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

Here it Is, all loaded up, just after landing in Malaga. Have had a week of tough mountain gravel in southern Spain, so far. Currently waiting in Algeciras, for the weather to calm down enough for the ferries to start running to Morocco. Have had a few minor issues, but nothing serious. Hoping to find a workshop to fabricate a new mounting solution for the front rack and make a set of steel mudguard stays to replace the standard aluminium ones, as the from one has failed from fatigue already.

Also- Can't recommend these tyres highly enough!

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Glad you're having fun! Can't wait to see the photos, bike looks great

Bike looks great and the trip sounds awesome!

Have you been touring on a Flite saddle before?

If not, don't worry the pain fades after day 3.

Rad bike, definitely looks fun (Flite for touring is a bold move though haha).

good luck, I hope you have tailwinds all the way! looking rad as usual

are you back yet? sure you had a rad time...

Just got back. It was incredible. 5 weeks or so, and 4 mountain ranges, plus the big hills in Spain. Not added up all the totals yet, but something like 2,500km and 25,000m of climbing. Anna blew her knee up in the first week in Morocco, so ended up doing most of it solo.
Bike definitely looks a bit more 'used'now.

yeehaa! sorry to hear about your companion...can't wait to hear more

What was the issue with the rack mounting? I’ve had to do the same to get an outpost front rack to fit my bike.

Can't wait to see photos

Me too! Sadly my GW690 and the 16 rolls of 120 I'd taken with me went missing, courtesy of easyjet. Still hoping to get them back, but looking bleak.

Also: my phone got slightlly damp in a torrential rain storm, and the touch-screen stopped working. fortunately I'd set up 'double tap the home key for camera'/ 'use volume control as shutter button' functions, so could still use it as a camera. Unfortunately it was in'maximum power saving mode' when the touch screen stopped working, which means USB connectivity is disabled, so I'm unable to extract any photos I took on that. It's at the repair shop at the moment, but the guy seems to reckon it's a 50/50 possibility of fixing it, because the dampness may have affected the motherboard (...or something like that. I don't really understand technical things like this, and tend to glaze over when computery witchcraft is being explained to me)

Did you have the auto photo backup thing on? Check Google Photos!

That sucks!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smarterdroid.wififiletransfer is useful for this weekend if you're on android

You checked in your camera and all your film? :/

Hope you get it back! been wanting a GW690 or 670 for years.

where/how was it stored within that above set up?

No, it's a very long story, but the abridged version is: Anna injured her knee, and the shutter on my camera packed-in simultaneously. She flew home early, and I continued solo. She took the camera back as hand luggage, for me, but forgot it on the plane. By the time she realises, the plane is already taxiing; ready to fly straight back to meknes, with the camera aboard. She felt terrible, although I insisted it wasnt a big deal, so she put in some incredible detective work, traced it down to the lost property at meknes airport, and gets them to posr it back to her. So, last week, almost 2 months after it was lost: i get the camera back, with almost all the film. For some reason; the lens hood and two exposed rolls were missing. I'd pretty much written it off, so it was nice to finally get the pictures developed and see them.
Now I need to find somewhere to get the camera repaired, which is proving difficult. Looks like I might have to post it to America.

On the bike front: haven't changed a single thing since i got back from Morocco, just tend to keep the front panniers on for daily running around. Use the rears when I have bigger things to move around. This bike makes me smile every time I ride it, which is several times most days. It's my only transport, and it really ticks every single box. Was perfectly comfortable and capable for 6 weeks of winter gravel/road touring in the atlas mountains, and perfect for daily duties. This is almost precisely my original criteria. I have no need or want for any other bike... Which reminds me- I just bought another bike. It's pretty much my dream trials rig; the bike i lusted after 10 years ago, when i used to ride a bit of trials. It was only £80 on Facebook marketplace! An un-dented mk1 Ashton justice (1040mm wheelbase, 0mm bb rise) with hope xc hubs, middleburn cranks.the universe wanted me to have it. I couldn't not buy it. Going to rebuild it with a few new bits, but it's so nearly perfect already. Unfortunately the lacquer is all peeling, so might have to respray the frame.

Ps- I sold the pivot frame (sadface), but doing another summer as a mechanic, so can ride team bikes at all the races, and maybe build something up in the autumn. I have some parts accumulated.

Edit2: also got my phone repaired, so have almost all my photos from morroco back! I might think about writing a small trip report/ guide based on my experience riding there, if anyone is looking at doing a similar trip.

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damn! thanks for the update.

if anywhere in the EU can repair it Aperture in London will. if not try Nippon Photo in NY.

Dang...that Pivot was well nice. Big fan of their work.

any update? @Sam_Doman

Long time, no post.
I've had this bike a while now, and it's served me well. I really dislike the overuse of "epic", but I think this bike has take me on some truly epic adventures. I'm limited to 5 image attachments per post, so here are a small selection from solo trips through europe and North Africa....

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Some amazing photos there for sure.

After 6 years of use, and tens of thousands of miles, I don't see myself going on any more bike adventures of this kind any time soon.
Sadly, the bike has only been used for commuting and riding to the local shops, in the past couple of years. It's far too nice for that, and for this reason, so I've decided to rebuild and recondition it, to pass it on to a new owner, who will take it on more adventures. It will be apperaing in LFGSS Classifieds shortly.

I have removed the surplus downtube shifter braze-on, which has always annoyed me, and re-sprayed the frame and forks in a satin-finish sage green. I used a high build epoxy primer, and a 2k colour and clearcoat. This is over the original powder coating, so a very tough finish. I also tool the opportunity to fair the frame welds, using a marine epoxy fairing compound. This give a very smooth look to the frame, akin to a fillet brazed frame.

I made custom mounting hardware for the racks and mudguards, and took the opportunityy to colour-match them when I resprayed the frame and forks. The result of these custom mounts is the bike having zero rattles. If you pick it up, a few inches off the ground, and let it drop onto it's tyres, it almost sounds like a basketball bouncing.

Because allt he components selected for this build were of the very highest quality, and the bike has been well maintained, almost nothing has been replaced since the original build (except drivetrain componenets). in this most recent rebuild I replaced the bearings in the Phil Wood BB, and replaced the pawl-springs in the rear hub White Industries hub. The hub bearings are all still flawless, which is really impressive considering how much time theyve spent in horrible, gritty environments.

I also polished the Dura Ace 7410 cranks, to a mirror finish, as they'd suffered a bit of shoe-rub over the years. Otherwise theyre perfect, and now look better than new (minus the dura ace logo)

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So nice.

That's a fine looking bike indeed (tour photos are not too bad either!)

Wow, what a refresh. The bike looks wonderful, well done!

Why no more bike adventures, had enough for now / lost the love?

Amazing looking bike. But I've got to ask, did you wheel it by hand all the way to a deserted field?