Cheap old bikes and a new one too

Progress towards my KONA.psd has been made. Facebook has come up with the goods again. Earlier in the week I received some Sram NX bits in the post, a BNIB Sunrace 11-42 and a LONG Thomson post in 27.0. Parts look good on the bike, but it's made me realise that the stem at least needs to be black too. Thomson X4 chunky?

NX has gone on the bike and been cabled up, but without a narrow wide ring and new chain (NX seller forgot to post) I can't get everything to shift nicely. The derailleur went on with a bit of side to side play, which I've since read is common for the lower end Sram stuff. I'm a little disappointed about it, but hopefully everything plays nicely under tension. If not I'll be looking at swapping it out sharpish. Does my hanger look off to you?

Stridsland restock in the next week or so, which means I'll get a new chainring on this within a couple of weeks. I can always swap out the crank from the Giant in the meantime if I get too impatient.

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Instagram vs. reality.
You vs. the seatpost they tell you not to worry about.

NX might be a bit wobbly, but this is by far the most disappointing part of the mockup vs. reality I've had to face this week. The curse of having short legs (and always buying frames >3" too big for me).

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This is looking great, but yes the stem should be black as well! And that is the most impressively knackered chainring I've ever seen.

Chainring is actually the middle ring from the WI crankset original triple. I think the missing teeth must be to aid shifting? They’re evenly space around the ring. They definitely aid in dropping the chain in the stand 😅

Now that is looking a nice rider. I wouldn't change a thing now.

Well would you look at that! The shittest new bike photo you could ever hope for, but you can’t really expect a steady hand from someone this flustered by strike weekend train travel.

I have to extend a huge, obnoxiously anodised, thank you to Mr. @ectoplasmosis for posting me his spare chainring in order to make riding the Kona this weekend possible. Between fitting it after work, and getting to the station, I’ve barely had a chance to step back and look at the bike. There’s a few areas that need tweaking (and a few more stickers), but it’s definitely getting there!

Off to Midhurst for a small uni reunion, and to hopefully spend some time riding this around in the mud.

Nothing beats that ‘new bike scent’.

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That's turned out nice. A job well done.

Glad the ring got to you in time!

Can smell the turquoise musk from here, hope it rides as potently.

Turquise musk - the official state smell of New Mexico

Picked up a pair of these Ritchey bars off eBay with a nice looking 10deg of sweep which should arrive next week. Thomson stubby stem is in my sights, but I’m currently a girlfriends-birthday away from bankruptcy. Thanks cycling!

Looking forward to getting the bike finished and ready for some insta-worthy glamour shots. Anyone used these bars before? I’ll probably snip them down to around 700-720mm, I’ve enjoyed the 660 that’s on the bike now and don’t want to totally modernise the build.

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Bars arrived, and a stem too! Love the shape of these. As previously mentioned, I was planning to cut them to 720, I even went out to buy a pipe cutter once they arrived, but took them for a little test spin and loved how they felt. I can always cut at a later date 🤔

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Here they are at 780mm. They look almost as long as the bike after having the 660s on.

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Looking great

The other day I made a couple of mudflaps for my bikes, out of a £3 wallet from Rymans. They're working great so far! It was chucking it down on my test ride, so the only part of my the stayed dry was my immediate arse area. Success? The Kona flap goes untested while I think about my rear wheel. More to follow.

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The Kona has been great fun for the last few weeks, it's got very muddy, very slippy, and only a tad sendy. I took it for a spin around the trails at Ashton Court here in Bristol two weeks ago and got a series of snake bite punctures (4 in 2 hours). A mix of optimistic low pressures, over confidence and probably some poor handling had me considering going tubeless. The other day I swapped the 2.1 Rocket Ron up front for a 2.35 Nobby Nic, which I've set up tubeless using Gorilla tape and Stans. It's holding air well currently, but it's yet to see any serious action so I'm excited for that.

I'd notices some unevenness in the rear spoke tension, so took it to see a friend before committing any sealant to a bad wheel. Lo and behold, the rear rim has a dead spot which makes it irreparable. He backed off some tension on the opposing side, which has now caused audible creaking when sitting on the bike. Something I'm keen to get sorted sooner rather than later!

If anyone can help, I'd like to find a replacement wheel. 26" black rim with silver braking surface (to match the front) with a nice clicky clicky hub sound. I don't have much of a clue as to what's a nice budget friendly clicky clicky hub for rim brakes. Can I use a disc hub (i.e Hope Pro) in this frame on a rim brake rim or is that sacrilege?

Bonus muddy photo as proof

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Celebrating my lowest mileage year in a while by treating myself to a Venge from @coffeekeyboard. I've not updated this thread in a while, but seeing as this is a certified forum bike (two or three previous owners) I thought it only right to share my experience with it.

It's always been a dream bike of mine since 2012 when I really got in to riding, the McLaren collaboration blew my socks off as a 15 year old. At the time my budget could only stretch to a £250 frameset from eBay that, to its credit has lasted me ever since. I’ve always thought this bike was a bit big for me and my short legs (54cm), so while I’m not getting out on the bike much, why not make the riding I do get out for a bit different. (Smaller).

This bike will be a transfer of all my existing bits. Looking to ascend closer to HHSRB greatness, or at least give fat tubes, skinny rims something to get excited about.

First issue with build up has been understanding what an OSBB is, and what I'm going to do about it. It's currently got a shimano BB installed, and I've fitted my GXP crankset using a non-drive side reducer sleeve. It spins smoothly, but with a fair bit more resistance than the BSA GXP BB I've taken it from. Has anyone had experience with GXP reducers before? I don't think it's going to be a permanent solution, but I'd rather make sure the bike fits before forking out for the correct BB.

Hoping to have it more or less ready to ride this weekend.

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