40+ miler Sunday Morning ride...

Not been riding on the coast in the  last 3 weekends except the Airshow day as been busy with rebuilding part of the garden, working a lot of overtime, and of course watching the Olympics.
And what a fortnight it has been. Team GB has done our country proud with medals won and there is definitely a feel good atmosphere amongst everyone you mention the last two weeks to...

After the wettest ever start to summer and everyone miserable with June and July being a wash out things have turned around in recent weeks including the weather!, what with Wiggo winning the Tour De France, then gold in the Olympics and the rest of the Track cycling medals  and all other athletes accomplishments there is a lot to smile about...

Deciding to rip out part of the raised garden beds and remove about 15 tons of soil with a tractor and trailer and a front loader was planned for winter but i just did it as July had been so miserable weather, of course after starting the weather has improved!. In a week Spring Barley fields have ripened and last Saturday Combines were out harvesting around the county, always a great sight to see...

Out early for work pre sunrise, always a great sight...

Sunrise over the East Coast...

Harvest views from work...

Home from work and off out a cycle at 8am...
The new patio and a road bike, What! `a road bike?`  -:)...

 I have been storing some bikes in the man cave for a couple of years for friend Donald and he said i can have this road bike as it will then see some use grinding out some miles.
It is a TEC frame, built up around 2002 by The Bicycle Works in Peebles and has Shimano Sora build, and ITM carbon forks.
I cannot find out anything about TEC and where they were made, the frame is aluminium and Italian tubing, notice the tubes are a triangular shape...

Big D said the frame cost about £700, if anyone knows anything about this company let me know thanks.
It has a massive big chain ring which will be murder around the roads here but luckily its a triple and to be honest i stayed on that most of this morning when i took it out for a 43 mile ride...

With a south breeze i rode west to Haddington, Gladsmuir, Pencaitland then up to west Saltoun where the views are turning golden brown now...

On to Gifford Village and the old Thatched house (Bolton Muir) is up for sale, this place looks amazing...

Only a tad under A million quid -:)

Gifford...

The climb up to Townhead farm  gives a hazy view over the Lammermuirs, but i am not going up there today with this gearing on this bike!...

It gets a lot steeper on Redstone Rig further up than here but i am heading east along the Hill foot trail...

Harvest views from Barrow Farm...

Past Tanderlane Farm above Garvald Village and after Papple more roller coaster ups and downs towards Stenton Village, The old cast signpost at Oak corner reveals something i have always wondered about these lovely old sign posts which our county has many of away from the coast - where were they made and by who?...

This one sits higher out of the ground than all others i have seen and the makers name is cast at the base;

Royal Label Factory are still going and now in Buxton England.
Road signs were first erected in 1903 after the Motor Car Act. These cast types seem to date from the 1930s by the company.I know they were all taken down in 1940 in case of invasion by `ze Germans`...

Rolling along and still ace views north to North Berwick Law...

Stenton...

Pitcox sign and red phone box...

Spott Village...

And down to Dunbar, always a great view this of the town and the sea...

-:)...

Most of yachts are away including friend Peter and his yacht Heron ...

Along to Belhaven, dam all that sand made me want a fatbike right now...

East of my house all the roads have bee sprayed with tar and chipped...

And that is the rub of a road bike for me, it maybe goes like hell on the road and with the right gearing will climb better in our local hills but soon as the roads deteriorate or like here are chipped its not much fun.
And like motorbikes i always have that urge to explore off the beaten track to go find stuff.
But not long to wait...
More parts arrived for the Salsa Fargo last week and for myself it will be a lot more fun to ride - a bit slower on the road but should be more comfortable and i can ride it more or less anywhere i fancy...

New frame set has arrived... -:)

I sold the lovely old Dawes Galaxy a few months back....

Used for commuting i soon realised riding it daily the advantages of the big wheels and drop bars along with the magic carpet `steel is real` comfortable ride on our country roads.
However the reason for selling the Dawes is that what i really want is a bike that can do many things as well as commute.
A bike to ride Sustrans routes, old railway walks/ gravel roads in our local hills, and also easy trails whilst still having drop bars and a bit of road speed.
This bike will also do short tours, days and weekends (next year now at this summers weather!) so needs to have rack mounts, fit my Epic Designs Frame pag that already fits all three of my Surly bikes, and ideally have bottle cage mounts on the forks and under the down tube.

Also on my wish list is MTB drive chain the same as i run on my Surly bikes - Shimano XT/LX
And i want disc brakes -and  Avid BB7mechanical brakes so most service spares will mostly fit all bikes.

Options...
First thought was the new Surly disc trucker, a tried and tested bike now available with disc mounts as an option. UK RRP is just under £1100...

But i do not really like the finishing component choice on the complete Surly bikes, though i do like the green!.


A better buy looks to be the Genesis Day 01 Alfine, UK RRP is also around £1100...

With the Alfine 8 speed Internal Gear hub this is a neat bike and would be ideal, finishing kit is better than the Surly, and that orange colour is cool...
Both of these bikes are near ideal, one with a good pedigree, the other with ideal parts spec. Both would still need parts changed /added to be perfect and i would again end up with unused spares like saddles etc...

