Yeah, so that whole COVID-19 thing was a touch annoying, made it rather difficult to source a frame... no stock left in Aus and none likely to get here until July at the earliest... I ended up purchasing a frame from an online shop in the USA and after a couple of hiccups and a 3 month wait at the LA US Postal Service warehouse it arrived a couple of days ago.
Turns out I might have a bit of work ahead of me.....best get to it. An idea had germinated in my mind late last year to ride the Munda Biddi trail this spring and yeah, sure I could have done it on one of the bikes I already owned, but pfff, where's the fun in that? So let's get a bikepacking bike built. I've gone for a Surly Karate Monkey because I really do prefer to ride MTB even if it's over a 1000km gravel grind. Specs as follows:
Frame - Surly Karate Monkey, wet clay, medium
Rear shock - ummm
Front shock/fork - Surly rigid, 15mm axle
Handlebars - Confucious somethingorother
Stem - not yet settled, I'll try a few. Ultimately hopefully a Thompson
Headset - Chris King slate grey
Grips - Ergo cork thingies
Saddle - Fabric scoop
Seatpost - Thompson
Front brake - XT
Rear brake -XT
Cranks - XT single chainring, 32 I think
Chainguide - nope
Chain - XT 12 speed
Pedals - dunno yet
Front derailleur - GTFOOH
Rear derailleur - XT
Front shifter - begone foul demon
Rear shifter - XT 12 speed
Cassette - XT 12 speed, 10-51
Front hub - SP PD8X dynamo hub
Rear hub - Hope 148mm boost microspline
Front rim - Raceface AC 35mm internal, 27.5"
Rear rim - Raceface ARC 35mm internal, 27.5"
Spokes - DT Swiss double butt
Nipples - DT Swiss 12mm
Tyres - Maxxis Chronicle 27.5x3.0
Tubes - liquid, gooey ones
Total weight - I'll tell you if I ever get this built.
so yeah. best get on with it then.
Turns out I might have a bit of work ahead of me.....best get to it. An idea had germinated in my mind late last year to ride the Munda Biddi trail this spring and yeah, sure I could have done it on one of the bikes I already owned, but pfff, where's the fun in that? So let's get a bikepacking bike built. I've gone for a Surly Karate Monkey because I really do prefer to ride MTB even if it's over a 1000km gravel grind. Specs as follows:
Frame - Surly Karate Monkey, wet clay, medium
Rear shock - ummm
Front shock/fork - Surly rigid, 15mm axle
Handlebars - Confucious somethingorother
Stem - not yet settled, I'll try a few. Ultimately hopefully a Thompson
Headset - Chris King slate grey
Grips - Ergo cork thingies
Saddle - Fabric scoop
Seatpost - Thompson
Front brake - XT
Rear brake -XT
Cranks - XT single chainring, 32 I think
Chainguide - nope
Chain - XT 12 speed
Pedals - dunno yet
Front derailleur - GTFOOH
Rear derailleur - XT
Front shifter - begone foul demon
Rear shifter - XT 12 speed
Cassette - XT 12 speed, 10-51
Front hub - SP PD8X dynamo hub
Rear hub - Hope 148mm boost microspline
Front rim - Raceface AC 35mm internal, 27.5"
Rear rim - Raceface ARC 35mm internal, 27.5"
Spokes - DT Swiss double butt
Nipples - DT Swiss 12mm
Tyres - Maxxis Chronicle 27.5x3.0
Tubes - liquid, gooey ones
Total weight - I'll tell you if I ever get this built.
so yeah. best get on with it then.