My ‘94 Dodsun Explorer everything bike: bikepacking/adventure/gravel/touring rig and daily commuter. Xbike, I guess!
I bought it in pretty original condition (last photo) from a local co-op back in 2021 and ran it like that for a while. It came with a full Alivio MC12 groupset, including the recalled FC-MC12 crankset. After many faithful adventures, this Feb I built the Dodsun up into its new drop bar form. Its been an absolute blast to ride almost every day since, so much fun!
From what I have read on old forums, Dodsun was a pretty huge Tawainese manufacturer who produced frames for many other brands in the 90s, including Specialized and GT. They brought in their own range of decent steel bikes at a relatively modest price to compete against Trek, Giant, and Shogun here in Australia. I haven’t been able to find out much else.
Build:
‘94 Dodsun Explorer Cromo frame & fork
Deore XT M737 RD, crankset and brakes.
STX RC MC30 FD
Original DiaCompe Aheadset
Salsa Woodchipper Bars
Sunrace R80 brifters
Old VP 550 pedals
Trek Matrix Swami anodised rims, LX hubs
Vittoria Revolution Tech 26×2.0 tires (0 punctures in 2000km so far touch wood)
Tubus Logo Classic rack
Planet Bike Cascadia fenders
by No_Education_6464