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Show us your bicycles!

Somafunk

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My gravel ride is a Specialized Diverge. It’s got a little plastic flex thingy in the seat stem, but that’s it. I have people telling me front shock/suspension doesn’t help much because it doesn’t often activate on flat gravel trail. Money’s in the rear suspension, and wide, supple tires, so they say. Wondering what other experienced riders think.

I found that decent tyres made the biggest difference in how a bike rides and feels on gravel/fire roads etc. On my tripster I often ran Compass pass Barlow tyres, specifically the ultralight in tubeless at a pressure of 35 psi. Absolutely wonderful in suppleness over washboard surfaces and able to deform over small objects, quite expensive but so worth it. If I was venturing way out into the Galloway hills for a long 100mile+ ride on ”off piste” stuff then I’d tend to favour the standard casing as it’s no fun dealing with torn sidewalls in the middle of nowhere.

The tyre casing/tpi count and rubber compound along with running at low pressure for decreased rolling resistance can transform a bike into an absolute joy to ride, thankfully the dogma that persevered for years in the industry with “high pressure/stiff sidewalls/chunky tread” tyre designs has been shown to be misguided in theory and use. Rene Herse of compass tyres has my backing.

If you have the time then perhaps have a browse through of the mega thread I started on stw (bike mag/forum website) regarding my Tripster and how it evolved from its initial drop bar gravel bike status to how it ended up into a carbon jones bar, shimano xtr drivetrain, middleburn cranks, Chris king rear hub son-t dynamo front with internal routing for headset usb charge port + wide rims etc….. etc. I basically rode it as it came standard for a while then decided to go all out and keep the frame but build it back up into the perfect bike for my needs at the time, I got a bit carried away ;)

Tripster thread on stw forum here,

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How it originally looked on the first day, fresh from the box and built up

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Totally bare frame rebuild to my choice of parts and every possible component titanium and motorsport quality titanium bolts fitted to everything. Mudguards because it rains a lot in Scotland and I was never a fair weather cyclist.

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With compass pass Barlow extralight tyres

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Gratuitous shot of the lovely middleburn crankset and xtr drivetrain, I’ve ran middleburn cranks on every mtb/road bike since the mid 90’s.
 
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Somafunk

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South west Scotland, very desolate and little population. I could pollute the thread with my many thousand of ride pics but I’ll refrain, it’s a rather nice place to live and ride, birthplace of the bicycle as well.

Kirkpatrick Macmillian, father/inventor of the bicycle

Although the Cairngorms up north of Scotland was my very close favourite 2nd place to ride, utterly stunning scenery and in 20 + years of riding in the area I never felt bored of the trails.

edit : go on then………just one pic. Path coming down from the Merrick, our highest hill at 2766ft.

Merrick

330035078_3512acfa47_o.jpg
 
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Peafowl

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I observed riders with fat bikes doing this exact thing in summer and winter. It does appear to be a good ride over bumpy stuff. We get iced up here for about 5 months of the year and it can be a pretty bumpy ride. So a fatty would be excellent in those conditions. As well the roads are a work in-progress with the constant freezing/thawing cycles creating potholes and snakes in the road. There I can see a fat bike being really good.


How is a tubeless at speed? Say 50 km/h downhill. Is the balance of the rim and tire assembly better? Does anybody even balance these things?

I raced downhill for a while, was a mechanic and in my grounding and practice it makes a marginal difference or tube or TL.
The biges effect has always been the tires because they are never 100% accurate with the rubber. So if you want to balance the wheel, you have to do it with all the installations every time you change the tire. :rolleyes:
Yeah handlebar width has sure changed over the years (back in the day I used fairly narrow bars, now I'm fairly wide but stems have changed a lot too), and varies a lot on what bikes are equipped with but these days they tend to come pretty wide. What was the width before/after?...tried to find a spec on it but couldn't find one.


Never had problems with tubeless on my mountain bikes whatsoever (and just did a ride hitting the high 40s a couple times on the downhills). Balancing is same essentially, altho I think with tubes out of the equation they're probably more in balance in general depending on the tire quality.

(ps and I can run lower pressure without the tubes)

We tried to go tubeless in our team, but had the problem several times that the tire was tom off the rim, losing a lot of air, especially on fast tracks.

We ended up using latex tubing, which is lightweight, doesn't make a huge difference in rolling resistance, holds low pressure inside, and resists snakebite when you bottom out. this worked now for the last 7 years.
A benefit is you don't have to mess around with TL milk.
 

Chrispy

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I raced downhill for a while, was a mechanic and in my grounding and practice it makes a marginal difference or tube or TL.
The biges effect has always been the tires because they are never 100% accurate with the rubber. So if you want to balance the wheel, you have to do it with all the installations every time you change the tire. :rolleyes:


We tried to go tubeless in our team, but had the problem several times that the tire was tom off the rim, losing a lot of air, especially on fast tracks.

We ended up using latex tubing, which is lightweight, doesn't make a huge difference in rolling resistance, holds low pressure inside, and resists snakebite when you bottom out. this worked now for the last 7 years.
A benefit is you don't have to mess around with TL milk.

