Current Projects chat and miscellany

What rack is that you've got the basket mounted on in pic.1?

Got it a couple of years ago...- email search tells me ‘Steel Bicycle Front Rack For Canti or V-Brake Fitting’ from Velo Vitality.

Thanks for the compliments on the GT, it’s really just a very heavy beatery thing. Made even more tankish now it’s got these 26” ryde wheels on, it’s shockingly heavy! Anyway had it a few years and grown quite fond of it. It’s good for locking up places and not needing to worry.

yokes they’re 2.5” DTH.
If you’re interested in the tyres (Drew) pm me? Don’t think I’ve got any bikes these will fit in comfortably.

@T0mg your gt is certified awesome 😎

This is fun

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nice pompino

I appreciate this crusade

nice man - if you need any lights lemme know I think I have a spare set of B&M you can have

Oh this is what I saw in the Olympic park last week. Will DAS next time (thats still a thing right?)

Bad picture, but a weight reduction from 9.3kg -> 8.1kg with a few changes.

That's a lot.

Which changes?

That’s going to be super clean. Nice.

Sounds expensive

Traded my Peaks Challenge entry I missed due to broken neck against some parts bin stuff, leading to this little 10 speed revival.

Mostly Dura Ace, fancier than the day I got it. Too fancy for it's upcoming life as a trainer bike, for sure.

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Well, truth be told I can't remember if that 9.3kg figure was including mudguards or not.

New stem, bars, saddle, seatpost, seatpost clamp, chainring, chain, tyres and tubes. There's some new bar tape en route as well.

Needs new brake pads in the next month, new rotors and maybe a different saddle. I don't think my backside gets on with the cheap carbon stuff on eBay but it's early days yet.

Fairly, using some strong mental stretching, I justify it because the cockpit didn't fit me originally, so there was a strong motive to move to a setback post and reduce the reach of the bars/stem.

I can't justify the tires or chainring/chain. I'll blame it on retail therapy or something.

.... I also got new Lake shoes.....

Thought I'd ask here as it is for current project.

Is friction shifting for 10 speed a stupid idea ? Does anyone run it? It can obviously be done and is probably down to preference/patience. I have a 10s Shimano mtb mech but don't want to spend a lot on an indexed bar end.

I tried with a 10 speed road bike (and older friction shifters) and it was terrible. The slightest touch of your shifter means going up or down 2 cogs...

I figured it will be very sensitive, this will be on my main bike so will probably get rather tired of it. Will probably reserve friction for up to 8/9 speed. This page has given me added confirmation.

Urgh, you're also going to run into shift ratio issues if you're not careful. I can't comment on the mtb rear mechs, but I have the 10-speed indexed Dura Ace downtube shifters with a 105 5700 rear mech. Both of those have the old shift ratio for 10-speed. It works brilliantly but the gear index clicks are very close together. Just my opinion, but I think you would get a lot of over-shifts and clicking in friction mode.

Good to know. I think i will make do with my current trigger shifter on Albatros bars. If I want to move to bar end will probably just end up picking up a cheap 8/9 rear mech and cassette. If the range is vast enough I don't feel I need all 10 gears anyway.

Current (only) project - Omnium Cargo CXC.
New purchases are the frame and Harry Rowland "gravel" wheels, the rest will be a pragma-build using what I can from my current bike and parts bin.

The CXC frame is not as heavy as I feared, but the forks certainly are. I couldn't spring for the carbon upgrade as that was half my wheel budget alas.

Can't wait to get this rolling.

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Shakedown ride of the new velo orange polyvalent. Originally it was going to be a straight swap of most stuff from my Scott racing comp, but then I found some SR shifters on a local auction site and things escalated slightly. Loving the geometry, as the old MTB had serious wheel flop with the rack. Juin tech brakes and 50cm drops are so nice. Jtek shiftmate and deore mech work great

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Beautiful picture, where in the world is that?

Waikowhai park in Auckland, NZ.