Wheely Good

Here's my wheels being built by Ciaran. It was a fun evening of screwing spokes in, truing stands, pizza and Grolsch. Massive thanks to him for showing me the dark arts. Its hardly dark but it certainly is laborious and tedious.

I wouldn't have the patience myself.

First wheel has all the spokes in but its all slack and needs loads of tension. The dynamo hub looks awesome against the Mavic Rim.

I had a cat for company whilst most of the tensioning was done.

Last few spokes adjusted and we're and riding home at 12.30 pm. Cold.

Christmas Bounty

This crazy picture has my bike in there somewhere with some new notable additions. Regular subscribers to this blog (2 of you) will note new brakes, bottles and cages, plus front and rear derailleurs. All lovingly supplied by my wife and mums (in-law and the one who's put up with me since birth) for Christmas. It may have been a cop-out asking for these things for Christmas, but it sure has helped me out. A (nearly) complete drivetrain.

I also got some Dura-Ace bar end shifters from the wife but they're staying in the box until I do the final build.

 

 

 

Shimano XT Rear Shadow medium cage. I'm hoping I don't need the long cage because I couldn't find any evidence to suggest I'd need one on a tourer. It looks pretty sweet.

Awful picture of the XT front, but there it is.

Avid Single Digits. I went against the Shorty's in the end due to reviews of them not being as powerful as V-Brakes. I like my face. And teeth. Stopping when I want to is proven to help them stay nice.

So there you have it. The bottles are Camelbak so thanks Mrs Proud for spending the extra lolly on getting some lush bottles. And managed to squeeze the brake levers in on a sale before the VAT hike here in the UK. I'll get these tomorrow.

Wheels to follow this week I hope.


Nearly at the rideable stage folks. It's looking gorgeous.

Crash Course in Building Wheels

Managed to finally get my rims and hubs now. So next week I'll be learning how to build wheels. This I'm assured is relatively simple and how a low probability for me to fuck up.

Watch this space mind. I could probably break anything.

MI5 without Bodie and Doyle

After much deliberation (and most of this was cost) I've decided the rear hub will be a MI5 by White Industries. It is the most complimentary to the SON hub in terms of looks and has nothing short of messiah-like praise wherever I've looked.

And so it should have.

It's ludicrously expensive.

However, this is a bike for life and for the most part I'd to have parts that I can point at and say I bought that in 2010 whilst pointing at it with a stick in later life.

It leaves the dilemma of which rims to get for them both. They're both 36h and that has cut the amount of rims I can choose from. I'm hoping for either DT Swiss TK's or Mavic Open Pros, but its proving a bit of a ball ache so far.

In other news...

I've already gone against the Avid Shorty's and gone all V Brake. Despite not quite looking the part, I'd quite like to stop.

Will tell you more about the rims when I make a decision.

On the way

It's been a little while since new parts have been added to the bike. My other stupidly expensive hobby of playing the bass guitar has sapped money out of me. I make this out to be a chore but actually i'm getting brand new guitar which is very exciting (even if it is already a month late, but this isn't the blog in which to whine about this stuff.)

Anyroad, here's some pictures of where I'm at so far. Not much further, but I'm not scrimping on gear so it's a 'build slow, build strong' mentality. Enjoy.

Here's some jolly headset caps for a nice guy called Fast Freddy located here http://www.fast-freddy.com

Nitto Noodles at 48cm. Probably the last pair on the planet :D

VO Saddle with silver springs. Bad luck Brooks. Also, I've experimented with different types of 'silver' on the headset spacers to make it look a little different. So far I'm pleased with the results.

Already seen these, but thought I'd show them again.

Surly Decals. None in the UK so these came all the way from Niagara Falls. Weirdly, no white LHT decals so the Long Haul Trucker decals has been omitted from the build. Not that fussed really.

SON delux 36h hubs. We'll see if this was worth the investment later.

Where have all the posts gone?

Just a quick note to say I've not died and lots has happened to the bike recently. Just not got round to taking any photos as I can't find my camera.

I'm pretty sure its 'somewhere safe' (ie under a bed or somewhere) and will endeavour to make sure I have some stuff to show you soon. I've gotten to the derailleur selection bit and still 'umming and aaahhing' over what to get. My friends say LX but I'm tempted to go XT.

We'll see next time eh?

Arty Farty Parts

Well, this choice was one of the hardest I've had to make to date.

The saddle.

Nearly 90% of people I've quizzed on saddle choice for a touring bike have pointed toward a Brooks Flyer and have ridden one for 30 times around the world/since the Jurassic period/born with one pre attached to their bums. And there are threads on touring bike sites which seem to endlessly wax lyrical about sofa style comfort on huge distances.

I do have a Brooks saddle already on my Steamroller. A Team Pro which I have to say took a few rides to get my 'nether regions' to return to their normal colour after riding it for a few miles. Now however its one of the few saddles I've ever ridden without the need cycling shorts. Plus, they're British, handcrafted and horrifically stealable in Central London.

So, back to the Brooks Flyer. Nothing but good reviews. Everywhere I looked. Everywhere.

But I had a problem with it. A major problem.

Black rails.

I wanted silver. To go with the silver part for the rest of the bike. So it matched. I'm an Art Director/Designer. I like things to match.

I wrote to Brooks and said they said they don't do the Flyer with silver rails.

I sighed. I hovered over the 'buy' button and then stopped.

Stick to the plan.

Silver is what I wanted. I wanted a retro feel saddle with springs. And the only other company I could find that were able to offer me the good were Velo Orange again with their VO Saddle range.

First impressions from out of the box were it looked cheap, felt plasticky and was very heavy. However, after putting it on the frame I found a bit of love for it. It's bulky sure, but it has a classic feel to it and I'm sure when the ultra tough leather has bedded in a bit it'll look the part. I liked the drawstring idea to stop it flairing over time and it does have the additional 10mm length on the rails for the all important adjustments you don't get on Brooks. Plus and a big plus, you get Silver rails.

Obviously, ride purists would argue against merely accepting parts to make the bike look good opposed to making it ride good. Only time will tell. Chances are I'll ride it until it dies. It hasn't had bad reviews. Just more people ride Brooks.

Besides, decisions like these are the reasons why God invented eBay.