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Err yeah - so thread update! Having got shut of most of my bikes I’m down to the GT, a hardtail mtb and since the weekend, a fully functioning airborne! I’ve stuck some of the cheap on-one Jeff bars on it. In my defence, I’ve got normal Jones bars on the hardtail so didn’t feel too bad about purchasing these blatant knock offs. Anyway, it needs guards and the 1x10 sram set up is a bit moody, but for waltzing round the back roads of Suffolk during the apocalypse it does the job.

Below is a picture with sheep and lambs. Sheep are numbered to help identification purposes.

Sure thing. Stock except for renthal carbon black bars, hope 35mm stem and fabric saddle. It’s not bad, but as said the rear shock isn’t great and the brakes are pony.

Err, yes! A red one, 2.2 import. Unless I owe you money in which case no.

Yes it does - however it's £2.5k for a system which is mental. I'm keeping an eye on ebay to see what comes up, but people seem to realize what they are worth and therefore you'll pay nearly the same for a 2nd hand one as you would a new one. The benefit is that it saves a load of weight too, the downside being it'll be even louder than it already is which I'm not particularly keen on. I'd imagine it's already at the limit of what's allowed on track days which is what this will be mainly used for.

Yes! Well, quite a few actually (thanks for asking!).

M6 is fixed and sold. I didn't even get to drive it but to be honest with my luck it was for the best. I've actually bought a motorbike to replace it, something equally as unreliable and probably just as expensive to fix. However it's very pretty to look at when you're sat on the side of the A12 waiting for Greenflag to turn up which is more than can be said for the M6.

Bike wise, the Cervelo has now gone and I'm down to just the GT. Which is back on a double with the new Ultegra 8000 and the 700c wheels back in as the 650b did mental stuff to the handling. I've split the Airborne down and built up a dirt jump bike (minus the Jones bars) so I can head over to the pump track - something I've got quite in to.

And following a bit of a punt from a car whilst out riding the roads, I've binned road riding off and now ride mainly MTB. I've bought a Giant Anthem for racing and a Stumpjumper Evo for trail centres and the like. The Anthem is a flexy rocketship, properly fast but not a big fan of skids and wheelies. The stump jumper is....Ok...not great. It needs a decent rear shock on it and the forks need playing with which I've not got round to yet. And some better brakes, SRAM Guides are utter toss.

As you can tell, I'm not married, I don't have kids and I've the mental age of about 6. I'm not buying anything for the next 6 months....

Columbia - terrifying and cool in equal measures. Bogotá - cold and windy all year round, not sure I could stand that every day.

Anyway, on the bike front it’s all change. Storck and Open have been sold and I’ve stuck DI2 on the Cervelo. I’ve also resurrected the GT as a winter bike, moving the stuff over from the Open. Now, someone somewhere told me that gravelkings in 650b would fit. Someone somewhere is a lying bastard and now I have a set of wheels that barely fit. Like, literally a fag papers width between tyre and chainstay. So it’s back to the drawing board on the wheel/tyre front or I just accept it and stick the hunts back on (once I find the axle converters).

It’s still not pretty but for some reason I like the old barge...

I’m toying with the idea of a Bokeh - the only downside to the Open is that it doesn’t take guards, which the Bokeh does. Plus it’s the same colour and looks mint with horizons. However, being honest with myself I ride mainly road and when I do go off road I’ll normally use the mtb. A definition would make more sense for the roads round here (Tunbridge Wells).

No bike in Columbia, just conferences and avoiding being stabbed/shot. Had my company safety briefing yesterday, scary stuff..

New plans afoot. I’m not using the Open that much (surprise!) and I want something that’ll take mudguards for the winter. I’m thinking of selling the Open, buying a Mason definition and a pair of the new Ultergra di2 hydro levers and moving everything across from my Cervelo (including the di2). I’ve got a set of Hunt wheels in the Open but I’m thinking of selling it complete, so I’m now hankering after a set of the 50mm carbon hunt wheels.

Off to Columbia for three weeks next week so if I come back with all my organs, some primo buying will follow

Right, I’m giving this all road thing one more try then I’m binning it off. Tried it round bedgebury last weekend on 700x38mm g ones which was miserable. This weekend I’ll give 650x er...2.1’s to see how that goes.

If it doesn’t work out, I’m buying a Mason

6ft 2! I think it’ll be a little on the small side

Hate to be that other guy, but I’d take everything bar the frame? And I’d take that too if it was a bit biggerer...

Ha cheers!

So another spin out today on the Open and I really like the 650b/horizon combo. That said the wheels themselves came off my mondraker and are pretty nailed so some new wheels are in order.

