Hi Drew!
Yes, James has helped me a lot. And I owe him and Candice (that is the correct spelling of her name) a LOT of credit for opening up my eyes to what one can do with color on a bike build. Analog Cycles has a certain artistry; you can see it on their product pages.
Huh. I had not considered asking my 2nd son what HE might actually like for a bike. I figure he doesn’t know. He has only given me one opinion, and it was last summer. I had taken both sons to the wild Wed Night Ride in Grand Rapids (home of Velocity Wheels!) and let him borrow my Platy because it has dyno lighting. A few days later my family rode Chicago’s Lakefront trail and he had his usual Clem H. He complained about it. “That other bike I rode was better.”
“What was better about it?” I inquired.
“I don’t know, but just about everything on the bike was better than this one.”
And it was. That bike had much nicer parts and wheels and he could tell, novice though he was. Plus, the 1st gen Clem H was way bulky and overbuilt. I know they lightened the tubes in subsequent runs.
I think there are only 2 logical choices for him. The Clem L or the Platypus. I think he really needs a dropped tube for ease of riding around a crowded city and jumping on/off with loads. We already know he likes a Platypus; I just don’t know if I want to spend that much on him. I know he will be religious about locking it up; I just don’t know if he will really enjoy riding it outside of utilitarian college riding. The Clem is better to be knocked around and abused. It’s sturdy and less expensive if stolen. But if I knew that boy was going to fall in love with biking and want to have adventures with it, I’d get him that Platy he already likes. And no, he is absolutely NOT getting any of my Platys. Because I need alllll of them.
Also, we don’t know his final height. My boys are late bloomers; my older boy came home another 2 inches taller his freshman year of college…
RE: Garmin and cables and junk….I am about to go through every room and every drawer in my house and purge it all. I cannot stand being encumbered with stuff. Winter has been long and I believe in WINTER CLEANING not spring cleaning - come springtime, I’m going to be outside in it.
I hope you try tubeless! If you follow James’ advice, I think you’ll find a winning formula! L Leah, I've not dipped into the tubeless realm but have emailed with James from Analog about other things and trust him implicitly. In fact their endorsement of Bitex touring hubs is why I bought a set of them for my new wheel project!
Does your younger son have an eye for any bike from the Riv catalog in particular? Or do you have a inkling which he might dig? As a younger brother myself I never wanted the same thing my older brother had. If he had been riding a Clem I'd probably say I wanted a drop bar Sam or Roadini just to be different. Maybe it can be a fun project for you two, figuring out what style of bike he's drawn toward.
And on the Garmin note, My wife and I have a whole drawer of charge cables for various things and I resent it deeply. I'm really glad that proprietary plugs are becoming a thing of the past as we're migrating over to a universal system, but definitely feel like companies should offer a rebate or a trade-in within a certain amount of time when they know they're launching a "new and improved" version of something. But then again, I suppose the fact that I feel this way is precisely why I'm attracted to Riv in the first place. Fully endorse grabbing a new one when it's something you use so much though!
On Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 10:49:43 AM UTC-5 Ryan Fleming wrote:
Hear you...and I totally get your reason for upgrading
On Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 7:25:05 AM UTC-6 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote:
Yes, Ryan, I’ll sell it for sure. But it’s still a loss. It’s also a worthy upgrade for the amount of road miles I get. But $300! Ugh.
The next terrible thing they will do to me is make a way nicer Garmin that I will insist I need. 😒 Sent from my iPhone Can't you just sell the Varia you have to recover some of the costs of the new one if it's a significant improvement?
Don't love the planned obsolescence of tech's business model :( But in your case upgrading does make a lot of sense.
On Thursday, February 5, 2026 at 4:52:40 AM UTC-6 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote:
I stand in admiration of all of the mechanical prowess on this thread.
I can do precious little, but on Sunday I DID bring two of my Platys into the mud room and do their sealant refresh. I’m kind of proud of myself because I’ve got this process down to an absolute science so that I don’t make a mess or unseat the tire. I love tubeless; I know lots of people say it’s too much trouble, but it hasn’t been for me. I use Orange Seal Endurance; James at Analog told me this is the way, and he has been right. Every 5 months I add 4oz per tire and it has kept me on the road. Naysayers will say 2 oz per tire and every couple of months, but James’ formula works.
This week it was announced that the new Garmin Varia has arrived. Available tomorrow. I am so mad because I bought a Varia late last season and had I known, I’d have waited for the current one. It is an improvement in every way. USB-C port instead of that other dumb kind, way better battery, range and much brighter light. I have mounts on 3 of my bikes for that old Varia; if I want to get the new one it will be $$$ to swap all that out. But I just might do it; the battery life and not having to bring an extra cable would be so worth it on camping/touring trips.
