MAJs gay bikes [she’s in her fitness era]

Can I get a pedal ID here?

mks bear traps, you can also get the SE bikes version, or the really nerdy suntour xc-II's

@Maj this you?

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Judging by this gentleman’s slack seat tube and head angles, paired with his rather hesh and functional part choice

If you plotted me and him on a political compass he’d be bottom left and I’d be top left

i just took this for a spin around one of the very few public grasslands afforded to the non landed gentry or the golfobic, a whole 2 kilometre gravel loop set amongst a air quality monitoring station and what seems like the mosquito capitol.

I thought i'd had this a while now and was feeling quite guilty that for the most part i've been chasing issues around, both my own doing and ones blamed on me. for someone who'd spent months typing about it coming, they'd ridden it quite little. however when going to write this i checked and it has literally been 2 months? nearly to the day. put things in perspective a bit.

i am not one to stare at a top cap, i will not go out to "do some miles", simply could not comprehend the idea of "getting some fresh air", i'd much rather put on a twitch stream and eat some sweet potato dhal until the next time i have to log into salesforce. it's not that i don't like riding my bike, it's more the fact i like riding my bike with friends and i like going somewhere on my bike, now with the novel coronavirus that's a lot harder to do, unless you're a denier or a bikepacking influencer putting "looking after their mental health" on the orange listed flight forms.

putting it in the context of owning it 2 months, and having the plague on.....i've done a suprising lot on it?

taken 2 or 3 longer rides, visited friends on it, learned the sweet trails of swinley and mooched around some cycle paths, considering my aforementioned taste for cycling i'd now certify it a success.

I guess it's hard to put in perspective for myself, due to being somewhat neurotic. everything has to be just right. the front wheel still being off keeps me up at night, the fact i've not found the perfect bars is enough to make me sweat, the fact i'm 60% sure my cranks taper are shagged? horrifying and there are a few audible ticks and clicks which i'm sure i'll be hunting around forever.

• but even in the face of all this, it's great fun and exactly the sort of bike i thought i'd enjoy.

• the tall riding position inspires so much confidence on the road

• while the geometry my lead to horrendous toe overlaps and a lot of BRRRAAAAAPPPing it also means i dont have to ride something big to feel like i am.

• the frame and tyres suck up so much road buzz it's unreal, numerous times i've thought i'd had a flat only for it to be flex

• every time i catch a glimpse in a shop window or parked car of me on it, i feel so cool, i dont think i've ever felt "cool" on a bike, usually i'm slumped over panting, unable to speak

• it feels so fun just to bop off kerbs , boost over speed bumps, maybe hop over a tree root pushing through the pavement on forgotten cycle paths. i'm not dave mira by any stretch, but the bike makes me feel like i am.

now if only i could sort out the last few annoyances

• the cranks, i feel im always doing the crank bolts up? they're as tight as tight can go, i've had that verified but they'll come lose after 2-3 rides, maybe less if i'm riding rough stuff.

  • is this normal?
    
  • if it's not it's bad right?
    
  • do i just buy new square taper RS7s?
    
  • do i just buy an old silver shimano mtb crank with hollow tech?
    
    

• the wheeeeeeeeeeeeeelllll!!!! i will take this to the bikeshop when i move, maybe get them to give it all a once over too

• bars, i loved the stooges but they were too wide for every day, or would need a bmx stem to reduce the reach, the marys are great, perfect really, but the shape is an absolute pain to mount bags too

  • ideally i would like my ideal bar, the brexit crust bar, detailed below, most trendy bike packing bars are too wide, they're all like 700+ and now even 800+, it's stupid, you cannot ride these on uk roads, let alone filter
    
  • i've considered VO klunkers as they're very close but i am fed up of
    running shimmed stems, i do not trust them
    
    

and that's that really,

TLDR: bike good, my bike building skills bad, the eternal grind never ends

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just get a 25.4 kalloy

i will not desecrate the artists vision!

do i just buy an old silver shimano mtb crank with hollow tech?

