Monaday news and views

Well, I can officially say that yesterday’s ride was the wettest ever, there were three important contributing factors in this, rain, rain again and more rain! This resulted in nearly all of my route being under water or an inch of mud and the rest of the ride being in what I can only assume is the river which seems to be attempting to change direction. By the end it didn’t matter how much mud I’d been through because there was 10 times as much rain water just around the next corner waiting to wash it all straight off again so the bike actually came back cleaner. No pics though, two cameras were being used elsewhere and another new one was waiting for a new lens…

The singlespeed project
After using the Cannondale M600 as a test mule to find out if I like singlespeeding and finding that it was great I have finally made a choice of frame for a proper singlespeed rigid winter bike. It’s also my first 29er, don’t know how much difference that will make in the mud but it should make a rigid bike a lot more comfortable around here. So what is it? A Singular Swift with eccentric bottom bracket in blue, I should be getting the frame soon, along with the included rigid fork. All that’s finalised in the build is an SDG Bel-Air saddle, DT370 hubs and the usual Shimano DX pedals. Truvativ Stylo 180mm SS cranks, Shimano M575 brakes, Mavic TN719 rims and Maxxis Ardent tires are also on the cards along with some wide sweeping flat bars but I need money to purchase those which might take a while, more importantly some of those may not even be available yet.

Hopefully the bike should end up looking like this…or nicer!

My cranks should be in the Super Aluminium finish (silver)
if I have anything to say about it...

Other news
I’ve heard via the grapevine that Shimano prices will soon go up for the second time in 6 months, other companies have done the same but Shimano is doing it a little more than others. £120 was the retail for XT cranks, then £150 and according to the rumours they will soon be fetching a modest £205. I’ve also heard that Magura has decided not to raise prices which is good. Don't know whether either of these are true or if they apply to counties other than the UK though.

1 comment:

Paul Petch said...

Looks great in blue!