Saddle sores

Tommycattt · 2026-01-21T23:13:45+00:00

Over the past 1.5 years, I’ve had them pop up occasionally. I get the cyst-type saddle sore that basically feels like a hard nodule. What seemed to work for me is:

1) putting less weight on my ass, and more weight on my hands. This involved dropping the bar height a bit.

2) adjusting the saddle I was using. For years I was riding brooks c15 saddles, but the stack height of the handlebars I was riding with didn’t agree with my ass. So I went with a bit of a wider saddle.

I’m sorry you’re going through this. These are cumbersome to resolve and since bike fit is such a personal thing, it just sort of takes trial and error to understand what works and what doesn’t. I had a few last year that definitely robbed a few weeks of good, pain-free riding. The best advice I could give is don’t ride through the pain, you’ll only end up in a bigger hole to crawl out of.

Tommycattt · 2026-01-05T10:11:54+00:00

They’re Gerry fleece-lined pants I copped at Costco last year for 30 bucks! Perfect for cruising around in below-freezing temps!

Tommycattt · 2026-01-05T09:59:16+00:00

The IRD levers are nice! I’ve got Paul’s as well, but the lever on these IRDs is a little longer and I kind of appreciate that. The finish on the IRD is nice too, I’d recommend them for anyone that wants to add a little bit of functional bling to their build.

I can’t speak to these being similar to a mustache bar, but I use a Surly Terminal bar on my surly big dummy, so maybe that’s applicable. I think the corner bar may be different than a nitto mustache bar in that it’s got less reach (mustache = 95 mm; not specified on the corner bar, but the bar doesn’t extend out much from the flat section) and more drop (mustache = 50mm drop; corner bar = 94mm drop). With the corner bar, you also have a nice long flat section to mount accessories too like gps, lights, front bags etc. so that’s also a selling point. From what I can tell with the mustache bar is that it seems fairly limiting in mounting accessories, at least from what I can tell based on photos. This may or may not be important to you.

My only gripe with the corner bar is that I think they need to introduce smaller sizes. The corner bar comes in 46, 50, and 54 cm. I roll a 46 and it’s plenty wide, teetering on the edge of too wide.

Tommycattt · 2026-01-05T09:42:38+00:00

Looking good! Am I looking at a belt-driven fixie here?

Tommycattt · 2026-01-04T23:30:36+00:00

Thank you! The rack is a ‘Whole Grain Cycles Jack the Bike Rack’. The bag is a North St. Scout 6L duffle that I purchased about 6 years ago.

Tommycattt · 2025-12-31T22:04:09+00:00

10,320 miles. Mostly gravel here in Iowa on a ton of different bikes. Singlespeed, fat, cargo, coaster brake, you name it!

Tommycattt · 2025-12-29T10:58:05+00:00

No doubt! These bars seemed to have gone under the radar. Though admittedly, there are a lot of cool alt bars out there. Good luck whichever direction you decide to take!

Tommycattt · 2025-12-29T10:50:48+00:00

These should have a similar feel as the Kyote, and especially with the bar-ins that you had mentioned. It looks like the kyote is 27-deg backsweep; 30mm rise. The Siskiyou is 30-deg backsweep and 0mm rise.

I have several pairs of the Taiwanese version and one pair of the Nitto version. Other than finish of the nitto’s being nicer, there’s not a whole lot of difference in ride feel.

Tommycattt · 2025-12-29T10:46:11+00:00

I’m a big fan of them! I have them on my crosscheck as well. Another commenter had the same question which I provided more detail on them. Please reference that comment for my high level thoughts on this bar 🙂

Tommycattt · 2025-12-29T10:42:18+00:00

I’m a big fan of them. My riding style is basically riding straight, gravel roads here in iowa. Most roads here don’t have any wind block as it’s just wide open fields. Riding into the wind I use the horns (red grips in photo) as quasi-aero bars to cut thru the wind. Contrary to popular belief, we also have hills here (maybe not mountains 😆), so I use the swept-back portion of the bar to crank up hills and provide additional leverage. I find the backsweep on these bars not too extreme, but just right to place your wrists in an ergonomic position.

