Samuli's bikes, off-road touring in Lapland and other rides

This isn't a project really, but the bikes are never ready either.

I've had my Steamroller for 10 years. Still love it. The setup has varied from fixie skidder to an ultra racing bike. I bent the original fork while playing polo. It's been a singlespeed roadbike for most of the time though. I started riding brevets/audaxes on it in 2012 I think. I had a couple of roadbikes and mountainbikes too but those are not that relevant. I did PBP in 2015 on this, among other things:

Then I decided to do the Transcontinental Race. I wanted gears but building a new bike as good as this would have been too expensive at the time and I don't like buying new things so I got a derailleur hanger brazed on the Steamroller.

I actually raced the TCR twice on it, got in the top 10 on this. And also did the Ruska across Finland in 2017.

It was great but I wanted to have bike with bigger clearance and disc brakes, better for gravel and snow, and with more gears and modern parts. So I got a Sibbo, and built the Steamroller as a SS again, to use for commuting and short training rides and whatever. That's how it's been since and I use it daily.

I've basically only changed the tyres. GP4000 for the summer, studded for the winter. The bearings on the SP dynamo hub from 2015 have lots of play in them now and I'll build a new wheel soon.

This is what the Sibbo looked like during the first summer and the North Cape - Tarifa race.

The mudguards were great during the constant rain of the first week and a bit in the cold north. The bike was great for the whole 7400km. Though bearings in the rear hub were done after that. Changed the Shimano 105 for DT350.

I like parts that are proven to be reliable and not too expensive to destroy, as the bike is a tool. So for example I like the square taper bottom bracket. UN55 FTW. It's a rather basic bike, not the prettiest or lightest. I like the road-bike-like geometry combined with good tyre clearance. The third bottle mount and rear light mount have been brazed on by friends. Front hub is a SON now and brakes are Hope RX4. Rear light cable goes through the downtube using the DI2 holes.

I've done a few gravel races on this too and all kinds of other rides.

This is how it was when I set a a record on riding across Finland on it:

Transcontinental Race 2019, with a carbon fork:

Paris-Brest-Paris 2019:

Just built a 650b wheelset for it. And changed the fork for one with more clearance.

Here's a blog post about the NCT: https://samulimaekinen.wordpress.com/2019/02/03/north-cape-tarifa/

And this is from that ride from Hanko to Nuorgam. https://samulimaekinen.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/fastest-known-time-across-finland/

That's all for now.