Gravel / Gravé / Gnarmac / Groad / ATB

Guaranteed for life !

Give in to it

And sell me those wheels :-)

No cycle to work running at my place........at the moment!

I’ve been riding Ti frames for the past twenty years, have never had one crack.

You’ve gone and said it now!

My belief system is not based on the superstition that if I say something I’m tempting fate. :-)

Anyway, should one of my frames crack, I’d say one failure in twenty years is pretty good.

Hammered my lynskey over flanders and roubaix last year and if it was going to fail it would of been then.

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Just jokes....

I’m a big lump and am enjoying smashing about on a 1995 Marin team ti with full confidence!

There, I’ve said it now too! ;0)

Anyone ridden a cannondale topstone yet? Toying with getting the sora version and upgrading bits over time. Already got a nice hope wheelset for it...

On paper it look good, but expensive compare to Arkose/Ribble

Took the CGR 725 for a proper ride yesterday, 50km of mixed terrain more than half of it off-road.
The bike felt superb, much better than I could have imagined. (This is my 1st steel bike).
Never felt slow or harsh. Still getting used to the clunky SRAM shifting system.
I might shorten the stem and quite fancy some flared bars as well.
Next I need to go shopping for a couple of bags (probably top tube or handlebars, and a medium/large saddle one).
Sadly I had to do a puncture repair and getting the beading of that brand new WTN Ranger tyre was a nightmare.
Q: is that a common problem with tubeless-ready tyres and rims?

A: Yes. Bead/Rim has to seal. Some combinations are really hard to get off.

Seems a really nice bike, that.

Sadly I had to do a puncture repair and getting the beading of that brand new WTN Ranger tyre was a nightmare.

The rims wall is a shallower than a conventional rims, so you'll need to push the tyres bead all the way into the middle of the rims to be able to remove them with less effort.

Next I need to go shopping for a couple of bags (probably top tube or handlebars, and a medium/large saddle one).

I'd go for the stem bag and/or bar bag, they're much more practical than you'd think, handy for small stuff like cameras and money.

https://www.mackworkshop.com/collections/bikepacking/products/stem-bag

https://www.mackworkshop.com/products/bar-bag?variant=16908780871

Maybe the wrong thread but...

Anyone know if I’d get a 52/36 on this frame?

Sure I read something about the stays being quite flared.

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If you want to try stem bags @EagleEyez, there's some cheap one from decathlon :
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/fabric-bottle-cage-id_8487122.html

Very happy with it, basic, cheap, good enough for the price, I don't think i'll upgrade this

I've got WTB Cross Boss in WTB rims. It's incredibly tight and an absolute hell to get out of the rim. On the plus side I got almost no burping.
Other brands aren't nearly as hard to mount, never had a problem with Hutchinson or Schwalbe

You want hard to fit, buy challenge. I’ve just had my LBS fit a new tube after (yet again) ripping a tube trying to replace after a puncture. I’m on about a 30% ham-fist rate with these tyres. GP4000 it was 0%

How much does two extra teeth add to the diameter of the chainring? It can’t be much more than a millimetre or two? I’d chance it.

1"/π, which is just over 8mm.

Couldn’t recommend Mack, service is appalling at best. Products are good though which is just frustrating.

Thanks for the suggestions.
I'll check them out. So many different types of bags and niche brands these days.

Mack workshop did his first rando bag for me. I should've given him more details about what I wanted, that's another story, but the bag is nice and very well made. Not like the swift I've got, but they've done a few.
We agreed on price before production and when the bag was done he said that the hours put into it was a lot more than I paid. Offered him to balance the price but he refused.
Pretty good guy in my book.

Could you elaborate on the service you got from him?

Talking of hard to fit, put some G-Ones on with tubes last night....lots of swearing involved