The Straggle is Real

#heartwarming :)

Once that black saddle is in it's 10/10 dads

Colour coordinated shrink wrap is a strong move! Love the vibe and the love.

What’s the thumbscrew clamp thing on your bars for?

Complete with, hopefully a couple days shopping aboard :D

It's a sunrace friction shifter. Indexing was not a nice experience before, and I've loved previous downtube shifters - works like a treat and leaves a lot of compatability for any future worms down the line!

Brilliant!

@atk this is where your clunkers ended up

Nice! Glad they found a suitable home!

This has come out an absolute treat. Superb work!

A little observation: if you are locking with a single mini-D, you can use the Sheldon method of locking around the rim of the rear wheel, inside the rear triangle. That way you secure the rear wheel and the frame in one go.

They're /VERY/ well loved. Despite having 2billion worms to figure out in the process (open face plate quill stem!?!, phone mount configurations!?!), they're an absolute delight.

Now I'm down to 1 (ONE!) bike, they're the perfect mix of on-road commuter comfort, while still being just flat enough to wrangle off road. Thanks so much <3 they're killer.

Oooh this is a shout actually, might be a wee bit tricky with the absolutely HUGE tyres + guards I've got on.

I nabbed some Trans X security skewers which are relatively basic (just a 5 sided hex key), but they inspire enough confidence to worry a bit less about thieves really.

I've been thinking of getting a second D lock, but might wait to get something that's angle grinder proof - nice lil present to myself at some point.

Good day down at tracklocross yday!

Went with @Maj and some non-forum friends and got to meet @samrensho in the flesh! Didn't race, still scared shiteless, but maybe one day...

Also somehow broke my guard (lolz)

need to work on my posture, looks a little like your saddle

Brown saddle was pointing up.
Black saddle is pointing down.

Maybe you need a grey one.

Guards b0rked you say? I have a scratty but functional set if you need?

Been off the ball with this but MANY complaints are to be had right now.

It all starts with the Nitto M12. Lovely little rack. But the fork crown mount boshes into the v brake, which makes it lose tension and act like shite.

Need a new rack. Spent 1000 hours trying to make this work, but it's just too much of a pain.

Oh, did I mention - turns out it's a bloody 1 1/8 inch threaded stem? That ETC stem in the pics is just bottomed out, it didn't fit. I'm a dimwit. Friend gave me an ergotec adjustable quill. Low and behold, it suddenly doesn't... jiggle? It all works fine now. I've got a shim got 25.4 bars, and it's nice to have such a level of finetuning.

I've changed the bars a few times since my last update, tried some Nitto Nordeasts, some Nitto Albatrosses. I really can't work out what works best, and I'm about to go back to the Klunkers (I've got EDS and my body basically doesn't know when to stop itself from bending too far, so the usual comfort advice can work, can also not work?!, I just need something which doesn't make my elbows act up.

Had some issues with a kassh noise, thought it was the brake pads bopping on to the bulging wall of the 2.3 tyres. Looked at koolstops then realised I'd spend nearing ... 50 quid on ... brake pads?

Almost threw up. Manically complained to friends for a while, and someone in the Div559nine chat recommended these, it's bloody close, but, it works (yaaaaaaaay something went right...), £5.10 and jobs sorted.

Whammed the tyres back on, then to my dismay a new noise appears, a much more faint, but still present psssh. It's the bloody mudguards. THE STUPID BLOODY MUDGUARDS ARE MAKING NOISES.

Went to take off the M12 yesterday. Thought it was all going to be fine. It wasn't. The mudguards were being held in place by the rack and now they're wonky as hell. I'm going mudguardless for now, before all I lose whats left of my sanity.

Oh, forgot to mention, in a fit of "I don't know why I don't like the bike", I manically destickered the bike (REGRET), whacked on silver pedals, and blue oury grips, it sucked ass. I shouldn't have done it. RIP perfectly curated stickers.

