Building the perfect GrumpyBike for GrumpyGregry's Winter Audax

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GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
Y'day, courtesy of the Audax - buy and sell group on bookface I took delivery of Stage One of my master plan to build a bike to carry a fat and grumpy old guy up hill and down dale (think AAA) over "proper" Audax distances (think 200km / RRTY attempt) this winter. I took delivery of a pre-loved The Light Blue Robinson in a station car park. Light, lovely, and a nice spec as it stands, which will stand until the end of this month as I intend to use it as-is for Velo South. I have a bike I love, my SRAMpagnolo equipped Genesis Equilibrium 853, but I want to send it off for a repaint and the Campag Record 10-speed loveliness it has fitted at the rear just won't go lower without resorting to expensive 3rd party cassettes and dogtooth type gadgets.

Stage Two(a) - fit SRAM Rival 1 groupset 11-36 cassette and 42 tooth chain ring. Logic, which may be flawed, 1 x 11 is lighter and simpler and loses nothing in the low gear department and does away with high gears I don't use. Chain rings are easily swapped and (relatively) cheap if it needs tuning. I like Hope BB's with the GXP adapters and they have worked well for me over a number of years/miles.

Stage Two(b) - new saddle; I may be daring and stop with the B17's and go cambium, and new bars; Ritchey Venture Max bars I have Evo Max, which I recommend, on my Equilibrium and want to give the Venture's a go. fizik gel will go on under new Tortex tape and the bars will go on when I fit the SRAM levers.

Stage Three - fit 650B wheels and, thus, fatter tyres. Discs make wheel swaps easy. Likely a SON dynohub up front. DCRWheels will be preferred choice but I may well score a set of OTS/OEM non-dyno wheels to prove the concept.

Thoughts, comments?
 
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raleighnut

Legendary Member
Sounds like a plan, I'm still not convinced by the 'Cambium' saddles though.
 

Soltydog

Legendary Member
Location
near Hornsea
Sounds like a plan, I'm still not convinced by the 'Cambium' saddles though.
I have a Cambium & love it, almost as comfy as my B17s, but I don't have the worry of it getting wet. I opted for the natural colour & quite often a little chamois cream seeps through my shorts & stains the saddle :blush: Maybe the darker colours will not have this 'problem'
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
I have a Cambium & love it, almost as comfy as my B17s, but I don't have the worry of it getting wet. I opted for the natural colour & quite often a little chamois cream seeps through my shorts & stains the saddle :blush: Maybe the darker colours will not have this 'problem'
Actually the B17 is not my 1st choice of saddle, I prefer something narrower like the B17n/B5n or the Swift/Swallow to mine. I think a 'Team Pro' will be my next one (probably the Titanium rail version)
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
3 x C17s here. Love them. They each have between 4 and 5000km use and are going strong. My use is touring, Audax and the school run. The white (natural) one hasn’t got grubby and the Slate and Black ones need a good hose down after a sweaty ride, but still look new.

I use Bristol Buttr which is brilliant and doesn’t neem to migrate from my kecks. And if it does it doesn’t mark the saddles.
 
U

User169

Guest
Y'day, courtesy of the Audax - buy and sell group on bookface I took delivery of Stage One of my master plan to build a bike to carry a fat and grumpy old guy up hill and down dale (think AAA) over "proper" Audax distances (think 200km / RRTY attempt) this winter. I took delivery of a pre-loved The Light Blue Robinson in a station car park. Light, lovely, and a nice spec as it stands, which will stand until the end of this month as I intend to use it as-is for Velo South. I have a bike I love, my SRAMpagnolo equipped Genesis Equilibrium 853, but I want to send it off for a repaint and the Campag Record 10-speed loveliness it has fitted at the rear just won't go lower without resorting to expensive 3rd party cassettes and dogtooth type gadgets.

