Sunday Skream: New Tracklocross Build

I recently decided it was time to refresh my tracklocross shred machine. I had debated a new steel beast with canti mounts for when I am off visiting places. It would make it easier if you could jump into single-speed mode. I was settled on a Brooklyn, then I was on eBay and came across this Skream.

It has been a while since I had a non-steel bike, even longer since I had a bike with carbon fibre in it. I had these thoughts buzzing about my head and was worried I was heading down the Party Pace elitist route, those fake retro grouches who can only use a steel bike with friction shifters that you need a mortgage for.

So, on my first ride out of the way, this bike wants to go fast compared to my other builds. It is happy when you are motoring along; your definition and mine of motoring along may differ. I feel way more on the ground than I am used to, and I now have a sore thumb, but I will probably solve that by dialling in my position a bit more. Remember, when setting up your bike, listen to your body, not the internet on bike fits.

I went with a small for sizing, and it is big; normally, a 53cm top tube comes with a 49/50cm seat tube, but here we are 53cm with an increase in standover. It is going to make more technical offroad fun. I guess that is because it is a “real” track bike and not something that has a few compromises to make it more commuter-friendly. It is all about speed. It would fit into my classical tracklocross frame idea, but it has clearance for 35mm tyres, which is tight in the fork.

Well, the frameset matches the Skream geo and charts as the Skream Magnum 24, which says 35mm tyre clearance; the One Life Cycle page does say 32mm tyre clearance for the fork, and I would agree that seems the way with the Schwalbe CX Pros that I fitted.

Anyway that is my feelings on the new bike, I’ll be back with more soon.