Urbanus Magnus

UPDATED 07/03/12: Now with pictures! I've had the O8 CX700 for nearly 9 months now, and so have put it through its paces by now. That's about 1000kms of mixed onroad/offorad/singletrack with tweaking, tuning, and general fettling in appropriate proportions. The Good: 1. Big Wonkin' Tires. There are quite a few things this bike has going for it, not least of which includes the capacity for large tires. I've concluded that you can shoehorn a 29x2.3 with fenders in there if you wanted. The 51mm (2.1in nominal) wide CST Critters have been a good fit so far. There is room for maybe 2.3in tires w/fenders, or 2.4 without.   2. A Nice Fork Design. I have had a good experience with the straight bladed fork that came standard with the frame. I know many people dislike them, because of the 'harsher ride' they supposedly give, or for their non-traditional look. Well, I can say that the ride certainly didn't feel "harsh" when riding road with 23...

Quite a few years ago, Surly introduced the then-revolutionary Karate Monkey frameset (they claim it was one of the first commercially-produced 29er frames). Now, Surly has taken the concept behind their utility bike, the Troll, and bumped it up from 26in wheels to 29in: The new Surly Ogre.   Credit: Surly Bikes Surly says that their new frame has geometry similar to the Karate Monkey (which, by following their numbers, it does), but with all the function of the Troll. What does this mean? Well, it has: - Front and rear Canti/Linear brake mounts - Disk brake tabs - Double dropout eyelets, both front and back (so you can mount fenders and racks all round!) - Specifically design for fender clearance (yay!) - Fits up to 29 x 2.5" tires, more that one should ever reasonably need - Full-housing cable mounts  - Surly-compatible trailer mount The bike seems well-equipped to be an all-rounder, off-road (or road) tourer, or nice singletrack companion.  The only quibble I...

All is well on the bike front, and I've now made it up to the 200km mark. I know, not a lot of riding in three weeks, but I've been completing the final push of school into exams (I finished my Chemistry exam today, yay! Only physics left, which is tomorrow). The tires are wearing well enough, but the compound of the CST Critters is fairly soft, so even gravel skids have worn the rear tread down a *weensy bit*. Just enough so that the "herringbone" pattern imprinted on each of the knobs is barely visible. The Herringbone pattern is wearing away quickly... the skid spots are worse than the above picture. So far, here's what I'm liking: - Off road handling - On road handling! - Overall weight - Load Capability - Comfortable seat/steam/handlebar height and position - Top Tube length is good - Rolling resistance ( Speed!) - Gear range (it hasn't been changed from before ) After about 125km offroad (light trails, gravel, a bit of chip seal road...

Without further delay, I present to you the Origin 8 CX700-framed-all-rounder: Origin 8's Cx700 frame allows me to run 29er tyres, yet doesn't look out of place running skinny rubber. The specs: - Origin 8 CX700 Cyclocross/Touring/All-Rounder frame, 56 cm * - CST Critter 29 x 2.1" tyres * - Mountain Equipment Co-Op Alloy Seatpost (rebranded Kalloy Uno) - 27.0 mm * - Brooks B17 Standard, Honey - Nitto B-115 - 40cm/25.4 mm clamp - RSX 3x8 Brifters - Avenir adjustable threadless stem w/ Origin 8 Spacers* - FSA "The Hammer" 1 1/8 in Headset * - Shimano BB-UN26 Sq. Tpr. * - Alivio 22-32-42 Crank - Victor VP-196 Pedals w/toe clips (VP-565 Platforms shown in pictures) - SRAM 12-32 7-Speed Casette - Alivio F. Der, 31.8mm clamp  * - Alivio R. Der - KMC Z-Chain * - Wheels: Alivio hubs laced to 36h Araya PX-35 rims - Jagwire "Basics" Cables + Housings * - Tektro 720 Cantis         A "*" means bought new. All other parts are scav...

I had been looking at frames for a while, when I stumbled upon this: Credit where credit is due: Picture stolen from <www.team-bicycle.webpowered.com> That, my friends is the new Cx700 frame offered by Origin 8. From what I've heard, it is pretty awesome. Here are some of the highlights: - Triple Butted steel - ~5.6 lbs, frame +  fork - Canti/V-brakes or  Disks - 2.1 in tyres in 700c size - this is what I'd be willing to call a "29er"! - All the touring braze-ons you'd ever need Don't get me wrong - this is by no means an endorsement/promotion for Origin 8; I just happen to love the idea of a go-anywhere, do-everything frame. This is one of the first  frames I've seen that can be full touring/cyclocross/road or offroad with just a change of tyres, other than the Surly Karate Monkey (can be finiggled into "light touring" mode), the Salsa Fargo (an off-road tourer), or the Rawland Drakkar frameset (like a more off-road version of ...