The Rambler
This was kind of a COVID insanity purchase, but there were a few other factors involved. I’ve gotten into cycling fairly seriously over the past five years as injuries have curtailed running, and I wanted a bike that could work as an everyday commuter and also transition smoothly to “gravel cycling” — the latest trend in cycling, involving rides on dirt roads and trails that aren’t technical enough for a suspension mountain bike but would rattle your teeth on a conventional road bike.
I went to my local bike shop, the Hub, and talked this through with Joseph Ruggiers, the main mechanic (who had just built himself something similar but much nicer and funkier). The pandemic made it difficult to source all the parts, but in late January he finally got everything together to build it.
I wanted to keep the whole build under $2,000, and nearly made it. At that price point, it was clear that steel was my best option. The first challenge was to find a frame that could accommodate 650b wheels, which are narrower than conventional road bike wheels (700c) to wear big tires to absorb shocks. The frame also needed to have enough space between the seat stays for a wide gear range so I could climb hills and bump over roots. And finally it needed through-axles. After much speccing and back-and-forth we settled on a Surly Midnight Special.
The next critical piece for me was flat, wide bars. I wanted to be up high to see traffic while commuting, and seeing Joseph’s Nitto bars on his own build made me want something with different hand positions and points to hang bags, lights, etc. His weren’t available, so we went with Surly Moloko bars:
They’re wrapped in Brooks Cambium bar tape with Cambium grips as well. The saddle is also Brooks Cambium; I’m hoping they come closer in color as they age.
The front bullhorns will help for cruising, of course, and I’m debating what kind of light and bag setup I want up front. I’ll confess that I’m worried that the bars are adding a lot of weight to the bike, so we’ll see whether I stick with them or go with a simpler flat bar.
Gravel tires come with a variety of knobs and furrows; I wanted something on the slicker end of the spectrum to make it easier to ride on rows. Joseph recommended Panaracer Gravel Kings; these things are 51mm or 2.1". As Surly says, Fatties Fit Fine. They’re on Velocity Cliffhanger rims. At some point I’ll add a dynamo hub on the front. And I couldn’t resist the gumwalls.
As noted above, we talked about getting a really wide gear range, but I didn’t want to drag a triple ring around in front. I’ve loved the 1x11 setup on my mountain bike (a Trek Fuel EX 9.8), and Shimano just came out with a new system that actually fits 12 rings in the back. Unfortunately Joseph couldn’t find the microspline hub needed for 1x12, so we went for the 1x11 version of the Shimano Deore with a 40-tooth Absolute Black oval chainring. And Deore disk brakes for power and consistency.
Finally, I wanted a conventional bottle cage that would match the lime-green pedals I already had for the bike and another cage that would take oversize water bottles or perhaps tasty beverages from Athens’ excellent collection of breweries. And the frame had a third set of bottle bosses underneath, so that’s where my toolkit goes. The green cage and the underneath cage are by Supacaz; the big one is an Arundel Bikes Looney Bin.
The plot twist is that about halfway through the bike’s assembly, I partially tore my achilles tendon and had surgery to repair that and a lot of other issues with my foot and ankle in December. So I probably won’t be able to actually ride it for a month. Until then I’m stuck taking pictures and thinking about ways to tinker with it. At least temporarily, I’ll swap the pedals out for some (matching) platforms so I don’t have to stress my ankle clipping in and out. I’m thinking about whether to put a rack on that would accommodate clothes and a laptop for commuting. And mostly dreaming about getting away from traffic on the bountiful dirt roads and trails around here. Thanks to Joseph and the Hub for hooking me up!