The current plan for today is

Take guards off
Put klunkers back on
Evaluate with the rise of klunkers if I want to slam the stem enough to accommodate a /diy/ Cetma rack
Cetma rack or maybe nick a SJS Canti Rack (just got a shite load capacity grrr)
Re route dynamo (currently all reliant on mudguards)
Calm down
Shut up
Stop complaining

Pictures are shite. I'm in such a hiss with this bike right now. Updates incoming later (if the bike hasn't been thrown off the balcony...)

In the market for a pelago rack, something which will clear V brakes, support a basket, and just be such a generic mount point it won't cause issues. So Pelago / BLB T rack (altho no clue on dynamo shite with no mounts) VO constructeur, basically w/e works. Sick of spending £££ on this bike, so expect a FS thread soon with all the crap I've accumulated and tossed to the wayside...

In more fun notes...

I'm working on what I'm currently calling "The JimmiStrap" , bit of a fun DIWHY project for myself to keep myself occupied as I've had quite a few big life things come up at the moment.

It's basically a Blue Lug X Strap, that's home made, and doesn't cost £18 from /redacted/.
It's also got 2 mini carabiners, and 2 hooks, so it's kinda like? semi-attached all the time? acts a bit like a fold over lid? I'd sometimes eff and blind at the blue lug version bc it would ping off on one side as I secured the other.

This, unlike other things in my life is going remarkably well. Can't seem to find hook hardware which isn't cheaper than just buying these and cutting them apart annoyingly. Rest I've got sorted, and work out p cheap to make. More of a hobby boredom thing right now.

Still finetuning design, I wanna try Hog Clamping to neaten the design and also tinker about with tension/length/etc...

Obviously I'm directly ripping BLs design, aint a pro thing but if anyone does want one, I'll scratch up how much materials cost (dunno £3 max?) and happy to send on any (I'm currently v flaky, so don't expect urgency/any reasonable schedules)

This is very functional and good, I would avoid the rear hooks (eyes are hard to repair) and switch to mini carabiners. for more Mad Max vibes, you could also use an old inner tube.

To ease the weeks of sulking over "this fork just wasn't designed to fit a front rack", I round up copping a Carradice rackpack on the bay.

I wanted something easy to fit on/off. Not a pain in the ass to carry of the bike like I'd found with panniers. Can overload stupidly and hope for the best without the bike falling over at every stop.

Works a treat, really happy with it.

Yeah - I might opt for some bigger carabiners! Altho alas, for now I'm basket/front rackless until I'm mentally fit to return to figuring that all out.

Might test some sort of cargo net to bung my tiny 10l backpack on the rear rack. Was quite a fun experiment really... old inner tubes are also a great shout for that added friction too... will report back :D

Looks nice!
I should get one of those bags for the rear of the bullitt once both our children take up the front.

This looks like such a fun bike. I love the front basket though. Maybe it just can't be overpacked. Maybe it should only ever carry pizzas and tacos?

After a metric crap ton of moaning, and accepting my tiny weak little arms doesn't want to carry a 26'er, the trek is up for sale.

After originally planning to try make the pacer as my do-it-all and pondering whether I could squeeze in some 33c cross tyres so I could still take trips off the beaten path... I got bullied into impulsively buying a straggler.

0 REGRETS. NONE AT ALL. IT'S PERFECT IN EVERY SINGLE WAY.

Copped it off a lovely guy on facebook marketplace for a lovely deal, SRAM APEX 11speed drivechain, Shimano SLX hydraulic brakes, Kinlin rims, Hope Pro 4 rear hub, SON 28 up front, WTB resolutes. It's all... incredibly fetching.

I spent my evening hacksawing off a stuck bolt-on grip clamp, and thanks to @Maj have traded the existing brand x stem & noname flat bars for a hope stem and on one Mary's.

Switched my saddle over, popped on my trusty otter, and going to spend my morning cleaning it up and then maybe a pootle over to Walthamstow marshes.

Tried fitting my tortec ultralite btw and it interferes with the disc brake caliper, so I'm in the market for a rear disc rack, but until the trek's gone, I should seriously refrain from spending more £££. Just gonna keep peepers out for bargains.

Will post pics later, either sulking indoors due to wind and tiredness having cleaned up the bits or I might be posting it looking pretty by the marshes. We'll see 🫡