Most recent activity
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Also reassuring seeing your saddle height - I thought for a while that my frame was too small and my seat post was outrageous, but maybe that's just the bike
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I really love the paint on this - a sort of metallic red that's almost like those nice coloured lacquer jobs you see on Bromptons and others
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@dicki This is lovely - have defo seen yours around the internet before. What ratio do you run it SS? This will probably serve as commuter at some point so would be keen to try it on one gear.
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let me know if Sacredheart doesn't take these!
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More updates coming...
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Thanks! Was actually trying to find your previous comment to tag you here
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This is definitely the bike I've done the least to but the most with. Unlocking new experiences of the peak district, away from fast road rides on the Aende or silly "tracklocross" on the Surly, the spirit of gravel was here.
With its mountain bike geometry and 27.5 wheels, the voodoo rips on bumpy peak trails and I love sloshing around in gritty mud and dodging pointy rocks on hills.
Climbing off road is great on this - something about sitting quite far back over the rear wheel and the higher front end just feels good for a rough steep burst.Desperate for more of this sort of riding, I tagged along with the Peak Gravel Gang, a loosely organised monthly ride in the peaks with staring points that alternate around different peak-adjacent towns. Finding new routes and ways of riding was great, but I think I only managed 2 rides, due partly to many of them starting in places I couldn't easily get to without a car, and partly to my own hectic routines.
Having always wanted to go bikepacking, I started to strap things to the bike, and buy more things to strap on to the bike - bags, tents, racks all begun to adorn the slender steel tubes as spare clothes and snacks weighed me down on rides around town and out to campsites.
I guess this gave me the bug for something more, and I set off on a mini tour around the Netherlands last September, riding from london to Harwich to catch the overnight ferry and continue through the Hague and Leiden towards Amsterdam and back via Rotterdam.
Though my tent was tiny, the wind too windy and the rain too cold, I loved my little trip, and have spent the past year scheming for more... -
Need to post all the bikes before the forum dies thread:
VOODOO WANGA
The name appeared while endlessly scrolling Sheffield Facebook listings for a cheap Arkose. In my head, Voodoo was a Halfords brand, ridden by wheelie kids and synonymous with Carrera or Viking. Why did this bike look so damn good though, with its franken build and tan wall tyres. It was probably just the tanwalls.
Some further research revealed Voodoo as a fallen-from-grace golden age mtb brand, frames still designed by Joe Murry of Kona, Huffy and Marin fame. The Wanga has fancy sliding dropouts for SSMTB hooligans and was designed to be used with front suspension, but this didn't stop fans all over retrobike, reddit and Sheffield from slapping on rigid forks, Drop bars, racks and more.
I didn't really care what it was, I just wanted a new bike, specifically something with fat tyres, disc brakes and FUN. Steel is nice too. And the Surly fork is worth almost as much as the frame.
A few messages exchanged and I was riding up one of Sheffield's steepest hills to meet a Doctor and look at his red bike. I took my red bike along and left it in his garage while I whizzed up the road on his, instantly feeling what I'd wanted to feel in a new bike - fun. And Squishy tyres.
It only took about 300m to decide I was buying this bike, and I had only to figure out the logistics of taking one bike home while riding another - down the previously mentioned steep hill.In the end, I met the seller a few days later in town and swapped cash for the bike - not sure what I paid in the end but it was probably less than he listed it for and also more than it's really worth. Taking the long route back to uni, I arrived to a lecture with blood splattered up my back, grinning and panting.
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LFGSS and Microcosm shutting down 16th March 2025 (the day before the Online Safety Act is enforced)
My workday routine is Open Lfgss > Open Email > Open Teams
Discord is ugly af but will hopefully help with forum withdrawals..
18
SE London based