Stage Two(a) - fit SRAM Rival 1 groupset 11-36 cassette and 42 tooth chain ring. Logic, which may be flawed, 1 x 11 is lighter and simpler and loses nothing in the low gear department and does away with high gears I don't use. Chain rings are easily swapped and (relatively) cheap if it needs tuning. I like Hope BB's with the GXP adapters and they have worked well for me over a number of years/miles.

Stage Two(b) - new saddle; I may be daring and stop with the B17's and go cambium, and new bars; Ritchey Venture Max bars I have Evo Max, which I recommend, on my Equilibrium and want to give the Venture's a go. fizik gel will go on under new Tortex tape and the bars will go on when I fit the SRAM levers.

Stage Three - fit 650B wheels and, thus, fatter tyres. Discs make wheel swaps easy. Likely a SON dynohub up front. DCRWheels will be preferred choice but I may well score a set of OTS/OEM non-dyno wheels to prove the concept.

Thoughts, comments?

I've been audaxing on SRAM 1x for a couple of years. Generally works well - I don't really miss anything in terms of range, but in long flatish sections, I sometimes feel like I'm missing a gear or two in view of the larger gaps. I'd probably go for regular ultegra compact if the bike were only to be used on the road, but I do a lot of off-road riding where the 1x works great.

Cambium works well ime, although I had a feeling they have/had a reputation for cracking.

This is the wheelset I'd look at for a 650B disk dynamo..
https://www.huntbikewheels.com/coll...son-x-hunt-650b-adventuredynamo-disc-wheelset
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
You like Brooks leather, so you're looking at Cambium. You know that traditional gearing works (and you're capable of fixing it) so you're looking at 1x11. You have a frame optimised for 700c narrow tyres, and you're not short, so you want to fit mini wheels.

I'm all for creativity and experimentation, but sometimes it sounds like obstreperousness.
 
OP
OP
GrumpyGregry

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
You like Brooks leather, so you're looking at Cambium. You know that traditional gearing works (and you're capable of fixing it) so you're looking at 1x11. You have a frame optimised for 700c narrow tyres, and you're not short, so you want to fit mini wheels.

I'm all for creativity and experimentation, but sometimes it sounds like obstreperousness.
Obstreperousness is a bit harsh, I'd say, but then you'd expect me to say that. :tongue:

Variety is the spice of life, and I think this route means I'll end up with a lighter, more reliable, more comfortable bike, that is more suited to the characteristics of the set of specific rides I have in mind than anything in the shed at present.
 
OP
OP
GrumpyGregry

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
I've been audaxing on SRAM 1x for a couple of years. Generally works well - I don't really miss anything in terms of range, but in long flatish sections, I sometimes feel like I'm missing a gear or two in view of the larger gaps. I'd probably go for regular ultegra compact if the bike were only to be used on the road, but I do a lot of off-road riding where the 1x works great.

Cambium works well ime, although I had a feeling they have/had a reputation for cracking.

This is the wheelset I'd look at for a 650B disk dynamo..
https://www.huntbikewheels.com/coll...son-x-hunt-650b-adventuredynamo-disc-wheelset

1 x and off road? Most of the lanes I seem to be riding on these days feel like "off road" from the 90s.

Nice wheels at a keen price. DCR gets first refusal though.

My legs are weird, cadence wise, not having been a competitive cyclist for at least 40 years, in that my chocolate gear is always #4 on the cassette regardless of the number of teeth #4 has!
 
OP
OP
GrumpyGregry

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
Saddle, bottle cages, pump bracket (both the latter Lezyne, since you ask) and pedals have arrived. Pedals are going straight back to be replaced with A520's as the one's I ordered appear to weigh a tonne. At least.

DCR has been in touch with all manner of options. Which is fun.

Waiting on the bars, gel and bar tape.
 
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Not shure about the Genesis but the Robinson will only take 32c without and 28c with mudguards on 700c,not sure what either would take on 650b's.
 
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