Trapped...

So the new bike is officially finished. I topped it all off by converting the tires to tubeless and machining a headset spacer. Sort of anti-climactic. And messy.

Other than that, have been trapped in town and on the pavement by the rather warm and wet spring weather, and not much riding going on. There was a definite reason for building the bike the way I did: I wanted a bike that could just as comfortably handle a 50 mile road ride as it could a weekend bike camping trip in the woods. So the fact that the trails are slushtastic mud right now shouldn't be a deal breaker. I just have to bring myself to actually do it. Ride on the road. I'm not a roadie.

Anyhow, here is the full build spec of the new bike. It is as close to perfect as any heaping mass of compromises can be. I've gotten several compliments and several looks of concerned disbelief. The 3x1 drivetrain is slightly unorthodox, and the ability to quickly and easily convert the drivetrain to singlespeed or fixed gear is a cherished versatility. Handles well on the road if ridden aggressively, handles the dirt just fine, or what little I've been able to ride so far.

Do excuse the horrendously bad photos.

Finished.

Soma Double Cross, 60cm, Tange Prestige steel cross frameset

White Industries hubs laced 36/4x to Mavic A319 rims;
Rear is an ENO with an eccentric axle
White Industries 18T freewheel
Paul Components "Melvin" chain tensioner for the 3x1 setup

36 points of engagement. Tensioner takes up the slack for the 3x1.

Specialized Crossroads Armadillo Elite 700x38 tires, mounted up tubeless with Caffelatex
Tektro CR720 wide profile cantilever brakes with koolstop Tectonic pads
Sugino XD-2 triple crankset with Surly stainless steel rings. 26/34/40.
Time ATAC all-road gripper pedals

Great cranks. They just work, and look great.
The pedals are neat too. I can ride the bike in my VFFs or my mtb shoes.

Shimano Dura-Ace friction downtube shifter actuating a Sora front derailleur

Oddly enough, this is my favorite component on the bike.
My first "real" bike had these, so this takes me back about 20 years.

Soma Junebug bars with Soma brake levers and Fizik microtex bar tape
Specialized Alias saddle

Accessorized with: Niterider MiNewt Dual 700 lumen lights, Garmin Edge 500 GPS, PB Protege 9.0, Jandd frame packs, Topeak saddle bag, PB Cascadia fenders (at least through the wet season), and stainless steel kleen-canteen water bottles.

I took off the camera mount as it didn't work out like I had hoped... and I added the hand polished front rack to carry a couple small panniers when I need them. Road bike? Touring bike? Bikepacking rig? Fixie? Gravel bike? Offroad exploring? Errand bike? A few minutes prep before leaving and it can be any of these.

Okay, now that I've got that out of my system, I do not need to blog about my bike anymore. I think. It has been an epic journey building this machine, and the next epic journeys will be about where it takes me.