trigs's endless tinkering: Moulton XTB, Raleigh Chopper, and now the return of the Surly LHT

Almost missed this thread, can't wait to read your next endeavours!

A mate asked if I wanted to join him at Bike Park Wales in a couple weeks, but I didn’t have a MTB to ride. So I looked at the hire prices starting from £90 and got a dumb idea.

A week or so of scouting later and I’ve got me this kinda sick, kinda rubbish On One. The dropper is very reluctant but doesn’t sag too much, the fork lockout is long gone, and the grips are home to all sorts of grossness. But it was £120 and the raw finish has rusted nicely so…. a win? Watch this space for tweaks and antics

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these charge bikes are great, I've got the other frame shape version and converted it to passenger carrying duties which it does admirably. foot pegs, padded seat etc!

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A quick parts bin raid later, plus a brake bleed, and this is sorta ready for some riding.

Small issue is the tyres are pretty cooked, but we’ll see how sketchy they are.

Big issue is the seatpost is proper stuck, which is not overly surprising. But it’s also set to my preferred height and the dropper works well enough, so that’s a fight for future Tom to tackle when he can be bothered.

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that's a pretty nice looking frame actually. £120 quid is a bargain

That looks like a very fun bike

Does feel like a very good deal! Will be perfect for relearning how to ride down the horribly steep stuff around here, and to generally abuse. The rear hub is Hope too which adds to the bargain

I really like how they’ve done the seat stays on this one, and provided I can get the seatpost free this might be the ideal candidate for a silly idea I’ve had for a while - rigid 69er using a Cotic fork or similar.

Wow, hope hub too! Is Wales "around here" for you?

Yeah - we’re based in Pontypridd, so we’ve got Barry Sidings half a mile away and then BPW 10 mins up the road too. Seems silly not to have a hardtail of some sort round here!

Mad bargain! Now imagine how a full suspension from the same year would be like. Hardtails really are forever bikes

First ride this morning, and it quickly became clear that the seatpost is a) too low for me and b) plagued with the classic Reverb sag. I didn’t fancy wrecking my knees wrenching up the mountain so instead headed to the pump track down the road.

Last time I was here I bottled it - it was full of very small children doing very gnarly things and I didn’t have the nerve to give it a go. A very nervous 7-ish year old girl having similar reluctance came up to me and whispered “I’m scared…”. And when I whispered back “I’m scared too…” she seemed equally shocked and delighted that a Grown Up was scared too.

Anyway! It was empty this morning so I had all the time to bail and psyche myself up… and I did it! I don’t know why pump tracks scare the shit out of me but anyway the bike is totally awesome - rough as hell but feels what I think bigger boys call “chuckable”.

Home now and Plusgassing the life out of the seatpost - updates to follow.

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Excellent update: the bit of exposed seatpost is literally 1mm too short to allow a 31.8 stem to clamp over it for my planned method of removal. Bollocks.

Next plan is to use a 26.0 stem with long bolts and hope I can get it torqued down enough. More Plusgas applied now and have walked away swearing. What a fun problem!

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Plan to service/keep the seatpost? If not you could file off the offending mm and fit the 31.8 stem anyway.

Do you have access to a sturdy, and sturdily mounted bench wice?
I've seen posts removed by clamping the post in the vice and using the frame for leverage to twist it free.

Have you tried another 31.8mm stem to see if a different model would be narrow enough to clamp on?

Bingo - nicked the stem off my road bike and it just about fitted. Bodged this setup and went to town with a mallet - took much violence but it eventually shifted, and then it was just a case of further violence while pulling up on the saddle. Now going to lie down forever while my shoulder throbs xoxo

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Congratulations!
I hope you enjoy your rest.

Good effort!

Much satisfaction through the internet. A decent (perhaps wire instead of nylon?) bottle brush can work wonders cleaning out a seat tube, if the bottom bracket is removed as well to catch and evacuate rust

Biiiiig fan of the gentle and totally superfluous artistic flourish of those seatstays. Love that little individuality!

Where's your workshop @trigs?

Not gonna fully doxx myself but I'm running a workshop in central-ish Cardiff - main perk being that when I have the beans for the 14 mile commute the ride is all on cycle paths save half a mile either end!

Quick update - an excellently silly decision has been made. More to follow on this but aim is to build it up as a SSMTB… and maybe drops?

First thing is to decide on wheels as I’m off on a wheel building course this weekend and want to revert to SS and 27.5. Thinking silver hubs, silver spokes, black rims (as a nod to the Moulton and also the 90s MTBs this frame was inspired by… more on its history soon)

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This bike isn't new on the forum, am i right? Can't go wrong with silver!

(Edit: apparently i don't spend enough time on classifields)

Nice purchase that!
I was very keen but international postage probable would've been prohibitive.
I'm looking forward to seeing you take on it.

I've managed to find the original Fresh Tripe write up from 2013, so here's how the bike started out:

This is a Freshtripe first; if you browse through the many bikes in this section you’ll see that they are either built around a brand new off-the-shelf frame or are a restored version of an older bike. The Hobo Bushwacker, on the other hand, has been designed by Freshtripe from the outset, frame and all...

It was an idea first mooted back at the launch of the superb Made in England book last year when I was chatting (waxing lyrical) to Alex of Hobo Bicycles about my love of 90s MTBs; the slim tubing, flamboyant colours, short travel forks and how they look (and are) fit to be ridden fast over a bit of singletrack. The suggestion was of a collaboration - to create something that was inspired by the old MTBs I drooled over yet with elements that would make it practical and arguably more useable than its retro forebears.

The 650b sized wheels were integral to the idea; they offer faster rolling and tackle obstacles better than the 26” equivalent but with a sharper response than 29ers. The wishbone rear end and straight blade, unicrown fork offer plenty of clearance and combined with the mudguard eyelets and threaded bosses, they also mean that should you stray from the singletrack and use the Bushwacker for a touch of commuting, a set of Hetres and full length mudguards would keep you comfy and dry. The geometry allows the use of 80-100mm travel forks and twin bottle cage bosses, disc brake mounts and Paragon sliding drop outs complete the details. This one is set up for singlespeed use, hence only cable routing for the brakes and no gear hanger on the drop out, though geared can be specced if preferred.

The frame is beautifully hand assembled and fillet brazed by Lee Cooper and uses Reynolds 631 tubing throughout (though you can spec it with 853). The colour scheme of this one has been knocking around in my head for a while and is inspired by the 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitar; the candy gold/yellow obviously taken from the body, the white levers and calipers the scratchplate and the custom Tony Colegrave ‘Hobo’ saddle and bar covers (since darkened after these shots) the rosewood fingerboard...

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