Monthly Archives: October 2025

More purple bits!

Flite.

Dinner Plate.

King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime.

Humptulips.

Have a Nice Ride.

Trial and error, only way to work!

Sorry not sorry.

Goldix 60T helical ratchets for the S5.

I hunted down some Rock Shox Mag 21’s. They look damn clean, but as expected they don’t work too well. Definitely more plush than what I had on there originally, but they don’t bounce back to where they should (they need air? Probably a lot more than just air). I swapped out to a shorter stem and a super beat up $10 SDG Bel Air DH saddle I found on eBay. Also a silver Chris King style headset (the old was one crunchy as) and silver seatpost clamp and Acor front brake booster.

I’m thinking I’ve done a bit too much all at the same time, but that’s how I like to work! I’ll most likely get a longer stem back on there, put the slimmer and lighter Tioga saddle back on and I’ll start looking into what it’ll take to get the fork working smoother.

Got a bit grilled, as expected! View the S5 segment here.

I was on the vodka during the build the other day, and soon after taking the last photo late in the afternoon I decided I couldn’t wait for my AliExpress brake levers to arrive so I raided the Extralite brake levers off my fixie.

By the time I was done it was night so I strapped on some lights and went for a blat around the block. I felt right at home on this thing! It’s so playful that I found myself rolling down stairs instantly, then I started rolling up stairs, did some rad skids, wheelies, then I thought I’d huck some stairs and well, the front quick release skewer somehow (blame the vodka?!) slipped enough for the brake pads to lock against the tyre and I had a good stack in front of the local barber shop (he was very amused!).

With a bloody knee, elbow and dented pride I rolled down to the local burger haunt for a feed to contemplate what had just happened. This bike makes me feel like a kid again, but I’m 50! I need to chill.

This morning I got up and instead of joining the guys at the park on my SL8 Tarmac I thought I’d hit the trails instead! And yeah… more revelations. This bike is so fun in an urban environment, but on the trails? Not so much. Some of the bits had rocky steps and I was bouncing around so much my feet almost came off the pedals a few times.

I could get fatter tyres, run lower pressures and SPD’s too, but nah, this is underbiking! It’s sketchy and exactly what I wanted. Having said all that I think the bike would be fine on gravel trails, the weekly grocery shop and night rides to the pub.

NOS stuff. How rad is the packaging!

Kool Stop salmon pads and Schwalbe Billy Bonkers!

Silver DMR pedals (I love them!).

microSHIFT Advent 10-speed shifter and it’s all working perfectly!

Having WAY too much fun with this. I’ve spent more time researching stuff than riding or building. I’ve gone down a lot of rabbit holes; single speed conversion? Eccentric bottom bracket? Magic Gears?! Rigid fork? Mullet set-up with a 24″ wheel on the back?! Ah it’s been so fun!

26″ is pretty much dead though. It’s basically impossible to buy an off-the-shelf 26″ wheel with a 9-10-11-12-speed cassette. I’d have to custom build one if I wanted something lighter and all silver (I’m not a fan of the red anodised wheels).

The microSHIFT 10-speed Advent groupset is shifting so damn well. The shift unit is WAY better than the road lever/shifter so I’m super happy with that. I’m just waiting on brake levers, then I can go ride and see if I can live with such narrow flat bars out on the trails, and whether I might want to invest in some wide riser bars + shorter stem (and finally maybe sprinke some purple anodised bits for bling).