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I used old touring frames for off road duties, their better clearances for tires and general all round boingyness made for a nice alternative to boring old hat mtb
Gravel? Don’t laugh! I’m just thinking out loud. Itch scratched
- Thread starter Peachy!
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I think what has actually happened is that you have reached Peak Retrobike.Ah. As usual, people have started talking about their own understanding of bikes based upon their own experiences and what they believe they think they understand regarding what I'm talking about, always gets a bit sort of "I'm right, no I'm right, no no, I'm right and so's my wife" Which of course is normally met with answers such as "that's interesting" or the non committal "Oh ok"
If you've ever been on the receiving end of reply's like these, let me assure you, people aren't in agreement, they're just thinking something different
So anyway, just to clear up once and for all, here's an easy to understand list
Option 1, surfaces A through F inc all mentioned below & very bumpy stuff/red routes at trail parks
View attachment 644873
Option 2, surfaces B through F, inc all mentioned below & bumpy stuff, Blue routes and fire roads
View attachment 644876
Option 3, Surface C through F inc all mentioned below & gravel or fire road & mildly bumpy single track
View attachment 644880
Option 4, Surface D through F inc all mentioned below & fine gravel/cinder track with the odd lump and bump to be negotiated slowly
View attachment 644879
Option 5, Surface E through F inc all mentioned below & normal varied road
View attachment 644877
Option 6, Surface F,super smooth clean tarmac & nothing else
View attachment 644878
And I'll reiterate my original idea;
"I’m taking my winter bike (a very cheaply acquired 2009 Carbon Claud road bike) as a base, buying some rough/urban road tyres and using some parts out of the “to eBay” bucket.
All because I found my beautiful Antaeus a little pedestrian when attempting 6 mile low angle climb."
Nothing more, nothing less.
This happens when all the beer has been drunk and all the projects have been completed
The rot sets in and when a project is posted, toys are thrown when nobody falls over themselves in the rush to compliment said project
It happens
A general malaise sets in, there's rash talk of buying something new and retrobike is forgotten for a while.
Just as the novelty of the new wears thin, a sorry looking bicycle catches your eye and the merrygoround starts all over again but this time there is more care and attention as you are no longer playing to an audience.
Their attention has buggered off to some other poor soul
This leaves you a hobby you that you can enjoy again, bikes you enjoy riding without fear of worrying about likes or having to pander to the baying mob
Or something like that
Doesn't make this build any better though...
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<whispers> I think this is the bike you are looking for
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I just cannot get away from the drops
Super fast, did as well up and down in the Peaks
Super fast, did as well up and down in the Peaks
You started with a list of nailed down riding requirements (which is good), and mentioned no drop-bar, but had to be fast to keep up with your chums on Gravel bikes, and then you posted strava times which pointed out they were slower on bumpy sketchy stuff compared to a 26" MTB.
Sounds to me though, you had already made up your mind what the bases of the solution would be - because it was there doing nothing, cheap to experiment with (shoehorn / clutching at straws) and wanted to get on and tinker with something. You have done tons of builds and very sensible ones too. It made no sense. I put it down to the heatwave.
Not going to get drawn into the rubbish of dismissing mature bike designs from empirical means, physics and sound engineering because someone may be overly sensitive about agreement or disagreement or expecting automatic praise because they have produced something that is individual and not run of the mill. That doesn't wash with me at all. For good reason the cycling archives are full of aborted attempts; it's all been done before.
Anyhow. My suggestion:
- sell option 4
- sell option 3 while you are at it
- buy a good steel hybrid with some strong touring rims. Something like 35c or 38c tyres. It would cope with A fine.
- in the meantime use option 2 with a wheel and tyre swap. Save the vintage Smokes & Darts. It should be able to do A - F and more.
- hydrate yourself
Sounds to me though, you had already made up your mind what the bases of the solution would be - because it was there doing nothing, cheap to experiment with (shoehorn / clutching at straws) and wanted to get on and tinker with something. You have done tons of builds and very sensible ones too. It made no sense. I put it down to the heatwave.
Not going to get drawn into the rubbish of dismissing mature bike designs from empirical means, physics and sound engineering because someone may be overly sensitive about agreement or disagreement or expecting automatic praise because they have produced something that is individual and not run of the mill. That doesn't wash with me at all. For good reason the cycling archives are full of aborted attempts; it's all been done before.
Anyhow. My suggestion:
- sell option 4
- sell option 3 while you are at it
- buy a good steel hybrid with some strong touring rims. Something like 35c or 38c tyres. It would cope with A fine.
- in the meantime use option 2 with a wheel and tyre swap. Save the vintage Smokes & Darts. It should be able to do A - F and more.
- hydrate yourself
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What a lovely frame that is...
Raleigh royal?
I've yet to build up the frame I brought off you.
This winter I promise!!
Peachy!
Retrobike Rider
BoTM Winner
Gold Trader
rBoTM Triple Crown
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98+ BoTM Winner
Claud Butler Fan
VCC Claud Butler ME
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BTW. It did do what I wanted it to do, namely go faster. Yes I probably should have swapped out the v-brake levers with a pair of Canti ones as braking in the dust wasn’t wondrous.
But apart from having to very carefully pick my way gingerly through the very few patches of rough stuff the actual ride was great believe it or not.
Starva doesn’t lie. Out of 37 segments I smashed personal bests on 24,usually by large margins and came only a few seconds behind my pb’s on the roughest downhill stuff.
Here’s a very typical example of a climbing section with the two older times using the hardtail Antaeus with very similar wattage input.
(in September 21, the Antaeus was wearing smoke & dart, in June 12 it was wearing semi slicks)
And some photo of a great ride, even if the 33 degrees had me go through 6 water bottles (2 bottles filled up at stops two further times)
But apart from having to very carefully pick my way gingerly through the very few patches of rough stuff the actual ride was great believe it or not.
Starva doesn’t lie. Out of 37 segments I smashed personal bests on 24,usually by large margins and came only a few seconds behind my pb’s on the roughest downhill stuff.
Here’s a very typical example of a climbing section with the two older times using the hardtail Antaeus with very similar wattage input.
(in September 21, the Antaeus was wearing smoke & dart, in June 12 it was wearing semi slicks)
And some photo of a great ride, even if the 33 degrees had me go through 6 water bottles (2 bottles filled up at stops two further times)
https://www.scarborough.gov.uk/home/sport-and-leisure/parks-play-areas-and-gardens/cinder-track
FYI.
Looks a lovely route.
FYI.
Looks a lovely route.
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