General tinkering (Pretorius / Stayer / Cervelo / Genesis / Nukeproof etc.) and death metal

I’ve mostly been listening to Infernal Coil’s Within a World Forgotten today. Probably one of the most suffocating albums I’ve come across in some time. It’s taken me about fifteen full spins to get it to click but now I can’t stop listening to it. It’s completely crushing, unpredictable and one of the most brilliant albums I’ve heard. As pretentious as it sounds I think it’s tough to listen to any of the tracks in isolation - it’s a complete album and fantastically paced throughout.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=PHCVzvPp864

I've just got back from a few years abroad with work (I was speaking to a chap at HMRC the other day getting everything sorted and he remarked that I was the only person he'd come across in recent times enquiring about returning to the UK given the current circumstances, but I've never been good with timing!). Whilst the UK appears pretty different to when we were last here, luckily the TT scene still seems alive and well.

I really missed TTs when I was abroad. I'd just got into them when I left, so was keen to get a decent build up and running asap when we arrived back at the end of last summer. I managed to get pick this P3 frame up second hand – it had taken a bit of a cosmetic battering, but structurally seemed good and the numbers looked like it would fit well.

I decided to throw some money at this build as I wanted it to last a long time and I'll only be racing TTs for the next few years. That said, other than the bars, calipers, cables and chainguide I managed to pick everything second hand.

The Tririg bars and brakes are really fantastic bits of kit. So intuitive to put together, super easy to adjust (which is really important with a TT bike you'll be forever tinkering with your position on) and also easy to cable (the frame was a pig however). As mentioned In the first post I took precisely one terrible photo of the build process but the finished article looks pretty mean.

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I’ve been fettling with some mudguards on my fixed beater folder this morning. 20” mudguards seem a lot easier than 26”/700c ones to fit. Far less tweaking required.

Archspire have been keeping me company with their impossibly good 2017 album Relentless Mutation. Tech death in my view got pretty stale through 2016/17 with bands pushing technicality and forgetting to write actual songs. Archspire have blown the genre wide open with this album though - the vocal delivery alone is next level. Super catchy hooks, insane musicianship and super heavy delivery - it’s a really fantastic album (and their previous The Lucid Collective is a belter too).

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dAjZncvBfgI

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Managed to hit three evening club TTs and a few opens before the season ended. The position on the P3, as expected, isn't 100% and I kept slipping off the nose of the saddle, which looks from the pics above like it must have slipped mid race. Managed to win the club TTs and got a podium and a top 10 in the opens on pretty poor power so I think the position must be pretty slippery. The below pic was taken by the ever-present Davey Jones. I'm giving it some beans out of the turn so I'm right on the nose of the saddle which makes the position look a little more cramped than I think it is generally.

Enjoying the 58t 1x set-up and the Aerocoach chainring seems like a great bit of kit (although I wouldn't run it without a chainguide just in case – I don't have time to do many races each season and I can't take the risk of dropping a chain!). It's also my first foray into electronic gears and it was actually remarkably ok to set-up. I'm always very nervy about running kit on a bike that I don't know how to fix so I've put-off running electronic for a long time. I think TT bikes are a really great use for it though - the easy shifting when you're really dying in uncomfortable positions is a godsend!

I'll still run mechanical on my other bikes though as I don't really see the need to upgrade.

It's been a long slog trying to get back into shape for timetrialling. Those initial few races at the end of 2018 were torture. Having not raced a TT in nearly two years being abroad (and only racing crits in that time) it was a real shock to try to hold a constant power output for an hour again. Hopefully the winter Trainerroad sessions will put me back in some sort of form but I think it's going to take a while so I'm not going to put any real targets on this season.

