You might recognize this bike if you’ve followed me for a while. It’s the first bike I built up from the ground up, and probably the bike I’ve put the most miles on since it came home with me back in 2015.
Last time I showcased it properly was back in December 2015 (check that out here). So I figured I’d look at it again.
I’m running Maxxis DTH tires on the original Araya rims. The drivetrain is multiple years’ worth of Deore XT and is set up 3x7. Brakes are the original Diacompe cantilever brakes. The shift levers are funny, they’re half new Rivendell Silver shifters, half old school Shimano somethings, with a piece of that plastic used to protect new frames when they’re shipped to the shop as a spacer within the shifters themselves.
I’ve forgone the racks for now, and have new bar tape, cables and housing this year.
The saddle is my favourite part. It was a birthday present last year, and the colour of the Brooks Cambium is perfect.
I love these old BRCs — an old Canadian brand that made a bunch of bikes in the 70s-late 80s, but went defunct before the Internet so there’s not much to find about them. The frame originally was destined for the landfill, but it came home with me instead.
The thing about building a bike like this is that it is never finished. I am always going to be tinkering on it, and it has its eccentricities. I’ll never take it to a bike shop, cuz the mechanics would look at me like I’m crazy. I swear everything works though.
The frame is so comfy. I’m not sure what kind of steel it is, and it doesn’t really matter. It’s bouncy, and almost has preload when you go into corners. I’ve taken this on anything from mountain climbs to single track to just riding to work every day.
Yeah I could have gone to a shop and bought a brand-new Surly or something, enjoyed the stock parts, but something would have been lost in the process. I probably wouldn’t have started this website, or fallen in love with bikes in the exact way I had.
There’s really nothing like having a completely customized bike like this. It is 100 per cent unique, and I can attest that nobody else has this bike.
If anything, this bike is absolutely mine.
That’s something to be proud of.