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yoshy
@LaserFrennox
THE DAY HAS COME!
Saracen is rideable for the first time and I’m proper chuffed with the results! Gave it a quick ride around the country park and actually stunned at how good it feels straight away.
Dialling the gears in for the first time could’ve made me cry. For a reason unbeknown to me, the upper pulley wheel was catching on the cassette only half way up it. For a good hour, I sat and pondered my predicament over a brew with calls of my former self echoing around me. “This is why you always rode a track bike. I told you it would be like this” Post ponder, I read listed I was just being a dumbass and had the derailleur was on wrong. Hopefully next build with be less existential. I’d like to get a new wheel set built up so I can run the full 10 speeds but for what I need this bike for right now, it’s not the end of the world. The change between the 11t and the 16t is less than pretty after I removed the 13t to fit the cassette on the 7s hub, but again, it works for what I need right now.
One of my main worries with the build was that the 42t big cog on the cassette wouldn’t be small enough for fully loaded packing, but as soon as I rode it, those fears were dispelled. After spending around 2-3 years grinding up any climb I ever came across, spinning up the hardest climb I could find in a 2 mile radius with ease was a sobering moment for my knees.
For the future, I’m definitely going to invest in some decent fenders now I know I’ve got plenty of mud clearance. A big basket would also be a must to meet the criteria for my dream dad bike.
Hopefully going on a coffee run down the coast tomorrow so I can give it a full shred!
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