Marin

Currently unrideable. It has no cranks (they were sold with my BTwin) and the derailleur has too much play causing the gears to skip under load. New cranks will be sourced from Mystery Bike No. 1 (see below) or I'll use those polished Shimano ones from up the thread. The derailleur has play because the hanger bolt has a little collar that is just slightly proud of the surrounding bit, which is the part that tightens down to remove the play. Need either a really big washer or to file a bit off the bolt. Or I'll nick one off Mystery Bike No. 1.

This is clearer in a picture:

You can see the shoulder of the bolt protrudes further than the surrounding plastic collar thing.

It will get a disc front wheel:

That's a 1" threaded disc fork! The threads need extending though so I'll have to take it to a shop for that. I'll talk to the guys there about getting a disc brazed on to the rear as well...

I found a spare 26" disc wheel at home so that will do for now, but eventually it will also get an ultra-budget dynamo setup if/when I save up the cash, as I'm sick of dealing with my USB lights that constantly go flat.

Sadly that means that I will no longer be using the Maguras 😢 I love them though, so I'll find another use for them. I will be using the brakes off Mystery Bike No. 1.

Mystery Bike No. 1

Rideable, with caveats. I picked this up today... for £20! Thanks to some passing neds who felt like kicking something it had a totally busted rear wheel and the big ring was buggered. Removed that ring and swapped in a spare rear wheel and it's rideable. However, the chain, cassette, chainring are all pretty dodgy, and as is the case with all hybrids, the front suspension has died, presumably within 20 minutes of it leaving the shop, resulting in 2kg of worthless extra weight. Mainly I bought it for the brakes and bits of the drivetrain (it's SRAM 10-speed, like all my other stuff).

I don't know what will happen to the frame. I might donate it to a friend to build up a commuter - it's really quite decent with clearance for like 29"×2", rack eyelets, disk brakes, etc. - could build up to something Arkose-like although the geo will be strange. It needs a new fork but it shouldn't be too hard to find something that fits. My only concern is that it might have been damaged somehow in the Great Kicking - thorough checkover needed.

Cranks to Marin (probably)
Brakes to Marin
Rear derailleur to Marin
Tyres and tubes stored away somewhere
Might use the rear hub to build a 650b wheel
Stem, front derailleur and shifter will be saved as options for Mystery Bike No. 2.

Mystery Bike No. 2

This is a Christmas/birthday present for my girlfriend :)

I am hoping that eventually - maybe summer - we can go touring together (to France or somewhere). But it may end up being a commuter, depending on what happens when she gets a job, so I'm wary of making it too nice. It would be really upsetting if it was stolen.

It will be getting 650bs and 1×10 SRAM which will hopefully make for a nice newbie-friendly setup. I think you can't go wrong with a CdF for a first proper bike. For now it's going to have to get these crappy MTB wheels until I get a chance to build up some decent ones for her - I have rims and front hub, just need to collect together £50 for the rear one. I also wanted to do a respray but I think I might wait until after Christmas so that we can do that together - it seems a waste to pick the colours for her when she could have exactly what she wants instead. But in the back of my mind I'm thinking a blue to pink fade. Coincidentally @zigbit has already done almost exactly what I was thinking:

Kona

Currently unrideable. This is in bits at the moment. The shifters were sacrificed to complete my Giant (below), so it's going back to bar ends. It also has this fancy new carbon fork - I've had it sat around for a couple of months now, but I needed to get some new bolts and get a matching crown race sorted. The old fork has got a Blackburn Outpost rack on it. So I'll have two options - steel fork + rack for touring, or carbon fork for gravelly CX bikepacking buzzword trips.

The 1×, 650b setup on this bike has been sacrificed for my girlfriend's bike. I will have to make do with a double and 700c × 30mm until I build up those extra 650b wheels and buy another 11-42 cassette.

However, I did try a 26" × 2.35" tyre in the (steel) fork and it fits easily! So I might try that for a laugh. 650b is dead.

Giant

Finished this, rode it up Sa Calobra, all good. It has awful wheels - even worse than the ones in this picture - but I can't really justify new ones given how rarely I have the opportunity to ride it. I really have very little interest in proper road bikes it seems, at least in the UK...

Having said that, I have mentally committed to doing a triathlon next year - ultimate goal being an Iron Man in a few years - so I would like to come up with a solution for a convertible TT setup for this. In theory I would use something like the Ritchey Breakaway cable connector things, so I would just detach cables, swap over the base bar/drop bars (maybe stem as well depending on position), reattach cables. Indexing etc. should be the same between the two in theory. Unfortunately the Breakaway cable connectors cost £10 each (AFAIK) so that's £40 for the four cables, and what's more I would need a set for each bar, so that's not an option given my severe lack of income. However, I do have clip-on aero bars and TT500 shifters and brake levers in the spares box waiting.

