Any question answered...

Mrs went out t5 a few weeks back , she said the whole process, checking in and security was utter carnage. She paid six quid or so for fast track security . Conversely we flew out of t2 on Maundy Thursday and it was one of the quickest runs through security I’ve ever had

Is there somewhere that can help me "design" bike geometry?

I am casually considering a Marino custom fixie, previous experience was with a UK distributor (no longer in existence) who scaled up their default options on the mullet MTB to XXL proportions.

This time I would be flying solo and starting with no existing data.
I suppose I could measure my existing bike and try to scale it accordingly?
(Current ride is a Charge steel number, that runs a decent amount of seat post, and the toe overlap is less than ideal)

The details I need are in the following diagram, but I don't where to begin.

Well, I do know where to begin, the worlds friendliest forum!

I am 6'6" so needs to be big, also the fork will be a custom Marino too, so I need to settle on an appropriate ATC length.

Finally, the flavour of steel, 4130 is default, 520 or cromor are $20 extra and 725 is available for $60. I know nothing on the variations, so don't know which to choose.

Rough early estimate on costs would be around $600 / £470 (delivered, but possibly with import fees, haven't looked into it yet)

Is there a UK frame maker that could knock out a custom steel F&F for similar money? Thinking of this whilst typing out, so apologies for rambling and making a long post.

don't where to begin.

Start with your contact points and work backwards. Steal freely from known-good designs. 4130 is fine, you're building a gate so you'll be stiffness-limited, making the slight strength advantage of the branded alloys irrelevant.

Is there a UK frame maker that could knock out a custom steel F&F for similar money?

Pretty sure you are looking at north of £1k for a UK made custom frameset. Quite a bit north, for your more artisanal metal gluer.

OTP steel framesets made in Taiwan are going for £600+ so £470 for full custom looks surprisingly cheap.

a UK frame builder would spend half of that just on the tubes and you may get a few days of work out the other half

@PhilDAS

It’s been a shitshow lately as per the news but it’s much better now as they’re paying staff extra to cover more shifts. The ost week or so queues were moving quickly. I was there yesterday and the queues weren’t too bad.

One piece of advice though, make sure you’ve got anything and everything that can be conceived as a liquid out of your hand luggage prior to security. People getting bags stopped for manual searches for liquids are getting held up for 30-60 minutes.

Clearly I know fuck all about frame building and the associated costs.

Thanks for the replies.

Cheers all

The free version of bikecad is enough to fuck around with and get an idea of what you want, then post up what you've made and people can tell you why it's awful.

people can tell you why it's awful.

Yeah that's the bit I'm most looking forward to!

Cheers for the bikecad tip.

Otter dealt with Marino before, so he knows! ;)

Many moons ago.

Clamp on out of the question?
I worry that friction would result in a fiery death.

Sorry for some reason I totally missed this reply. Can you elaborate?

Get in touch with @Biggles567!

Im going to Alderley Edge for a wedding and have the next day to get back to London so Id like to stop somewhere along the route and do a 4/5 hour ride. Where would be nice and does anyone have a route? Could be mtb, road or cross

is this https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33460111
or https://ridewithgps.com/trips/38869261
any good?

For the first route, the road out of Beeley near the start is closed, so you'd need to chop off that SE loop.
https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/transport-roads/roads-traffic/landslips/landslips.aspx
Other than that, it takes you to some nice places, but there's a bit much main road for my liking.

I'm not so au fait with the Western side of the Peak, but that second route looks better to me, more use of minor roads etc.

You could also try asking in the Peak District Riding Thread:
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/200999/

Ooh, an on here frame builder!
Excellent.

@Biggles567 do you do consultancy work for frame geometry?

Maybe Sturmey hubs don't like being stuck in between gears or being close to being in gear. can slip out / lose bite and maybe damage internals? high chance of it if you're estimating where to shift to with friction.

Oh just asking if the trad SA handlebar shifter is out of the question because I don’t think they like being “eased” into gear, a la friction shifter.

thank you, appreciated

Anyone recommend a good quality cycling cap? I've mostly had Cinelli but they're all wearing out now, would like something a bit nicer for summer.

LFGSS branded one?

Yesterday I found by my flats bins an intact pair of rim brake Mavic cosmic ultimate 50mm carbon wheels, seem fairly modern ushaped profile, were these known to be problematic or anything? Tyres hold air, bearings are good, spokes are fine, hubs are ok #savetherimbrake

LFGSS branded one?

They still available?