Also, I’m thinking about my second son’s college bike. My older son has his Clem at college and absolutely loves it. He has ridden every day, even through this heinous winter. We have a Clem H in the basement for my son, but he dislikes it. I’m going to start planning for his bike as he will be a senior next year. I might give him my dyno wheelset from my raspberry Platy and get a wild ano wheelset for my Platy from Velocity. That bike deserves more bling. You’ll think I’m crazy for giving him an expensive dyno wheelset but I tried sending the other one with battery lights and he lost some of them and charged NONE of them. “Mom, it’s fine, I can see perfectly.” Why should he worry that others cannot see HIM? 🙄
Thanks drew! Did a quick rip the other week and it feels so great. Drive is all recommended per James as he has just about the same set up on his platty and he ain’t lying. It feels great. Feels good to not give up too much grip on the bars shifting while going down the bumpy stuff. Plus having more accurate shifting is kinda nice vs playing th3 leavers a bit! Also I think having a clutch > rapid rise feels better. Forgot to list the specs incase anyone is curious RD - XT-M786 FD - XT-M786 Shifters right and left - XTR SL-M980
Ben, The Susie drive train looks awesome! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to snap up your old XTR RR derailleur but I'm trying not to buy things just to hoard them!
Kesler, excuse my mistaking the tires for purple! I'm a little color blind... love the gravel king limited colors. super fun!
Mackenzy, the Bike Friday looks great! I've always been BF/Brompton curious and love seeing all the builds. That things looks terribly convenient! Hope the swept back cockpit is all you were hoping for!
- Drew
On Tuesday, February 3, 2026 at 7:56:57 PM UTC-5 Mackenzy Albright wrote:
I've been slowly working on a bike friday pocket rocket. I just switched from drops and bar end shifters to soma oxford bars and thumbie(s). We will see how it goes. ![PXL_20260204_005402310.jpg]()
Ha! The tires are "cranberry" gravel kings. I just call them pink. The fact that they are largely covered by fenders makes them almost work, but that bike is pushing the limit of how many colors can be in one place. I also have the "matcha" gravel kings on another bike, but on that one everything is black.
On Monday, February 2, 2026 at 12:01:40 PM UTC-5 Drew Fitchette wrote:
Eric, love to hear that WIll built you a wheel. Let's see the Sam when you've got it all wired/set up!
That Motobecane looks really nice James. Hope the Brifter project makes stoked to get out on it more. Though, a Hunq is a worthy everyday rider.
Kesler, I like the wrap! Those purple tires are far out though!
Dave the Appa looks great. Hope the weather lets up some so it can get out for some mileage.
Bill, that sounds like quite the project to get the Legolas some new shoes and some extra gears. Looks great from the photos!
I just finished building a rear wheel yesterday for my next project to realize that my front hub has thru axle end caps. A call to Bike Hub Store and they've got the right parts headed my way, but now I'm shifting focus to a big overhaul of my Atlantis set up. Wanting to lose my Moth bars and Motolites for something less burly and a neo retro/touring canti set up. The Saluki just got a NOS Nexave RR derailleur and some Suntour bar end ratcheting shifters and has been begging to get out for a ride since. Hoping the balmy 50 degree afternoon will give me a chance to put some miles on it today.
On Monday, February 2, 2026 at 2:41:14 AM UTC-5 Bill Lindsay wrote:
My winter project was to convert my 1x10 Legolas into a 1x12, mainly enabled by the magic of Ratio Technologies. They sell a replacement 12sp ratchet for my SRAM brifter, converting it from 10 clicks to 12, -AND- they make a replacement cage that converts my SRAM Force road rear derailleur into a unit that will accept a 50 tooth big cog, -AND- had a great sale on chainrings. I had a pair of 28 hole white industries hubs, and a stack of 28 hole Open pro rims, and a White Industries SRAM XD driver all in stock so I built up some wheels to replace my tubular wheelset, and bought a Garbaruk cassette in 10-48. I finally managed to take it on its first long ride today, and posted photos in the February Photos thread. The new drivetrain worked great.
Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA
On Sunday, January 25, 2026 at 7:10:05 AM UTC-8 Drew Fitchette wrote:
Hey y’all,
Reading through Leah’s thread about winter being long and missing our bikes, I was curious to hear what y’all have in your queues for builds/projects/part swaps?
I think I’m going to try my hand at building some wheels for the first time. I ordered some Bitex Hubs and some Simworks standalone rims and have a friend at my local bike shop who’s agreed to help me with this foolish venture.
Would love to hear what the rest of you are getting up to in your shops/basements/garages while we wait out the bad weather!
- Drew in Atlanta
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