26" tourer for gravel roads

tri-x

I would like to commission a custom frame ( as I cannot find what I want off the shelf ) with these features:

26" wheels
Drop bars
Campag Ergo levers
Down tube traditional lever braze-on fall back option.
Front Disc BB7 road
Front suspension forks 100mm travel
Rear Cantilever brakes
XT chainset 26/36/48 Hollowtech
XT rear deraileur + Jtek shiftmate
S&S couplers.

The biggest change from normal is the front suspension - to cope with long corrugated gravel roads (Molesworth/Rainbow NZ & Iceland etc.). I would like to think this would stop my camera shaking apart as well as making life more comfortable. With lockout I don't think, other than a 500g weight penalty there will be any problems. I might add a OMM front rack for longer tours. I don't want flat bars as any tour will also involve much longer smooth road sections.

Here's by current commuter bike - a converted MTB (which has most of these features):


I'm thinking a geometry corrected custom Thorn XTC or Robert's Roughstuff

Are there any obvious issues I've overlooked ?
Has anyone else commissioned a similar bike ? Happy with it ?
What frame builder would you recommend ?

niblue

Why a BB7 road if you're going with suspension forks? Aren't you more likely to need the MTB version (which are great - I've got them on a couple of my bikes)? If you're going with a disc on the front why not the same on the back - that way the same spare pads could cover both.

Will the XT rear work with the Ergo shifters?

100mm travel forks seem OT for such a bike - something 80mm and lighter might be a better option. Whatever forks you go for will need a good & reliable lockout (or lock-down like the ETA system) - all the lockouts on the Fox forks I've owned (and which I otherwise loved) have packed in so I wouldn't choose those.

I'd be inclined to go with getting Roberts to build such a bike.

tri-x

niblue wrote:

Whatever forks you go for will need a good & reliable lockout (or lock-down like the ETA system) - all the lockouts on the Fox forks I've owned (and which I otherwise loved) have packed in so I wouldn't choose those. .

Thanks for the warning on the Fox forks.

I've got two older MTBs with 100mm forks (Reba one, Fox other) - one of which definitely needs to be sacrificed to this project, so the Reba's will get used at first. They could adjusted to 80mm travel and the frame spec'd for that.

The Campag road levers need the BB7road version to get the right leverage on the discs. The Jtek shiftmate converts the campag index to shimano index (I use this and XT on the commuter).

I'm going to canti's on the back to help with packing - one less rotor to remove, and to avoid contorting the rack around the disc calipers.

keyhavenpotterer

look up Dave Yates site. He does a 26" wheel tourer, does custom and makes MTB's so should be just right.

http://www.daveyatescycles.co.uk/

Brian.

andymiller

I'm going to canti's on the back to help with packing - one less rotor to remove, and to avoid contorting the rack around the disc calipers.

Removing and putting on a rotor is what, a two-minute job? Perfectly possible to get a disc-compatible rack.