Jim’s super commuter

Jim wanted a bike for all-year, all-weather riding, that could be used for his commute and group rides. He also needed some extra comfort due to suffering with issues with his hands.

We settled on a Gates belt drive, Shimano Alfine Di2 build, for a durable, weather-resistant drivetrain, with 35mm tires for comfort and traction. The high volume tires are accompanied by a Shockstop suspension stem and Silca bartape to reduce vibrations at the handlebar as much as possible.

The Alfine Di2 motor unit requires an offset belt-cog to fit, which in turn needed the rearend of the bike to be offset 7mm to the right in order to provide the correct beltline and have room for the larger tires. Careful shaping of the chainstay provides both tire clearance and room for the beltring. There is a custom splitter in the chainstay for belt installation, secured with a bolt through from the dropout.

Jim requested a slight arc to the toptube, which is also ovalised. Rather than having a built-in pannier rack as I have done on other winter bike builds, we wanted more flexibility here. So there is a stainless ‘rack’ for the panniers to hook to that attaches to the frame and to the oversize fender stay – with these various modular parts, the bike can have nothing, just the rack, just the fender, or both rack and fender.

Matching the design of a jersey Jim liked, Colorworks did a fantastic job with the paint, all the way down to the matching fenders, and accents on the saddle!

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