AlexD's modest array of bikes

What do you mean by thumbie and indexed bar shifter? (Im Probably being dim here). I did think about an indexed thumb shifter - I though she might find that harder than a 2 lever style shifter though.

Yeah just an indexed thumb shifter really.
Thumbies is just the name of the expensive Paul ones but basically just a handlebar mounted adapter that allows you to use bar end shifters, the likes of which are found on touring bikes and TT bikes

I though she might find that harder than a 2 lever style shifter though.

Yes possibly tricky for little hands

Ahhh, gotcha! Yeah I think she’d struggle a little operating that easily. I’m going to see if I can pick up one of the Altus shifters. Or maybe move to 8 speed or SRAM 7 speed - seems easier to find decent quality components for both. But I imagine I’ll end up spending way more than I need to for what should be a simple shifter swap!

Then I’m initiating an incremental increase of seatpost height. I think she needs it a fair bit higher but she wants to be able to put her feet down easily. I reckon 5mm per day till she looks like her legs are extending about right :-)

@AlexD I think I have a 7 speed shifter you can have. Bike looks sick

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That’s ruddy perfect, mate. Exactly what I’m after!

Was just about to take the Giant out on a ride - on a whim I thought I’d check the front brakes so gave them a good squeeze and this happened! On the up side, I’d much rather explosive brake failure happen in my kitchen than while shredding an radical gnarly descent.

I was deliberating swapping the cantis out with some mini-vs so this has at least forced me into making a decision.

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More positive news is that @bobble sorted me right out with a shifter for the Charge!

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26” though? So full V might be needed for clearance

I offered them up and they seemed to clear so 🤞
They’re not huge tyres (1.9 or something), but I’m sure once I’ve taken the existing brakes off, then installed the vs, that they’ll magically go from being fine to not being fine :-)

I didn’t take any thrilling in-progress shots as I was too busy trying to not spill mineral oil everywhere, but I upgraded the Genesis to hydro. I’ve never even bled hydro brakes before, but it turned out to be easier than expected. Glad I went with the 685 levers over whatever the 105 level hydro/mechanical 11 speed levers - these basically look the same as the ultegra levers I had before whereas the 105 ones are super ugly! Hoods feel a bit chunkier than the old levers, but i don’t mind that at all. Braking is such an improvement! Wasn’t able to properly put them through their paces this morning, but I can already tell there’s so much more braking power to lever grabbiness ratio going on. Just need to sort a rubbing front rotor. Such a horrible sound.

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Got a 785 brake up front - managed to snag an unused one for peanuts. Couldn’t find another one so bought a cheap new Acera or whatever for the back. I imagine I’ll not be able to tell the difference.

I was scared of stripping the threads so hopefully I’ve got the hose nuts screwed in enough! I did notice a little bit of fluid on the calliper just now, but it looks like it’s come from the bleed valve (you can see where it was nearly falling off in the picture). I think it still had a bit of fluid behind the rubber bung and that’s come out. Tightened the valve screw a bit more and properly cleaned off the fluid and I’ll keep an eye on it.

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Quickly whacked the new shifter on Leila’s bike while the girls were eating sandwiches. She had a try and declared it to be lots and lots easier than the grip shifter - touch wood the same is true when she’s riding it. Probably more chuffed with this upgrade than anything on any of my bikes :-)

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I’d have a tiny carbon seatpost on that, a Thomson stem, carbon risers
Probably just as well I don’t have kids

Stopppppp! Seemed silly to have a pair of spyres sat in a box when this bike had some crappy Promax whatevers.

Definitely not looking at nice kids cranks and a better stem....

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I’m pretty sure I’ve got some new, unbranded Chinese carbon risers lying around somewhere.
I wouldn’t trust them on a MTB but they’d be fine on a kids bike.
You can has?

How wide are they? And clamp size? I assume existing stem clamp is 26mm but I’ll probably get a 31.8mm stem anyway. Id be up for taking them off your hands, but I’m Bristol (happy to pay postage though obvs)

They’re silly wide, you’d have to cut them down I suspect.
31.8mm

:)

Edit: found them. Couple scuffs from storage but otherwise never used

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And so it begins.....

@AlexD do it

Having whacked the mini vs on, I think I’ll just go back to cantis. Can’t work out a satisfactory way to route the cables, not much clearance over the tyre (as you said), don’t like the feel of them, don’t like the look of them. I’d rather have brakes that don’t work very well :-)

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Cantis can be okay! You have kool stop salmons?

No, but proper pads is something I intend to do with cantis 2.0
Are they what I should be getting them?

Yes. I actually have the cross pad holders so I can use road calliper pads. Swiss stop worked well too.

Feel you, mini-Vs don't work well with 26" tbh. But on my 28" hybrid they are just glorious and I couldn't go back to cantis.
Proper pads matter a lot though, Swiss is great, but my go-to method is Kool-Stop all the way.