Well slap my ass and color me jealous! Looks like a hellova fun steed. Especially for class B roads. I use my rigid el mariachi for this purpose, and have it set up similarly.
Couldn’t afford a gravel bike. So I repurposed a hardtail I rarely ever ride.
5
Since I got my Transition Spur, I’ve never really found a reason to ride my hardtail anymore. Originally, I thought about making it an SS trail bike. But after some thought, I decided against it because I still can’t ride it when trails are wet. So I decided to do something a little different and something rideable when trails are closed. I live minutes away by bike from a 40-ish mile paved and gravel greenway so thought I’d take advantage of it.
I bought the frame a while bike and built it up with spare parts.
It went from 30lbs down to 23. I had heavy WTB tires with Cush Core Pros front and rear as well as a 140mm Fox 36. This weighs as little as an aluminum mid-range gravel bike. I can probably get this bike to 20lbs, but I’m not spending that kind of money on weight reduction. Maybe not as fast as a true gravel bike, but it’s more capable.
The only changes I’ve made were the Whisky no. 9 boost MTB fork, a 34t chainring, and Schwalbe G-One Speeds with no inserts. SC states that the max chainring is 34t. I wish I could put on a 36 or 38, but it’s alright.
The Whisky carbon fork is travel corrected for 120-130mm suspension forks with an A2C measurement of 500mm. This is fantastic since most rigid forks only have travel correction for up to 100mm. Some are even less. Since I ran a 140mm 36 prior, I’m not really losing much A2C. Maybe 10-15mm max because I ran more sag. But the Chameleon C is specced with a 120mm fork in 29er form in SC’s build kits. So technically, my converted bike should be close to the geometry on paper, under sag with a 120mm fork. And getting on and riding around doesn’t feel strange. The front end is noticeably lower but that that’s only because I’ve been running a longer fork prior to this conversion. For all intents and purposes, it’s a perfect fit.
It’s a blast to ride and I like that it’s an MTB riding position since I didn’t really plan on getting deep in the weeds with gravel and road riding. I merely need to be able to ride during the wet season.
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I bought the frame a while bike and built it up with spare parts.
It went from 30lbs down to 23. I had heavy WTB tires with Cush Core Pros front and rear as well as a 140mm Fox 36. This weighs as little as an aluminum mid-range gravel bike. I can probably get this bike to 20lbs, but I’m not spending that kind of money on weight reduction. Maybe not as fast as a true gravel bike, but it’s more capable.
The only changes I’ve made were the Whisky no. 9 boost MTB fork, a 34t chainring, and Schwalbe G-One Speeds with no inserts. SC states that the max chainring is 34t. I wish I could put on a 36 or 38, but it’s alright.
The Whisky carbon fork is travel corrected for 120-130mm suspension forks with an A2C measurement of 500mm. This is fantastic since most rigid forks only have travel correction for up to 100mm. Some are even less. Since I ran a 140mm 36 prior, I’m not really losing much A2C. Maybe 10-15mm max because I ran more sag. But the Chameleon C is specced with a 120mm fork in 29er form in SC’s build kits. So technically, my converted bike should be close to the geometry on paper, under sag with a 120mm fork. And getting on and riding around doesn’t feel strange. The front end is noticeably lower but that that’s only because I’ve been running a longer fork prior to this conversion. For all intents and purposes, it’s a perfect fit.
It’s a blast to ride and I like that it’s an MTB riding position since I didn’t really plan on getting deep in the weeds with gravel and road riding. I merely need to be able to ride during the wet season.
1 - 14 of 14 Posts
3
I rode 60 miles of pavement this weekend and I had a blast. There are many, many miles of twisty paved greenways close to where I live so this is the perfect bike for it. Even with the currently low gearing, I haven't really been spinning at top gear too much. I would have liked a minimum of a 36t chainring, but this'll do for now. As far as acceleration goes, it picks up speed super fast. The riding position is comfortable since it's familiar and I'm using my 'mountain bike muscles'. Handling wise, it's incredibly stable, but still incredibly quick to turn due to the leverage I have with 780mm bars. It’s a rigid modern geometry hardtail mountain bike with slicks. And as far as grip goes, I have plenty. The G-One Speed is practically a road slick. But the oval rounded profile means I can lean the hell out of this bike in corners and take them as fast as I'm willing to. Grip is surprisingly good. It's like riding a motorcycle on a track day kind of fun. In fact, I'm making the comparison that this bike is the bicycle equivalent of a supermoto. I have a KTM SMC R 690 which I'm kind of drawing parallels with. The dropper makes it a very fun cornering and descending machine. Like this thing can reach lean angles I'm afraid for reaching at actual track days on my own motorcycle.
'Off-season' riding and training isn't that fun for most people including me, but this particular creation of mine is actually making me look forward to riding come pavement here and there. And I think it looks pretty badass too.
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'Off-season' riding and training isn't that fun for most people including me, but this particular creation of mine is actually making me look forward to riding come pavement here and there. And I think it looks pretty badass too.
酱 said:1 - 14 of 14 Posts
