Rufus Stone - Project Gravel Bike

Just over a year ago my wife and I went on an all day adventure through the New Forest on hire bikes. We loved it! And it inspired me to turn my Raleigh Sirocco into a sort of gravel bike by fitting the chunkiest tyres I could for the forks/stays. While making it more comfy, only to discover it doesn’t really cut it as a gravel bike.

So, I’ve invested (how I justify it to myself…) in a Rune, Rufus Stone XL in mustard yellow. The build will be carried out by Woods Cyclery with parts and input from me. It’s also a great opportunity for me to unearth a load of NOS parts hiding in the attic in Peckham.

This planned build has the added intention of getting my wife more into cycling (we’ve done a bit together, which she’s always enjoyed). Plus, it could be a great family activity for the future as we had a little boy recently and the New Forest is virtually on our doorstep.

Here’s a pic of the bike I’m using for inspiration for this build.

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Watching :)

One tasty bike to rule them all! Following with interest!

Following

Following!
I've built my Rufus up a bit more mixed-surface-rando for the moment going into winter as I'm more likely to be using it on crappy lanes (I have other bikes for winter mud-plugging), but looking forward to the spring when I can whip the guards off and put the knobblies on spend more time offroad on it and get back onto Dartmoor and Exmoor for some more exploring.

Good luck with the build, I'm sure it'll turn out nicely :-)

Very envious you have the New Forest on your doorstep! Following.

So, this is how the build is going so far:

1. Rims and tyres: Velocity Blunt SS / Ultradynamico Mars
   
2. Brakes: Paul Klampers
   
3. Bars and bar tape: Rune Hilt bar / Blue Lug or cotton / gel blue Newbaum
   
4. Levers and shifter: Shimano (drilled) / Shimano
   
5. Cassette / derailleur: front 36T, Shimano 11-42, Shimano Deore M6000
   10 spd medium cage
   
6. Crank and pedals: NOS fluted Campag (?) / Crank Brothers Stamp 2
   
7. Seat post and saddle: Thompson / Brooks brown B17
   
8. InvisiFRAME film protection
   
   

The crankset I’m still undecided about, and I have a load of NOS parts in the attic in Peckham. So, I’ll retrieve those and have a look through to see if there’s anything appropriate. But I do think old skool fluted would look epic and fit with things like the quill stem. Even though the rear mech will be modern, at least the Deore M6000 is pretty understated, estimate comparison to lots of mechs out there today.

Nice plans

Thanks! How do you find the geometry on your RS when riding? What stem length are you running? I’ve been getting loads of advice from Ashley the owner of Rune, who’s been incredibly helpful.

He’s say a 70 to 80mm long stem is optimal. Don’t think I’ve ever owned a bike before with a quill that short but happy to try, especially if it’s what suits the bike.

Geometry wise it is not 100% what I would choose if I was having a frame built, but it's close enough to work for me and it rides extremely well for it's intended use.

My main concern was whether or not I'd manage to run a Brooks (or other leather saddles) with the seat angle being as steep as it is and my preference for a bit more setback than most. I've run into this issue on other frames with 73.5-74deg seat angle before and it's always been very borderline.

Fortunately I've managed to make it work with the RS using an old SR P3 seatpost and running the bars a little higher and close than I normally do on more road biased builds and altogether it's put me in an acceptable place as it's made me a little more upright, which ultimately is no bad thing for a bike like this and my bars have been creeping up on bikes I take offroad for a while now anyway and I think the RS really suits a slightly more upright and 'high bars' config, it's definitely more of an ATB inspired gravel bike than a road inspired gravel bike if you know what I mean?

I'm currently running a 80mm stem, but using bars with a longer 110mm reach, this works for me (I have short legs and a long torso) and gives me a good range of positions and mucho comfort, there is no way I could make this work with shorter reach compact bars though without going to a 100mm stem. I am only running 42cm wide bars as well, if you run significantly wider bars then it'll add 'effective' reach anyway so a shorter stem than you expect may feel spot on.

Ultimately I think if I were to get a bike like this custom built, which I may do some day, I would want the TT to be 10-20mm longer, and the seat angle to be a degree slacker, but that's more a reflection on my proportions than anything being 'wrong' with the RS.

