Varonha Frameworks winter bike / FW Evans 650b conversion rat bike fun

Is direct mount when the RD hanger is detachable?
Excuse my ignorance!

The part you circled becomes detachable from mech and yeah the hanger itself is extended .

Stiffer, cleaner, lighter BUT sub compact crank triumphs all of this nonsense

Ceeway sells them http://framebuilding.com/what.htm

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So these longer things are only for direct mount (ie no use to me)?

And if I used a Roadlink I'd be attaching it to the existing circled thing... and it would give me 11-40 capacity, in all it's heavy, gappy, ugly glory?

Think I get it now, cheers : )

Of course, what I really want is an aftermarket Rotor spider that offers 110 bcd outer with a 74 bcd inner (or similar).

Wasn't that a thing for the older 3D series, or did I dream it?

And anyway, does anyone even make 11 speed, 5 bolt, sub 33 tooth chainrings?!

In 74bcd yes, not in 110bcd, the bolt would go through the teeth.

Exactly - the dream would be an aftermarket spider to accommodate 110 outer and a low-bcd inner. I couldn't find any 11 speed / 74bcd chainrings... where have you seen them? (I think the Spa ones are 9-10 speed although it doesn't actually say on the website).

I could get down to 32t by using a Shimano style 4 bolt spider and with oval chainrings.... very big spend for not much difference.

EDIT: or even 30t... more tempting but £70 for a single chainring, gulp!

Rotor used to make them for the Agilis and the XC2 but they're hen's teeth in 170mm and I think it's a pain in the ass to switch between spiders (and I'd still need to find low-bcd 11 speed chainrings):

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A cheaper solution is bigger cassette for sure.

Putting an MTB spider on road cranks might fuck with the chainline.

The best solution is:

Relatively cheap solution is an old Shimano triple, polished with sub-compact chainrings and a chainguard to compensate for the outer as I had on my genesis. I had a 14-25 cassette on that, it was excellent.

I’ve been doing the same thing and ended up with the Spa Cycles RD2 or XD2 triple cranks in triple format as @amey suggested. Come polished, essentially the same as the Sugino XD2 cranks but a lot more affordable!

Only negative is that they are square taper only, if that bothers you.

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If you’re wanting a cheaper road link, I found this on SJS: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-spares/aluminum-rear-derailleur-hanger-extender/

Essentially makes your derailleur hanger longer so road deraillures can take a larger max cassette. I’ve not put mine on yet, but it looks perfectly fine and will be using it. And a fair bit cheaper than wolf tooth!

11spd chain will work with the 10spd chainrings, if you go the 110/74 bcd route.

Wow, a quarter of the price of WT.
That and something like a Deore cassette would do the trick.

Out of interest, can you leave those roadlink things on when you're using an 11-32 cassette?

Wow, a quarter of the price of WT.

Wheres fun in that?!

Also; middleburn ;)

I do keep coming back to the R30 option.
High Q-factor and proprietary chainrings made me go with the Rotors (I'm sure this is the second time you've posted that photo in this thread!).

Switching cassettes is more of a pain than switching spiders and chainrings (Vegast chainset is amazingly well designed for that), but defo seems to be the most expedient and cost-affective solution so far. Although come to think of it I would have to switch chains every time as well to get the right length.

with sub compact you can just ride the same gearing all year round

Yeah, again it was mainly the high q-factor that put me off... I'm running a 30mm axle bottom bracket atm so switching to square taper every time I wanted to carry luggage would be a pain.

True, but I just spent £270 on cranks and rings to get low a low Q factor and allow the use of non-proprietary TA chainrings... then I spent two days polishing the fuckers.

It's cassette time!

Maybe an unpopular opinion but I always loved your build of that Genesis. Looked spot on to me.

yeah it was great, no idea why I sold it, I am building a similar-ish Talbot that I bought from JB though, no front rack

yeah it was great, no idea why I sold it,

I fear this feeling. Never sell anything ;)

I am building a similar-ish Talbot that I bought from JB though

Looking forward to this also.

yeah it was great, no idea why I sold it

"Bikes are tools" so when you get bored of one you just get a different one?

A key tenet of the Buyers Foundation

You bought JB's Talbot?!
That'll be a great project.

Loving the Genesis as well : )

So... Been out on a bunch more rides now and my initial misgivings about the saddle have definitely not abated: the Fizik Antares Versus Evo is absolutely the LEAST comfortable saddle in the history of uncomfortable saddles: The ridges on the cut-out go all the way down to the nose and attack you wherever you try and hide from them, and the plastic base sticks out from underneath the 'padding', meaning every time you slide forward you get sliced and pinched in the ass.

So... time for a different saddle.

I have bike-fit numbers relating to my old Flite, a Rolls from the Dawes, and of course the Antares.
Flites are pretty good but do sometimes make my toes go numb (hence why I was trying a cut-out).
Rolls are extremely comfortable but are big, heavy things so not ideal either.

I happen to have a version of the Antares without a cut-out in the parts bin so I'm gonna try that first. It was supposed to be for the Saffron but was second hand from ebay and arrived with some minor damage that the seller conveniently forgot to mention. Had intended to stick it back on ebay but never got round to it.

I put it on last night and managed to get out for an hour or so at lunchtime today - so far so good, I'm relieved to say! Obviously I'll have to take it on a few longer rides before I really know what's what, but already the difference between this one and the Versus Evo is huge. I'm feeling optimistic.

A shit saddle really does ruin the fun.

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why didnt you use flite to begin with? It doesent suit me but its certainly better looking than that fizik

The Flite was giving me numbness - not all the time but enough to make it worth trying different options.

I went to a Retul fitter for the Saffron and the guy had the full range of Fizik saddles and a computer where you could see a heat map of your arse to illustrate the pressure points. It seemed like a sensible, data-driven way of choosing a new saddle.