14" Inbred

Debs new 14"Inbred frame arrived today and I managed to get everything swapped over and even found time to press the headset & bottom bracket in my new Lurcher frame.

14" Inbred

Debs looks a lot better on the smaller 14" but only just.  At just over 5 ft tall she only just fits the smallest of adult frames and it takes a lot of messing about with stem lengths and rises. We had put a 50mm 6º rise stem and flipped it so it was negative but it looks like the 70mm 9º rise stem that was on originally will have to go back on flipped negative too and possibly a flat bar so that she isn't in a too sit up and beg position. But she says it feels better than the 16" but she's not had chance to ride it yet so we will just have to see how it all fits.

My new Rock Shox Sid's arrived too and jolly nice they are too. They are the 120mm XX tapered steerer 15mm maxle light with the hydraulic remote lockout flavour, which is quite a mouthful. The Lurcher is stated as being suspension corrected for 100mm MAX but On One aren't getting anymore 29er 100mm Sid's in stock so a 120mm it is.  I don't think 20mm shall be catastrophic and I can always reduce the travel on the forks which isn't too difficult, I've done it on a set of Reba's before,  but I'm just going to see what they are like setup with some extra sag before I start stripping them down. 

The Lurch is starting to take shape nicely now, it's just a case of being patient now..

SPAKCT CYCLE JERSEYS

Cycle Diaries

Mens long sleeve

 I have always had an interest and fascination with the Che Guevara story and an admiration for the man himself. I'm a bit of a Socialist at heart and like to think of myself as a bit of a rebel (in reality more of a dreamer) so when Deb and I came across these Che Guevara jerseys from Spakct we just had to have them. They came up in a search for pink ladies cycling jerseys as the ladies version is pink. I had never heard of Spakct before as it seems they are quite a new brand made in China for the US market and we had to buy direct from China but you can get them them on Amazon now. The jerseys are really well made with mostly flat stitching and the material looks to be quality stuff and price wise they are a bit of a bargain costing about £45 for the long sleeve version and that's including the shipping costs. The only issue we had was the sizing.

womens short sleeve

I had to get the XXL and it's still a bit tighter than I would normally wear and Debs got the S long sleeve but went a size up to medium when she bought the short sleeve. I'm normally a large when I buy UK or EU made stuff but saying that a Santini jersey I bought recently was XXL but that was what the sizing guide said I would need and that top fitted great. The sizing guide for these though was wrong and I was just lucky Debs had bought her's first so I took a gamble on the size I'd need and it paid off.

So if your looking for a jersey that's a bit different you won't go far wrong by checking Spakct out. Just be careful with the sizing !

Mountain bike Goddess

Today's ride broke the 20km mark, big deal you might think and so probably would I before I started riding with my girlfriend but for my girlfriend who has never ridden anywhere near that on a bike before it is a big deal.Most people have no idea how far you can ride on a bike with a little effort. In the past when I've told friends and family that I have ridden 60-80 km they seem unable to comprehend that it's possible to travel that far under your own steam and that isn't that far for some riders.

My girlfriend Debs was over the moon today with her achievement and rightly so, I'm really proud of her and how she is doing, the way she hauled herself up a fairly steep and extremely rutted farm track only dabbing her foot down once when a big boulder caught her out  was pretty amazing considering she has only been riding a couple of weeks, she is even a Queen of the Mountains on a downhill segment on Strava.

It's difficult riding with a novice at times as you don't know if your pushing them too hard or on the other hand not hard enough as to help them to improve.

Debs worries that she is holding me back and says she feels sorry for me having to wait for her to catch up when I've rode off thinking she is keeping up with me. That's another thing when riding with someone who is not as fast as you, you keep forgetting and before you know it you have dropped them, which then makes me worry that she is working to hard to catch me up and she's not enjoying it.

It's all a learning curve and on the whole we are having a blast, there have been a couple of moments where we have got a bit annoyed with each other but we quickly got over it. I have done most of my riding by myself for the last 20 years so it's great to have some company and especially good to share something you love with someone you love. I've never looked forward to my rides so much as I have these past couple of weeks and I'm enjoying passing on some of the stuff I've learnt over the years as Debs is really picking my brain with loads of questions  about all things cycling. She is even talking about wanting to get a road bike, she has been truly bitten by the velo bug..

