MF's (not actually that) Niche Fleet

Nice! Ross does great stuff. Currently have a frame bag on my fixed and just ordered one for my road bike as well as a saddle bag.

Sounds awesome!

I have one of his bolt in full frame jobs on the Pipedream (with a removable divider and orange lining) which never comes off so it was a no-brainer to get one from him for the Pugs. Fantastic gear and I'm much happier giving my monies to a small independent that one of the big brands where possible.

(Shit Fixie Skidders Say thread here I come)

Not done anything major on the bikes of late (been riding them for once!) but changed the old grips on the Pugs for some new ESI Chunky XXLs.

ESI still haven’t sorted the ‘black’ colourway (more grey still) but hey ho.

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Some small updates of late:

1. Finally sourced some 26x3in Knards for the Pugs. Pinched the tube fitting them (idiot) and took ages to fix the puncture. Haven’t ridden it since. Soon though.
   
2. Found a Purple Hope crankset for the Pipedream, to free up the XT setup for my eldests new full suss build. Win win. Keen as a bean to get those in.
   
   

Started running more as I realised I quite like the social aspect of cycling. Seems group rides are starting to come back to hopefully I’ll get out with the club in due course.

Might be overkill on the purple - but to hell with it. Fitted the Hope crankset and a new purple Hope BB - went in like a dream and spins for days. Excuse the potato quality from iPhone camera. Dead chuffed!

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Nope still not enough purple!
You have purple shoes right?

£300 LA Lakers edition Nike Air Max with homemade cleat plates drilled into the soles...

Nah, but when Hope make shoes, my wallet will be a good amount lighter!

Managed to stuff a pair of 27.5 x 2.8 Mountain Kings in the Pipedream ready for a trip to Bikepark Wales next week.

This has to be about the most versatile bike I’ve ever owned - from a road bike I’ve done a century on, to a rigid plus mid-fat trail bike in a change of tyres. Mad.

Looking fucking epic on big rubber too!

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Was reading @Maj's majestic BlueSlug CP thread and figured my own was due an update.

The garage currently contains 2 of the same bikes as before, and 2 new ones:

1. Pipedream ALICE - wonderful bike, still very much here. Slightly devoid of a purpose due to lack of commuting but I love this thing. Also using Revelate Pogies due to cold hands, absolute game changer. Oh, and added a dynamo hub and SON lights.

2. Ridley Arena 7005 - for the times I fancy speed at the expense of literally everything else you might want in a bike.

3. Ragley Mmmbop - enjoyed rediscovering proper mountain biking on the Pugs so much that I sold it on and bought a proper hardcore hardtail and embraced the 'long, low, slack' life. Running Fox 36's at 150mm and was using it for nighttime smashes around the woods with some mates before lockdown

4. Squid So-Ez - kind of an impulse purchase, although I'd been facying one for a while. Bought as an F&F and added some Ritchey carbon flatbars, a Sram crankset and Surly Ultra New hubs on 29er Velocity Blunt rims. 42mm Gravel King tyres.

Will add pics as I find/take them. One of the Alice (without pogies) below.

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Top thread.

Doing a bit of a resurrection of this as yet another new bike makes it's way in, and I realise I haven't covered off at least the past 3 bikes on the thread!

1. Squid So-Ez (gone):
   Had this set up as a fixed/disc 'gravel'-esque thing. Worked really rather well, but had too much functional overlap between my Ridley Arena and my Stooge Mk4 so sold it on.

2. Ridley Arena (gone):
   C2W bike from a couple of years ago. Really enjoyed it for short blasts, frighteningly stiff and lack of brake mount made it pretty unusable for anything more than that. Still put several thousand KMs on it in a little over 2 years and sold on around 6 months ago.

3. Pipedream ALICE (gone):
   Loved this thing, but had no purpose since commuting ended and given I only do 1 'bikepacking' trip a year it was redundant. A real shame to sell but was replaced with:

4. Stooge Mk4 (in):
   Bought as an experiment, successful in every way. Eventual replacement for the ALICE. I have spammed this in the SSMTBs thread but currently running Enve/CK 27.5 wheels, 32x20 drivetrain and Hope kit.

5. Ragley Mmmbop (gone):
   Great bike, a bit stiff at the rear (ooh err missus) and replaced with the Alpine Five for more squish/forgiveness to cover up my routinely poor line choice.

6. Orange Alpine Five (in):
   Bought as a frame and shock in October and build up from there, used to keep up with my faster mates in the woods and replaced the Mmmbop. Always wanted a Five but haven't gelled with it, and now the eldest has a Patriot that fits me too, which I can use for full-suss days. Due to be picked up next week.

7. Orange Patriot (in:)
   First 'big' bike for the eldest. Phenomenal thing, covered in Hope, Fox Van RC rear coil, Lyrik up front. A few years old now, but all the descent smashing fun anyone could want in a big full suss.

Current state of the garage is:

1. Stooge Mk4
   
2. Orange Alpine Five
   
3. Orange Patriot
   
   

Pics when I can be bothered to find/take/upload.

Starting finding photos - aiming to run through the list above.

Starting with the Squid in tracklocross build, and latterly in a more 'gravel' spec:

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Next the Ridley. Many fast and uncomfortable miles spent on this one!

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A previously unseen photo of the Pipedream when I rode it from home (South Devon) to Lands End in a oner...

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My Stooge. Best bike I've ever been lucky enough to own. This pic is of me racing the final round of my local CX series on it in January. Running 32x20.

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Mmmbop - before I splashed out on the Enve wheels now on the Stooge...

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Alpine Five. Dream bike since having a poster of Steve Peat on my wall as a teen, haven't gelled with it, which is a great shame.

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So good! Do you have a close up of the cockpit? What clip-on bars did you use?

Patriot. Not exactly a glamour shot, but you get the idea.

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I don't but it's the same set up which you can see a bit clearer here on my old 1x1.

Profile Design aero bars with the extensions running under the loop of the Jones bar and then using the S bend to bring them back up in front.

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Very smart, straight into the inspiration folder. Cheers!

In a Oner, non stop?

Get some more MK4 pics up. Only ever had a MK1 but it was nice. I do fancy trying to find a used MK4.

non stop?

Other than eating, drinking and peeing, yes. Another one of the Mk4 attached, back when it was 1x11 and had a dropper. WIll try and upload a more current photo shortly...

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This one was from the East Devon Trail ride I did a few weeks back, again in a oner...

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Why did you ditch the dropper?

Do you know Matt Lakin. I loved what he was doing on his Mk4. He let me have a little go on his dirtbomb last year as well.