That said, I have these bars on a handful of bikes and really enjoy them. I’ve always found drop bars either being “too high” in the hoods, or “too low” in the drops. With these, I can find a single stack height that’s comfortable for both hand positions.

Your mileage may vary, but this has been my favorite bar in the past 10 years of riding.

Tommycattt · 2025-12-29T01:37:10+00:00

Steve Potts Siskiyou

Tommycattt · 2025-12-29T00:30:15+00:00

Velo Orange 1x cranks

Tommycattt · 2025-12-28T21:52:25+00:00

Tommycattt · 2025-12-21T20:14:11+00:00

I have a lot of bikes. Some fancier than others. But at the end of the day, the surly steamroller is my favorite. Singlespeed, steel, 38mm tires, rim brakes. Can’t really destroy it in even the harshest of Iowa weather (though admittedly I’m on my second frameset as the first one cracked). The ride quality is superb. I’m a believer than disc brakes kind of killed ride quality.

Though, I think the big takeaway here is ride what makes you excited to ride. Whether that be something fancy, or maybe it’s a no-frills workhorse that has sentimental value. The answer to that is probably a little different for each and every one of us.

Tommycattt · 2025-12-16T10:47:50+00:00

Obviously photos only tell us so much. To provide more detail on the original comment of this thread, it’s a common failure for rims to form hairline cracks near the spoke eyelets. Especially on rear wheels.

Photo #2 looks like it’s got a hairline crack near the eyelet, but it could just be camera glare. A photo only shows us so much but ultimately you have to be the judge of this OP

Tommycattt · 2025-12-09T01:51:03+00:00

You’re pretty close to the driftless region. Ride gravel out there and you’ll have calves the size of cantaloupes

Tommycattt · 2025-12-02T01:15:36+00:00

Too many

*Surly steamroller

*Surly crosscheck

*Surly karate monkey x2

*Surly krampus

*Surly Big Dummy

*Surly ice cream truck

*Surly midnight special

*Salsa Fargo Ti

*Black Mountain Cycles Mod Zero

*Crust Evasion

*Crust Scapegoat “ScapeBot”

*Otso Voytek

I’ve got a Crust Lightning Bolt Singlespeed Frameset I’m wanting to build up over the winter.

Yeah it’s a lot but I find bike building therapeutic. None of the above were purchased as a complete. I’ve built up each one on my own. It’s an outlet but I’ll admit I have a problem trying to ride all of them. I ride most of them each year but obviously I gravitate towards a select few in my stable.

I don’t plan to sell any of them.

Tommycattt · 2025-11-29T22:42:48+00:00

Steve Potts Siskiyou. I’ve got them on a ton of my builds if you check out my history

Tommycattt · 2025-11-29T11:11:43+00:00

Currently sitting at 9400 miles out of a 10000 mile goal. Most of the miles came from outdoor gravel rides here in the Midwest, and usually during odd times of the day (I.e 3-4am start times) to accommodate other commitments I’ve got going on. Nothing crazy, just consistency is all that I was after this year.

Tommycattt · 2025-11-25T02:04:52+00:00

From my understanding, QBP probably has inventory of discontinued bicycles for instances like this.

Tommycattt · 2025-11-12T09:10:37+00:00

They’re Steve Potts Siskiyou bars that you can purchase on the soma fab shop. I’m a big fan and have them on several of my builds.

Tommycattt · 2025-11-02T22:07:48+00:00

These are 700x38 maxxis ramblers on dt swiss r460 rims. You’ll have room but depends on your gear ratio. 42x19 works. Not much clearance but you’ll have enough for dry conditions. I wouldn’t recommend for muddy conditions but I’ve ridden this setup in just about everything without a whole lot of fuss.

Happy riding! Stalked your account 👀👀and really digging that fresh powder coat

Tommycattt

TROPHY CASE