Bassi Hog's Back

Although I am invested in this biuld, in the same way as a boxset. Personally I vote for no final photo shoot. Just go for a ride and tell us about it.

That’s a shout, I may well take some snaps on the first ride, slop depending.

Change to black post, silver bars. ;)

^ this plz

Heh, the build is locked in 100%. Ain't no changes happening, at least till I've put some miles on it and only then if something feels materially off. One must remember this is essentially a Surly with a sensibly long headtube.

I dedicate this one to them:

1 Attachment

This looks really nice. Good use of colours and silver vs black bits.

Edit: Just looked up Blue Lug to see what this is all about and came across a 'Buruu Ragu' (sorry can't help Katakana transliteration habit) shop in Tokyo, and finally get your vibe.

Reminds me of a film photographer who said he doesn't show people the final result, just the process as that's all that really matters to them...

About 4 years ago, I'd have completely agreed with you. At the time, each of my bikes had to be just spot on, immaculate if you will. But then I stumbled on Rivendell and Grant's writing kinda mellowed me out and made my relationship with bikes healthier in the process. This sums up up the panda concept well:

Bike component aesthetics now is mostly about making components black
so they disappear on frames of any color, like looking at a derailer
in the dark. But especially on black frames. I don't want to feed a
silver snobbishness. I personally prefer silver. I named our
floundering, flayling component brand SILVER as a way to drive it home
that we aren't going to make anything ALL black. There may be some
black bits. though.

Black became desirable in the early 1970s, when Campagnolo introduced
pedals with black-anodized aluminum cages, to one-up its existing
all-silver steel-caged pedals. Then in the mid-late 1970s Campagnolo
introduced its SUPER RECORD rear derailer with black-anodized
knuckles, so you could tell it at a glance. The black trickled down to
cheesier parts, and in 1986 when some international monetary
shenanigans made it too costly to polish silver nicely, the parts
makers had an easy alternative in black paint.

I like "panda" parts, mixing black and silver, like we've done with
the MKS Monarch pedals, and like you can do with lots of parts.

("Panda" is the photography term for a silver body camera with a black
lens, or the other way around.)

A black front brake with a silver back, black chainrings on a silver
crank, black brake levers on silver bars, black bars on a silver stem
or the other way around. I don't like it MORE than all silver, but
sometimes as much, and it helps make the point that I'm not against
all black on bike stuff—not that it should matter what I like, but I'm
aware that sometimes it may.

We made some black Sam Hillbornes, and they look great. It looks as
good as any color. Black can be that way. I used to not like black
Shimano derailers, but I've come around. I can't look at a black
Shimano Deore rear derailer and not like it. I look at all rear
derailers differently than I used to before we started working on our
own. In a month or so we'll have a sample, after two or more years of
work. I think the sample will be a panda.

In the gigantic picture, any bicycle is good. All black parts on all
black bikes, it's still a bike. But once the bubble shrinks to a
bicycle-specific discussion, I start to say things I shouldn't.

All black parts hide the contours and details, and those can be an
attractive part of the bike.

All silver isn't always all good, but silver ages better and as it
gets a little dusty it shows even more details, which I like. Dusty
black looks like dust on black, and it's different. Do whatever you
like, but have at least a few silver parts there.

Interesting share and yep, I know we switch from silver to black depending on the decade, so it's good to defy this for the sake of preference or functionality. But you know me and the builds I put together and share - I put a lot of thought into them, just like you, but from a different ethos, haha!

I guess that’s what makes forums like these a total kaleidoscope of perspectives. And even I concede that kickstands are an acquired taste, lol.

Alright so having slept on it, perhaps a black seatpost would tie the room together. The limiting factor is the 37mm layback on the lugged Nitto, so it's between either a Paul (26mm) or VO Grand Cru (30mm). And given the price difference between them, and my desire to use as few MUSA parts on this build as possible, the VO is a no-brainer. I have no desire to switch up the black bars and stem, which are rad af. The Riv-lugged Nitto would then find its home on the Clandestine (kinda apt, with the geo of that bike being based on a Roadini) meaning I could then sell the silver s65.

Kickstand bolt arrived, so on it went. Ditched the brass headset spacer for a black one. Need to keep 50mm of steerer tube in case I drop bar it with one of Analog’s strange looking tall stack short stems in the future.

3 Attachments

when did they stop being great?

On closer inspection, the kickstand plate fouled the shift cable so I took some material off.

2 Attachments

Now this is deep custom.

another victim of cyber bullying

:') on this occasion I’ll give it to ’em, it looks sick. Just needs some black electrical tape over the VO logo. Almost there now. Can’t wait to ride it properly.

1 Attachment

Damn, that's good! Nice angle too.

Getting the chop!

1 Attachment

Rad! Looks more mountainbikey than I expected. Smart move on the black post!

Ta dah! Just needs a bit of dirt...

1 Attachment

Chef kisses

Wow, that looks great. The panda-ing going on the drivetrain actually looks fab.

I feel like building another expensive bike that won't get ridden again.

Thanks both. The headbadge has landed too, good timing!

1 Attachment

Yeah, the drive train is definitely my favourite part of this build.