Midweek Sortie...

In pictures...

This 20 mile loop i do regularly and is a good winter route and often used as a night ride loop as it is ride able whatever the weather conditions,
Winter is a while away for now and the harvest scenery of golden brown is for myself my favourite time of year in East Lothian scenically.
Night riding will be creeping in to mid week rides next month as the evenings are starting to draw in. Getting some powerful lights to test and review next month so looking forward to that...

Good to see people out this evening enjoying the coast -:)...

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...