Jon’s winter bike

I built Jon a road frame several years ago. Latterly he had squeezed fenders onto it for commuting, but was having to use a backpack. Rough city streets were also not great with skinnier tires. So I built him a version of my winter bike design – I think this might be my favorite interpretation so far!

The design brief was a low-maintenance, comfortable bike for all weather commuting. Jon is tall, so I could design around 700×38 tires and not worry about toe-fender overlap. The drivetrain has an Alfine 8spd hub with Gates beltdrive. To enable the correct beltline and tire clearance and still have room for the chainstay, the rear triangle is offset 5mm to the right, with the wheel dished to match. The split for installing the belt is a socket that is integrated into the dropout.

The integrated pannier rack includes mounts for the fenders, and is made from stainless for rust prevention if pannier hooks wear through the powdercoat. At the front there is a Whiskey carbon fork with a SON dynamo hub built into the front wheel. A custom bracket pairs with the front fender to mount the front light, with the rear light on the back of the rack. The rear light cable runs internally through the rack and frame.

For belt tensioning there is a Niner eccentric BB. The parts spec is finished off with FSA cranks, Versa shifter, TRP brakes, NoTubes rims, Compass tires and Ritchey cockpit. And of course the painted-to-match Silca frame pump.

The two-coat powder finish with painted logos is by Custom Powderworks, and the complete bike weighs in at 26.8lbs.

Jon’s bike was shown at the Bespoked show in the UK in April 2017, where it was given two awards: The Cycling UK Choice and the Technical Excellence Award.

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