Goodbye gravel bike, hello recumbent

The shorteners are good, but they are definitely not for weight weenies.

I would also definitely recommend straps for the rear.

Our longest ride is maybe 25 miles or so, they complain about the saddle more than anything

That explains why there were straps on the rear on mine too. My wife wasn't too happy with them so I immediately binned them. Guess I will have to dive in now and retrieve them.

Came across these lovely Groovy Luv handle bars on a local forum a couple of days ago and immediately jumped on them. I had planned on using both for the tandem, but when I reached out to the seller one of them was already sold. I did purchase the remaining (steel) one, only to come to the conclusion that there is now way to fit it to the single bolt stem I had just purchased for the tandem. So change of plans, the bars are now on my fatbike.

I was planning on upgrading some bits on the red Bike Friday tandem and giving it a fresh coat of paint. Then this came up for sale. It was priced reasonably for what it is and seemed like a great way do the refurb, without loosing the ability to ride a tandem.

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So what's the deal, you just change the top and bottom frame tubes and make it as long or as short as you like? Cool!

I don't know to be honest, but I guess that is how it works. Will see how it works when (and if) it turns up.

Picked up this amazing piece of engineering tonight. It's a Rotor RS4 crankset. Crazy heavy and does all sorts of crazy stuff. I will try and shoot a short film tomorrow to show how it works.

Thinking of putting it on the Kestrel. I also have non aero chainrings to go with it, which will probably look better.

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Some updates to the fat bike. Added some weight on the bars. Spared some on the pedals. Also added some comfort.

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Frame bag in the making thanks to @Tijmen. He will also be doing a set of panniers if all goes well.

New wheel day. Purchased recently on Ebay for a steal at 150 euro. They seem to be in good condition. Fitting the tires with Effetto was super easy.

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I bought a new child seat from Mac Ride. Price is rather outrageous, but it works like charm. My kid was instantly in love with it and it goes on and off in under a minute.

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Just seen this over on another forum https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/something-a-little-different-cougar-allsop-softride-tt-bike-with-aerospoke-wheels.432133/

My word, this thread is absolute 🔥

I know many months back, but did you get the slack as a Yak Merckx?

And what became of the mini velo?

No backpacking just yet

I haven't done any bikepacking yet wit the new bag, but it came in handy on a trip with the little one (babypacking?).

Also convinced the misses she needed a mountainbike.

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I didn't make an offer on the Merckx in the end. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't figure out if I would be able to fit it.

The mini velo is still in my bike shed. Haven't used it a lot though. I did convince me to buy a Bike Friday tandem. Haven't used that a lot either. I may have to many bike to ride and build right now...

Nice! A bit too small though I am afraid.

It has been ages since I updated this thread. In the meantime my bike inventory has gone all over the place.

At one point I decided I wanted to spend more time riding bikes, instead of building and hoarding them. To make that happen, I got out of road biking and focussed solely on mountain biking. I also ditched all my 'just for the fun of it' bikes. As a consequence I sold all off all the bikes from the previous pages. Somewhere along the line my passion for everything odd and unusual got the better of me though: I once again have too many bikes and not enough time to ride them.

My main bike right now is a rather funky Koga Y-tec Superwinner. I bought the frame for next to nothing and spent way too much time hunting down period correct Ultegra parts. It rides surprisingly well, but hasn't really grown on me just yet. For some reason it just doesn't feel retro enough, which I was expecting.

Other bike projects currently in my shed are a weight weenie mountain bike, a sort of vintage weight weenie road bike and a Bike Friday triple tandem. More on those when I make more progress on them.

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This is such an amazing thread, good you're back at it! The superwinner in the catalog is looking more retro to me with the tan walls and bar tape but other than thats yours looks very good and in a superb condition.

You are probably right. I did consider tan sidewalls, but wasn’t sure if they would be a good match with the red ano rims.

Glad to see you back. Love this thread. Mad to think it’s been 2 years.

Weight weenie mountainbike is starting to take shape.

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:(

I am a sucker for weird handlebars. This one has been on my handelbar wish list for some time now. It is a German built Haero weighing in at just 160 grams. Width is rather conservative at 68 cm.

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Wait, did you get rid of the green fat bike thing? Sad times!