Start of a weekend of riding with successful train connections and an excellent ride from Salisbury to Blandford. Old Shaftesbury drove track was a highlight, and as above, had the pleasure of meeting Bob and having a chat. First time I've met a forumite out in the wild! :-bd Rest of the ride was be...

Reg - that's a fast trip to the Peaks! My (albeit circuitous) route to Salisbury is 2 hours+ due to changes, it's only 50 miles away!

Whitestone - Enjoy! I want to do the old chalk way at some point, my ride from Salisbury is on part of the route from Wilton - near Shaftesbury

Cheery one here, preparing for a nice weekend away in Dorset, and i've engineered it so i'm doing some train-assisted bike riding. So i've got a nice 30 mile ride from Salisbury to Blandford on saturday, off road. Then riding to the Purbecks, and home on the train from Wareham. Weather looks great a...

Thought we had slightly ruined our pond over winter, as it went stagnant with too many leaves rotting in it, plus a female frog died in it and we didn't notice for a while :cry: But, a bit of a clearout and top up, and it cleared up and is now showing signs of more life again, including a couple of ...

Pretty cheery for me. Went on a lovely little night ride last night, had a swift half in a pub, saw lots of bats flitting in front of me, and a fox. Off for a chilled weekend with the kids in a yurt in N Dorset later today

Mentioned elsewhere, just got some VO Seine bars...similar to Motos which I love. Not ridden them yet, but decent backsweep and rise...EDIT 40mm rise, 35 degree sweep, so more sweep!

Been gathering (mostly silver) bits for the speedball, and it's nearly ready to build up properly with brakes and transmission. Still undecided which fork I prefer! Anyway, the rolling chassis is looking like this, and the VO Seine bars seem good, and similar hand position to the Motos I have. :-bd ...

Velo Orange Seine bars in silver arrived yesterday, a bit more of a palatable price than the tumbleweeds, and a similar-ish bar.

Pretty much ready to finish off the build of the stooge now, will post some pics on the 'what you done to your bike' thread soon...

First gaggle of swifts overhead this evening

oooh - I was looking for a silver pair of those! Where did you get them?

Some nice used silver XT parts for the stooge build. M770 cranks and M785 brakes, both lever body and calipers in silver (these silver XT brakes seem to be rarer in silver). Just a few more bits and it'll be ready to complete...

I've used the drjons clamps and strapdeck, and they're ok, but as said tight to the bar and not the outright strongest, and not quite a big enough cradle. I've a salsa cradle I picked up from here for good money and it's excellent, if slightly heavy. It gives room for cables, and hands on the bar, c...

Get well soon John, sounds horrible.

Second week of school holidays here and I'm a bit frazzled, but a nice easy little ride to hungerford to meet the family, and after some fun and pootling, the train home and kids on their bikes too. Nice

Good time to be building up a speedball :lol: luckily the wheels I got came with some 3" tyres...still a couple of tyres in 2.8 like the rekon+, vigilante, and options from travail (though again being phased out). Some stocking up to be done, but personally I'm ok going to 2.6 too...not 29+ by ...

voodoo_simon wrote: ↑Wed Apr 16, 2025 8:52 am Way OT but this would be tempting if it was a bit further north

https://www.morgananddavies.co.uk/prope ... 5590/sales

Oh I want that so much. No idea what purpose it would serve, but I love tin buildings, and that area of Wales means a lot to me...can't imagine it being mortgageable..?

Wow, that's a pretty rare experience! Hope you manage to get the felling stopped in time, i'm sure it'll make lots of people happy...

Sour cycles pasta party looks a good fit, if you can get one here (there is a UK dealer for Sour). EBB, progressive xc geo but not silly, 74 degrees seat angle is reasonable?, up to 120mm fork, looks nice and is customisable, integrated seat collar. Only minor downside is it has a flat mount rear br...

Now sorted, thanks all

Thanks @Kuman - those sound decent, but I think 45mm is going to be a stretch for the 2.6 tyres i have/intend to use. Sorry, I'm being a bit goldilocks with colour and sizes here, somewhat narrowing my options!

Thanks, I will do!

A very large parcel containing a moby grape colour Stooge speedball plus extras. Looking fabulous.

Yeah, they would be ideal and I checked them out, but it's a plum grape colour speedball, so it's just not going to go - esp with silver components...silly that it's aesthetics, but I want it to look right. Cheers!

Thanks Tom - they sound really good, i'll keep an eye out for any other options / pair of wheels and get back to you - cheers.

Yes it is!!

First Stooge and a great price...just when I had wheels that covered a couple of bikes (boost)! Will post pictures once i'm done

I inflate without sealant to seat, go a bit higher than you might ride with, the deflate, remove valve core and pour the sealant in through the valve stem. Inflate and shake the tyre side to side to spread the sealant around then fit to bike and spin wheel fast and stop sharp a few times just to th...