Any question answered...

Tubing (weight & kitchen sink capacity) - geometry - hipness

Marketing

There's a good ski lift up to the hills overlooking the city which is worth a look. Can get there by the normal town centre travel pass.

Tyre clearance can be a factor too.

A gravel biek appears to me to fit into the teeny tiny gap between a tourer and a cx bike. A gap that's often notional rather than physical.

A hype-gap.

Yeah. It's mainly marketing.

Gravel bike is the on trend hybrid bike.

A gravel biek appears to me to fit into the teeny tiny gap between a tourer and a cx bike.

Based on timed laps of 50% tarmac and 50% gravel/grass, I'd say the gap between a road race bike and an MTB is already tiny enough.

Thanks guys. A tourer it is then. Don't plan on going on a round the world tour anytime soon, but would be good to have a bike that has the ability to carry some load for the odd weekend trip and daily commute shall my legs complain about the lack of gear on my single speed. If you have spotted my messages on the frame builders thread, I am getting a bespoke bike and after meeting with Ted last week, I was beginning to wonder if I actually need a tourer with all the eyelets and braze ons. It seems like sticking to my original plan with Ted's magic touch remains the best option for me.

Next question - carbon fork, steal fork or push the boat out to the other side of the world and get a ti fork? It will be a Ti frame.

If that's the case I'd go with whatever Ted will recommend you according to what you want to do with it. Extra braze ons will never hurt. Stealing a fork sounds like the most economical option 🙃 but Ti sounds awesomeeee

Ted's suggestion is actually a carbon fork due to weight and he is not a fan of front loading too much. Will at least have eyelets for mudguard, methinks. Would love a ti fork but we are look at easily £1000+. Will see what quotes he comes back with because I only want Reynolds Ti not other Chinese Ti (I am sure they are sound but I want Reynolds), which no doubt will be more expensive.

Maybe I will have a hybrid between a tourer and a gravel! 😳

How much do kidneys go for these days? 😬

Awkward question to pose, but is there a technical name/term for when a piece of music 'ends' and comes back again?

I'm sure there are lot better examples out there, but the below is fresh in my mind, which at about 4mins in starts to sound like it's natural end and then at 5:55 picks up again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APVXWgxk5is

Would 'Reprise' or 'False Ending' cover it?

Only Ti fork I ever tried was super flexy, was on a polo bike though and can't remember the tube profile, crabons ftw with forks.

What sets a Gravel bike apart?

not a question at you DJ, just a general query.

What sets a Gravel bike apart?

Chipped paint on the underside of the downtube 😀

Is it true or just a bit of a myth that once a carbon part is crashed, it goes the bin? As I have said, the bike will be part commute part touring, don't intend to race so chances of properly crashing is very slim, but with London commuter, touch wood... crash is a possibility. I guess slow crash or lower impact crash is what I am talking about here.

Because you can't always see the damage on carbon. Think the bin thing is a "better safe than sorry" measure. Cracks can be invisible etc

A tiny bump in the wrong place and it should be cast to the fiery depths of hell.

Thoguht so, which is why I am a little reluctant to go with a carbon fork, because well, I know what I am like. Last time I crashed into thin air, just lost concentration hence balance for a brief moment.

You know they make mountain bikes out of carbon don't you? It can survive a fair bit more than falling over, its not fragile

Is it true or just a bit of a myth that once a carbon part is crashed, it goes the bin?

It's a myth. The trouble is that carbon parts will spring back to shape even when there is substantial damage to hidden layers, whereas a bent bit of metal is obviously damaged. There are ways to check for hidden damage in a non-destructive way, but in many cases bike parts are too cheap to be worth the expense. F1 tubs are often reused after quite big crashes because they are expensive enough to make it worth spending a grand on checking.

Drop bar hybrid

I don't know, but great song. The short version is rubbish.

Why is YouTube serving me up long and unskippable ads all if a sudden. And more importantly how do I stop it.

uBlock is your solution.

looool!

I think it depends on the video, it seems they pile on the adverts to those with the most views. If I get a 30 second unskippable advert I tend to refresh the page until either there's none or one I can skip.