Allison’s FGC

Allison is a shorter rider – I really enjoy building for riders like her as I feel they are very underserved by production bikes. Allison travels a lot for work, and wanted a bike that would be easier to travel with, but still with all the features she needs for a touring bicycle. So her frame uses the folding system to allow for packing in a checkable travel case. 650B wheels are proportional to the bike size, and help with eliminating toe-overlap, even with fenders. And as a bonus, make packing the bike even easier.

The bike can be configured in various ways depending on the trip and conditions. There is a custom stainless steel rear low-rider pannier rack that connects to the frame using the pivots of the folding system. The rack comes apart to pack flat with the bike. When this is installed with the rear fender, the rear light mounts on the top of the fender. If the bike is used without the fender, the light has a second bracket that mounts to the left dropout.

At the front is a SON dynamo hub built into the Rolf Prima wheelset. This powers the front light that is either mounted on a bracket at the fork crown, or when the custom folding stainless steel front rack is added, the light moves to the rack mount, and there is an extension wire included to reach to it.

The frame and fork are built light and with the tubing selected to provide good ride qualities for Allison’s size. Fully set up with racks, fenders, lights and pedals the bike weighs in at 22.8lbs, or this drops to 20.1lbs if the rack and fenders aren’t installed.

A bit of a mixed groupset – SRAM Red cranks in order to get the 155mm length required, fitted with a Wolftooth chainring to pair with the Shimano drivetrain of Ultegra Di2 shifters and wireless XT derailleur.

Beautiful pink paint by Colorworks, with a matching bag by Allison’s husband.

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