ElGonzo's bikes - A study in dedication to 'Party Pace'

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I have slept in Scunthorpe Travelodge (by McD) on fenland friends!

Enjoy!

Great looking bike! What garmin mount do have on the aerobars?

Nabbed it off AliX; that link is not the seller I bought off so just shop around and sort by number of orders, loads of similar ones about.

Klein is a little comfier now with 165 cranks. Doesn't look too bad with the black clinchers either! First time putting a few kms on these tyres, 25mm Panaracer Agilest, bit of a bastard to to get on the rims but first impression is they're decent!

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I’ve been very fortunate to spend some time cycling in Mallorca and Girona this month, Mallorca wasn’t an all-out cycling trip as I was with my partner so rides were kept short and with a fair bit of climbing, more freedom in Girona for longer days out. I took the Klein with me both times, with 53-39 and 11-28 it’s not exactly a climbing bike, but some cursory research suggested that I would just about be ok on that... Put in about 900kms and 13,000m in total with the longest day being around 140kms and 2,500m in Girona when we climbed both Mare de Déu del Mont and Rocacorba.

Given the aggressive geo, stiff frame, relatively thin tyres, etc. my main concern was comfort; not only on the day, but crucially the day after. Happy to report that I didn't feel completely broken riding back-to-back days, I mean yeah my legs were fucked at times, obviously, but the rest of me was relatively ok. Maybe it was because the rides had a fair bit of climbing which meant time out of the saddle. When the position did become a bit of an issue was on long descents, staying in the drops for any kind of decent stint did start to make my back and neck quite achey. That aside the bike was brilliant. Between the two trips I got my hands on a seatpost with less setback and I also got hold of some Ultegra 8000 derailleurs so the whole drivetrain is now 8000. I may look at getting matching levers and calipers but that's very low down the list of priorities right now.

A word on the Panaracer Agilests; really nice tyres. I fear they'll get cut to absolute shit on UK roads but out in Spain they were brilliant. Carbon rim brakes on the other hand, well, I treated them with the utmost respect and didn't push my luck on any descent, did start to experience brake fade on the longer descents and 13kms down Rocacorba in biblical rain is not something I want to experience again. I'm guessing the lack of grooves on the braking surface doesn't help things but oh well, they still got me round and surprisingly there's some life left in the pads!!!

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That bike is pure class, even more so when you see how dull some bikes that are worth 10x more can be. Nice write up!

Thanks! This was very apparent when looking at all the high-end, newest model, mamil chariot rentals; most just seemed quite boring and uninspiring :/

That's some serious riding you did!

Excellent stuff. Any more pictures from the trips?

Mallorca.

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Girona Part 1

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Girona Part 2

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Girona Part 3

Mango & Raspberry sorbet before anyone asks.

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still have your Mash Work? post a pic! im looking for drop bar fixie/ss inspo

Sorry dude, I've been sleeping on this thread. Not a recent pic and probably waaaay too late but here you go. I still have it but haven't ridden it in a minute, Klein and Fairlight have been splitting duties of late.

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Fairlight developed a REALLY creaky bottom bracket during a daytrip to the Isle of Wight a couple of months ago. Given that bike does a fair amount of miles in the winter (with mudguards, but still) I opted for a Wheels Manufacturing BB , good deal on eBay from this seller, I believe that's the eBay store for bikeparts.co.uk

It's been running super smoothly since and I knocked out 200s on back-to-back weekends recently having also fitted a slightly longer (+10mm) stem. I think it has just about reached it's final form.

Oh and how could I forget, @Hulsroy side loaders!!!

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Love it!

Looks like they could not go much lower!

low centre of gravity, innit? jokes aside the mounts on this frame are super low! Leaves bags of room for a, ahem... bag.

I hate to break it to you but this neither looks nor sounds very party pace.

Lol. I know that's the point. I have had customers with fairlights not being able to fit their cages which is unfortunate.

@Tijmen I think the spacer stack brings it back down to earth. It makes me feel comfortable at least. Also going slow but having aero benefits just means you spend negative energy cycling which actually means you gain energy. Think about that!

I have had customers with fairlights not being able to fit their cages which is unfortunate.

They're snug on mine, but absolutely fine. More of an issue with 54 and under frames perhaps?!

@Tijmen - There's something coming in a couple of months that flies in the face of party pace even more :)

How did you find 39/28* for going up Rocacorba? I've been up there on 34/30 and it was probably the hardest ride I have ever done.

*there's surely no way you were in any other combo!

Horrific. I was into 39/28 depressingly early, super close to putting a foot down in a couple of places but knew if I did that would be the end of it. That section between 4-8kms had me sweating spinal fluid!