I thought the spooge/milk would be a bigger hassle than it is now that I've had them several years (but still haven't converted my older less used bikes....tubes are fine for those). I've yet to burp a tire off the rim, and a while since I've seen anyone I'm riding with do that too. Perhaps better rim/tire choices? Dunno. I've not ever felt the need to balance the tire/wheel....but didn't race downhill either, just a little cross country here and there back in the day.....been about 20 years since my last race.
 
Joined
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South west Scotland, very desolate and little population. I could pollute the thread with my many thousand of ride pics but I’ll refrain, it’s a rather nice place to live and ride, birthplace of the bicycle as well.

Kirkpatrick Macmillian, father/inventor of the bicycle

Although the Cairngorms up north of Scotland was my very close favourite 2nd place to ride, utterly stunning scenery and in 20 + years of riding in the area I never felt bored of the trails.

edit : go on then………just one pic. Path coming down from the Merrick, our highest hill at 2766ft.

Merrick

330035078_3512acfa47_o.jpg
Must ride up there, popped in to Studio Velo in Castle Douglas
 

Somafunk

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Must ride up there, popped in to Studio Velo in Castle Douglas

Ha, small world. That's Gareth Montgomery's shop, I know him well and often used to ride wi him as he lives 10 mile away. Scottish mtb/cyclocross champ, was sponsored by GT bikes for years, commonwealth games and other plaudits to his repertoire. Really nice shop and excellent mechanical work done by Phil. Good espresso courtesy of a rancillo rocky espresso machine as well.

A rare pic of Gareth not riding, collecting his 1st place prize of a bottle of beer and a glass at the 2006 single speed uk championships held at Hamsterley forest, Yorkshire. In singlespeed racing there is only 1st place, everyone else who finishes is declared 2nd place winner ;)

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All lined up for the Le Mans style start to run to bikes (everyone not racing mixes up the bikes located further down the road, some even hang from trees :D) Halfway round the lap we set up a bar where everyone has to down a pint before carrying on, not serious racing but it is serious if you get my meaning.

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And we’re off!. With “Biff” at the front. (Needless to say he didn’t stay at the front for very long)

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Good times indeed - singlespeed riding and racing is the absolute bomb as everyone knows everyone else, 16 years ago when spms wasn’t a part of my life so kinda weird to look at them for the first time in years.

Link to album here if you want to see more, if you open them up there is a short description of what is going on

 
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Zaireeka

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Last one I bought, a good old 90's Peugeot carbon for a very reasonable 40 euros...

The Mavic wheels are especially good, light and very silent. Love the Flite saddle aswell. The only thing that needs work is the bartape!

IMG_20220528_121832.jpg
 

pseudoid

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I know, I know! This is going to defeat the whole purpose of riding a bicycle other than for transportation.
And I have been unsuccessful to convince myself to not do it...
But in about an hour, I am buying this thingy.
202206_CheetahBicycleElectric.jpg

Yes, It does come with pedals.
 

Doodski

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I know, I know! This is going to defeat the whole purpose of riding a bicycle other than for transportation.
And I have not been unsuccessful to convince myself to not do it...
But in about an hour, I am buying this thingy.
View attachment 211647
Yes, It does come with pedals.
WowzaH! Radical ride! The tires kind of seem a bit knobby for beach and boulevard cruising but hey... it's a rad bike.
 

pseudoid

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pseudoid

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That black bike is beacoup cool. I like the low bars.
The black one was 3G brand.
Grey one rides so much better once you get up to speed. You lean back, while pulling on the handle bars and pedaling almost in a position that is similar to a sliding-seat skull.
It was a Nirve 'prototype' (states so where the VIN would be) Chopper. I have a standing offer for $500 (what I paid for it over 10 years ago). I was going to add a hub motor (where the pedals go) but would require a custom housing adapter. I no longer have access to a proper lathe and I am not 100% confident that the chassis would hold up to the excess battery torque that it was NOT designed for.
I had never heard of the Canadian company named 'Revi Bikes' but it is a generic Chinese product that I have seen in a few aliexpress like sites.
This one was used with 86 miles on it (3 charges) and the full 1 year warranty, at half the price (don't ask how). :cool:
The second I got it home, I got my hacksaw and lopped off full 4cm of the seat-post and the down-tube to lower the ride height.
 

pseudoid

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Oh Really?!?!
E.T.R.T.O. - Organisation Technique Européenne du Pneumatique et de la Jante ADF European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation European Tire and Rim Organization
:oops:
From <https://www.etrto.org/Home>
26"x4.0" = 100-406 << Huh? Okay! Whatever.
 
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OP
JaccoW

JaccoW

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Oh Really?!?!
E.T.R.T.O. - Organisation Technique Européenne du Pneumatique et de la Jante ADF European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation European Tire and Rim Organization
:oops:
From <https://www.etrto.org/Home>
26"x4.0" = 100-406 << Huh? Okay! Whatever.
Who are you replying to?

ETRTO is the superior tyre size format. Especially if you're dealing with vintage bicycles. Seeing as there are at least 5 incompatible varieties of the 26" tyre and at least 3 for 28".
 

Zaireeka

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Last buy, totally unexpected, the ultimate french cargo used by the postal services in the 80 and 90's. Restoring it should keep me busy for months this winter...

IMG_20220611_141053.jpg
 
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_thelaughingman

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