Hulsroy's Hustle

Woke up mega early to work on my mudguards before actually work.
Pretty close to finishing the winter SS/fixie.
If my daughter permits we will go to the workshop after work and have pizza and cnc machine my chainring

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Pizza and CNC sounds like a good time!

this is top dadding.

...We failed miserably. We had pizza and did some stuff to the winter fixie but then I started feeling funky and we cycled home. Shortly after we returned I started puking and continued all night. The joy of having toddlers!
I still feel like I am hungover but making an attempt at CNC machining again tonight!

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Exciting to see this happening. My line thickness and details might be a bit much for my setup. We will see

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Not perfect but I learned a lot.

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Also managed to make my mtb ridable again. Turned out to be a great evening in the workshop

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Next level

Imma gonna have to do it again. Realized this morning what can be improved!

Just had an amazing ride. Was supposed to be sunny this morning so was slightly bummed out about the fog and cold. But after a bit of warm up I started feeling really good.
I've gone back to an in-line seatpost to push me over the BB. I think this made a difference along with moving the seat up a tad. I hardly had any knee pain today and I managed to push up a short really steep climb I haven't been able to do for a year.
I also tested out running a 50mm stem which confirms that my new MTB should be longer than this one, as it feels good but I wouldn't mind being a bit more stretched out.
Another thing I experienced this morning was that my descending/turning/carving has improved and that I don't hate Ardents anymore.
I initially swapped these ardents out for minion dhr 2s last summer because I wanted to get more grip and start pushing my carving a bit. I then got the knee issues and haven't ridden my mtb since July. But I've mounted the Ardents back on as I am eyeing some early morning MTB rides before work and I would then need to commute from the forrest into the city on it and therefore I'd like slightly quicker tyres.
During my time off the bike I've been watching loads of technique videos on YouTube and visualized carving a lot. I've even been practicing on my cargo bike going to work. The long wheelbase and low center of gravity of the cargo bike has allowed me to get really low. And today that all payed off somehow. Today I was in control and pushing the Ardents a lot more than ever before and I didn't loose control.

Top morning and it gives me hope for the summer. Now I just need to take it back a notch and make sure not to overdue the cycling to soon.

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Photo from last ride in July

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Looks like some ideal singletrack. I had some questions about polishing those cranks a few pages back, they look so good! I can't remember if you used anything to strip the anodising or just sanded, and what did you use to seal, Renaissance wax?

No sanding. I'd avoid that at all costs as it is time consuming, boring, dirty, bad for your health and hard to do nicely.
I used drain cleaner, kept monitoring the progress and cleaned off in cold water. Then polishing compound on a hard polishing wheel and then buffed on a softer wheel.
No was yet, but that's easily done.

Thanks

No worries. I can film it next time and do a little edit

Today I was in control and pushing the Ardents a lot more than ever before and I didn't loose control

One noticeable trait of the Ardents is that there's a gap in the tread where they'll let go, but if you lean a touch further, you move onto the corner knobs and find grip again. The grip > no grip > grip again takes a little getting used to :-)

Didn't say on the tin

Always read the small print! The salient details are always tucked away on page 37 of the t&cs.

I feel your pain!
Our toddler got over her eye infection really quickly and then I got stuck with it, and have been suffering longer than her..
Can't wait till I can keep her occupied in the workshop though.

Winter bike done just in time for spring 😄

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Had some issues finding a gear ratio I can push with my current selection of cogs and chainrings that also allows for 35mm tyres and mudguards. Only sensible combination was 42/16 which I'll swap for 44/15 once I get around to ordering from VeloSolo. Running 42/16 meant I needed to make a custom chaintug to avoid slippage. I am quite baffled how the short chainstays and dropout placement keeps causing issues but also mega pleased that I keep solving the issues. Happy about my chain tug for sure

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I wouldn't mind doing a CAD mock-up of you desired gear ratios to come up with the ideal chainstay length for when you decide to replace them :D

Clever solution there with the chain tug, and I can't stop repeating myself on how immensely awesome this bike is. It's just so good.

Well in this case it's because of the bear components dropouts prototype the frame was originally built for that cause issues and then swapping to surly dropouts only made it slightly better.
If I just accepted using 28-30c tyres it would be fine

Thx 😊