Gizmos and gadgets...

I thought I would post some pics of my new bike. A purpose built bikepacking/dirt-touring machine. Gravel, forest roads, mild singletrack, road... any route that can carry me and my gear to a campsite far away from the city. Reliability, redundancy, and keeping everything a little bit old-school were my priorities with this build. Of course, 'a bit old school' does not apply to fancy lights, gps, or microtex bar tape. So perhaps a bit anachronistic. 

I'm just waiting on a couple components right now, the most important of which are the WHEELS! So right now, the drivetrain isn't even what it should be without the WI 18T freewheel in back. I'm on the 14T of a 9 speed cassette right now, which makes for some interesting (read: difficult) gearing.

Eventually it will be a 3x1 setup with a 40, 50 and 60 inch gear. High engagement, simple rear mech, and the rear wheel is an ENO eccentric disc hub, so if everything goes to hell out in the wilds, I can always bolt on a cog, tension the chain with the eccentric hub, and ride out fixed.

But the rest of the bike is shaping up nicely. Try to ignore the silly low spoke count Xero wheels.

Yes, that is a friction shifter on the downtube. A nice one.
Have seen these as original equipment on 30 year old bikes still working perfectly.
No rear derailleur, no STI levers, no worries.

Specialized Crossroads 700x38 Armadillo Elite.
Happy to report that these tires are working very well.
Fast and quiet on the road, plenty of grip offroad and in the muck.
The Tektro CR720 brakes are very nice as well. Powerful with good modulation. Kool-Stop Tectonic pads on those.

Here's the cockpit. A bit crowded, but everything is there.
Soma Junebug Bars. Wide, shallow, flared, with a good on-the-hoods position as well.
700 lumens of light from the Niterider MiNewts, Garmin Edge 500 GPS, a PB wireless cyclometer,
and my digital camera case on a QR mount.

I was trying to figure out how to capture some video while riding the bike.
So I took the pan/tilt head off of an old tripod and zip-tied it to the bars.
It is very secure, acts as a mild shock mount, the camera is supported by the QR mount next to it,
and it has its own QR plate. What more could you ask for? Yes, it does look a bit odd.

But then, so does this. Alien spacecraft?
Or, remember those lovely films from the 80s about the military robot that
 gains sentience after being struck by lighting?
Short Circuit. Yeah. I'm not naming my bike Johnny 5.