This is My bike, OK not my only bike, but as I had so much more input into this one it really is mine. The Rohloff hub I've had for six years, came in a Thorn Raven, which served me well but wasn't really the right bike for the sort of use I have recently been putting it to. The dynamo, saddle, lights and few other bits also made the transition, the rest is new. Frame built to spec by XACD in China, loosely based on the geometry of a Surly Long Hall Trucker, tweaked a bit to be more suitable for flat bars. Forks and brakes are IRD, a USA company with a good reputation there but largely unknown here. I was tempted to go for a front disk brake, but I have the same Rigida Carbide rims and cantis on another bike and couldn't think of a single occasion when I wasn't happy with the way they worked.
The project was to celebrate ten years of non car ownership, it took another two years to actually get it together which happened to coincide with a significant Birthday. Like I said, my bike, I didn't make a single compromise, it is exactly the bike I wanted, so I was apprehensive that it lived up to expectations. I finished building it up in July, I've commuted on it since, toured the Hebrides, Mildenhall Rally, two 200k Audax, and I wouldn't change a thing
