Gravel bikes are 90s MTBs

About a year ago, I picked up a ravishing little frame built around the turn of the century by Cove bikes in Canada. For those of you who aren’t of an MTB persuasion, Cove were part of the ‘hardcore’ hardtail movement, starting in 2000 or so, which saw off the classic XC racing-snake hardtail and replaced it with longer forked, fun-er, burlier bikes. Cove were always a small Canadian outfit who had (and still have) a brick and mortar shop on Main street in Vancouver. They produced a run of hardtail and full-suspension frames all with stupid sexually suggestive names that seemed cool and subversive at the time, but in retrospect, a bit pathetic. Most of the frames were Aluminium, but a notable exception was the ‘handjob’ .. which was always a steel frame - though the exact tubing changed over the years.

This example is one of the very early frames, which were made in Canada at the time, from the very lightweight Columbus ‘Nemo’ tubing. Later versions moved to Zona I think, after Nemo was discontinued. The frame takes disc or V brakes, and 26” wheels.

I have no need for this bike, but since no bugger wants to buy the frame, and I have a bunch of spare parts of diminishing value, I have decided to throw something together and hope the wife doesn’t notice.

I am aiming to do a gravel-style bike, as the geometry isn’t too slack. A shorter fork will drop the Bottom bracket and steepen the head angle so it feels more like a road bike. I can run with 650b wheels, drop bars and a rival 1x drivetrain. I have some superstar wheels, raceface road cranks, Hy-Rd brakes and some tubeless Bruce Gordon Rock and Road tyres that refuse to seal.

I also have a funky LD stem, to give the whole thing a Charlie Cunningham vibe

I’ll be using the Blue fork on the floor, which is from a Cotic Road rat / Escapade I think .. but it’s at the paint shop getting sprayed black.

1 Attachment

Looks very fast and agile, i like it ! It will be light with nemo tubes.
Stem looks a bit dumb but i dont see any other option to have the bar at this position.

Any chance you'll sell the P2 fork ? I am looking for one for my kona explosif max.

Looks like a 24" race bmx

1 Attachment

I do love the 24” bmx aesthetic. The P2s will likely be for sale. They are the 410 version, triple butted threadless. 190mm steerer

Dibs

Road chainset just fits. Race face for the Canadian connection. Older 130bcd chainsets and rings that no-one wants anymore, are a great resource for 1x conversions.

Also dropped some stuff off at my local, ridiculously overpriced powder coaters. Fork and stem will be black

3 Attachments

Coming together with parts back from the painters. Few bits still to do, headset, rotors cables etc

It does look at bit less goofy with the conventional stem, but not so great off-road

2 Attachments

I quite like the goofy stem.

Same. Or flip the regular one?

The LD stem goes extremely well with the bike's model name.

Or a shorter conventional stem with a bunch of spacers

Managed to whack the headset in with a mallet and get a chain thrown on. Taken for a quick ride down the road, with no brakes, stuck in the top gear cos no cables yet. Size feels OK.

Super goofy monster cross, super cool :)

No bar tape or working rear brake, but was able to thrash a little loop out. It’s very fast. The tyres roll well and the drops feel surprisingly good in the hands on fast technical descents .. but they need to be this high to work.

The chainset needs swapping to something with an MTB bcd, as the chainline is atrocious with the chainring on the outer position. The fork also feels like it could benefit from being a touch longer. It’s whippy, but slightly twichy. It handles like a road bike, laser sharp. Maybe a bit much so..

2 Attachments