPNA. It's all in the name isn't it!
Does it have the quick release as well? That's the nice thing about the SQR I use, it's very fast to mount. Also, what's the weight limit? Any improvment on the 10kg of the SQR?

Yep, QR too. With the plastic block on the back of the saddlebag it's quick and secure. I prefer the clean looks of bikepacking-style bags and they do work well for MTB and longer tours but for commuting the Carradice is hard to beat IMO.

From Prolly

I have a question on tour/randonneur geos: should your frame have the same toptube as for example your roady? Or shorter/longer? I see some pictures of tourers with short stems (80mm it seems), is this a thing?

I'm asking because I'm eyeing a lovely frame that has a toptube which is 2cm longer than my roady (but with the same seattube). Would this frame with a 80mm stem work or will that be rubbish? I really want the frame, so maybe I'm being unrealistically naive/blind.

Took my Denton out in a run today and having removed the horrid Conti Top Touring tyres that have been on it for 6 months and replaced them with 28c Vittorias, I actually enjoy riding it again. The Contis made it feel like riding wooden cart wheels by comparison! On the to do list is to finally get a matching rear wheel for the dyno front one and to install the nice matching king bottle cages I've had sitting for ages, otherwise it fits like a glove and has travelled with me all over Europe and still going strong... Hoping to get the mudguards off soon and ready it for some sunnier days.

1 Attachment

where is this place?

And which Vittorias?

Just south along the coast from North Berwick, or about 50k from Edinburgh.

Nothing fancy-just Rubino Pros but I hadn't realised just how awful the 32c Contis were until I'd swapped them out. Truly awful in every respect-hard to get on and off, really still unresponsive and squirmy ride-the Vittorias are so much more supple and roll like a fat man down a steep hill.

@Tijs I wouldn't worry too much about it as long as you can make the bike fit with a "normal" stem. 80mm is acceptable.

It's a bit vague, stem hardly affect how the bike ride, just the feel of it.

Top tube length can be a hit or miss, depending on the seat tube angle, so it might actually fit identical despite a longer top tube.

Lastly, stem length varies by handlebar reach, says 90mm reach handle and 80mm stem or 70mm reach handlebar and 100mm stem, it's likely the tourer/audaxers have classic handlebar that's extremely long due to the old style brakes levers being a lots smaller, that fitting modern levers extend the reach a lots.

Personally, the fit should be closer to road but a less aggressive position (slightly more upright).

That's really lovely! Don't see a lot of Dentons about. Sounds like you're in Scotland but did you get the bike in the North East?

I think I've cycled past that rock before - did Berwick pon de Tweed > Edinburgh last summer!

Did you take the route west towards, and through, Innerleithen?

Yeah I've not seen many either-think Denton just bought frames from a few quality builders and put shop decals fitted though so maybe they've all been re-sprayed by now? I got it on Retrobike about 5 yrs ago for buttons with a deore/biopace groupset and C-Record wheels. pretty sure it's a Mercian-built KOM frame that was rebadged for Denton but have never checked with them to confirm. 531ST and all the braze ons you need anyway and the chrome is still perfect even of the paint's seen better days-riding it around through Swedish sub zero temperatures certainly didn't help! I just sold my Ti Enigma audax because I knew I couldn't part with the Denton so I think that reflects its value to me quite well :)

I didn't - though now I look it up that way looks pretty climby and fun. I roughly did Sustrans Route 76 round the coast: https://www.strava.com/activities/355220888

Did it as a shakedown ride for the then-new bike and didn't find it too bad on the day but I was wrecked afterwards.

Oohhh that's cool! I always assumed they built them - theres another old shop/framebuilder up here that was owned by the Yates so I assumed Denton was the same kinda thing and built their own frames.