In preparation for the Sydney - Gong ride this coming Sunday, the Apollogy got a new 39t chainring and a large Topeak aero wedge bag last weekend. The chainring is a quick compromise to drop the gearing to a useful 37 inch climbing low gear for the big hill out of the Royal National Park and other hills that may come my way. Test ride on saturday demonstrated that it was pretty useful on the steep bits while the 52t big ring still gives me plenty of flat grunt. Short term I would like to drop the 52t down to a 49t to avoid some close ratios but I haven't yet been able to source a 49t.
Ultimately I'm aiming for a triple ring with a 50, 42 and 32ish type of range for carrying a bit more load under fatigue but I'm optimistic that the 39 will cut the mustard on short rides and resolves a whole lot of flow on problems in converting to a triple.
The Topeak aero wedge is another compromise but will happily handle phone, wallet snacks and spray jacket. Tools and spare tubes are going into a bidon tool box slung under the downtube. It should be useful for rides up to 200km.
I have a larger and much older Karrimor saddle/handlebar bag which has a useful capacity but doesn't really fix properly on the saddle or handlebars. Again, long term goal is a nice handlebar bag to improve capacity for longer rides. There's a nice Vaude model that I like, but ultimately one of those rack mounted Berthould bags on trad bikes would fit more with my aesthetic.
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