Kgrevs bike life

Nice. Almost exactly the setup I'm going for only will be using SRAM instead of Shimano, but this is probably even cheaper to do. What rings? Bodged triple crankset?

Compact Chainsets Are Dead

It's a sora triple with spa cycles rings. Had the chainset already so I think it owes me all of €40

The second half of the tour group

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Deffo one of the best retro MTB conversions I've ever seen, hands down.

A few pictures of where we've been riding lately. Currently in meteora, have just come through the mountains from Southern greece. Can recommend

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Whoooaaaa..... Looks great. Hope you're enjoying it!

Awesome bikes and great photos! I‘m currently planning to build a small 26inch monstourer partly inspired by your rockhopper. It‘s not that easy to find a small retro mtb frame though, do you know the top tube length of your rockhopper?

Get an Intec M1 instead. They come with either canti studs or disc brake mounts all the way down to a size 42.

Cheers! I got really lucky with the rockhopper, found it on marktplaats as frame/fork for €25. I think it's a 53, which is comically long for how short the headtube is. Nothing a tall quill stem couldn't fix though

Greece has been a treat so far. Good balance of quiet roads, gravel and old castles.

We've got an instagram account called @leukbikes for the trip if you're at all interested.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153061567019

Resting in Macedonia for a few days. Just crossed Albania and the bikes and bodies need a break after spending a few weeks on incredibly beautiful but also incredibly roads. Our bikes on 50mm tyres mostly made it to through, but I would recommend even bigger if you plan on riding everything comfortably.

That said, it's definitely worth the effort. Everyone was super friendly and when the roads are good they're great.

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Bike as it's currently set up. Destroyed the thunderburt on the front and the Terrence Elwood on the rear while riding in Albania so have replaced them with what I could get my hands on.

Otherwise the bike is holding up alright, do have some big plans for after the trip though.

Have just reached Montenegro and we're taking a few days off before heading north to Dormitor national park. Anyone have any advice for this area?

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Super cool bike mate

Made it to Mostar in Bosnia after a few weeks riding in Montenegro. Definitely our favourite country so far - incredible roads, no traffic and great people. Did a loop starting in Bar then riding through podgorica - Biogradska Gora - Tara canyon - Durmitor - Nikšić and ending in Kotor.

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Looks stunning!

Sans pannier glamour shot showing the 2" specialized hardrock'r that only fits because I cut the side knobs off. Turns out finding replacement 650x47c tyres is impossible in the Balkans

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Nice! Seems like you're on a pretty long trip. What's the plans?

We started in Athens in May and have worked our way up to Slovenia. Got about 3 weeks left to get to Munich via Italy and Austria. Been an incredible trip so far, the Balkans have been better than I could have hoped for. We've been posting as @leukbikes on Instagram if you want to get a rough idea of where we've been

Awesome 👌😎

Awesome bike - and trip!

That's a Cotic Escapade with the backwards facing dropouts under there right? I have one (and love it) and have always wondered about 650b, but the chainstay dimples on mine look like they would be in the wrong place. Is 47mm about the limit on width?

Also assuming you got the rack mounts added to the original fork?

It is a cotic escapade. And you're right, the dimples are in the wrong place. I managed to fit a 50mm maxxis refuse, but only just. I've actually booked some time with a frame builder to get the status crimped in the right place. The same frame builder also added the mounts to the fork.

Got the last roll of film from the summer developed, this is a shot just south of Sarajevo. Once again, can only recommend the gravel riding in the Balkans.

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Just moved back to NZ with the Cotic. Got extra bottle cage bosses added to seatstays and the bottom of the downtube. Also got the chainstays crimped, so should comfortably fit a 650x50.

Funds are limited so it's probably going to stay like this for the next wee while. Plans going forward are to replace the current stem, replace tyres with tubeless g-ones and eventually get an sp dynamo and lights.

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I've said it before, but such a great bike.