Oddos Raleigh Ronniewagon, Brexit Crust Wanker Hybrid, Gravel Bieks and anodized aluminum

NEW PAGE FAIL - the start of the story is one page back.

I still wanted a steel fixed gear but one that is actually my size, allows for a bit more upright posture AND wider tires!
I didn't want anything new or super precious. Naturally, a used Steamroller comes to mind and luckily one popped up in the classifieds and in my size (cheers +psg1ben ). This was all before the move to Austria so I just took a bus and picked it up.
I didn't totally agree with the build but it definitely had quality components. In an attempt to keep the budget low, I tried something new. Instead of throwing money at it, I tried to trade my way to parts I like better and it worked for some bits. So that was cool. I traded some bits of the bike and some other stuff I had lying around for a different seat post, stem and handlebar, and most importantly actual Steamroller forks. The carbon forks that came with the bike lacked the tire clearance I was after.

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Since then I have played around a bit with different stems, seat posts and as of late a new crankset. The Silver omniums are 172.5 ones and with the goal to take this bike a bit more off-road I was a bit afraid of pedal strikes on roots and stuff. I was on the lookout for some Sugino 75s for a while but they don't seem to be obtainable at a reasonable price here in Austria. I went with some more budget-friendly Veloci cranks and really like them.
The Steamroller was the one bike I took with me on the plane when we moved so for the first 2 months it was my only bike and therefore fulfill commute, shopper, roadie, and gravel duties.

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Great transformation that looks perfect.

Here is a little something from the first event we did here in Austria.
End of September we headed to Velden am Wörthersee in Kärnten (Carinthia) for a weekend to participate in Jeroboam.
In general, I feel like the bike scene here (or at least in Vienna) tends to be a bit dominated by white male roadie elitists...
So it was quite nice to see that the organizers of Jeroboam put a lot of effort into communicating that this is a personal challenge, not a race and the route is their best effort at a well-informed suggestion. In that spirit, there was a price-giving ceremony but with categories like the most spectacular mechanic, the most stylish kit, the longest travel to the event, etc...
In short: mostly good vibes. Vegetarian food options were a bit sparse but they happily took that feedback for next year.

We signed up for the shortest route they offered. 75km with 1500m elevation. Which turned out to be plenty :D especially because both my partner and I were off sick with the flu the days before the event.
Together with two good friends from London who were on a trip through Europe at that point, we rented an Airbnb for the weekend. We picked the Airbnb because it was close to the main venue. What we overlooked is the elevation gain of over 100m on less than 2km distance with inclines of up to 25%...
Out of three times, I only managed to ride it once. Interestingly enough the night I had the most beers ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

After days of rain, the actual day of the ride was stunningly beautiful with blue skies and sunshine alternating with some moody fog and light rays in the forest.

TLDR: Beautiful day on a bike with friends in the Carinthia region of Austria.

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Moar

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And the last bunch

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Wonderful!
That river crossing looks fun, and quite possibly rather cold.

Haha, it was cold. Personally, I didn't mind though. There was a section before where I was very close to overheating because of a long climb. I was wearing warm sealskinz socks. Taking them off and walking through 2 meters of cold water was quite alright.

Nice to cool off mid ride.

Many years since I was in Austria, Zell am See is where I stopped, absolutely stunning spot, lake, mountains, forest, what more do you need.
Maybe I should go back, before I get too old, and this time take a bike, first trip was a hiking holiday with my then partner.

I think I will do it the other way around 😅. I really want to go on a multi day hike here.

Lovely pics!

Looks like an amazing tour, and great pictures!

Late to the party but your Raleigh, Inbred and Fairlight are such dreamy builds. Any more photos of the inbred?

• edit just found your other thread, looks ideal
  

A few fun SSMTB sessions in the forest near my parents place and riding my Steamroller a bit more fixed on gravel recently, got me a bit Wheelie and Bunnyhop Curious. Basically, I want to further improve my (fixed) bike handling skills for more fun on the trail.

For training purposes, a smaller bike, shorter reach, flat pedals instead of clipless and lower gearing might be a good idea. It would be very cumbersome to always switch stuff around on the Steamroller which is also my daily. So the only sensible choice is another bike, right? RIGHT?!

