I built this bike as the do it all adventure bike this past winter and finally had a chance to take it out on its first overnight trip a few weekends ago biking from the Olympic Peninsula to the San Juan Islands. While it was technically a bike tour and not backcountry, I’m excited for future trips exploring the FS roads in the Olympics and rail trails in Washington and British Columbia. Overall, I’m incredibly pleased with how the bike performed. And building this bike from the wheels up with durability and repairability in mind gave me the confidence that I can fix most of what comes up on a more remote trip. The gearing was juuust right for what I would consider a pretty hilly ride, but I think I’ll need to gear down a bit for more technical and steeper back roads. The dynamo hub did its job for not having to worry about battery life for lights, but I was reminded that a power bank is still needed to keep devices fully charged. My favorite part of the entire build was realizing on this trip that this is quite possibly the most comfortable bike I’ve ever owned, and I could have spent many more hours in the saddle.
by RunCommute