The Two Bicycles of Varonha.

outside chance of a frameset

Dibs the pink one

Noted.

Having a bit of a rethink about handlebars on both Winston bikes.
Winston 1, currently Salsa Cowbells 46cm, like the reach, drop and shape, but prefer the flare of the Ritchey Venturemax previously used.
Winston 2, currently Nitto m137ssb gravel bars 49cm at the levers, love the styling and quality, unfortunately too much reach and a bit too much drop. Reach could be sorted with a shorter stem, but then that makes 'on the flats/tops' too upright for my liking.

So in conclusion, my ideal bar would be the offspring of Cowbell and Venturemax bars.
Some browsing to be done this evening.
Also means two more bars to go in the classifieds.

but prefer the flare

I am gonna do this to a set of Ritchey Neo Classics to get the drop + flare I crave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z73cm-IefG4

Yeah, I've seen that, don't think I'm keen on having a go myself. I'd rather pass on the bars I have and find a replacement, which just having a quick Google search looks like the Salsa Cowchipper fits the bill nicely, same drop n reach as cowbell, with the flare of the Ritcheys.
Good luck bending your bars, that's another video to post on your channel.

I had cowchippers but liked Cowbells more!

I like em, but love the extra flare of the Ritcheys, especially when descending in the drops. (Shit gravel grinders say here I come).

What size cowchipper are you after? Did have some in the cellar from the Black Mountain, not sure if I moved them on.

Oh god! Enter the never ending bike cellar.
Erm, probably 46 like the cowbells and Ritcheys, preferably in silver.
What ya got?

They were definitely black. Will have a look later.

Gimme a shout on your findings, if I find some in silver this evening I'll grab them, save you having to wade through endless boxes of bicycle parts.
Ta

Tis ok, no need to venture into the abyss, found them in silver.
Cheers for the offer though.

Cool. The ones here are 50/52cm. Pain getting them out of the cellar/front door when on a bike.

Is that 52 at the levers or at the ends?
Similar with the Ritcheys, they're about that at the ends, my shed has a very narrow door, I've now perfected the lift and turn manoeuvre so nowt gets damaged.

Levers.

Ah. They'd be too wide anyway, 46 at the levers is bout right for me.

What a beautiful morning!

Well, it started out that way. Hadn't been out 5mins and me n Mattnav were taking shelter under a tree from quite a drenching. As quick as the wetness came, it was gone.
Onwards.
Took the lanes out of Congleton towards Swettenham, then Marton. Down to Oakgreave, up to Sutton, up Ridge Lane and Hanging Gate, down to Wincle.

Bollocks! Too early, bloody brewery doesn't open til 10, thankfully they supply a bench, and the sun was warming us as we sat chatting about our respective week's events. The staff rocked up just before 10, two brews (milk, no sugar, bag left in please) and a shared slice of lemon drizzle cake, spot well and truly hit. Off again.

Idle chatting on our way down to Rushton, I have the green light to build Matt a more suitable bicycle (mudguards, wider tyres, blah blah blah).
Up to Cloudside, down to Timbersbrook, back through town, up to Matt's, quick measure of his current bike whilst he made us a brew.

And home.

Excellent!

Lovely! Gonna head out tomorrow morning now and do the same.

Your photography is improving lately.
Daylight is your friend...

Enjoy your ride. And, ta.

I am glad I am not the only one! Today I re-wrapped one side since the left hood was not in same position as the right one, and guess what? It was super easy and fast. Still not sure if it really is finally finished already.

@jontea lovely bike! Great fender game.

Cheers very much.

I use to hate fitting mudguards (probably because I was using SKS ones, no real option to re-radius), but find it quite calming/therapeutic now.

Building a bike for a friend is quite possibly more stressful than building one for yourself.
Fingers crossed I've given sage advice, he seems to be excited about it, so that's a good start.
Just waiting for parts to start turning up, then I get to build it, probably the least stressful part of the whole process.

We haven't had a discussion about the two most important elements of any bike build yet, bar tape colour and which bottle cages!

Building a bike for a friend is quite possibly more stressful than building one for yourself.

It is. And then you're on the hook for "it has this annoying clicking sound" and "do you think it could have lower gears" until the end of time.

Or it's built with drops and then 'oh could it just be changed to flat bars?'

Ha, thankfully I tend to not build clicking bikes. Gears are lower than what he has now, going from 34/28 to 33/34 for the hills.
He cycles already and loves his drop bars so we're good on that front too.