The Rat Trail Bikes

Looks great but what’s the white tape around the fork crown?

Tape to protect the paint from getting ratty, presumably?

hmmmm

great looking bike so far.

Why is there a valve sticking out of your rear mudguard?

It's a nut to lock the bolt to ensure it 100% won't come loose (bridge is threaded) and I didn't cut down the bolt, look much more agriculture.

Remember, it's a tractor, not a checkpoint.

dynamo, there's a wire in place being held by tape.

Rode home finally after rack and front Dynamo sorted.

Next step; luggages from Wizard Works.

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Exciting! How does it handle? Is it what you wanted/expected?

It’s ideas, the criteria was low trail and off road, so it noticeably slightly more stable but still way quicker than a typical road bike to steer.

The rack is VERY beefy, however easy to pack for flying and have low rider mount.

Paul Klamper does not have the bite like hydraulic with the slightest touch, but stopped on a dime when applying a little more pull, almost crashed as it was more powerful than my SRAM/Shimano hydraulic.

May actually need longer stem due to the shifter being cable pull and shorter than hydraulic.

Love it! Looking forward to a few more photos. What’s the luggage plan? Full frame bag?

Yup! with small panniers and a big handlebar bag that I can easily grab camera on the go.

I quite enjoyed having stem bag but they do get in the way, so it may be integrated to the porteur bag with closing strap.

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Looks sweet. Looking forward to the daylight photo sesh

Gotta changes the handlebar, the cowchipper put me in an awkward position after riding with a 44cm cowbell for a while.

It’s very hard to go back to mechanical once you got used to eTap, just so nice to tap especially off road.

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I think this is pretty much sorted now, 90mm stem fitted and fortunately behind the rack which I genuinely thought I miscalculated the reach (it had 100mm).

It is honestly very ugly and I’m all for it.

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Looks cool

Swish

Nice bike. Shame about the paint.

I am very fustrasted.

The bike is perfect but for some reason my upper back is noticeably sore when riding it, no problem, just need some tweak and make sure the numbers is right, changes stem length, angie, even bar to no avail.

Still sore, no problem, go see Scherrit to nip it in the buds.

Better, yet still have the weird pain on the part what felt like middle section on both side of the spine.

Now it reach to the point that I just can’t ride it for longer than 8 kilometres without it flaring up.

Worse still, the more aggressive Trek Checkpoint is way more comfortable despite saddle at the correct position and angle.

You spend a year and a half getting it build only to keep giving you pain even when the number is 100% spot on fucked up your head.

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that is sad .. I am not trolling but have you seen a doctor?

It’s only on this bike, only when riding it, got appointments soon to double check.

:( hope it resolves soon

I've experienced that very short* inline seatposts made from alu can cause a lot of pain.
Could it be that the Trek has a way shorter seattube that allows more flex and forgiveness?

*not a lot of post showing above the top tube.

Manifesting good back health for you