The post man's been ...

[Ian]

Some Paul Comp bits from the States for the fat bike, and a new rear wheel also for the fat bike.

[LSJ]

Last couple of days. Jones H loop, Cycle2ChargeV2, Alpkit juice and some bits and bobs. Some lugCages. And today Evans wrote and said that the Ramin 3+ is shipped

[whitestone]

Forks turned up for the new iron horse today being lovingly pit together by Riders cycle centre, just need to strip the bits of the donor to finish it off now.

Happy Friday!

https://goo.gl/photos/7ZGYJnwLBPUXR1sD8

If this doesn't work can someone with more common sense make it work!

Cheers

Had a look at the frame and fork this morning when I popped in to Stuart's - lovely I did think of asking him to put 5Kg of lead inside it to slow you down

[Richard G]

Copy of What Mountain Bike... has an article on bikepacking (not read it yet) and I noticed that it also specifically mentions the WRT.

[RIP]

They give kit ideas and slightly bafflingly the 'mid range' stuff seems to be more expensive than the 'high end' stuff. 8g stove gets a mention in 'high end' as does loads of Wildcat gear

[johnnystorm]

Maybe high, medium and low relate to commitment?

[Ben98]

Hasn't arrived but I ordered some BB7 callipers and rotors off eBay (£57, bargain) for my surly, the ease of setup is drawing me away from my TRP Spykes.

[benp1]

Brynje mesh base layer turned up

I look like a member of YMCA, it's not a good look, but it's well rated so thought I'd give it a whirl!

[whitestone]

A set of ESI silicone grips and a Surly fat tyre inner tube.

The Puffin build is nearly complete (the inner tube is just a spare)

[LSJ]

Back from autumn holiday. Pinnacle ramin 3+ has arrived . Front tyre pumped and ready. Rear tyre flat. So pumped to see if it holds air. Also a moon meteor storm light. Will start to install the dynohub tomorrow (maybe), want to go for a ride as well... To it for a short spin. Have to remember its the English setup for brakes, until I swap it around. Backend lifted a bit during breaking

I need som fine tuning on saddles and all, but seems like a ok buy for the money. Time will tell with durability.

Lars

[Bearbonesnorm]

[Trail-rat]

Ah the eBay stickers arrived then

Your not fooling anyone we know that's a rattle canned Raleigh mustang.

[Dan_K]

Come on then, spill the beans - how have you built it up? First impressions?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Come on then, spill the beans - how have you built it up? First impressions?

It's not mine Dan, it's here on test.

First impressions are slightly odd. It's a big bike, when it arrived I actually thought, bloody hell, how am I going to ride that but something strange happens once you climb on board and the thing shrinks. After an initial (short) ride, I was trying to think what the riding position reminded me of, then it struck me - it feels like being in a single seater racing car. Something to do with the relationship between you and the bars I think - very much 'in' rather than 'on'.

[Dan_K]

I'll look forward to reading a blog review then...

There's a place near me that sells them. Keep meaning to book a test ride but having too much fun riding my Stooge on my days off. Would be interesting to see how they both compare.

[JohnClimber]

What a cracking bit of kit, it blows up my Exped DownMat Lite 5LW in just 2 inflation of the Schnozzle.
It's only 16grams more than the pump that takes up a tiny bit of space I could use for something else, but it's a really good lightweight dry bag that can store my cheap Costco quilt fully inflated that then it crushes down as the air is expelled to the size of this

[whitestone]

The Schnozzle bag feels like an indulgence but in use it's anything but. I thought the Downmats came with one? I got one for my Synmat after my one time inflating it by mouth and seeing moisture from my breath on the inside of the mat.

[Zippy]

Can you use it as a pillow easily?

[slarge]

The dog looks less impressed than your average bikepacker at that shrinkage!

[JohnClimber]

Can you use it as a pillow easily?

Yes I'd guess so, as you can control the amount of air very easily with the valve and fill it with soft clothing

[whitestone]

Can you use it as a pillow easily?

The material is much lighter than that used in the Exped dry bags so I'm not sure how resilient it would be. I'm sure someone will be along to say they've used theirs as a pillow for fifty nights without a problem.

[Pirahna]

Considering it's designed to filled with water and hung as a shower I'd say it's plenty resilient enough to use a pillow.

[JohnClimber]

Considering it's designed to filled with water and hung as a shower I'd say it's plenty resilient enough to use a pillow.

On a practice blow up, it does feel very lightweight/flimsy when it's being crushed down, but the seams look really strong for its weight.

[Mike]

John dont bank on it keeping ur stuff dry coz it wont, my stuff got wet in it once before. Whitestone i get moisture in my ul7 even by using the schnoz. I think its just the temp change, it drys fairky quick though. A great bit of kit though saves u getting light headed when uv had a few beers before making camp.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I use mine as a liner bag inside an outer dry bag on the bars.