The Two Bicycles of Varonha.

Couple of pics from this morning's ride.
Once home, had a HTB then got to work finishing the bike shed.

Nice route that, love brickies and Windgather. I started Brickies, Mudhusrt lane, dropped into Whaley, long hill, goyt, Deadmans, back up to brickies home..Long hill is closed to vehicles for 5 MONTHS!!! Bliss.

Nice route.
Yeah, considered Long Hill, but done it before, and for some unknown reason we'd never ridden Windgather/Pym's, so thought I'd put that right today, Matt (the tall fella behind me) fancied Brickworks, so he planned the first half of the route, and I the second.

New rims time for the pink bike.
I've been fitting new tyres this morning, utter bastards to get on, and in the process (due to my herculean strength) I've managed to fold the sidewall of the rim on both sides, so essentially my rear wheel is fucked!
For now it'll have to be black rims, as that's all I can find in stock anywhere currently.
Maybe I should stop tinkering, and do more riding.

Riding is overrated.

Get some HED Belgiums!

They would be very nice, if a little spendy. Think I've found some Velocity Quills (650b), but can't bring myself to spend on one rim what I can get a pair of Kinlins for.
Black Kinlin XR31t will do for now, may get some Pacenti Brevets built on Hope hubs (when Pacenti get stock in).

And yes, riding is overrated, but would probably save me money!

...but then again, they do look rather lovely.

I've managed to fold the sidewall of the rim on both sides

Just hammer it back in place, with brute force.

Really? Will it not weaken the rim?

Edit: to be honest, it's a bit of a mess, and I wouldn't trust it, I'd always be worrying about it rather than enjoying the ride.

Decided black, deep rims would look shit on the pink bike.
Pacenti don't have stock of Brevet rims, but do seem to have stock of Brevet wheelsets in 32h flavour.

I've had buckled rims on mtbs, from failed jumping onto pavement for instance, and the rim hitting the curb. It's not ideal but I've managed to bent it back and it didn't fail. Only rim failures I've experienced was from over worn braking surface. Depends on the extent of the damage of course. If you don't feel it you're probably right.
Also, I don't mean to ruin your new rim day excitement!

You've not ruined anything. Still not sure what I've ordered is in stock (until I get shipping confirmation), so keeping excitement to mild hum at the moment.
I've only ever had a rim fail on me once, didn't end well, so I'm erring on the side of caution.

Phew, found some 650b wheels in stock (thanks Luke at Pacenti), so pink bike should be back up and running just in time for the 4 day weekend.

And we have wheels. Pacenti Brevet, 28h, the old high flange hubs (which I prefer).
Happy days.

follow me images download

Looking like some mad/bad 70s fabric/wallpaper, and I think I like it!

Just too throw things off a little more, lbs have offered me a black Thomson x4 for cheap.

Brevet wheels are very nice, run smooth, clicking isn't very loud (which is nice), and the tyres were straight on and pumped up in about 20mins, no faffing around (which is also nice).

The Gravelking tyres I bought back off @JoeC , he hadn't used them, pleasantly plush.
I have a pair of 42mm Paselas to go on (when I've stretched them some how, tried with one for 30mins last night, wasn't happening), which leaves enough room for mudguards, thanks to @atk for them.

These wheels are so much better. Great bike.

Cheers. They are very nice wheels, enjoyed today's ride on them.

Next up, front bag, not sure whether to modify/bodge my Carradice audax, or sell it, and put the funds towards a bigxtop rando bag.

Niceness

Ta pal, those tyres have finally got some dirt on em!

Nice ride up to my sister's yesterday, bit of a family get together, eating food, chatting shit, enjoying the sunshine. Rode back today, bit of rain during the night, so made some of the off-road sections a bit muddy, but not too bad.
100mile round trip, no issues riding up, couple of minor issues coming back:
2 front tyre punctures, luckily the sealant did it's job pretty rapid the first time, second time not so rapid (extremely glad I was wearing my specs, quite a bit of sealant flung over the bike and my face).
Whilst having a halfish way home rollie my cap got blown into the canal, fortunately didn't drift out too far so was able to fish it out.

Bike looking functional along side the Bridgewater canal (just south of Sale).

ebay photo hosting

A combination of tyre sealant and dirt/dust makes for a mucky bike.

ebay photo hosting

what happened to the silver stem?!

It got replaced with a black one?!?

Less sarcastic answer,

I was after a 100mm, 0°, silver stem, no joy, lbs had the black X4 in 100/0 and offered it to me at a rather tasty price, so I couldn't refuse (I'll keep looking for a silver one that I like, til I find one, the black stem stays), and I quite like it.

Agree with above comments above re wheels, they work better with the bike. Good stuff!

They're fantastic wheels, not particularly light, but should imagine butted spokes may knock a few grs off.