Bike is ready for Ford Fiesta :-)

[Dave42w]

So my Shand Stoater is now ready for the Ford Fiesta Pity about the rider, though!

I wrote yesterday how I saved 3.6kg by removing all the general transport items from the bike (mudguards, racks, stand etc).

Last night I fitted all the Bike packing bags and went for a ride in search of off road mud. Found it on a nice ride through Swithland Woods (see First Mountain Biking mini-adventure of 2015

This morning I took some photos of the bike fully loaded in Bikepacking mode (well the bags just had a few things stuffed in, not properly packed). I've put them all in a post Shand Stoater in full Bikepacking mode. I'll also try them at the bottom of this using bbcode.

Hopefully, I can get away without using all the bags all the time (but I know that reducing what I carry is not a great skill of mine and I really want to avoid a rucksack if I can). But the full set is

• * Wildcat Gear: Mountain Lion, Lioness, Tomcat, Tiger, Ocelot
  * Alpkit: 2 x Stem Cell, Fuel Pod, Tapered Dry bag (for Tiger), Airloc Xtra Dual (for Mountain Lion)

Every bag stayed in place, no rattles, nothing came loose. Getting all the straps on is a bit tricky as there are so many of them. I have found it works well on the Jones Loop Bar to take the straps to the Lioness over the front of the loop, this nicely pulls the dry bag up a bit giving more wheel clearance and less wobble (getting fingers to the buckles is a little tricky though). The only downside of all this is lack of really good options for mounting my Garmin, so you can see I have moved it to the side where the loop and bar join.

I am hoping that if the forecast does not change then I won't need an extra sleeping bag which means riding without a rucksack is potentially an achievable goal.

I'm very pleased with the new mounting for my front dynamo light. I have it on my upper fork boss (designed for a Velo Orange Randoneer rack) attached via a Paul Gino Light mount and my handlebar mount which when aligned with the fork lifts the light to just above the tyre but clear of the bikepacking bags.

Sadly it seems that riding off road in the winter when it is raining means that both rider and bike get dirty! Who would have believed that! ;-) Still at least with belt drive, Rohloff and disc brakes is is very quick and easy to clean the bike after without having all that hassle with chains and external gears. So despite what the photos show the bike is now nice and sparkly clean again.

P1020215 by Dave 42, on Flickr

P1020216 by Dave 42, on Flickr

P1020217 by Dave 42, on Flickr

P1020218 by Dave 42, on Flickr

[Ben98]

Looks bloody good if you ask me!

[ton]

what tyres are you running on that? size please.

[Dave42w]

what tyres are you running on that? size please.

I'm running WTB Nano Comp Cyclo Cross Tyre Black, 700c, 40c, Wire Bead which I got from Chain Reaction.

I could fit up to a 47 or maybe even a 50 but didn't find much available in that size range. While it wasn't really deep mud yesterday I was pleased with these tyres, they were ok on the road, they didn't lose grip on the climbs or when climbing out of ruts on the side of a field.

[Ben98]

what tyres are you running on that? size please.

I'm running WTB Nano Comp Cyclo Cross Tyre Black, 700c, 40c, Wire Bead which I got from Chain Reaction.

I could fit up to a 47 or maybe even a 50 but didn't find much available in that size range. While it wasn't really deep mud yesterday I was pleased with these tyres, they were ok on the road, they didn't lose grip on the climbs or when climbing out of ruts on the side of a field.

For future reference, I've just found that schwalbe smart Sam's are available in 29x1.75, which should fit nicely

[Dave42w]

For future reference, I've just found that schwalbe smart Sam's are available in 29x1.75, which should fit nicely

Always the way, as soon as I couldn't find a tyre that size someone does

Be very interested if anyone has some experience with them, just reading some reviews and they are very contradictory (fast or slow on road, good grip or no grip).

Unless the WTB's are a disaster on the Ford Fiesta I won't be after another off road tyre until they wear out.

[Ben98]

I'm sure you'll be fine with the WTB's, it was mainly for my own interest that I looked
I do love that bike, its like a MTB lite, if you know what I mean?

[Dave42w]

I'm sure you'll be fine with the WTB's, it was mainly for my own interest that I looked
I do love that bike, its like a MTB lite, if you know what I mean?

I have been delighted with my Shand, done around 6,000 miles on it so far in everyday use plus touring.

I think Steven and Russ at Shand would prefer us to call it a go anywhere, adventure bike ;-)

I love the flexibility. With appropriate tyres and accessories it can handle a huge variety of rides on and off road.

[jameso]

Looking good ..

The Nano 40s are brilliant tyres imo, for all conditions and surfaces - suprisingly so. I've been looking for the perfect on/off road compromise for years and these are the best I've used so far in that size range. They've been a minor revelation on my CX bike compared to the 35s I had before, the Race versions have a better compound but it's taken a bit of damp woodland riding to notice the difference. Marathon Mondails are useful in the 40-50C sizes but heavier and more of a world-tour sort of casing. I'd prefer a bit more volume than 40C when the bike's loaded up but have done light-load 3-dayers on them w/o any concerns about the tyres.