I only have 2.
1. My Surly grappler. I was in a back crash last year on it. Fractured multiple vertibrae, my nose, and a finger. For no reason other than I still loved the bike (it was totally fine after my crash) I did a bunch of upgrades. Noble TR 32 wheel set with carbon rims. CK hubs, bb, headset and seat clamp, and XT/XTR drivetrain.
After I finished upgrades I realized I had made the mortal mistake of upgrading it to the point where I no longer wanted to leave it unattended… Which led to my second bike of the year.
- Trek antelope 850. I found it on Craigslist nearby and picked it up for 80 USD. Thanks to a friend with a well stocked parts bin, I built up as an around-town/casual-road-bike/grocery-getter. I converted it to 650b. Couldn't find a wheel set with the correct hub spacing, so I built the wheels using YouTube and a little help from my LBS on getting the correct spoke length. I used the Shimano BR CX-50 cantilever brakes–they have 20mm of adjustability in pad position, which allowed me to still use cantis instead of v brakes.
The first picture is the grappler before upgrades, the second is after.
by qualitycensorship
2 Comments
Love the brakes!
Did you swap the fork to allow larger 29 inch tires? I’m in the process of building one up and I’m considering using a 29er fork I have that’s a similar AC length to the stock Grappler fork. I’m a bit worried about running the rear wheel toward the end of the dropout.