Any suggestions for a 650b carbon wheelset that isn’t Enve money? I’m happy enough building them up from rims if needed but complete wheel sets are also an option...

Done! #fightclubreference

Sweet! Cheers Batt, will look into that now. Then I can buy the carbon 650b ones!

Waiting on finding somewhere with Horizons in stock for the Crap Diem as I’m using the ones I had on the Open. Nobody seems to have any.

Speaking of which, took it for a lovely spin around Paris yesterday. A mixture of roads and canal paths convinced me 650b are pretty good and not the drag fest I thought they’d be. Still need to go tubeless and weighing up whether I want some flash wheels in 650b flavour. Which is a pain in the arse considering I’ve just bought some 700c hunts..

Got the Open finished today. Still waiting on the adapters for the Hunts, had a pair of 650b wheels with the correct adapters so chucked them on with the Horizons. Am excite. Need to sort out the negative stem (a throw over from the GT but it’s pretty much good to go.

SNOWMAGEDDON OMGLOL1!!! Resulted in me working from home today - well, last couple of days in my current job meant I wasn’t really working but was stood in the garage fettling bikes.

Did some primo buying last week which resulted in new bits for the airborne and a new frame for the MTB. Brooks saddle, Thompson stem and post and some new bar tape for the Crapper meant I needed to unbuild the Marin first which was a mission. Anyway, all back together I just need to wrap the bars again and it’s good to go. Think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and buy some proper forks for it though - the rack doesn’t want to play with the project two and it sits too low.

Took delivery of the Chameleon this morning from Pedal and Spoke. Lovely bit of kit and building it up was a joy - everything faced, everything fitted and I think it looks pretty good. I’ve got a set of ARC 29er rims to build up but I need some boost hubs which I can’t face buying. Maybe if this snow continues it’ll give me something to do.

Yep - and I have no doubt that this will fill the niche I didn't know I needed. Obviously I'll be riding those 100 of miles of gravel that East Sussex is known for...

The #buyer came out in me at the weekend. Got offered a deal on a frame set that I’ve lusted after for ages and one which will allow me to reduce the fleet a bit by having one bike to cover a number of bases.

I’ll just leave this here for now...

Idle hands and all that...today I worked from home. This resulted in me ordering a new MTB Frame..which In turn means I now have a spare Marin pine mountain frame and fork. The obvious choice would have been to stick it on eBay to recoup some money against the new frame...

However I wasn’t entirely happy with the setup on the airborne so I decided to transfer everything across to the Marin.

I’ve mixed feelings about the results. The position is better and I can now run a rear rack. The flip side being it looks an utter bastard. I’ll have a spin on it but I can see me moving everything back..

It might well do actually, it was on the stand when i fitted it so maybe it’s a bit out. I’ll slide the clamps up a bit and see if that helps matters - I suppose the crucial bit is making sure the horizontal bars are actually horizontal for the panniers (if that makes sense)

As mentioned above, I really wanted to run front panniers with my carradice on the rear. The project 2 forks don’t have bosses which made things difficult, however a quick look on the Spa website showed some bosses that clamp to the fork legs. Being that it’s a steel fork and weighs a ton I figured that obviously this would be a safe option.

Rack and bosses ordered, they turned up eventually in a pretty beaten up box. Fitting instructions were...German but had handy pictures which even a dullard like me could follow.

It sits a bit lower than expected but after adjusting the panniers they seem fine. Having just got back from a freezing spin, I can confirm that there was no scuffage from mad lean angles so all is good. The Jones bars need rolling back a little as they put quite a bit of pressure on the outside of my palms. But other than that, I think it’s done. Maybe...

My other project is pretty much the other end of the spectrum. I’d wanted another Storck ever since I sold my last one. Finally got to put this together this morning with the brakes turning up at last. Wheels are temporary - I’ve got some carbon deep section things to go in but these fulcrums are actually lighter.

SRAM red brakes are a joy to set up and feel nicer than the ultegra I had on there temporarily. Just need some bar tape to finish, and stick some charge in the etap

It's misery. get the nastiest bastard paint thinners you can, soak it on the rim and leave it for a bit. Then retire to somewhere away from the fumes and return to continue snapping your finger nails off and hating life. Rinse and repeat.

Even the heat gun killed itself midway through...

Also after some rack advice. I want to fit either a carradice front bag (which is now difficult because of the jones bar) or a front/rear rack. Because the rear disc caliper is on the seat stay it makes it difficult to fit a normal rack. The Topeak disc one looks a bastard and I've got got spare canti bolt holes not being used? Alternatively I could fit a front rack, but the forks don't have any bosses to do so.

So, my choices are either get a Surly fork and run a low rider for front panniers, or a rear disc rack that may or may not look a bastard. Ideas?