New Bikes ROCK!

Took the new Dialled Bikes Love/Hate Singlespeed out for its first ride and despite a couple of wee issues (rubbing disc brake and having to tweak the chain tension with the EBB) it ROCKED!

It climbs nicely, stiff enough to be efficient but not so stiff it beats the snot out of you. Heading downhill the Surly forks are very direct but the big front tyre takes the sting out. It likes the singletrack too.

the position is spot on for my ape like upper body and arms, but I did go up a size from my geared bike from the same manufacturer, Dialled Bikes.
This meant that I could run a shortish stem whilst having a bit more stretch to get the power down whilst throwing my weight around on the climbs

I'm very very happy with it really.

To make the grin even bigger we had dusty condition on our ride last night, in September, in Leicestershire. A rare treat indeed.

The new bike will get its second proper ride (I don't think of commuting as proper riding for some reason) at the Viking Challenge this weekend, which'll probably be a clag fest. But at least the cakes will be good.

Got 'er done...

Its a Dialled Bikes Love/Hate by the way...












Well that was easy...
The new singlespeed is all done and I think you'll agree it's a beaut.
Full report after I've give it a damn good thrashing tomorrow night.

Let the building commence...

All the bits for the new build (Dialled Bikes Love/Hate) have arrived.
I know what I'll be doing tonight.

There isn't a blog called "It's all just holding bikes above your head" so this one will have to do for today's picture....

Waiting...waiting...waiting...

Autumn seems to be on the way which means winter will soon be running along behind it.
Which in turn means mud. Gears and V-brakes don't like mud. The last winter I spent in the UK I had a choice. Do I run the the geared hardtail with discs or do I run the rigid singlespeed with V's. I ran the geared bike mainly as I hate V-brakes. Also the singlspeed's chain tensioner left a bit to be desired.

So after a couple of dry rides on the singlespeed I decided I wanted/needed a bike to ride all winter with the minimum of faff. i.e. A disc ready singlespeed. So I've ordered one from that nice man Mike at Dialled Bikes . Its called the Love/Hate, you can run it singlspeed or put gears on it. It has an eccentric bottom bracket and a rear mech hanger you see. Marvellous.

To make this financially viable (we're a bit poor at the moment), lots of bits will be scavenged from the two previous bikes.

All the bits I need have been ordered, now the waiting begins...as long its build ready for the mudfest that is the Viking Challenge in a couple of weekends time, I'll be happy.

It has been a while, but here is a picture that I took while riding my bike.....

Downhill bike, Freeride Bike, XC Bike, Roadbike?
Lots of suspension, a bit of suspension, no suspension?
Big tyres, little tyres, knobbly tyres, slick tyres?
Lots of gears, one gear, fixed?
Road, Off-road, BMX track, on a wooden ladder somewhere in canada or Bedfordshire?
Fullface helmet and armour, XC helmet and baggy shorts, road helmet and full lycra?
Messenger bag, hydration pack, tubes and energy bar shoved in jersey pockets?

It doesn't matter. They're all good.

Ride bikes, they're ace!

No niches here, if it involves two wheels we'll write about it.