I was fortunate to have spent a fair bit of time on my Singular Peregrine* with a similar build to this before I ordered the RS, and the Peregrine is very close fit wise, it's actually a smidge shorter in the TT so I was sure I'd be able to make the RS work.

If any of that is helpful then great, but remember fit and feel are totally personal preferences and what works for one person may not work for another. And bear in mind I'm 5'7 and riding a Medium, if you're getting an XL then you're quite a bit taller than me and that will affect weight distribution as well as basic things like reach and seat height. If you've got other/previous bikes that you like to use as reference then get the tape measure out and get comparing, otherwise I'd say build, ride, tweak, repeat! I've been mostly a lurker on LFGSS for years so not really familiar with everyone's history and whatnot so I'll just assume you already know what you're doing!

Your intended build spec looks great by the way, I love my Klampers but I've also got some Growtac Equal here in a box to try at some point soon out of curiosity. Now if only someone would make a nice classic looking silver clutched wide range rear derailleur...

• Which is ultimately going to end up a lot more offroad focused, possibly even with flat/swept bars so RS is replacing it in it's previous guise which was very much 'mixed-surface/gravel-light' and was my go-to bike for Dartmoor/Exmoor lanes riding coupled with a bit of 'I wonder where that track goes' offroad adventures and the occasional bit if ill-advised XC when I couldn't be arsed to pedal the MTB out on the road to get to it.
  

Super informative, thank you! Yep, I’m 6ft 3in hence the XL. Found a stem I’ve fallen in love with but it has a 25.4mm clamp and the Rune Hilt drop bars I’d like are 26mm. Ha! Sod’s law. Now, if only I can find some 25.4 wide flared drop bars…

Inverse shim?

Personally I’d order the bars and see if they fit. 0.6 of a mm isn’t much.

They probably won't, when I was a cheap student I did "ream" a stem from 25.4 -> 26.0 with a file. It worked, but it was creaky and sketchy.

Hahaha! The good old forum days, eh?!

I’ve found these Nitto dirt drops with 25.4 clamp area and at 52cm wide are bloody close to the Rune Hilt bars I was considering. These could be just the ticket. I’m also a fan of Hubjub:

https://www.hubjub.co.uk/nitto-rm-3-dirt-drop-handlebars-5391-p.asp

You'll get a 26.0 bar in a 25.4 stem, just prise it open, bars in, tighten bolt, it'll never move/slip.

Scratch that! Back to Rune Hilt bars and most likely Nitto stem. Just found out the other 25.4 stem is damaged. Probably for the best!

The joys of a quill stem bike

Indeed!

Quick update on colours. I’m out in Jamaica at the moment (my wife’s Jamaican and our son was born out here) and I love the way Jamaicans use the colours of their flag everywhere.

So, I’m thinking a subtle Jamaican theme for the RS. The frame is a great yellow, rear mech and front chainring in black, maybe black quill stem as well, then a deep green for the bar tape. Could look really nice, and a bit different to the norm.

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Eh Mon, I had my 1st visit to Jamaica and stayed in Montego Bay this February. Beaches there are among the best in the world in my opinion. Having been to Mexico, Azores, Dominican Republic and most recently Hawaii. Can't say I had the opportunity to go to any beaches in Japan October last year but never the less. People in Jamaica totally fit the stereo type of hardworking,proud and by far the most friendly laid back culture I've had the pleasure to experience. I fully support the color combination and suggest a touch of red but not too much. That would set it off nicely. Great bike

I'm all for the Jamaican theme, sounds fun

Cool! It’s a great country, especially if you love the food/music/culture. We’ve been in Kingston the last 3 months, up in Clarendon now. Much cooler weather as you’re higher up.

Bizarrely, I haven’t really experienced the beaches much, although I have done some beach fishing, caught snapper and yellow tail. We’re mainly doing family stuff when we come here. In an ideal world I’d spend summers in England and English winters in Jamaica…

I like the red touch, good idea!

OK, so with the new Jamaican inspired colour scheme (yellow frame, some black components, green bar tape) I’m now not convinced the grey and tan Mars Race tyres will work.

Looking for 29 x 2.2 tyres that will work well with the colour scheme, and take tubes. Any ideas?