The other day I was working on some nuts and bolts stuff, looking out the window and pondering a ride in the torrential rain. I was asked on an email about why I set up my Gypsy the way I do, dirt tires? drop bars? Triple chainring? It was like the whole world was going to implode with the wrongness.
So what was so wrong? I like triple cranksets, I'm not a small guy and I like to ride long distances on varying terrain, that means a front derailleur... apparently the most hated of bicycle mechanisms. But I have a soft spot for this poor maligned piece of componentry and it means I have gears, for every eventuality, well that assumes I have the strength to pedal up the climb in my 22 - 32 gear.
Oh wait, 9 speed? really? Yup, its simple and reliable. Shifted by bar end shifter? What is this 1988? Beauty is if I damage anything anywhere in the world I can flip the shifter to friction and replace the parts with anything I can buy locally. I have a soft spot for Shimano TY-20... Yay for $15 derailleurs. But I run 9 spd Shimano XT derailleurs along with my Truvativ Stylo OCT crank, I love, 22-32-44 is a nice number along with an XT 11-32 cassette, not forgetting the rusty and cheap Shimano pedals that I can't kill... there' jinxed them
My bars are a nice comfy prototype bar that I'm playing with, yes they're flared offroad drops, oh and they're 25.4mm clamp diameter just to scare people away, again I'm a big guy and I've not bent them yet. They offer a comfort that 31.8mm bars don't, but don't worry I'll offer them in both sizes for those who care.
Saddle, WTB Pure V of course, it even has titanium rails, nice and fancy. 2 layers of bar tape on the bars for a little extra comfort. Slowing my fat arse down are some TRP Hylex hydraulic drop bar brakes. My arse needs all the help it can get.
Oh wheels, I do like my Novatec Flow trails, a nice 29'er wheels, so unfashionable for your mountain bike but perfect for your Gypsy, you know you want one! They're a little wider than some, tubeless, solid hubs and you can service them in the middle of nowhere... How do I know? Things got weird and crunchy in the desert, 10 minutes later they were pulled apart on the side of the trail and I didn't lose anything. On those wheels I'll either run my favorite fat Resist Nomad slicks, these tires are awesome. No puncture protection - its overrated and usually doesn't work. They're freakin fast and light, 700c x 45 tire thats 500g? We'll be selling them soon. But then I like things dirty, so most of the time I have some tubeless 29 x 2.0 WTB Nine Lines, I've for a ton of miles on my current set, can you say semi slick?
I am partial to my personal Gypsy frame, its got a ton of miles on it... its a bit rusty, probably because there's no paint or even clear coat on it, Don't worry the production frames have a cool nickel plated finish that'll put up with pretty much anything you can dish out. Its got a generation 1 Gypsy fork on it, just because I can. Its the bike I jump on when I roll to the grocery store - you can fill a Revelate frame bag with a lot of donuts and beer in there if I put on the full bag, its a party! There's always at least 2 bottle cages on it, plus the Widefoot Design Liter cage that we sell here - 1 liter growler of beer? Yes please. Sometimes its a Livelong Brewery growler, sometimes its one from Cismontane Brewing
That's the machine, nothing fancy, but if you ever jump on one you'll understand why Trev, myself and numerous customers love to ride it. If you feel like you want to join in the adventures head here and type in adventures2017 for free shipping within the continental US, not just on in stock frames but t-shirts and parts as well.
Oh and if you buy a frame and have some great adventures let us know and we'll feature it either on the blog, or the adventures page and of course the other usual social media suspects.
Cheers
Andy