Third hand American wonders

But my 2p regarding aesthetics: if you want American, get the white industries. The chainring system is beautiful and nifty.
Otherwise I'ld go middleburn, they're easily the most beautiful of the bunch.
The Leonardi racing stuff also looks beautiful imo.

Thats a great frame. Well done. Personally, if it has to be non - square taper I would go for a 24mm axle crankset. Really not a fan of 30mm axles because BSA BBs don't leave much space for a decent size bearing.

Shimano M785 is one of the best cranks they made. M760 good too. Middleburn RX7's are great as well, the black cranks are easy to strip and polish.

thanks!

i've now gotten a reply from engin cycles re the port royal. they're saying i could use the gravel axle (primarily for 68mm bbs) without spacers and a zero offset ring to make it clear the stays. if the drawing for the gravel assembly on engin's website applies to this setup too, the q factor would be even lower (160mm) than with the middleburns.

garbaruk would have a silver direct mount option and wolftooth another with their zero offset camo spider. the spider comes only in black, but maybe it's a nice contrast. i was planning to put the camo spider on the wi a30 too.

is there a way to take measurements (or ask a shop to do it) of the frame to ensure the setup would clear the stays? on gunnar's spec sheet the chainring clearance is just listed as "ATB Triple". by sod's law i'd be finding out either the ring or the arms won't clear and having to sell the cranks half the price. the rear spacing is 135mm in case i didn't make that clear yet.

Kinda wish you bought a secan just to see one with sweepy bars

@Belagerent did you ever try flat bars on yours?

noooo, think they work ok like that though.

Gunnar is gunnar look hench.

looks like the great battle of cranks is, via some unreasonable engin and ingrid sidequests, turning into a victory of the meme cranks. there isn't really anything as fit to match the polished rims and carry the neo-retro aesthetic. the dropper and maybe even bars will be non-silver.

i'd definitely need 30mm outboard bb now and went on to do some digging on these. seems there aren't any quick bargains to be had in this category. if i want a silver one, wi's own might be the one at ~£100. chris king is fit & forget but double that new so maybe not. if anyone has a decent used one in any colour i'd be keen obviously. i had a used 24mm chris king saved for this, but it can go on the road bike when the gxp dies.

to everyone's surprise i've yet to try any kind of cycling shoe with retention. still steadily in my FGFS strap era. this is partly due to certain anxieties of falling on my bad arm side when failing at unclipping. flats should be good for bikepacking anyway.

current shortlist has the allways and the crust's enlarged sylvan from mks. i think both of these would work with my hold fast straps if necessary. can't rule out the every boy racer's dream yoshimura chilao's either lol. these wouldn't work with the straps though.

i guess the moodboard would call for a classic leather saddle. i've just not been really happy with my brooks b17 as it's just simply too wide. wouldn't mind shedding the extra 300g i'm carrying with it either. so far it's defended its place mainly because of the built-in saddlebag loops. now that i'm placing most of the load in the frame bag and at the front and switching to small butt rockets, this isn't a concern anymore.

gilles berthoud could be a shout but maybe a bit too expensive as a risky excursion in fit. an old flite would surely fit well but before i pull the trigger on one i'd like to explore the modern techy saddles a bit more. is there anything modern touring-esque that's not 500g? maybe a smp? ergon?

late to the party but RIG

also this is fit

How much do the velo orange microfibre touring saddles weigh? Quite classic looking, and have loops.

Man I really pine after a set of Yoshimura pedals

seems to be 280g, not bad from vo haha. added to the list of worms

peak bike part consumerism, there's a good debate on the radavist comments. ebay alerts: set

thanks chief! following the donhou's completion closely.

It's gone a bit brexity

If you find the B17 too wide, you probably won't have a good time on the VO Touring.
Gilles Berthoud feels narrower, as the leather does not flap out wide like a Brooks.

contrast colour just dropped

does anyone have a blue supernova dyno light to swap to my green one? (i know the answer is no).

in other news cranks and bb have been ordered and wheels should be ready soon. wanted the sapim d-lites, which arup recommended to pair up with races on the rear drive side.

also fighting over a carbon fork on retrobike. if the other interested party pulls out that'll drop soon too.

the fork just dropped. rather chuffed with it.

but it doesn't match with the recently announced contrast colour fml

this was supposed to be for another bike at first, but it might work for this too despite the 445mm length. gunnar advises 466mm for this frame size. most importantly, it'll allow me to build this as light as the stumpjumper. there's no mounts for the planned tailfin cages or a hole in the crown for the light. this can be countered by putting a rack on the back instead (mounts are there) and sorting a handlebar mount for the supernova. not entirely sure how the light cable routing will go but there must be a way.

also the last bit of grant's sheep in me went astray as the thirst of annihilation power fantasy took over.

when my fork's time comes, it'll sing me the finest leftfield uk electronic music. first warning signs will sound like this
, gradually intensifying into this
, and finally to break into this
. what i'll make out of the broken blades is nsfw...

love that riv culture is based in fear mongering. send in confidence my dude. burial ftw.

Oh my god those forks. Atb goodness.

Very jel.

love that riv culture is based in fear mongering

agreeeeed

sketchy rolling chassis scheming. couldn't get the rear all the way into the dropouts as it was tight. might need filing to make it trailside serviceable for me. a bit disappointing for this price point frame. everyone will say the firestarter is better but i'm still determined to mess around with the dt swiss. pleased with the wheels at least.

This is already fully sick

Looking really good already! Love those wheels.