I'm starting to wonder who's more nuts about cycling, me or her ?

A Trio Of On One's + One

A Dream Come True

I've always done most of my riding by myself as none of my friends are into riding and I'm not really into the club thing, so when my girlfriend (Debby) said she wanted to get a mtb I was like a cat that got the cream. 

I have always dreamt of having a girlfriend who I could share my passion for biking with and now that dream has come true. She is really throwing herself into it and genuinely seems to be interested, asking all sorts of questions, even wanting me to show her how to do some wrenching, I'm over the moon. 

My rides have gotten a lot slower and shorter and my fitness has suffered but it is all worth it.

I'm helping Debs to build up a lovely white On One Inbred with pink highlights adding a further addition to the growing quiver of On One's. It's a real girly bike but I don't mind I think it looks great. The bike was in the clearance sale, it came with a 16" frame,steel rigid forks and road tyres as it was branded an urban mtb, a misnomer if you ask me ? After seeing her ride it a few times I think she would be better on a smaller 14" frame so we're just waiting for them to come in stock. Also she has bought a lovely set of white Rock Shox Sid RLT forks with a poploc lockout lever to go on the new frame but we couldn't wait so I've fitted them to the 16" and will just swap them out with the rest of the components when the new frame arrives. I've fitted a lovely pink 34t Blackspire chainring with pink bolts and in the process doing away with the big ring making it a 2x9 group. Also I got rid of the heavy Avid discs and replaced them with some lovely light (80g) Aligator aries discs and again in pink. Nice. The oversized handlebars have been replaced with some narrower Race Face bars I had in my parts bin and I've replaced the 70mm stem with a lovely 50mm kcnc jobby and finished off the cockpit with some limited addition bubblegum pink Oury grips. Probably the most important change has been swapping out the On One Big Nose saddle for a beautiful white with pink flashes Selle Italia SLR lady id match saddle, not cheap but worth every penny !

Debs new Inbred

Debs
 my cool & sexy bike chick 

SS/Fixie Macinato

I finally got the Macinato finished and I'm pretty pleased with it, I've not gone mad with the spec this time like I did with the Pompino as it will be just a little bit of fun for getting round town on. I bought the frame and forks cheap just after Xmas and  have only had to buy the crankset,brakes,seat,tyres and chain as I already had all the other parts. It's a lovely ride, very smooth but firm due to the thin 23c tyres. I'm not sure about the flat bars, I've cut them down narrow which has given the bike laser sharp steering which is good but I think I'll chop down some risers I've got in my parts bin and see how they feel and at some point I'll throw some drops on too to see which I prefer.

Plus One

A Trio of On One's

The expanding quiver of On One's will soon have a fourth addition as I have taken advantage of yet another amazing half price deal on the carbon Lurcher 29er frames, a deal too good to miss.

On One Lurcher 29er

This will be my fifth On One build including my first Inbred that was stolen but my first 29er. I've really enjoyed riding all my On One's, they really do give a great ride for the money so I'm fully expecting the Lurcher to follow in their tyre tracks and be a great ride too. The frame is pictured with a Token press fit BB92 bottom bracket and a FRM mixer 1-1/8 to 1-1/5 headset in red. Red is going to be used for some of the bits and pieces with a bit of white here and there to tie in with the white forks. I've ordered some white Rock Shox Sid 120mm XX tapered steerer forks with the hydraulic lockout which are going to look great with the black frame. I was originally going to fit rigid carbon forks but with On One again doing some great half price deals on Rock Shox forks it was another deal to good to miss. The wheels will probably be Stans Crest tubeless rims on red Hope hubs, a nice and reasonably light wheelset and I have always coveted some Hope hubs so now's the time.  The groupset will be Shimano 2x10 or 1x10 and I will be keeping it light and staying with the carbon theme with carbon bars & seatpost.

Looking forward to sharing mine and the girlfriend's adventures in the near future..