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2018 was a bit of a bonkers year for death metal, the volume of decent releases was almost too much to manage to the point where I’m still wading through a lot of late 2018 releases.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=EWc_GOocyX8

1914 are a band I hadn't come across before The Blind Leading the Blind. It's a really powerful black/doom/death mixture that somehow hangs together. These guys are obsessed with WWI (to the point where Ditmar Kumar is a Great War archaeologist in his spare time). Metal band + WWI obsession always sets alarm bells ringing, and required some background checks to confirm this wasn't some Nazi horror show I'd accidentally stumbled onto (a fairly regular and unfortunate fact of life when it comes to certain sub-genres of metal), but it turns out these guys are actually just complete history geeks. “Fuck Nazis and all kind of totalitarian shitheads” was apparently Kumar's response to that very question in a recent interview. Anyway, I love the sound these guys have and Kumar's Ukranian accent sounds really awesome, particularly in A7V Mephisto.

Damn, Archspire is decent. If I put on metal it tends to be deathcore but props to them.

Did some video hunting on Archspire and as a bassist myself, fuck me this is good...
https://youtu.be/82Yw6Gx8dKU

Yeah the complexity of what they’re putting out is pretty incredible!

Living outside of London this year but will be moving back in late 2019/early 2020.

I spent eight years commuting on a fixed Pompino that was awesome. I was scouring the internet for another Pompino when I found a bargain Genesis Day One 853 frame. I've always loved these frames – whilst I’ve never ridden one they always struck me as the perfect fixed commuter base to build on.

This is going to be a slow burn as I'll not use it until we're back in London. Planning a Surly Ultra New wheel build with Compass tyres and full mudgards, omniums, Deda finishing kit (cheap and reliable) and a Surly 24 pack front rack. Nothing too fancy as it will take a beating, but sturdy stuff to last a while.

I'll run cable discs (as I don't think you can get hydraulic drop bar levers without gear paddles(??)). Perhaps SRAM S900 levers, but I haven't run cable discs before so I'm not sure what caliper they would work well with (if any). Will need to do some reading on that/have it spoon fed to me by the hive mind.

There are a few bikes ‘on here’ that I really like and will hopefully get the Genesis in the same sort of shape. @BareNecessities Surly is totally rad, and there’s a ti commuter that’s great but I can’t remeber who owns it.

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Also received a piece of the puzzle for the Pretorius track in the form of a Sugino 75 crankset in the post from @tomsvoboda last week - great guy to deal with!

as I don't think you can get hydraulic drop bar levers without gear paddles

TRP Hylex?

Or those semi hydro ones from eBay who's name escapes me had some they were good

Oh yeah! Those levers are a bit rank though. That said it’s going to be a work horse so maybe I can get over it.

Mysterious... I’ll have a hunt cheers.

Juin Tech R1

Yes- great plan! Love my day one. I went for some of the cheapest cable pull and they do the job. I tried to keep the build as low cost as possible, but I have been considering the Hylex brakes as a future upgrade.

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Hylex brakes are fantastic, a massive improvement on cable discs.

That looks pretty much exactly what I’ll try to build - glad to hear you’re liking it!

Good to know - I should probably get over my aesthetic issues - are the hoods comfy?

On a separate note didn’t you have a Pretorius CX you posted ages ago? Still going strong?

I find them very comfy. The reach is slightly longer than other hoods, but I chose bars with a slightly shorter reach to compensate.

I still have the Pretorius Bosvelder, yes. Just completed my third season of cross on it. I’ve been running Hylex on it this season, with the Di2 climber button modification.

I really like the hylex. Long hoods but comfy. Impressive brakes. Prefer them to the Shimano hydros on my geared bikes. Pretty cheap of you buy from Taiwan and can handle waiting

Forgot to ask - what’s the clearance like with guards?

Ah cool - if they’re good for cross they’ll be good enough for me pootling to work!

I have 32s in there with P45 Chromoplastics over the top - 35s wouldn't be a problem either, I'd imagine!

Just with there were a frame peg in there like the pomp has.

Great cheers. Was hoping to pop some Compass Stampede Pass tyres on it (which I think are 32s) so that should work well.