frankenbike's frankenbikes

I like that, looks fun!

Right I'm ready to buy a groupset for my Big Dog but I still can't bloody decide what I want. All I've got is a new-ish 104BCD 30t chainring and some crap old cranks. Want a 46t rear but can't decide between 10/11 speed. Don't feel the need to go to 12 speed but NX/GX is so cheap that it's hard to justify choosing something older and theoretically worse for extra money.

Think I'm gonna go for Magura MT5s, @Howard 's evangelism has persuaded me.

Think I'm gonna go for Magura M5

Make sure you get the single finger leaver version!

Bollocks, they're 2-finger. How big a deal is it?

Maybe I'll get them anyway so I can use them with Jones bars too, with the long grip section bit

Groupsetwise looks like XT 1×11 shifter/derailleur and Sunrace MX8 11-46 would be good for ~€140? Or an SLX cassette for another €5.

Basically just put every combo of derailleur/shifter/cassette off bike-discount into a spreadsheet and that looks like the best option

SLX 12 speed is also moderately cheap assuming I can find a compatible cassette

I found them fine - you move them inboard a bit - but that messes with the ergonomics of any pod type shifter you might attach to them via I-spec or whatever.

its been some time since I checked this thread but it looks like you have now become a #buyer ?!

Basically I've got a Private Sector Real Job and now earn more than £0

Hasten to add that I'm still poor by LFGSS standards and still wouldn't touch Paul/CK/etc.

Private Sector Real Job

nice, where?

I'm still poor by LFGSS standards

get a Seiko then

Ouch

Besides I think you meant a Casio

Software engineering just outside Edinburgh, it's alright. Got told off for working from home too often the other day which is a bit of a change from PhD where literally no one knows where you are or what you're doing. Just Private Sector Things™

Seiko

Splashed out on a Casio A158W a couple of years ago. Lasts forever. Metal strap doesn't break like the plastic one on a F-91W. Alarm for when you're bikepacking in Mongolia and your phone runs out of battery. £13

I am working from 'home' for over a month now

Yeah. No need to show your face in an office in these white collar jobs any more. Guess I'll just move in a year

I did that for a year. Then I made it official. Been WFH for over two years now. Without Skype I wouldn't have been able to. But everyone I was working for were in different offices spread about the country so it makes no difference where I am. Plus I don't have to drive 32 miles one way just to sit bored at my desk.

Nice bike. I hope the Marin and other shit bikes aren't going to get neglected now you have a moneygun. Shitbikes forever!

Its ok, you can buy 1 finger blades.
https://singletrackworld.com/2019/01/review-the-magura-hc-1-finger-brake-levers-change-the-way-your-brakes-feel/

But they're £32 per lever. What?!

I've already sold that crap fixie for a measly £20. Marin might be next on the chopping block as I could manage without a pub bike. I feel quite attached to it but currently got 5 bikes in my tiny 1 bed flat and that's untenable. Bare minimum would be:

1. Big Dog - MTB
   
2. Kona Sutra - gravel/touring/townbike
   
3. Giant Propel - not ridden this for a year but want to do a triathlon on it. Would be next to go after Marin
   
4. A bike for my GF when she visits
   

want to do a triathlon

Oh dear

I know but it's a new form of exercise-based masochism that I haven't tried yet. And I've got a load of running gear sat in the cupboard that I haven't used for a year. Just gotta learn to swim

Went for:

Plus €400 for the fork, £175 for the frame, and then some on wheels/headset/tyres/sealant/foam rim things/cables/seat clamp/rotors.

Err actually this is more expensive than I'd have expected all told, maybe I should have just bought a whole bike. Guess I've done slightly better than OTP with a ""cheap"" Yari and SLX instead of some other fork and NX which seems to be what you get at the £1k price point

This thread has escalated quickly!

#frankenbuyer.

Bad news, my pathetic 3 laps at Strathpuffer absolutely demolished the BB on my Big Dog. But the new bits have arrived so I'll put them on and have to figure something out for the BB.

Quite annoyed that I missed out on some ~€70 RaceFace Aeffect cranks on bike-discount, they'd sold out by the time I ordered the other bits. Not sure what I'm going to do now. Cranksets are boring and expensive and I hate them

They seem to have them in stock?

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/race-face-aeffect-sl-34-24-crank-boost-170mm-819865

Nah it was a set like this with the single ring for €70. Just was a good discount, that's all.

At the moment I've got those old M590 cranks on. Can't get into the BB to clean it out but it's spinning slightly better after a bit of "persuasion"