Denis’ touring bike

Denis’ touring bike

I built Denis a convertible road/TT travel bike a few years ago. This time he asked for a touring bike for heading on foreign adventures. He previously had a more traditional touring bike with a Rohloff hub and Gates beltdrive – he liked the drivetrain but not the weight of the bike!

I suggested 26″ wheels – this size is easy to find spares (tires, tubes, rims) pretty much anywhere, and the slightly smaller size makes packing the bike for transport simpler too. The usual Rohloff shifter is a grip-shift, which doesn’t really work for a dropbar. Fortunately, Gebla make a conversion that allows a modified set of SRAM doubletap shifters to be used to control the hub. Vertical dropouts make for easy wheel installation, whilst an eccentric BB takes care of belt tension.

Local bagmaker Brian at Kaibab Customs was able to accommodate my request for a full framebag that left space for a bottle at the front. The bag has three compartments (top, bottom and a map pocket), and bolts into place on the frame. If the bag is removed then the bolt spacing is set to allow adding two more water bottles instead. There is also a matching toptube bag behind the stem.

The Salsa fork took care of the front end, with the bonus of having lowrider rack mounts if additional carrying capacity needs to be added.

Honjo fenders will keep Denis clean from road spray. The rear has been modified so that the back half can be removed (either just rotated forward or taken off completely) to help with packing the bike.

The finish is powercoat for durability, with painted graphics by Colorworks over the top.

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