Yeh, they are coming off before I pick it up, why have 25mm tubed when you can have 32mm tubeless? Steve does bespoke builds so I’ve changed a few things on it like bar width, the hubs and the saddle. But as a forever bike I think its a cracker.
Had a Litespeed for a decade now just such a lovely bike to ride. Had a few high end CF bikes but Ti is much better IMO. Hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine.
I had an American Merlin Ti soft tail mountain bike for years. I regret the day I sold it to this day, it was stunning, especially with the Cannondale Lefty carbon fork with electronic lock out.
No. Usually they crack due to bad welding, not sure on it’s fatigue life. My Litespeed has done Roubaix 3 times the last the full distance over certain Pave sections no issues.
I’ll be doing Paris Roubaix again this year, I’ve done it twice before, once on a Genisis Ti and then as a bit of a challenge on a full aero race bike with 60mm carbon wheels and for the extra bit of fun did the 148 K in just the big ring. On the first section of pave (Arenburg) I hit the cobbles doing about 20moh, both water bottles flew out of their cages, my seatpost slipped and my bars dropped in the stem clamp, all with a massive bang.
And although this is perfect for the shitty weather we’re having at the moment its a right pain moving it around.
Singlespeed this year then year after Penny Farthing. Loved going to Roubaix possibly my favourite ride, Arenburg is peak Pave for me. The speed the Peloton go through there is unreal, watched to Tour go through that area when we were returning from the Marmotte. Watched the PR race as well one year, probably not ever go back…… We double taped our bars and I wore gloves which I usually don’t do when on road bike.
Thought you’d got a M700 in that rack, love the oversize tubing on those. Although mine was bought second hand for a frankenbike project. Can’t remember what I did with it now, think it cracked on the chainstay and got thrown out.
Stainless Steel is another option. Was at work earlier so needed to be brief. From my failing memory when I researched buying a Ti frame the major problem was contaminated welds as you should weld it with high purity Argon gas. Titanium shouldn’t be polished as the micro scratches puts stress on the joints shot peened frames are the better finish for durability as apparently it de stresses the welds. I bought a shot penned Ti frame second hand Swedish brand which my lad rides, had no issues with that either. His looks better than mine as even the forks are Ti which I’ve not seen often. Happy to be corrected as it has been a few years since I did any looking up.
yeh the 700 is a real dinosaur but it’s the first mtb I bought the wife so she’s got an attachment to it. Its very retro though, Hope hubs and disc brakes and of course the Michelin Wild slippers. The other Dale mtb is my single speed rigid, light as a feather and a lot of fun to ride for a few hours, not a social ride bike though.
the motorbike end is not so ordered, lots of chains and bolt down points make it hard to make it look neat.
I’ve been hovering around buying an e-bike for some time. They’re eye watering amounts of money for what they are. Of course the conclusion I’ve come to is I need two! One for gravel tracks and one for the road with ultra thin wheels. Can’t see that happening at the moment though. However Drinkeys picture in his post above makes me feel abstemious. So I thought I’d ask advice on here, which I’ll probably ignore and buy something daft. I like road riding to keep fit but apparently the gravel tracks in Spain are more fun. There’s the dilemma. Mountain bike seems to be the way to go, maybe I’ll buy some thin wheels as well so I can swap them out. I’m not going hurtling down mountain dirt tracks so current received wisdom is a hard tail mountain e-bike with 120mm front suspension to deal with both mountainous gravel tracks and mountain roads. Trouble is I’ve seen a crazy money mountain bike with carbon frame, full suspension with 140 front fork travel. It’s calling me but is it stupid over kill? I figure I might as well go for the largest latest power pack of 750watts and the latest gen4 Bosch motor anyway, which should give me all the assistance I need for going up a mountain without a heart attack. Expensive! Something has got to give. My next elder bro (that’s bro 2) has cycled from the north of Spain to the south twice! I like the sound of that, so that’s a target in the back of my mind. Once he did it on road, pedal power only. Recently he’s done it on his e-bike, gravel tracks most of the way. Not only that his wife went too, on her bike, not his cross bar. Or I could get a used e-bike, one or two years old with a 625kw battery for nigh on half the price. So there you have it. Decisions, decisions.
