Today's Ride

This was one of my earlier restorations and it's fair to say if I did it again now, I would do a lot differently. I also really didn't like the wheels I built for it - it rode like a dog.

I recently rebuilt the wheels and put them on another bike (and they feel much better) and slung these ones on it - mainly so I could store it easily.... but it was looking at me at the corner of the shed -asking for another chance.....

So, it got one this evening - what a flippin' difference!! I flies now! Was only supposed to be a ride around the block... but ended up being 12km.


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Ended up on the dock overlooking the Thames at sunset. Was 18C - very little wind.

We are due another spell of warm weather apparently and then that's probably gonna be it... you can feel the season changing.
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Nice couple of hours this morning.

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So nice, I reckon next few years will see a rise in the early 2000s Splat graphic Konas. My first bike/project last year was kinda similar to yours; rigid fork, billy bonkers etc. Geometry looks pretty similar too though I think the year after yours is when they started to square out the tubes a bit. Ended up stripping it to build my Inbred but still kept the frame, half tempted by a black Blast I keep seeing on fb marketplace. Cheap as chips to pick up, no PITA standards and they make for a great all day ride.

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Bit further this morning, a hair over 20 miles and pretty much all on road which accounts for the higher than usual average speed - not bad for a steel mtb considering I've had similar paces doing a route not too dissimilar on a carbon roadie.

6am start, very quiet.

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Went and checked out one of the legal graff walls a town or two over. Otick & Dmos.

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Undisputed king of the north, if you know you know.

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Gave the frame a bit of a t-cut and polish (not that it's massively evident from the pictures) but with the life it's had it's still very rough in places. Since none of it is really colour matched I'm very very tempted to go the powdercoat route in something like RAL 5021. a 46t narrow wide just got delivered and some 26er gravel kings should arrive later. Tempted to strip the decals off the wheels too. Indecisiveness.....
 
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