To wrap this up :

The seller of the rolling chassis sold me the set of BB7s that he'd used on the bike when he did the Rovaniemi.

The race was last weekend and they worked fine, temps were -6C to -16C so not too cold.

Until recently I only had one MTB, a 29er, so used it both for "normal" riding and bikepacking. It's always been a 1x10 setup - I thought I'd give it a go when building up the bike and have never changed it. The front ring has changed - I started with 30T, moved to 32T when the first ring wore out (actually I couldn't find another 30T in time for the ride I was doing the following day). Since then I've swapped between 30T and 32T a fair bit depending on what I was doing and how hilly it was. I'm now on an Absolute Black 32T oval chainring, this definitely makes a difference. It feels like a 31T in use. The cassette is 11-40T. Note that in the UK we tend to have short steep climbs rather than the very long climbs you get Stateside - we don't have the altitude either.

On my fat bike I stuck with 1x10 but wanted a 28T. The only way I could do this was with a direct mount chainring, I don't know of any 104BCD mounted chainrings below 30T in size. The 28T is also oval which should help in snow. The cassette on the fat bike is a Sunrace 11-42 10spd.

I spend most of my time in the middle six gears, some time in the next gear up and down and very little time in top and bottom gears. If I was spending lots of time in the bottom gears then I'd fit a smaller chainring.

Unless your frame won't take a front mech then you can always try a 1x system, if you don't get on with it then you can fit a mech and get a 2x or 3x chainset.

Like motorists the world over really, mostly OK but the occasional **** (insert favourite term of abuse). Once you get away from the main cities and larger towns it's pretty pleasant really. As an aside, Dublin is a really nice city to visit. I don't do "urban" but Dublin is nice.

Many years ago when we lived in North Wales we got the ferry from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire (say it like Dun Leery) headed over to the West Coast (via train) then rode down the coast from Galway to Killarney. It poured down every day! And I mean poured, we'd get to four foot deep torrents across the main road and have to detour miles inland to get round them. The people are great and really helpful. The pubs are great: "When do you close?" "That'll be September!", if you like Guinness you'll be in heaven. We just found B&B at whichever town we decided to stop at, there's usually a tourist information shop or booth with listings in the window.

There weren't many bike shops around and most places really only dealt with mountain bikes as they hired them out and they dealt with the poor road surfaces better. It might be a bit more road orientated these days, there have been a few Ireland articles in road biking magazines.

I am not sure where your saddle tilt was to start with but for me any downward tilt is detrimental. I find that I tend to slide forward while riding which puts more weight on my hands as I try to keep myself from sliding forward.

Starting point was level, current position is -5deg. It's enough to relieve pressure on the groin but not enough to make you slide forward. Shortly after I did this British Cycling made a representation to the UCI about saddle angles following their investigation into problems encountered by the women's track team.

Having just built up a fat bike with Jones Loop bars I'm on the same learning curve as the OP. Basically you've the following adjustments:

saddle height
saddle fore and aft position
saddle angle
stem height
stem length
stem angle
bar angle

That's a lot of variables!

As noted above, the "slammed stem" that is popular with the trail centre crowd isn't that good for long days in the saddle. On my 29er I've gone from getting numb fingers when using a slammed stem and suspension forks to no numbness with a rigid fork but with a higher stem. Due to soreness in the seating area, I also tilted the saddle down slightly (about 5deg) this helps recruit the muscles around my pelvis and lower back/abdomen and eases tension in my shoulders which leads down the arms. The result is that I can ride all day on that bike with no numbness in my hands and no lower back pain or stiffness in the shoulders. I need to find that sweet spot with the Jones Bars on the fat bike, I'm not far off it but it needs a little more tweeking.

A mixture for me: usually I try and avoid using one as you can get into the "I've got space then I can take ..." scenario. Last weekend on the BB200 ITT I used one, a Camelbak Lobo, mainly for water as the route was likely to go through lots of cow crap and having water bottles on the frame or a frame bag would also hinder the sections of hike-a-bike that the event is known for. It's also useful not having the weight on the bike when having to lift it over a 4ft high gate because it's fastened with a Welsh farmer's Gordian Knot.

The rest of the time I work as hard as I can not to need one. I don't get back pain from wearing one but then I've 30 years of mountaineering behind me so maybe my back's used to it.

Cheers guys.

I've always found the temperatures around freezing to be the hardest for most kit to deal with since there's a constant freeze-thaw cycle going on as you pop in and out of localised micro-climates. Once you are down below the -5C sort of range then it's a "dry cold" and in one way much easier to handle. I've mountaineering experience of seriously cold temps but not biking in them.

I'll wave the credit card at some nice internet guy and get him to send me some BB7s then.

This could go here or in the Winter Bikepacking forum, anyway. I'm in the process of getting a fat bike, it's a rolling chassis and amongst the kit I need to complete the bike are brakes.

The bike won't be my main off-roader but will be mainly for winter use. Note that here in the UK "winter" is probably closer to what would be termed "shoulder" seasons in the US, we don't get that many days below freezing and outside Scotland days below -5C are even rarer but I've also entered the Rovaniemi 150 and it's likely to be pretty cold around the Arctic Circle in February.  

So what would be best in terms of brakes, mechanical or hydraulic? My other mountain bikes have Shimano XT hydraulics and my CX bike has TRP Spyres so have experience of both (my old commuter bike had Avid BB7s so know those as well) just not in very cold weather. Searches bring up polarised (unintended pun, sorry) views - who would have thought that of the internet? - with some having bad experiences of both systems and others having not had any problems with either. Local bike mechanic reckons BB7s as they are easier to service trail side but TBH I have found them a little bit fiddly at times.

Thoughts bikers please!

Hi,

I'm an ex climber/mountaineer then ex fell runner (fell is a northern British word for hill or mountain) before taking up cycling as my main activity though I have ridden bikes for most of my life.

Did a few years of road touring then, along with my wife, got in to bikepacking about 18 months ago and now do a mixture of general wandering about and UK based ITTs. We are fortunate enough to live on the edge of one of our national parks and have ready access to a large selection of trails. I like to think I've brought some of my lightweight minimalist alpine skills along but I keep learning new things and of course what was lightweight in the 1980s is nowhere near today's interpretation.

HI guys,

first post (I'll introduce myself in the "official" thread in a while)

I'd agree with Addy Marx in that the SOL is suited to racing rather than touring. I've the SOL Escape Bivy and when used with a thin base layer and a lightweight down vest it's fine for summer usage here in the UK. There's not enough room in it for me, a sleeping mat and a quilt/bag - well the quilt bag doesn't have room to loft properly. I'm 5'11" and 84Kg (185lbs).

My "race" setup is: SOL Escape; Klymit X-frame mat; PHD down vest; long sleeved thermal top; thermal shorts; anti midge (no-see-um) head net. That all comes to less than 1Kg and packs pretty small. With that I sleep well in the 10C (50F) temp range, wouldn't want to rely on it for a pleasant night if the mercury got towards freezing.

Bob