ojwithbikes

I did the King Alfred’s Way last week on a rigid 26” spesh rockhopper (pictured below), as it was my only suitable off-roady geared bike. It was great fun, did it in 4 days with about 90km a day, but it made me finally give in and start building the bike I’ve been wanting for ages now cos Jesus Christ that bike felt like pushing a Vauxhall zafira up a hill sometimes. Probably did pack too much stuff mind.

So I got home, found a Brother Kepler frame that had been lightly used on Facebook in my size, sold the rockhopper, got a train to Bath and bought it.

Now begins the journey of building it up into a day tripper and bike packing rig that can take me further out the city - with more stuff strapped on it - than my fixie (which is now my only functioning bike).

Current plan is a mullet drivetrain scenario of:

• 105 11 speed hydraulic levers
  
• Decent Shimano hydraulic brake setup
  
• Grx rd rx-812 1x11 rear derailleur
  
• Entry level gravel wheels
  
• 42c tires black semi slick stylé (I see you terraveil)
  
• Some cheap 11-46 cassette helped along by a Wolftooth goat link
  
  

Finishing kit and accessories aren’t currently the priority, just want to get it functional, but will just be mostly silver, and cheap. I am dreaming of carradice, nitto, voile, naglene, witslingers and all that great stuff but that’s way off in the future <\3

Hoping some of you people will follow along and pity my lack of knowledge and help me out with some mechanical questions as they come up. This my first disc brake build - hydraulic or otherwise - and the most expensive bike I’ve worked on so definitely need to think things through a lot more than I usually do!

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