Fixie

Rideable. This is all good aside from two things. One, it ripped my ancient Lidl shoes in half the other day:

Two, it's filling up with water due to the open seat post. This is a problem as it's the only bike I can ride around town, which in turn is the only way I have of earning any money (yes, I've submitted my PhD in astrophysics and am now working for Deliveroo. Amazing.). I'm going to drill a hole in the BB once my friend is able to lend me his drill.

MTB

Rideable. Nothing big here but it got wider bars and some High Rollers. I am doing Strathpuffer so wanted something a bit more aggressive than my X-Kings, without investing in something that is useless 98% of the year (like ice tyres). So hopefully these are just barely good enough to get me round at Strathpuffer and not incredibly slow in the summer and uphill.

Only concern with this is that the frame is dented. The tubes are really thin aluminium. I will have to replace it with something else eventually.

PS. I live about 5 miles (along a towpath) from where this picture was taken yesterday, I really should get out on this bike more often.

Okay, that's it. 7 bikes, most of them half-broken, most of them made out of cheap second hand bits, at least 2 of them being moved along sooner or later.

Edit: forgot to add, list of wheels I need to build up - I have all the rims and a few hubs, but the Novatecs are too expensive for me right now

• 26" dynamo wheel for Marin
  
• probably will build a matching 26" rear
  
• 2× 650b WTB KOM, 32h, probably with Novatec D041/2SB because they come in silver and cheap
  
• 2× 650b Mavic something or other, 32h, with Novatec D791/2SB for my girlfriend
  
• 650b Mavic something or other, 36h, on that Shimano coaster hub
  

Pentlands?

Yup! Want to do the Skyline route one day but yesterday we were barely able to get up any inclines due to all the mud

Told you I’ve got some budget wheels you can have for free for this if you fancy

That would be great awesome, it's just getting down to London that's the problem. I could pop down for a day trip from Birmingham over Christmas, or will you be elsewhere?

7 bikes, most of them half-broken, most of them made out of cheap second hand bits

Sounds familiar

Yep. I think I might be a hoarder

Edit:

Compulsive hoarding, also known as hoarding disorder, is a behavioral pattern characterized by excessive acquisition of and an inability or unwillingness to discard large quantities of objects that cover the living areas of the home and cause significant distress or impairment. Compulsive hoarding behavior has been associated with health risks, impaired functioning, economic burden, and adverse effects on friends and family members. When clinically significant enough to impair functioning, hoarding can prevent typical uses of space [...] Compulsive hoarders may be aware of their irrational behavior, but the emotional attachment to the hoarded objects far exceeds the motive to discard the items.

Oh no

High Rollers [...] hopefully not incredibly slow

They're pretty damn slow.

High Rollers are incredibly slow.
Get some nobby nics instead.

I noticed they were pretty slow, yeah. Compared to the X-Kings they are dead heavy. But they were only £50 for the set, and they've got big knobs, and I was fairly sure they'd fit (being 2.3"), so they will have to do for now

Edit: Actually "slow" is probably the wrong word - what I want is something that is moderately okay most of the time, whether I'm on single-track, at a trail center, riding round the park, etc.

My bikes are getting weird again

Kona has the carbon fork on

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Marin rides again - here's a bunch of photos

I think:

• maybe a black NW ring
  
• sort out mudguards
  
• get the matching front tyre back on
  
  

Dynamo parts are on the way so I'll get that done eventually.

Not sure what I'm going to do with the front rack as this fork doesn't have the bosses for it... Might need a bodge solution

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It needs a major clean, got a load of gunge on it that has probably been there decades...

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You can get racks that attach to Cantilever bosses I think. Might be an option. Interested to know how the forks feel, although for £25 I might just take a punt

I'm pretty impressed actually! I went on a little test ride and jammed them on pretty hard and it stops relatively quickly. But I'll give it a proper ride around town tomorrow, slam the front brakes on down some hills and so on and see how it goes.

Don't forget you'll have to get them threaded/cut down properly to match your headtube - with £8 delivery and threading it's actually cost me more than £50 for the fork. Wondering if I should have spent that on a better frameset instead...

Also I do have one of those canti mount racks, but unfortunately it doesn't quite fit the bag I want to use on the bike. Will have to come up with something

What’s the rear tyre on your Marin? Is it a roady tanwall 26” or just a bald knobbly?

City Jet 2"ish. I really, really rate them for the price - I got a pair for under £20 on eBay - check back through the previous page or two

Edit: e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SCHWALBE-26-X1-95-CITY-JET-PAIR-SLICK-MOUNTAIN-BIKE-TYRES-X2-GUM-WALL/123507031140?epid=1158812933&hash=item1cc197bc64:g:88EAAOSwb8Bb9~lS

Glad that it's been an inspiration! Can't go wrong with the Spray.bike cans. Seeing that photo reminds me that I need to get the fork dynamo wiring internally routed.

Bwahey! Cheers.