Current Projects chat and miscellany

Sometimes I feel like I waste too much time buying old bikes / frames and messing around with them,

This is exactly the reason I bought it. I was messing around for a year trying to find an old cyclocross frame (with eyelets) in my size to build up as utilitarian winter or light touring kinda bike. I kept buying frames which had problems, and going on goosechases for parts, then realising the price of everything added up (parts, tyres, paintjobs etc) usually added up to as much as a new bike.

I also was thinking, that if I was to do some touring I would rather have an all new bike rather than a screwed together heap of vintage miscellany, just for confidence.The allure of disc brakes also caught my eye as I know from experience that on rides in the wet, especially on canal paths, All the wet grit acts like a grinding paste and practically dissolves rims and pads.

So I finally decided Id try an OTP, but anything more cyclocross orientated was both quite expensive and it was rare to find any with eyelets. The only thing that took my fancy was the GIant TCX1 which was about £1k , which I didnt feel I could justify, especially as I wanted to abuse it somewhat, and treat it as a every day shopping-hauling bike. The parts on it also seemed mediocre for the price. But I kind of regret this now.

I got the kona for about £350, which is more like £400 now the guards n rack. Yes the giant cost twice as much, but the kona is no fun to ride. Just feels stiff, clumsy and like I said, too long. Wouldve been good to find a decent second hand cross bike, but they never seem to come up in my size.