New Bike Project:Steelhead
I recently built up a new urban/free-ride bike for riding around town with some of the guys from the shop. It started with an Azonic Steelhead frame that we happened to have here. The frame itself is a bit on the larger side for an urban frame, but being that I am 6' 4" it actually fits me quite well. Part of the reason I had stayed away from urban riding prior to this was I was unable to find a frame that I fit on comfortably. The frame has horizontal dropouts so it can be run single speed or geared. I chose to run a single speed setup for the time being.
The biggest choice I faced was picking a fork. If I wanted to invest a bit more money I could have run one of the Reba Team 120 mm maxel forks that we have. Nick runs one on his urban bike and finds it performs really well on urban gaps. I didn't want to invest the money in a 20 mm wheel set so I looked for another option. I personally, being a fan of fox, decided to go with one of the black F100 RL forks that we had. The fork has been excellent the times I have ridden it. Even though it is technically a cross-country fork, it has taken everything I have thrown at it thus far. Once I got the pressure right on it I have yet to bottom it out on anything within my ability.
The rest of the bike is composed of parts that we either still have or have had in the past on our eBay store. I have a set of Juicy 7's with 185 mm rotors front and rear. They are an excellent all around brake. I run the same brakes on my cross country bike. These brakes always tend to perform well, no matter what you do with them. I chose to run one of the new Truvativ Stylo World cup handlebars we have. With the 15 degree rise I found these bars good right off the bat. I didn't have to cut them and the rise is perfect. The stem, headset, cranks, and pedals were from previous builds.
The wheels are both Sun Rims. I put a Single Track in front and a single speed specific Hill Rod in the rear. On those wheels I put a set of WTB UK Graffiti tires. These provide a great balance of traction and rolling ability. I initially put a set of Hookworms on but I tended to slide around on grass and loose soil. The Graffiti tires made a huge difference. Don't get me wrong, the Hookworms were amazing on pavement, but I don't always ride on the pavement so the Graffiti tires were a great fit. I finished the bike off with a Sram Single speed chain and a WTB Speed V saddle.
Overall the bike seems to perform great. I have ridden it a few times and with my abilities as of now I haven't encountered anything it hasn't been able to take. The entire build came in at 29 lbs 12 ounces. I think that's pretty good considering what it was built for. With the addition of a couple Knog lights the bike was ready to go for any night time riding. With the 32 -16 gear ratio this thing seems to be an excellent all around free-ride bike. Overall it seems to be a solid setup and should be able to take whatever I throw at it for quite a while.
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