N-8 reshuffle

Pm'd you.

So the Spooky has been despatched back to the QC shy Americans and I have my refund. I'm about £250 down due to exchange rate changes, import duties and other fees with nothing but a 4 month period without a frame to show for it, but hey, worse happens at sea. No one died.

So this week I've been spending a lot of time deciding what I want to replace it with. The main contenders were:

Another Stanton Sherpa built with drops
Mason Bokeh
All City Cosmic Stallion
All City Gorilla Monsoon
Surly Midnight Special
Something from Salsa (they have a few options)
3T Exploro
An Independent Fabrication Gravel Royale that briefly appeared on eBay this week
Mason ISO
Pocketing the cash and spending it on cider

I ideally wanted something off the shelf as I'm sick of waiting for a frame. It's Spring and pretty much my fave time of the year to be bombing around bridleways and single track on a drop bar bike.

Without boring you to death with the to-ing and fro-ing of my indecision, I've decided to go for the Midnight Special as it'll fit the bulk of the stuff that got stripped from my Victoire and it will give me the most distinctly different bike to what I already own. The purpose of going from 14 to 6 was to minimise the overlap. A drop bar Stanton would be crazy fun, but not that different to the riser bar version I already own and love.

The new Spooky owners are a bit shitty. They’re using logos that were not part of the IP purchase and they have not paid for.

An inspired choice ;)
Are you gonna keep the fork or stick something a little lighter on it?

Will keep the fork initially just for budget reasons, but will probably be on the look out for something less hefty/eyesorey. Will see how I get on with it. They won't sell it without the fork, so might as well use it to start with.

@Eeyorecore I didn't know that. Where did you hear about that? Seems a bit naughty if true.

Love Surlys, I own two. If I were in the market for a disc braked bike, a Midnight Special would be my choice, hefty, ugly fork or not.
Thrash it around for a while then get it done in nappy shit beige!

This is what I'm thinking. Done are my days of being too precious over jewellery bikes. Will give it some tough love, use it lots and enjoy the ride more than the bike itself.

From Micky the ex-owner of Spooky.

Give me a shout if you want an Exploro.

Hey Rob. Dismissed the 3T. Didn't really want carbon for starters, but also decided that I want to avoid proprietary seatposts and clamps etc. Thanks though.

Even a cheap one?

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/323580/

Hmmm, naughty boys. Think I've dodged a bullet by being able to return the Gas Mask.

So, ordered the midnight special from my LBS. Been collating the parts. Largely bits from my Victoire build, but I've also managed to get a 650b wheelset including tyres, cassette, rotors etc and the surly frameset with significant change from my spooky refund. Happy days.

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Been deliberating that for a while. Merlin also have heavy discounts on new Rival builds, but in the end I decided the Exploro was not for me. Surly FTW.

Looking forward to seeing this built up, first Midnight Special build on the forum?

Me too. I doubt it's the first. There was one posted in the general surly thread, but not sure if it was a "readers" or not.

Short spin on my roadie this morning. I like it...

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...but all ride I was thinking...

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I saw your segment timings in bedgebury and had a little cry ..

Ha, thanks. Never really opened up the taps properly on the separate sections there. But I'm quite local to it so ride it quite regularly.

Crude pic from LBS mechanic. Nearly there. Obviously needs to be cabled, taped etc and the seat lowered but it's looking preffy fun times me thinks. Waiting on some compressionless brake outer arriving tomorrow to complete the job. Then the chuckles can commence.

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Yes! Can't wait to see this properly

Picked it up from the LBS this lunchtime. Can't wait to get it dusty (hopefully this evening). Will get some proper pics once in the wild. But mega chuffed with it.

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Handsome!

Looks massive in a great way!

It looks rowdy - a term of endearment that's particularly popular on here right now