Surly 2x2

I finally got round to finishing the Colnabble last night.

Well?

Unfortunately there's snow forecast for tomorrow.

They got it right for a change. You really don't want another noisy picture of the inside of my garage.

As promised. Please excuse the front wheel. And the pedals. And the dbad sticker.

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Please excuse... the dbad sticker

You should never make excuses for your religious beliefs.

^testify.

I've got another one for the Surly... I'm a very poor disciple

Thou shal not talk about genitalia.

Got a few miles in on this now. Feels good, nicer than my Juicer though the carbon seatpost and 25mm tyres probably have something to do with that. Anyway there's a couple of things I need to sort to get it dialled, namely a new headset, a different saddle (think I saw this one coming) and a pair of clipless pedals with shoes to match. Never had clipless (clip in?) pedals before so I have some reading up to do. Will also do the photo thing shortly.

Rode the Ladybower loop today. I say rode there was a lot of walking involved. Thought the Surly was going to be completely outclassed but it held up quite well and only really struggled on some of the more technical/rocky descents. Despite my fears over the robustness of the carbon forks the only problem came when the rear wheel eventually got so clogged up with crap that I had to unhook the brake and complete the last few kms (downhill of course) on the front disc only. The moral of the story here being that disc brakes are not dead and that my mate on his 27.5+ Orbea was obviously much better equipped.

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Whats the route like? Do you reckon in summer it could be handled on a gravel bike

It's pretty gnarly. 4+ inches of mud in places. It's certainly douable, I was on the bike probably 70% of the time, but expect to have to walk some of the rougher descents and some of the climbs as well unless you've got thighs like tree trunks. Well worth the effort though, it's eerily quiet up on the peaks and the views are spectacular. I'll put some more stills up once I've gone through the video footage.

(Im)patiently waiting for Mr Orlowski to finish my forks so I can get some plus size tyres fitted. Should be some time next week. The current ones will be going up for sale soon after.

Anyway proper Surly weather this.

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A particularly nasty bit (but by no means the worst) from last week.

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You don't have a gravel bike. You have a disc road bike with 28c tyres.

Lol deffinitely not then!

Look what just came through. 80mm suspension corrected. Canti studs, rack mounts and internal dynamo routing. Needless to say I'm very excited :) :)

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We have clearance Clarence. Fat tyres inbound!

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Ladybower! Are you from Derby or Sheffield by any chance? I'm at Uni in Sheffield and I couldn't recommend it enough.

Derby and I agree, it's very good fun.

Where have you chosen to go? Those bike racks look like Belper morrisons

There's some gravel tracks around there that you can do in 28's.

I couldn't recommend it enough

Thought you were talking about Ladybowers :) University wise I've applied to all the local ones (except Derby). What are you studying?

And yep that's Belper

The moral of the story here being that disc brakes are not dead...

No no no, you've got it all wrong. Moral of the story is get a canti on the rear!

Those new forks are pretty sweet, what size tyre is in there in the photo/what size you gonna try and squeeze in?

Edit: Why Surly 2x2? Doesn't look like you're set up dinglespeed or anything? Plans to do so?

New forks are rad 👍