Long-distance ATB - Hulsroy X Witslingers

Left-hand shifter, yep. I did this on my first hacked-together rando bike in 2015.
I never had a bar-end shifter before that, so I learned that way. Feels very natural and allows me to downshift while scrubbing speed with the rear brake (brakes are setup euro way)

You lost your bet 😉
Bike sits at 12,14kg.
Admittedly with bags, 3 cages and the 11-42 cassette, pump and repair kit.

1 Attachment

That is a very respectable weight with all that gear!!

Ps - is that saddle comfy?!

It is! More than it appears, at least.
The shell is very flexy so it takes the edge off.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z-IRUqqfkSs

Your bike is very very nice ! Thanks for the detailed build process, very interesting.
It remained me of the @edscoble 's NFE.

So the next step is to change the cassette to a 11-42, which is a bit depressing.

Fuck that, run whatever fucking cassette you want, you’re here to have a good time, not to push yourself a little to the point you get knackered regardless of how fit you are/were.

Words of wisdom ^

Pew-pew!
Got the new aero-bars. The idea was to put the previous bars in the new support. Unfortunately, the diameter is different. So I'm stuck with the straight bars and an approximate position for now.

1 Attachment

Tires look muddy, hows the mud clearance like with the tukt gaurds?

Mud clearance isn't great, but that was expected.
There has been some heavy rains these last days in my area, and I had to (reluctantly) cross a few puddles of what I believed is called SFAB around here ;-)
I then stopped in a cemetary to rince the excess mud off.

I plan to participate to a two-days gravel event next week ; since the weather isn't getting better, I will most likely lose the fenders - and perhaps install knobby tires.

Fenders: out
RaceKings: in

1 Attachment

How did you find the 48c slicks btw? Thinking of doing something similar on my gravel bike at some point.

I have the 42c version of these and have been running them for a few years with zero issues:

https://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/commuting-touring/contact-speed

I've run 48mm slicks on several bikes, would recommand.

A few caveats though.
Don't bother with stiff/heavy tires, they won't give you the lovely "floaty" feeling and they'll make the bike feel heavy and "dead".
I like 48mm Panaracer Parimoto a lot. Not too expensive, not too heavy, and from what I'm feeling - low rolling resistance (I set them up tubeless, which is a bit of a faff at the beginning, but after that they hold up fine)
I've run RH Switchback Hill Extralight too. They are one step above in comfort, weight, road feel, and rolling resistance. However, very expensive, fragile sidewalls, and fussy if you want to run them tubeless.

For gravel, they are perfectly adequate as long as it is dry. For pavement, you get that "sticky" feeling, very reassuring when taking curves, a bit like a motorcycle. The bike does feel less lively and quick though.

That silver Cane Creek Forty is cool, never seen it before.

They used to go really cheap on eBay
My wife's bike has one as well. Great headset

I don't know why they stopped making them. Silver components are timeless.

A few pics from the weekend.
Over 420 km and 6700m of climbing - the bike performed superbly. Big MTB tires gave me absolute confidence on forest paths (and compensate my lack of skills on loose gravel).

5 Attachments

Proper all-terrain riding of a proper ATB. Definitely one of the best bikes on the forum.

I think you should leave it dirty for Bespoked

Very cool!

I think you should leave it dirty for Bespoked

YES! Can we get a Gravel / SFAB diorama?

Well we had Hayley beach party last year so we need to reinvent ourselves for 2024. SFAB might be tricky to do but I will give it a go.
I have been dreaming about cobles as well, but it's probably a bit ambitious.

There should be an award for best diorama

Remember this ?

1 Attachment

Haha