Varun's Bikes, Stayer, Cotic, that singlespeed Rockhopper....

End of term vibes. Rode an hour or so to meet some friends in the country pub we've been going to for years, and had a very very good pre-Christmas catch-up, but on the way back my front tire started to leak again. Thankfully I heard it before I was too far from the road to Leamington, but still had to pull over, try and fix it and then give up and call a cab eventually. There are so many plugs on that tire it's a miracle this hasn't happened already!

Anyway, two solid weeks off means I have time to tinker, write, explore, maybe take some time off the bike to focus on living a little.

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Beautiful

I'm glad to be out and about again. My health feels strangely shaky and I can't seem to escape this nagging feeling of something feeling not right, all the time. But in between the gaps, bikes are cool.
Out on the Raleigh fixed today against a prevailing wind, and I definitely felt a little tireder than usual but it's impossible to tell. These, after the ride, were the only pictures I took and got in just before the rain chucked down, so counting that as a win.
Ode to the forum for finally convincing me to BDHU, too. The reach is a few mms shorter now and a lot better for it.

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Lovely.
Maybe hoods down a smidge, and your brake pads are in wrong (the fin on the pad holder points down).

I'll have a play with the hoods - it felt right today but that's not indicative as it was so windy outside, I was out of the saddle a lot of the time.
You're right with the brake pads, I've just been lazy. I'll change them over now!! No more dicey braking.

My first Christmas in a while fully by myself so I was very grateful to be asked if I wanted to join the group ride this morning. Ft. a banging sunrise, dense fog, delicious cold, great chat and the promise of a boiling shower after.
Now for half a day of LOTR extended and dinner.
Have a good day everyone, and best wishes to you all regardless of how you spend it.

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Reading this post during the first half of the Fellowship of the Ring is quite the coincidence!

Happy Christmas!

Great minds! ☺️
(I still haven’t finished Fellowship)

Very little actual bike riding over the past two weeks, and that's okay. I think this year I will be running and hiking a lot more, and using the bike as I did to commute, do the regular trip or social get together. I've finally joined my local running club after years of procrastination, and it's giving me joy in the same way that not riding bikes is not causing me any worry.

Anyway, the sun has been shining, the air is frosty and life, in general, is pretty decent.

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Well played.

Too cold and icy for leisurely bike rides this time of year, time to dust off the rucksack, bake a cake or two (or three, or four), fill the flask with a hot tasty beverage, and take to the footpaths.

I find that both during the summer and the winter, I hike and run a lot more and bike a lot less, and that's no coincidence.

After a year of fiddling with my Cotic and feeling increasingly meh about the mis-matched 27.5 wheels in a 29er frame, the boost spacing, the non-sliding dropouts and its resultant lack of use, I've replaced it in a very LFGSS fashion. That frame has gone to @jupiz and I travelled to Bristol last weekend to collect @lt 's Genesis Fortitude. As a rigid 29er with non-boost QR and sliding dropouts this ticks about all the boxes.

It was a nice enough build as is, with Hope Pro2/Kinlin/Mezcals and a very decent Shimano 11-speed setup, but I've built it as my own, singlespeed with PlanetX Jones bars. I unbolted the shifter for now but will probably fit it whenever I go touring, or anywhere remotely hilly.

Anyway, it's a lovely thing and has felt nippy and agile poncing around in the snow, frozen trails and lanes last week. Soon to be seen on trails near you.

Oh, and some might appreciate the ironic sticker on the TT, supplied by @Tijmen .

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Looks great…except the P-X jones bar. Always thought they looked great and then I realised that’s only the case on Ryan Wilson’s bike somewhere in the Andes/Turkey/Himalayas.

Not tempted to stick something a bit more normal on when not touring? I found the sweep great for loaded cruising but for having fun unloaded a wider less swept bar was definitely more joyous.

Nice bike!

Tbh, I never had an issue with the angle or appearance with the Geoffs, but just on this bike I do have an issue with the rise - or lack thereof. The HT is a lot lower and the steerer short enough that there is a lot of saddle-bar drop, aka the Surly effect. I don't want to swap out the bars and honestly have no money to do so, but something risey and swoopy like the Tumbleweed Persuader or Stooge Moto would be cool.

happy to see its new life :)

On that note, I did try a lot of stem combinations to make it work. -20 PX stem is a good height but looks bizarre. The -12 original Genesis stem looks better but is too long. I ran a 0 degree RaceFace all week, which was alright but still a weensy bit low. Currently I've gone the other way and way short with a 35mm Stanton I had lying around. It has a lower stack height than the others so I could sneak a spacer or two in. Will see how that works for now.

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It's getting used plenty for sure!

If you did want a set of slightly-trimmed Motos, drop me a DM. I've gone too far with alt bars and my wrists don't agree with them anymore.

I might be keen if vthejk isn't!

The Genesis looks great by the way.

Ironic that I couldn't possibly go back to straighter bars now!!
Might be an end of month thing, but how much would you like for them, and how narrow are they now?

I was long overdue for some kind of injury so it happened, in the bizarrest fashion, yesterday. Pedalling along just fine on the Genesis, highish SS rpms, left foot unclipped because I had these stupid multi-release cleats on, kicked my own pedal with my heel and then the foot jammed itself between pedal and front tire. Anyway, pedalling was just fine and I was comfy, and then I got off at the end and it hit me. No fractures, but I've bruised the soft tissue plenty. Good job I can probably still ride bikes.

The resultant day off school meant a tinker - I finally wrested the ESI XL grips off and fitted @lt 's fancy M6100 brakes and callipers. Good: reach adjust, look shinier, nicer lever shape. Meh: shorter hoses, the strange gap so my grips don't go all the way up, probably a lot more skids.

Not pictured is the half hour struggle to get the grips off, and the embarrassingly short time (via isopropyl alcohol) to slide them back on.

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Did you slide in wooden skewers or zip ties to pour isopropyl alcohol before trying to wrangle the grips off?
Probably the only reason I still want to use ESI grips.

I used zip ties and a thin pet feeding syringe to get as much isoprop in as possible, but as these are the XLs I don't think it got all the way in. So I was sliding the bar end and shifter end, but the middle was a bit of a wrestling match.
Proof of concept, when I could pour the booze in all the way to get them on, they slid on a treat.

I see.. Sounds like a tough job.
I really, really like Ergon grips. Especially the GA3 and GA2, where the latter is more reminiscent of ESI in shape.