There are a few other choices of suitable bike but these two looked the best for what i want out of the bike.
Also these two bikes are around the maximum amount of money i want to spend on a bike that will be ridden daily and be dirty a lot of the time, hung up on trains, locked outside cafes, commute on salted roads etc...

And that's when it dawned on me that it will this time be cheaper to build a bike as i have a few new/very little used spares, spares more suited to my riding intentions... er also because i do not have £1200 to spend on another bike as i like Cider and Cake too much... -:)

Spares in stock...
A rummage in the Man Cave found this lot...

29er wheelset originally from the Karate Monkey minus rear hub. 29er wheels will be a lot stronger and as i am not getting any lighter a more sensible choice for riding offroad,  this will come at a small sacrifice to the road speed of lighter 700c wheels...
Returning an unused and boxed Hope Pro 2 single speed hub to Chain Reaction Cycles Ireland that had been on my shelf since February i made use of their excellent returns policy and  bought a Pro 2 evo rear hub with £20 spare change -:) to rebuild the 29er wheel (original hub was robbed for the Moonlander)...

Also i have as new from the Moonlander; Cane Creek headset, Deore rear mech, stem, Shimano LX cassette.
An as new Brooks B17, a kind present from friend Tom for lending him the Surly Pugsley back in Spring for an Epic NW Scotland fatbike trip...
An unused LX front mech, a carbon seat post too.

These Halo Twin rail tyres are a bit heavy for my intended use but they roll well and offer good puncture resistance...

To build a bike i need:
Rear wheel built,
Crankset
chain
Tubes
Drop bars
Road brake levers/shifters
Control cables
Bar tape
Bottle cages
Rear rack

There is of course a bike available as a complete build or frameset which in its 4 years has proved the `real deal` as an all round do it all bike and is marketed as an `Off road Tourer` and `Bikepacking` bike...


The Salsa Fargo seems to tick all the right boxes, complete build is more than other considerations at around £1600...

Blogged and reviewed on some of the following blogs i read;

Guitar Ted

Yeti rides

Fat Tire MN

So what if i can build a Fargo for the same price or even cheaper than £1100 using all the spares lying around?. I also then have components of my choice like my favourite Hope Pro 2 hubs etc.

Well that's the plan and i got a great deal on an 18" Fargo 2  frameset which arrived today...

Have to say this is one of the best built and finished frame sets i have bought...

Be a month or so before i get all the parts and the bike finished but cannot wait for long days out further afield. Really excited about this bike...

Saturday; Coast, Cake and Aeroplanes...

Saturday was East Fortune Airshow day. Friend Ritchie made the  2 hour drive from Newcastle for a day on our coast. Jason rode along to my house on his Pugsley and we took Ritchie with his Moonlander to Seacliff and its wee harbour - the smallest commercial harbour in the world...

Riding to the coast...

First picture of TWO Surly Moonlanders in Scotland -:) ...

Seacliff...

Seacliff beach - photo by Richie...

I have not ridden the Moonlander for a month and it has been sitting in the living room wooing me to take it out. In the right terrain the Moonlander shines and it is amazing on rocks with loads of grip from the bigger tyres. A Pugsley will ride over nearly everything a Moonlander will, but the moonie makes it that bit easier and you can do that bit extra with its increased float and grip...

Rock riding - 3 pics by Richie...

Short film riding rocks on the Moonlander, Go pro makes it look a lot flatter than it is...



Blasting through water on the moonie - pic by Richie...

I never took any pics as we rode to Tyninghame but had the Go Pro filming, from Tyninghame and the secret trail.

Mid tide in the Tyne Estuary, at St Baldreds Cradle...

After the secret trail it was along to Tyninghame Cafe for Tea/coffee and cake...

Fed and watered we headed up to Pencraig Hill, and just as we got there the Red Arrows arrived!...

Pic by Ritchie...

Amazing display...

The Red Arrows must have grabbed a chance to fly as the weather was not the best for July as heavy showers blew over the county, and the temps dropped when it rained, not the best July weather!...

From above Markle another good view point as the remainder of the show flew around East Fortune...

-:) ...

WW1 Ariel display - Ze Germans! ...

Glad to miss this downpour...

Warm again as the sun came out, quite a change in temperatures today. A typical days end to bizarre summer weather...


Pic by Ritchie... `Beam me up Scotty!` -:)...

Down to East Fortune and a deluge must have fallen on the show as the race track was near underwater, no sign of this wet summer ending yet...

With all this rain, lush vegetation encroaching on inland trails, and the mud, i am just glad i have fat bikes for riding on the coastal sandy trails and beaches...

Some film i shot while riding, rather than riding to shoot a film - if you know what i mean!
Click on 720p to view in HD

Song is  The XX Intro (MmMi XX Long Version )

Another new bike coming from Surly Pt2 - The Krampus 29+

From The Surly Blog...

