The Two Bicycles of Varonha.

Excellent bike. More write ups and this bike on the internet imo

Thank you very much.
I'm absolutely loving it, Winston did a fantastic job (especially as he was working off my very basic design brief).
Looking forward to longer days in the saddle (praying for a nice summer), can't wait for Jordan (bigxtop) to make my modded handlebar/rando bag, so my camera, and most importantly, snacks will be more accessible whilst riding.

Small piece of bike jewellery.

Torcx screw head to make this (even) fancier?

Nah, I'm quite happy with an allen bolt.

Excellent work by @jtrent90 (Bigxtop), my new handlebar bag.
Couple of mods over their 'stock' bag, coloured pocket panels (teal), and a pair of daisy chain elasticated webbing straps stitched to the underside (for my minimal rack to go through).
Bigxtop really does make some superb bags.

Nice! Excellent color for the bike!

I'm really chuffed with it, glad I asked for the coloured pockets.

Short n sweet ride this morning. Me n Mattnav both felt a little sluggish so opted for a later start (9 o'clock), lovely undulating 30 miles with a stop off for a brew at Wincle Brewery.
Gave me a chance to test out my new bag/rack set up, very pleased with it, plenty of room in the bag, maybe a bit overkill for a ride this short, but what'll hold a lot will hold a little. Just need to sort out a p clip bracket type affair to attach my light to the rack (I like not having any clutter on my handlebars).
I think this is my favourite bike I've built, definitely a keeper, just need to order some mudguards and it'll be sorted for all year round riding.
Still stuck on the fence of what to do with Winston bike 1, for now it can stay under the bed in a box, may end up selling it if my living situation plans come to fruition (possibly moving to a very small place, downsizing everything in life, hopefully giving up driving as my job, fingers crossed).
Anyway here's a pic of Winston 2 at Wincle Brewery.

Looks tidy! What's the rack thing?

Ta. It's one of these.
https://freshtripe.co.uk/tadah-id-sakka-304/

This is fantastic

Cheers very much!
Rides nice, I love it, other folk seem to get it, and are very complimentary about it. Quite often the positive comments come from Rapha wearing, carbon riding, Strava monsters out crushing it! Maybe they should get one, and chill a bit more when out riding rather than eating their handlebars chasing the ever elusive Kom segment.

10/10

Cheers pal, maybe 9.5, always room for improvement. ;)

Exciting to read of your possible future career path. Keep dipping in and out of your CP thread, mountain bikes are a bit off my radar,but I appreciate the quality of your work, but mainly I go for the short clips of your little one bossing this bike riding lark.
💜

Interesting. Pretty secure so far? Reckon that weight listed is accurate (450g)?

Seems ok after one ride, I've put leather washers either side of both struts to act as mini dampers (don't know if it makes any difference). I'm gonna get some Voile straps for the handlebar attachment, so I can cinch them tight.
Once I've got it spot on angle/height wise I'll put some thread lock on all the bolts and grub screws.
Don't know about the weight, I'll weigh it for you when I take it off to make final adjustments (it may be a bit lighter, I've chopped all the struts to make them as short as possible, whilst still supporting the full width of the bag).

No need to weigh it, thanks for the info though! Has me thinking about boding something similar out of old rack struts and such, but mostly as an excuse to not board out the loft/rip out the kitchen/actually ride bikes.

Out early this morning, partly due to being a pasty skinned, gingerish, shadow creeper (hence avoiding the higher temperatures that are inevitable today), but mainly due to my bastard neighbours deciding 5:15 am was the perfect time to have an argument, needn't have bothered setting an alarm.
Pan of porridge (with honey, peanut butter, and a handful of mixed seeds), two hot tasty beverages, out the door for 6:30.

Yowsers, it's already warm!

A gently undulating ride was the order of the day, no set route, but a couple of places I wanted to ride , can't normally ride these due to Mattnav owning a 'race' bike with tight clearances, I'm trying to convince him to have a second bike, he's slowly coming round to the idea.

Said places where Davenport Hall (near Brereton Heath) and the Macc Canal.

No idea how far I went, what my average speed was, or how much climbing (not much is a pretty accurate guess). Didn't give a shit, it was a beautiful morning, not many folk about.

Bit of wildlife spotting, but sadly no pics , I'm not quick enough with a camera.
1 hare
Many rabbits
8 buzzards (they're very common up here)
Lots of Canada geese
2 herons
And 1 massive carp (it may have been quite an average size carp, but I don't know about these things, so I'm using fisherman's hyperbole!)

Couple of bike pics and 1 of a bit of work being done on one of the ponds between two locks on the canal at Bosley.

Put some nicer tyres and it’ll transform your bike massively, like massively.

How does that rack work? Does it not move with the bag not having a rigid fixed mount on the handlebar?

Nowt wrong with these tyres Ed, but what would you suggest as 'nicer' tyres?
The rack seems to stay put pretty well, I pulled the bar straps pretty tight (so the bag doesn't really move much).
If I find it does move, it's a pretty simple fix to run a brace from the caliper mount/fork crown.
So farry, so goody.

such a lovely bike.

those panaracers are bit on the stiff side, if i remember right.

Maybe, not sure, they seem to roll ok, and I'm not willing to spend nearly £200 on a pair of tyres (compass/rene herse) to find out if these are stiff, for the mileage I do, these are fine.
And thanks, I love it, it's really a joy to ride.

Gravel King felt stiff and heavy compare to similar tyres, even WTB Horizon felt better and more supple, was a fan of GK when it was the only real alternative for not a lots of money.

Alternative is Vittoria Terreno Zero, Teravail Rampart and Pirelli Cinturato M to name but a few, all of them can be had for around £100 or less.

Rene Herse were amazing tyres until recently where the slightly less expensive option mentioned above mean I can get decent grip/feel for half the price to the point it doesn’t feel like I’m gonna get £100 better grip/feel by going for RH.

I have a pair of Horizons in the shed, they felt ok, but for some reason the sidewalls kept weeping sealant, maybe I didn't ride em enough or used the wrong sealant.
Had a pair of Ramparts (700c), just felt wooden.
I'm gonna wear these gks out before I spend more money on tyres, although I did enjoy the feel of Ultradynamico cavas, so if they ever come back in stock may give em a go in 650b flavour.