Talbot Four Seasons

Photos of it on the internet do it more justice than I'd be able to. It's not the way it looks, its the way it feels.

Smooth and rich?

Yeah, whereas the SP feels almost stiff notchy when you turn it (which obviously disappears as soon as you ride it) the notches here just feel a bit nicer. But then again - it is far more expensive at retail than the SP.

SP felt like an overtighten cup and cone hubs that is badly pitted.

SON is notchy is a lovely soft way.

So it turns out I was able to order the groupset in error, it wasn't actually in stock. So have had to order from Wiggle instead which means it's over £100 more than I anticipated. Oh well, be worth it in the end...

And so it begins

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saw it in flesh .. bright AF

Couple of things I am unsure on.

A) transition between lower headset cup and fork. Fork juts out a lot so will buy a Cane Creek 110 when this Cane Creek 40 has died so that there's a step down between the headtube and fork - at the moment as the headset is almost flush to the headtube, there's no real transition.

B) That seatpost clamp is big. Got it to match my Hope hub but actually, I might just get a Thomson.

yeah hope clamps are a bit 'MTB' looking plus the cheesy alu bolt is proprietary, get a neutral one like M part just generic black?

I got Hope for the Time Machine, it's bigness has always bugged me but not enough to swap it for something else.

I'm going to rebuilt the TM when Percy stops hoovering up all my cash, so will likely attend to it then.

Speaking of the TM it has a tapered head tube with internal bearings which does look better in terms of the transition, however it's both heavier and less optimal from an engineering viewpoint. I've had this discussion with Matt around one hundred million times and he's resolute in his rejection of the tapered headtube.

Huge thanks to Matt for making my dream bike a reality.

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Sweeet! You must be very happy with that, mate :-)

Best Talbot yet. Congratulations!

:]

Nice bike! That paint is something else.

That's fantastic. Unashamedly garish but not tasteless.
Does the mudguard handle the light mount well?

Will feed back tomorrow once I've collected it ;-)

Best Talbot yet

*weeps *

Lovely. Making me consider Talbot over Rourke when I go custom. Love that you went for the more traditional seatstays. What's the grey thing above the seatpost clamp?

Awesome bike ❤️

Integrated light mounts look awesome. As does the rest of the bike obvs.

he's resolute in his rejection of the tapered headtube.

The tower badge would look all wrong on a tapered headtube.

Bravo!

*flips desk*

What a beauty. Hope it rides as nicely as it looks.

Awesome, looks perfect.

Hope it fits! (just kidding, am sure it does)