Project new bike - finished! Nearly.

I'd fitted some new parts before my Pennine Bridleway ride and as 290km seems a reasonable test period, I thought I'd write them up.

My brand new saddle (Selle Italia Flite, they are remaking the original) was actually really comfortable. I only got saddle sores because I was sat on it for so long each day and because I didn't wash my chamois. I had one when they first came out and remember them being really comfortable and they don't snag your shorts when you are hanging off the back. Stuart swears by them and puts one on all his bikes.

My Hope inline seatpost put my saddle in the wrong position on the Blue Pig so I needed a post with layback. I got a Thomson Elite Setback, mostly because everyone says they are great. It's not broke or bent and I can adjust the saddle position perfectly. There's not much else a seatpost can do.

Thomson seatpost, Selle Italia Flite saddle and RePack saddlebag

My new 710mm Easton Haven carbon bars worked fine, but then again when bars don't work fine it's because they've snapped. They also don't feel massively wide like I thought they would. Just right. The fact that at 170 grams they were lighter than the cardboard box they came in was nice!

I also had on some new Hope Evo Race X2 disc brakes, or whatever their silly name is. Stuart at RCC had fitted them for me a few weeks ago and he'd had to adjust the rear brake as it arrived from Hope a bit spongy. I'd already bedded them in on some day rides and the rear still didn't feel as good as the front. 290km later and I hadn't really noticed though, one finger braking and utterly reliable. I might get Stuart to fiddle with the rear brake a bit but they are far, far better than my old Mono Minis.

My Ragley Blue Pig X worked brilliantly everywhere, not just Hebden Bridge (this is a sad, geeky joke. Sorry). I can't see myself every wanting another bike with different geometry to this. Ace.

My plan to fit a Rohloff hub has hit a few snags. The first is that the DMR Swopout horizontal dropouts are not really long enough although this is not insurmountable as I could have some suitable dropouts made. What is a problem is that I don't have sliding brake mounts so to fit a Rohloff I'd have to have new brake mounts made and welded on. No impossible, especially as it's a steel frame, but not something I don't really want to do right now. My current drivetrain is probably near the end of it's life so when it finally packs up I think I'll swap to a 2x10 with Gripshift. 

Geeky bike packing bit

A bivvy bag makes your sleeping bag that bit warmer and a tarp gives you somewhere to shelter and get changed when it's raining. Having just one or the other isn't quite as flexible or comfortable. Much better than a hooped bivvy Dan!

My self made handlebar bag / wrap that goes on the front of my bike and holds my bedding and tarp suffered a slight mishap. One of the second hand plastic buckles that I used failed but I managed to bodge a repair. Other than that it worked well although I did spend at least an hour of the ride thinking of a redesign. I might make it while my bum recovers. I can put my sleeping bag in my bivvy bag and roll it up with my thermarest and tarp and it still easily fits on my handlebars using the handlebar bag. My down sleeping bag, a really lightweight PHD Minimus, stayed bone dry and didn't need a dry bag. One other problem I had was that the gear cables rubbed on the head tube and wore off the paint. Now patched up.

After faffing around designing and making my own saddle bag, I decided it was rubbish and bought a large RePack saddle bag. It worked great, looks bombproof, didn't leak and didn't break. And it's far cheaper than a Revelate from the US. It does move from side to side occasionally, unlike some reviews I read, but this is always going to happen with this type of fabric saddle bag. I never really noticed it being a problem, even on little jumps.