Yes, square taper can do one. Make sure the frame is faced though, or you might have the same shit with HT2.

this is how im feeling, must get over the sunk cost fallacy with these first, also believe i can run 73mm in a 68mm shell with spacers?

the frame is faced i believe, another kindness by the builder!

if anyone reading has any nice looking silver mtb HT2 cranks they want rid of, would be interested, those older bulbous ones would be sick, no idea what the model is

polish an alfine; 130bcd tho

i made that mistake on the raleigh build and was BULLIED into selling it because the silver did not match

i also should have specified mtb ones think theyre a deore xt model? maybe slx?

https://www.bike-components.de/en/Procraft/City-25-4-Riser-Handlebars-p34017/?o=200073-black-M

I could buy these, remove the logos, paint on some Crust Brexit logos on it with Posca markers and sell it to you through a custom feels-like-Japanese-webshop for a ridiculous markup + import tax? After teasing them for two months on Instagram of course.

you joke but.......ummm......what if............. uhhhhhhhhhh 😳

https://www.bike-components.de/en/NC-17/Trekking-Pro-60-mm-31-8-Riser-Handlebars-p61121/

these are also good and come in that 31.8 clamp

Ive been thinking about more backsweep on my Kona, had been looking at the Ritchey Kyote too but put it off because blurgh. Kyote also isn’t great for bags I think.

Having owned a Kyote, I wouldn't bother. The bars extend forward a lot before sweeping back, so your hands end up in much the same position as on a regular flat/riser bar

Please could you let me know if you're thinking of selling the Stooge bars?

Those look good!

Kyotes are also very harsh

I’m also having this issue with my middle burn cranks. Took them off because each consecutive ride was a ticking (literally) time bomb. When I do put them back on it will be with a torque wrench, threadlocker and I may even shim them with a bit of Aluminum can.

Could you let me know just before that?

so your hands end up in much the same position as on a regular flat/riser bar

Sounds good to me, you may want some backsweep without a reduced reach.

@Landslide @snottyotter i'll be keeping hold of them for now, but i've said that about nearly everything in this thread which has later ended up discarded.

@Batman mmmmm nice to know someone has a similar exp, i didn't buy mine new but the tapers looked good? not had this with square taper or octolink cranks before so its a little annoying, especially as i bought a proprietary chainring for them!

If you installed them correctly the previous owner must've fucked them before. It can be hard to tell with square taper if a crank is fucked on sight.

I'm close to pulling the trigger on these cranks https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002576966535.html I'm wondering if anyone has ordered these or similar before and knows if the logos will rub of with acetone.

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@fwd I hope you find out about your cranks, the any questioned answered or the Ali express thread might yield more results but no harm in asking here

I have spent the last week resolving previously highlighted issues.

I have sourced some cranks from eBay, they’re on their way, a bottom bracket too, I do need the chainring still, 104, narrow wide, 32t, but for the most part this is one item ticked off the list

I’m sure said cranks will have me kicked out of wanker bike on what was a tenuous membership with homer, but i think the vibe will be good, overall. Functional, old, more than the sum of its parts, it’s all in the copy and salespersonship

The 2nd was my wheel, I messaged Arkane wheel works for when I move, one of our own, so that will be sorted in the next few weeks and hopefully will put this whole experience behind me

And the third, handlebars! For now I’ve just ordered long voile straps and some foam spacers, I’m sure it will be fine. To mount a bag, not to steer I should clarify.

some may have seen the lovely man who built this bike has a new tube bender, when they’re up and running, confident making bent tubes, it’s likely getting a custom set. For now, the Mary’s.

And finally some new stickers! @dangeek sent me some this week, shocked there was no dbad sticker on the bike, kindly included some extra which now adorn the blueslug

On the same note @gubhi sent me some brum ones in a sticker exchange a while back, which have been sitting quite nicely on both bikes (please forgive me gubhi if you’re not Birmingham fixed gear, it would seem you have very similar bike collections)

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