Needs another coat or two of tung oil but I think we're back in business.

Remembered to weigh it too. Any guesses?

Looking good in a bamboo wrapped kind of way. I'm gonna go with about 1150g

Good guess. You're only about 2kg out

Oh dear. Ialways assumed bamboo was ultralite but just as strong (as carbon). Maybe it's the amount of wrapping needed or the bits of metal. Interesting stuff

Yeah, there's a surprising amount of material in the wrap, as I found while sawing it off. Strong though. Could be made much lighter I reckon.

I finally got the seized pad retaining pin out of my Ultegra hydraulic brake calipers as I needed to change the pads.
Which is quite impressive as they were in it when new and must have 10,000 miles on them.

This involved using an oscillating multitool to cut through the centre of the pin and one side (after cutting off the fins from the pads for access), getting the pads and spider thingy out and then turning the pin with pliers.

Right then, after the little one had ridden the heck out of his tyres to almost complete baldness, we decided to pop the brakes (well, rear only so far) on the Carrera and get him rolling. Some lovely Avid (single digit or Ultimate) Ti have gone on for the rears.

Avid Single Digit Ti

He came back after a good spin and told me how the front brake is weak

At first we were having debate on the reality that he realy needs to get rid of this. Why??, because he won't be able to wheelie the new bike. Turns out it does a great wheelie so we can let this go. Kona Blast, in need of new tyres!

Very rarely come to this corner but.... 2007-2024. A triumph of Hope over adversity .

I have taken the rigid fork and front rack off of my ti hardtail and put on a second hand 100mm SID Select SL I bought off of FB Marketplace.
The main issue with this is that it didn't come with an axle and the cheap one I bought off of Amazon didn't really fit, so I need to get hold of something better quality before I can ride my bike.

RIP wrote: ↑Sun Jun 02, 2024 5:01 pm Very rarely come to this corner but.... 2007-2024. A triumph of Hope over adversity .

Gosh. My hope freewheels always cracked after about 4 - 5 years.

Mmm.. maybe I should post it to them for their museum . (to be fair have replaced pawls/springs a couple of times)

Very rarely come to this corner but.... 2007-2024. A triumph of Hope over adversity .

Is it a goner now Reg. Maybe wait another 3 years and then you can maybe send it with a letter titled '20 years of Hope'. I've had a few of the earlier ones with the flange cracked (hairline. But still!!). Thankfully I or a buyer spotted em.

Packed it up ready to go up Scotland with Sean and Ralph

Turned two bikes into one.





RIP bamboo bike. Died of the flex.

gecko76 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2024 10:11 pm Turned two bikes into one.





RIP bamboo bike. Died of flex.

Sorry to hear of your loss Gecko. Is it a graveyard burial or crematorium thing.

Looks like it turned into a cat!

It may live again. Maybe. I think I know what went wrong (that carbon tube not reaching the bottom bracket) and probably how to fix it, but to be honest I over-faffed with it and it was only a matter of time. If I'd left as it was originally built...

... it would still be fine, but I wanted bigger tyres and, well.

That's alright though, because this version does that right out of the box (some assembly required)

https://bamboobicycleclub.org/products/ ... -build-kit

Looks like it turned into a cat!

I thought that he was trying to tell us that first too. They are flexible them cat thingies.

That would have been a good trick. In the spirit of 'do what you can with what you have where you are' this solves the problem of RTTS at the end of the month, albeit it's a bit of a frankenbike. The Hoy came off gumtree about eight years ago and has done solid duty as a commuter. The hardest thing was removing the mudguards and rack, with a couple of bolts rounding off and needing flats filed into them. After that everything swapped across easily - who's to say the bike industry doesn't have some standards.

Fixed one problem, only to recreate what was probably the other that I seem to recall thinking over originally


The Wahoo mount and Exposure were so close together, the light from one would cause difficulty seeing the other (map screen). Thankfully I had the spare outgrowth Exposure mount.


Fixed/unfixed it only to now be in the situation that I'll not be able to charge the Wahoo on the fly. Charging port is too tight against the bars

I'll have to add another mount on the stem to allow for charging duties. What a little faff!

Been tubeless for a good few years, but just discovered that the soapy water trick actually works wonders for seating tight tyres! Seem to have got by without needing to do it in the past, but some new tyres on new rims just wouldn't go up today. Tried soapy water and up they went first time. Won't hesitate to use in future and a valuable lesson learned!

faustus wrote: ↑Thu Jun 13, 2024 8:20 pm Been tubeless for a good few years, but just discovered that the soapy water trick actually works wonders for seating tight tyres! Seem to have got by without needing to do it in the past, but some new tyres on new rims just wouldn't go up today. Tried soapy water and up they went first time. Won't hesitate to use in future and a valuable lesson learned!

Well done Martin. Yes that's a fantastic trick

Sorry to hear about your bike Justin. You could burn it for a proper pagan funeral! I was checking out the alloy lugged bamboo bikes but the top tube length is more cyclocross than gravel bike so not good for me alas.

Anyway, a horrible weather day meant lots of shed time - fixed puncture properly on Stragglers gravel king, removed dynamo wheel, swapped tyres and fitted yet another pair of brake blocks on the cross check and noted both rims are looking a bit worn so some wheelbuilding required fairly soon. Whoever said rim brakes were a good idea.... New rear brake pads on Krampus after I wore them to the metal and chewed the spring up (always like to get good VFM for brake pads.) Plus did some motorbike stuff - removed an engine, cleaned and painted rusty frame ready for a replacement lump.

Cleaned the wheels I've been running since last Autumn; also changed the cassette to a spare 11-46T:


Discovered that one of my expensive Garbaruk jockey wheels is shafted:


Finally fitted the summer gravel tyres*, with new matching tubeless valves.







* Then remembered that I was supposed to get these wheels totally rebuilt over the winter, as all the nipples are seized and corroded. Oops.

I went to the pump track on my BMX last week, and thought how much fun it would be on a 26" jump bike too... So had a rummage about in the garage and built one entirely from bits I was trying to clear out! Oops... Think I may have too much bike crap/treasure/priceless relics!


I do need to sort a seatpost, but will probably make one (3d print or from scrap metal) at school on Tuesday...