A Straggler for all occasions (and 2018 pivot mach 6 carbon)

New bars look amazing, it only took an hour to polish them by hand?? I gotta try this on my bb black stems.

So good with the XTR levers

What are the bars called?

https://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HBOOOG/on-one-og-handlebar

Thanks,

Want those on my franken-biek.

@Sam_Doman Did you use paintstripper and polish on those then?

No stripper (I don't think it would touch the anodizing, anyway), just wet and dry paper:
120, 240, 320, 400, 600 then autosol (would've gone to 1200, but thats the finest I had available, and it looks ok).

Edit: each time you go to a finer grit, change the direction of cut (ie. Around or along the length of the bars), and keep going until the scratches from the previous direction are removed. The last sand, before polishing wants to be around the bars, otherwise it looks shit. Obviously don't remove more material than you have to, and bear in mind that bare aluminium will lose it's shine quite quickly, and need re-polishing (especially when the roads are salty).

Photo after 120 grit, compared to the old bars, which had the same treatment.

In other bike related news- parcelforce just turned up with the panniers... now I can get on with rack making.

1 Attachment

Cheers for the tutorial Sam,

Might not go down that route then as I don't have a garage to do this in yet.

Bike prep for Morocco begins...

Leaving on Monday, still a million and one jobs to do, plus sorting 2 bikes and gear for the trip.

1 Attachment

Exciting. Good luck!

I'd love to see how those chunky tyres look in the frame. Enjoy your trip!

Bizarre and awesome to see a set of "Bird-nard Kerr's" wheels on a Surly. What a fantastic build with a cool back story.
I'm looking forward to the Pivot build too, I must do a build thread for my YT Capra, pretty much accumulated all of the parts at this stage!

Ahhh I wish I'd bought some of those tyres when they still had them!

Terrene Elwood 650B?
I’ve sent back a pair to Planet X once they’ve sold out that they might not have put back up for sale?
Worth giving them a call, they might still have them.

oh top tip, why did you send them back?

Bought a pair, the following day they had 20% off everything, so ordered another pair and refused delivery of the first pair, which they have received back and got refunded for.

Something like this. Raised the handlebars and fitted longer hoses and gear cable. Just need to fit the racks now. Ran out of time to make them, so I bought a set of Blackburn outposts. Will hopefully get to that tonight.

1 Attachment

Looks fantastic, outposts will look great

so i was doubting between 42s and 48s for my genesis io street warrior. wow, 47s do look chunky, 42s it is!

besides that, enjoy Morocco, bike looks fit for the job!

Will be in Morocco at the same time, although not doing anything quite as exciting. Will keep an eye out for your awesome bike!

Cheers. I think they look extra chunky because of the rims- 28mm internal width.

Interestingly; these tyres are taller and skinnier than 47c wtb horizons.

If we cross paths, come and say hi!

Fitted in a slightly unconventional way (details to follow) but really happy with these racks. They feel absolutely rock solid! Have another terrible photo (I'll try to take a less terrible one tomorrow):

1 Attachment

Looking like a tank!

With the front rack; I've flipped the lower mounting brackets, so they hang from the low-risers braze-ons. It means I can get the rack slightly further back, and lower . Still feels plenty strong enough, unless any engineers think this is a bad idea? It's going to be pretty well loaded up, and riding some rough, rocky roads.

1 Attachment

My only concern would be that the load is now pretty far behind the wheel axle. Can't imagine that will do the handling any good.

Bike looks amazing by the way. Loving the wheels and tyres in combination with the mudguards.

Thanks. I hear what you're saying, and you might be right, but it felt pretty good riding on the road with just the front panniers on, loaded with reasonably weighty tools and parts. I guess I can always change it out there, if it proves to be an issue.

Today's project has been getting Anna's bike ready. New 40cm compact drops, 70mm stem, mini-v brakes, to replace her decrepit cantis, new set of sora 3x9 shifters, new 11-34 cassette. Also rebuilt the wheels with new spokes and a319 rims. They were mavic open sports before, which would have been a bit narrow for the 40c tyres. Should be up to the job, but I feel I must stress: I am not responsible for the colourful bartape and gear outer!

1 Attachment