Having a bit of a fuck around bike is just fun but I didn't want this to be expensive. I think I got hooked on the idea when a decent condition Charge Scissor V2 frameset popped up on german small ads for €100. I got in contact. Sealed the deal and was promised fast shipping. Then excuse after excuse until after almost 2 months of back and forth the seller just ghosted me. I didn't pay anything until then so no fraud or anything, just sad. I really wanted that frame set.
One of these:

I kind of got set on the idea of building a fixed gear freestyle bike by then but being over 10 years late to the trend I had to realize that they have become incredibly niche. I can remember that about 5 or 6 years ago they were still obtainable. Some even going for very little money.
It seems like what is left of the hype has gone mostly in the direction "26" big fixed bmx bikes" which is not what I am into. I want a full-size bike that's perfectly rideable on the road as well.
After some more weeks on small ads and classifieds, I found a 2012 Subrosa Malum frame. Less tire clearance than what I was after and no fork but dirt cheap so I went with it. Turned out that finding a fitting fork was really hard due to the unconventional a-c and rake. I managed to snag a NOS Dartmoor Puncher fork from that same era from some polish craigslist type website using google translate. The seller was actually super helpful. With that out of the way I just had to get some small bits. Handlebars, stem, and headset. The rest was going to come from spares I already had.

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The other night I started putting everything together and I started to spot the first problems.
The spacing around the rear end is really tight. My wheelset that had a freewheel on one side from the previous owner wouldn't fit into the frame. My new LBS of trust removed it and now it fits.

Next up the seattube. Due to the bend for a shorter wheelbase there isn't actually a lot of space for the seatpost to go in the frame. I guess the frame was supposed to be ridden with a short bmx style seatpost but I want to ride it like a fitting bike...
That also means that I can't easily drop the seatpost for "sessions". Not sure what to do here. Maybe I just have to live with it.

And finally the last one that is giving me the biggest headaches is the chainstay spacing. I was about throw on that old omnium crankset with a 44t chainring. Turns out the omnium wont fit. The spider is hitting the chainstay.
I also tried the Veloci cranks I am running on the Steamroller and they spin but with little more clearance than a piece of paper. They are both 144BCD cranks so I am wondering if going for a 130BCD crank would help. I would like to avoid buying something very specific like bmx cranks because I don't have any other use for them.

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110BCD or 104BCD might give you even more clearance.

Yes, that is true but it's also much harder to get track ( 1/8") chainrings for those BCDs and they often have a different chain line.
I kinda feel I will end up with some square taper cranks as they will be the easiest to adjust the chain line (via different length bb axles)

Aha! I had missed that requirement.
You should be able to run a 1/8" chain on 3/32" chainring though. SJS has a number of reversible chainrings in both 110 and 104 flavours which are quite nice.

I still have a massive soft spot for these bikes! @umop3pisdn and myself were talking about this vid the other day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnyHJob1ynU

I do sort of miss my FGFF bike

That's exactly the vibe I am looking for. Must have watched that video a dozen times.

What a great bike! Totally my style :)

A quick and brief update on the Subrosa. I ended up buying some shiny BMX cranks, a 104 bcd spider, and a 104bcd 1 1/8 chainring for e-bikes to make the drive train work.
I also managed to get some quite cheap custom-built wheels for it. There is this german bike shop in Hamburg that has ridiculous offers on some things sometimes if you aren't picky. Picked some Mavic XC disc rims on Novatec Fixed gear in the rear and a 6bolt disc hub in the front. Put on some all-black 38mm gravel kings slicks I got on sale somewhere a while ago and the bike is actually ready to ride now. Time to learn some wheelies and bunny hops.

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Yesterday I woke up the Inbred ATB from a long slumber. Since I repaired the rear tyre's sidewall, I didn't really ride it, especially not in its designated terrain. TBH It didn't see any trails, gravel or forests since I moved to Austria :(. I was always a little bit afraid the sidewall of the tyre would just burst.
I went for a 55km gravel loop that includes some easy but fun singletrack bits and the tyre survived and is holding air. So that brings new confidence for me to take this bike out again :)
I recently thought about throwing a suspension fork on it and a dropper seatpost but it would definitely take away from the clean colour-matched aesthetics. I guess it's just my brain being bored and having to think about what else I can change on my bikes constantly. This bike is actually really nice the way it is. Even the low-end gears and brakes are doing an amazing job.
This bike needs more riding.

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Nicest Inbred on the Forum.

Please keep the current set up, it really does suit!

rigid is the way, lookin good