so for those who don’t know: back in april/may time, i picked up a topstone 2 2022 in the stock clearance sale, and two months later i went touring with it. had a bad crash that seemed to be fine, until near the end of that tour the pannier mount failed and pulled a chunk of the chainstay out with it.
shortly after this happened, i was then in the netherlands on my hardtail for another tour, while the bike was getting looked at, seeing if it would be a warranty job, and then waiting until the new frame came into the shop i bought the bike from (it was not done under warranty but it was done at a heavily reduced rate for the frameset).
took until a little after the latest expected time to get it, and when i did the shop i bought the frame from actually had a problem with their fire alarm (no fire, just buggered alarm), but still let me in to grab the frame. then dropped it off into the Local Bike Shop to get all the parts changed over, or at least the vast majority of the parts.
vs. topstone 2 2022 stock, this Topstone has a 440mm drops, a set of tubeless 32mm Pirelli Cinturano Velos. a new rear mech (as the old one got damaged from the pannier rack going into the cassette), a 140mm adapter for the brake callipers as they were shifted from the 2022 to the 2023 model it seems, and a different style of bar tape. the shop currently has a 50 tooth chainring coming in, and the rear mech hanger that was delivered with the bike was bent, but the dropout from my old frame was still fine after getting rethreaded for the thru-axle, as that was already a problem. there’s also an extra adjuster for the rear mech that’s been added between the levers and where it enters the frame as the GRX adjuster isn’t the best on the rear mech, so like with a MTB, now i have some extra adjustment for the gearing, though it’s always been buttery smooth, but when the chain starts to wear then it’ll come in handy.
i know it’s hard to read but the weight is 10.53KGs, without the bottle cages, toptube bag or saddle bag, but with the pedals and my wahoo elemnt roam + mounting bracket
Now that i still have the old frame, i’ll be taking it to a few aluminium specialist welders and seeing if any of them can reweld the frame, before using it as the bike i’d mechanically tinker with to get better as a mechanic, and hopefully have as the full frameset build i did myself, which is something i’ve been wanting to do for a long while now.
i’m going to be shifting my bag setup to be a lot closer to a bikepacking setup. not using any of the mounts for a pannier to try and not have the same thing happen again, but i have also been trying to buy a better tent and the like for size packdown, and i much prefer road riding so despite the lack of rack, it’ll still be touring over bikepacking as my joy. that, and audax.
the only other specific touring/Audax related buy i’ll be going for is some Aero bars. more positions for my hands, and much nicer for the big tour i’ve got planned for next year.
sorry for the long text post but hey, this is just what’s currently planned and coming in, never mind some other things that i don’t have the funds for just yet but is 100% going to be getting added.
1 Comment
so for those who don’t know: back in april/may time, i picked up a topstone 2 2022 in the stock clearance sale, and two months later i went touring with it. had a bad crash that seemed to be fine, until near the end of that tour the pannier mount failed and pulled a chunk of the chainstay out with it.
shortly after this happened, i was then in the netherlands on my hardtail for another tour, while the bike was getting looked at, seeing if it would be a warranty job, and then waiting until the new frame came into the shop i bought the bike from (it was not done under warranty but it was done at a heavily reduced rate for the frameset).
took until a little after the latest expected time to get it, and when i did the shop i bought the frame from actually had a problem with their fire alarm (no fire, just buggered alarm), but still let me in to grab the frame. then dropped it off into the Local Bike Shop to get all the parts changed over, or at least the vast majority of the parts.
vs. topstone 2 2022 stock, this Topstone has a 440mm drops, a set of tubeless 32mm Pirelli Cinturano Velos. a new rear mech (as the old one got damaged from the pannier rack going into the cassette), a 140mm adapter for the brake callipers as they were shifted from the 2022 to the 2023 model it seems, and a different style of bar tape. the shop currently has a 50 tooth chainring coming in, and the rear mech hanger that was delivered with the bike was bent, but the dropout from my old frame was still fine after getting rethreaded for the thru-axle, as that was already a problem. there’s also an extra adjuster for the rear mech that’s been added between the levers and where it enters the frame as the GRX adjuster isn’t the best on the rear mech, so like with a MTB, now i have some extra adjustment for the gearing, though it’s always been buttery smooth, but when the chain starts to wear then it’ll come in handy.
i know it’s hard to read but the weight is 10.53KGs, without the bottle cages, toptube bag or saddle bag, but with the pedals and my wahoo elemnt roam + mounting bracket
Now that i still have the old frame, i’ll be taking it to a few aluminium specialist welders and seeing if any of them can reweld the frame, before using it as the bike i’d mechanically tinker with to get better as a mechanic, and hopefully have as the full frameset build i did myself, which is something i’ve been wanting to do for a long while now.
i’m going to be shifting my bag setup to be a lot closer to a bikepacking setup. not using any of the mounts for a pannier to try and not have the same thing happen again, but i have also been trying to buy a better tent and the like for size packdown, and i much prefer road riding so despite the lack of rack, it’ll still be touring over bikepacking as my joy. that, and audax.
the only other specific touring/Audax related buy i’ll be going for is some Aero bars. more positions for my hands, and much nicer for the big tour i’ve got planned for next year.
sorry for the long text post but hey, this is just what’s currently planned and coming in, never mind some other things that i don’t have the funds for just yet but is 100% going to be getting added.