Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

dron that is so awesome, more pics pls

+1

That bike is fucking boss. Do want.

Needs to be on this page too.

9 speed will be cheaper overall, not just the parts but cassettes, chains, etc. Deore stuff is always a great price point. Good quality, robust, but usually just a little tubby. 10 speed will obviously give you more range though.

Personally, 8 speed is plentiful, the only difference is that there's a bigger jump between certain cogs, an 8 speed 11-28 would be idea, or even 11-32.

thanks, amey, madman and psee. I'll sort out some more photos soon. still a lot work in progress.

^^ I guess. Personally when I was running a deore road triple + 32t cassette I found it too jumpy. Around town I'd rather have closer range but a small front ring to make the largest cog useful - maybe 11 - 28t obv. YMMV

I know I've said this before, but on the whole I don't really see the point in not going for 10 speed unless there's a sensible reason not to. It is the current "standard".

In this scenario, 9 speed today probably gives you the most options at the optimum price-point; deore, tigra, old 105 upwards, etc. You could save a more by going 8 speed. But right now I doubt it would be a significant saving and you'll then have to either rely on the second hand market or use lower end components.

All my opinon etc. but yeh if a baragious 8 speed deal that fits with the build comes up go for it.

ps I do desperately want one of those fames in the 650B* version.

Just a great looking practical frame. I especially love the fork.

Do you recon the wheelbase is too short to get a kids seat on the back?

#gettingbroody

*(my size)

ps I do desperately want one of those fames in the 650B* version.

Just a great looking practical frame. I especially love the fork.

Do you recon the wheelbase is too short to get a kids seat on the back?

#gettingbroody

*(my size)

I thought they advertised the same model to take both 26, 650b and 29er.
I dont think wheelbase will be a problem for a rear child seat. but it might be difficult to mount it high enough so that the kid won't have to have your ass all up in the face.

I know I've said this before, but on the whole I don't really see the point in not going for 10 speed unless there's a sensible reason not to. It is the current "standard".

Me too, I love the closer ratios, but then again, it's not a problem if you choose the correct cassette/chainring combo (i.e. for me, 13-26 46/30) where you can ride on the middle of the block where the ratios are the closet.

Plus, load of 10/11 speed chains break during the LEL, just sayin.

You could save a more by going 8 speed. But right now I doubt it would be a significant saving and you'll then have to either rely on the second hand market or use lower end components.

How? there's plenty of component available for 8 speed, even 7 speed is still very common.

Shimano Claris is a perfect example, a budget 8 speed groupset with double shift instead of those terrible thumb shift.

Ed, did you do the London-Edinburgh-London?

Yeah I did, was fun if a bit hard.

^^ cool. Glad it was good. One of my mates is making a film about it. I don't know if you saw him. He's the same guy that set up madegood.org

I'm looking forward to seeing what stories come out of it. Some of the top times sounded insaine.

The guy who came second/third, don't remember, the Brasillan, came into our shop. absolutely ruined a Pinarello Dogma in the process.

^^ cool. Glad it was good. One of my mates is making a film about it. I don't know if you saw him. He's the same guy that set up madegood.org

I notice, I managed to pass them when they were filming a recumbent rider in Scotland.

Just reading your blog thing. Sounds like a great experience.

It's amazing, I calculated I have 29 hours of non-riding time, and 15 hours of sleep altogether (including that 9 hours "nap").

Just to bring it back to the practical side, I just noticed this quite cheap trailer:

(clicky)

Why do they put the beds on the trailers so high? I can understand on a single wheeled trailer where the trailer needs to lean over but one a two wheeled trailer like that surely the lower the COG the better.

^^ who makes the above trailer?

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f151/mysisterthecop/785000D0-A1FB-45D6-9BE2-303D24006E68-3808-000002590669519F_zpsd9c5ea49.jpg

Getting a Nitto M18 front rack for the Peugeot 653. Just wondered what would be the best-fitting bag to go with it? Something with some kind of mounting points for racks maybe? Would rather not get a bar-mounted Ortlieb Ultimate as I like having some space on the bars (don't want to use the extender thing either).

Beware of how the bicycle will handle, I did the same with an SL Colnago road frame, steering was hard work with it.

Not much choice of bag I'm afraid beside the expensive kind.

Having said that, my Gilles Berthoud was a lots lighter than the Topeak quick-fix model.

On a related note, with those small front racks such as the Nitto M12 do you need to have either canti mounts or threaded mounting holes half way up the fork blade?

I'm looking at frames and am wondering whether:

a) I want one of these front rack and bag setups at all
b) I should buy a frame and fork with appropriate mounting points
c) I should buy any f+f and get a framebuilder to put threaded holes in