More info and fun... -:)


So Surly have cleverly managed to build a regular 73mm BB 100mm front/135mm rear hub hardtail that takes a lightwieght `Rabbit Hole` 50mm rim and their new lightweight `Knard `3" tyre to make a 29+ trail bike, with a slacker head angle than their Karate Monkey it sounds like a fun bike to zoom along trails on, should provide loads of grip and comfort...

Another film posted this week...



This new bike has been flying around the fatbike web for a couple of weeks and blogged  already by a few folk, thought i would wait for some more pics and film to pop up before posting on a bike that has a thread on MTBR Fatbike Forum running into 17 pages to date!...

On line pics...

Fat Trail?

`Fat Trail` is a concept i have never really got and one which a forth coming UK fat bike seemingly is marketing - a faster steering 4" tyre fatbike for regular trails here in the UK.
Just my opinion but taking away the slacker head angle - designed for more control on snow is losing the best feature of all these bikes if riding them ridged on trails as you can get away with murder on roots and slippy trails with slacker steering as there is a lot less chance of the front end tucking in and sending you down. slippery roots are deft easier to ride, and while the fat 4" tyres here will give more grip, the semi fat 2.5" 29er is quicker and easier to maintain faster speeds nearly everywhere else.
Owning the Surly Pugsley and a 47mm wide rim 29er Surly Karate Monkey on 2.5" tyres i know it is horses for courses and the Monkey is a lot more fun  riding regular trails than the Pugsley if the speed is raised to out of the saddle riding, pumping corners and riding along with friends on regular bikes, though i wish the KM had the slacker head angle of the Pugsley.
The Krampus has this. With its lighter rims and tyres it is going to be faster and more fun ripping trails than a 4" tyre fatbike.

Note; Head angles can be slackened a degree with one of these British made headsets for £75 by Works Componants . I need one of these!.

Krampus for UK riding?...
So the Krampus looks a fun bike, build it up out a regular bike with a frame set, rim and tyre kit, or splash out on a complete build next year when they are available...

This bike is really what you want to buy here in the UK if you want a fat bike but do want/wish to ride on the beach, think of the soft peaty grassy trails that cross Edinburgh's Pentland Hills or The Border Cheviot hills and this bike at 30 lbs in weight should be ideal for less impact on soft trails and also fun on the descents with that slacker than regular 29er head angle.
But, there seems to be two issues that come to light for riding here in the UK, tyre clearance for mud, and low gearing for climbing.

Little tyre clearance for mud...

Not a problem on dry dusty trails or even trail centres maybe, but also another question which i asked on line and no one seems to have answered is can it take a 22t `granny ring` and front mech?, or is there not enough clearance?.

A bike with minimum tyre clearance and no front mech/22t capability is not much use for riding here in the UK, esp Scotland.  29ers need a lower 1st gear ratio than a regular 26" bike.

The gearing question may be answered by a comment on line that the bike can be run with the new Sram XX1
A 1 x 11 speed set up which in theory sounds a good idea, though i still do not think you can have a wide enough gear range for UK riding.

On a 29er you need a 36t rear 22t front 1st gear to winch up hills, and a 32 t front 11 rear to not spin out on descents and tail wind assisted road riding.

And have you seen the price of the Sram XX1? rules out a cheap bike build from a donor bike...

I hope i am wrong and low gearing can be fitted, As this looks a fun bike to ride and that slacker head angel is something i am always raving on about and wish the Karate Monkey had.
Until then i do not see any advantage in the outlay to this from my present Karate Monkey 29er which can take all gear options; 3 X 9, Singlespeed, Alfine IGH etc...

Rabbit Hole 50mm drilled rims

The 29er drilled lightweight (single wall) 50mm wide Rabbit Hole rims with there dual spoke lacing and weight would be a good rim on a Karate Monkey for sure, also with their offset possibility a 29er wheel set can be built for a Pugsley, that is another option for someone only wanting one bike with both wheel concepts...
They are way lighter than the 47mm twin wall Kris Holm rims presently fitted on my own 29er, but probably not as robust, hence i will keep what i have for now due to having 36 spoke hubs, and i am not getting any lighter and also the occasional hard riding in rock gardens and will probably just try a Knard tyre up front when they are available.
Put a pair of Rabbit Hole rims on your own Karate Monkey and enjoy the semi fat float with some 2.4 or 2.5 tyres, way better grip and comfort on trails.

I am content with my 3 Surly bikes at present and have no wish to sell at a loss what i have to upgrade. these bikes can do more than i ask of them and do whats written on the tin...

I am sure Surly will sell loads of these because now there seems to be so many folk who just have to get the latest bike to satisfy a craving...thats not a dig, i have bought enough bikes due to lust for now, the Moonlander was pure lust/want but i love it! -:)

I am selling most of my other old bikes i do not use much soon as just ordered a new frame set for a new bike build for doing daily riding to work/weekend Sustrans routes/easy trails and gravel roads, and East Coast Touring,  and have to admit to being more excited by what this bike when built will be capable of and rewarding to ride...