Reborn!

Bung some tunes on while you read. Not been upto much as I've been suffering from lurgy since last tuesday's nightride, still not right but been ignoring it and doing a bit of gentle riding when i can. A thread on STW got me thinking more about my commute, I want an offroad lite version, away from cars but no muddy mess when it's wall to wall rain. NCN 55 sounds a good start bolton to eccles. Did it on my pompino but road gearing is a bit high and the gravel and teensy bit of mud isn't great on 23c slicks @100psi, so........
last monday night I dug the inbred out from the back of the shed and knocked it up in the kitchen, I was waiting to be interrupted by the mrs with "isn't that yet another bike?" but she never said owt, phew. Finally got it cobbled together a proper mish mash, mismatched brakes, odd bar grips, duck tape rim strips, just used what I had lying around. Was getting on by the time I finished so threw tools into cupboard and went to bed, then jumped out 20mins later when I remembered I hadn't tightened the stem bolts and would no doubt forget by morning. Here it is


nice huh?


Tuesday was very wet but the ride in wasn't too bad at all. This is how mountain bikes used to be, in fact this bears an uncanny resemblance to my old kona lava dome. Long stem and skinny bars good for a stretched out pedalling position, rubbish for wheelying/hops tho. Bar ends are great, wider grip further forward just where you want it for climbing I do kinda miss these, 44x18 is a good compromise might play around a little maybe 44x16, tyres are at 50psi so slightly bumpy but there's nothing too rough on the NCN and they're fast for the road sections. Old pedals are a bit clunky to get into and crudguards aren't great when it's proper wet.
Overall not bad, I reckon a cx bike with full guards would be better but dunno if it's doable and I aint go the cash for that just now anyway so we'll see how this latest incarnation of the inbred lasts. Might not be very long as it happens, freehub isnt freewheeling very well and BB is making some crunchy noises, it'll do to test the route tho, see if it's doable daily over winter, it's an extra couple of miles and not sorted out a car free route from eccles to manchester yet. Will see.