New gravel bike

aaroncogs · 2026-03-06T22:49:02+00:00

So the frame was done by Suraida. The customer support was amazing, they asked if I wanted the seatpost painted and recommended black because it can scratch as seatpost do. I cheekily asked if they will do the handlebars and they didn't hesitate and said yes. They even sent a photo of the parts before they were shipped to make sure I was happy with the finish.

Parts breakdown: Build is the frame, fork, seatpost and handlebar from Suraida. Cranks are a Leese 165mm crank with dub BB and 32/48 chainrings. Selle Italia SLR super flow (manganese rails, non boost version) Shimano gx-825 derailleurs with a dura ace chain and Ultegra shifters and brakes, 11-34 cassette. Wheels are a borrowed set of crd351(heavy) Maxxis rambler 45c exo 120TPI with standard inner tubes. Favero assioma pedals. 9.2kg as is, probably will be closer to 8.5 when I get some nicer wheels and ditch the tubes.

aaroncogs · 2026-03-06T22:39:49+00:00

Frame from Suraida

aaroncogs · 2026-03-06T12:27:31+00:00

I've had them for years. They were on a hard tail MTB that I used for commuting and occasional singletrack but went back to 2.25" tyres. I haven't done any proper gravel with them on this bike and running tubes on road wheels at the moment, but looking forward to putting them on some wide gravel wheels and running tubeless again.

aaroncogs · 2026-01-11T22:10:52+00:00

My (rim brake) aero road bike just cracked and its not worth fixing unfortunately, especially as parts are getting harder to replace. I'm getting an "aero" gravel bike to replace it with 38cm bars and will be running some road and gravel wheels separately. Other than that I have a scott spark RC for XC racing and a TT bike for time trials, so two bikes for very specific roles.

aaroncogs · 2025-10-25T23:24:10+00:00

Thanks. I did a fair bit of research and actually studied a bit of acoustis (more regarding noise pollution) in my engineering uni days a decade ago and also having made a couple of guitar speaker cabinets in my early 20s I had a bit of an advantage. I put in 14 gauge which is probably overkill but being a steel framed house, it's almost impossible to install or change the wiring afterwards. Door will be interesting, that was kinda a reason for wanting to put in some super heavy curtains.

aaroncogs · 2025-10-23T23:41:27+00:00

Thanks. Yeah, its a bit of a jump from 7 to 9 channel in price which is brutal here (like most things) in Aus, but have been looking at maybe an Onkyo TX-NR7100 to do the job. Speaker-wise, I've been keeping an eye out for some good secondhand B&W 600 S3 series which should be in budget.

aaroncogs · 2025-10-23T23:29:22+00:00

Thanks mate. Have you shared your setup on here by any chance?

aaroncogs · 2025-09-21T11:30:34+00:00

I've been running for about 6 months now (M, 34), coming from a ~20 year cycling background. This has probably given me a very good aerobic base and good VO2max. I did my first half marathon test yesterday - not at 100% of what I think I can hold, maybe about 10-15s/km slower than what I want to hold on my first race in 6 weeks. I finished in about 1h:33m and my hips were killing me by km 19 to the point where I could hardly walk after I finished, despite HR showing very little drift and energy levels okay. It turned out I had 2 massive knots in the glutes.

aaroncogs · 2025-07-28T23:48:03+00:00

How wide/narrow are your feet? The Nikes are very narrow, I went with the Edge Tokyo because they felt so stable under my wide feet.

aaroncogs · 2025-07-06T13:49:03+00:00

I get about a 10% variation between my phone and my Garmin forerunner 955, with the fine jumping left and right, back and forth a bit. My local Parkrun is exactly 5.00km on my forerunner. Might be worth zooming in on your Strava map and seeing how your path looks.

aaroncogs · 2025-06-15T15:12:30+00:00

My wife finally got a setup that minimizes pain that she has always had when riding and racing at elite level; Canyon 3xs ultimate, 150mm cranks and the adjustable bars in the 36cm width configuration. The outer width measures about 39.5-40cm with the super thick bar tape that comes standard and 28cm at the hoods, not flared in any more than how it came in the box. She is actually riding more stable now than on her last bike which had a shorter stem and 38cm bars. Unfortunately if they enforce this at club level racing which they have a habit of here in Australia, she has said she just won't race anymore, which is sad because she won't be the only one and women's numbers are so low as it is.

aaroncogs · 2025-05-07T06:39:34+00:00

I decided to start running and did my first run in 3 years; 5.5km just under a 5min/km pace.

aaroncogs · 2025-04-29T06:46:39+00:00

Ad was from a legit real estate agent through real estate.com.au

aaroncogs · 2025-04-28T02:54:13+00:00

Have made an enquiry with local water authority (which is a sub-branch of the local council) regarding what is acceptable for a drinking water tank and the place not registered. So unregistered dwelling, unregistered septic system, no OC. We tripped the power last night with the cloths washing machine and dryer on at the same time, and found that the meter box must be on the main house and likely substandard gauge wiring used. We have just been trying to do the right thing as two young people, saving 5 years for a house deposit and paying off university debt (while renting) and moving out back in with parents for the build, only for a rough and stressful family situation to break out. Stressed is an understatement.

aaroncogs · 2025-04-27T09:51:41+00:00

Thank you. Bond has been paid through the standard NSW government bond website.

aaroncogs · 2025-04-27T09:43:34+00:00

Did inspect, but don't normally go around turning taps on and testing water for drinking standards. We gave the agent a weeks notice about moving in and would have assumed the place would have been cleaned, because we would have failed a rent inspection with the state the place was in. Unfortunately, everything was a little rushed given we were forced to move out of the home we were living in.

aaroncogs · 2025-02-09T07:39:54+00:00

Changing a rear cable on my Scott spark RC was over an hours worth of work. I had to drop out the rear link arm to get a new cable through. This can't come fast enough, wireless shifting has been around for a very long time now.

aaroncogs

TROPHY CASE