Show us what you did today, thread

[Jamiedyer]

Pretty quiet weekend for me, lunch out with the family yesterday then afternoon playing with the wee man out in the yard as the weather was glorious up here. Also cabled up the Long Haul trucker and then put the gaurds and rack on after he was in bed. Heather was at work today and it was raining until mid afternoon so we couldn't mount his seat and go for a ride.
I took it out for a ride this evening and it was brilliant!
Even though I have had this for eighteen months, having bought it when I sold the Koga world traveller back in October 2011 and have slowly got the stuff together to build. Everything has been here for a while but not much point over the winter, it has been a long slow build but various things got in the way such as redundancy, Pugs build, which again was not a quick build. Everything to a budget but waited until I could build as I wanted to.
The build was also sped along as my van blew a coolant pipe and destroyed a head gasket last Monday, so this is now my daily driver. I did ride the Merckx to work last week and it was its usual excellent self but its a racer not a commuter and this with the more upright relaxed position should be a more relaxed ride.
Oh and the seat is temporary for this week until I get another. This one is the one for ZZ.
Thought I'd share

Jamie

 

[RobMac]

Congratulations Jamie you've bet me to the finishing line mate
My LHT isn't finished yet :roll:

 

[clockworkgazz]

very nice jamie, will get me one of those at one point but ffs reflectors!!!!!!

 

[old_coyote_pedaller]

The build was also sped along as my van blew a coolant pipe and destroyed a head gasket last Monday,

My wife's van could have ended up the same if I hadn't needed to get under it to remove the starter motor last week.
The near 2 hours it took me to get it off allowed me to notice that the jubilee clips on one of the rubber hoses connected to the front to rear radiator pipes had rusted through and was no longer clamping hose. Pipes look a bit rusty too.
When I manage to get another starter I'll replace the jubilees when fitting starter. Cheapest I can find a starter is 99 quid from the Wagonbuild guy in Inveraray. Understandably my wife doesn't fancy forking out that amount of pennies. An extensive tour of the local scrappies beckons.

 

[Jamiedyer]

ha ha ha reflectors, never even noticed them
It rides really nicely, though a bit hard to get used to at first. I'm so used to, for the last few years at least, being on the road on 700c wheels, head down, bum up and I must say I really like the midge bars, really natural type stance. Its just a nice ride thats more relaxed. I built this to get back to doing a fair bit more touring than the last few years have allowed me. I've been missing it for a while.
Rob mate, I thought you had finished yours ages ago. Worth the wait and I didn't rush as I had wanted one for years, took me three orders before I finally got it but I did build it as a keeper. My Koga frame and wheels paid for this the day after I sold/shipped it.
Hopefully yours will be finished soon and we might get a weekend ride in sometime.

Jamie

 

[RobMac]

Took the Ragley Blue Pig out for its first ride today (totally untested) :?

Frame 18"
Forks Rock Shox Revelation 140 with remote lock-out (TF Tuned)
Brakes Formula RX 180
Thomson stem & seat post
Charge Ti saddle
Wheels Hope/Mavic X317 combo
Fully XT M-770 group set including peddles
Cane Creek Deus head set
Bontrager 210 tyres

 

[RobMac]

How did it ride?
The forks were well plush but poised and the lock out worked fine (it appeared not to work in my living room). At first it felt a bit short in the cockpit but did help with wheelying it Bottom bracket felt high due to the long forks, the brakes were strong and made a lovely whirring sound when applied hard. It appears to be a good technical extreme D/H bike feeling almost like a firm full susser, I got a good technique going like a D/H skier side to side I was even doing most or all of that fully clipped in :shock: The bike climbs OK too, it doesnt feel THAT light to pick up but you dont really feel the weight while your riding. So first impressions, nimble, comfy, tight, capable of some pretty heavy duty D/H stuff, enjoyable, worth getting to know. Will report back later once we get to know each other better.

PS. Still need setting up as you'd expect from a new build (read gear issues elsewhere on here).

 

[kaiser]

Looks good Rob nice spec anaw. Only thing I would say is that these bikes are designed with really short stems in mind which you need to take into account when looking at the top tube length, took me a good while and a few bikes to realise that I needed to add 80-100mm onto what I normally consider a suitable TT. But they are meant to be a bit snugger fit wise than your normal XC type frame for that chuckability aspect. Unfortunately if you go too long on the stem to counteract it the front can become a bit floppy.

 

[jimihendrix]

Looks great Rob, just the kind of thing i may be looking for this year (modern, discs, long forks) , is the frame steel or alloy ?

 

[RobMac]

Looks good Rob nice spec anaw. Only thing I would say is that these bikes are designed with really short stems in mind which you need to take into account when looking at the top tube length, took me a good while and a few bikes to realise that I needed to add 80-100mm onto what I normally consider a suitable TT. But they are meant to be a bit snugger fit wise than your normal XC type frame for that chuckability aspect. Unfortunately if you go too long on the stem to counteract it the front can become a bit floppy.

Your absolutely right K, Ragley recommend a 50-70mm stem Ive got a 100mm one turned upside down as I like a stretch with nearly a flat back (XC stylee) I usually use approx 120mm stems.

And Mark its steel mate

One last thing, this is the first time in years that Ive had a bike with a QR on the seat post. 1. To save my goolies hanging off the back & 2. So I can give my mates a shot, thats you lot fecked