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In preparation for the 2008 North American Handbuild Bicycle show in Portland, OR, Neil worked with Moots on this custom 29'er soft-tail as a test bed for the then-recently-launched Gates Carbon Drive belt system. The previous fall, Gates released the belt system, which promised improved durability with comparable efficiency to the tried and proven metal chain.
Fatbikes are known for their wide tires’ ability to provide grip and traction in just about all trail conditions. We've built many of these bikes with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 gear hubs and several with a Gates Carbon Drive belt system as well, but how would a fatbike be improved if you added a suspension fork to the equation? That was the question we intended to answer with this Surly Pugsley build.
This Moots CoMooter came in to us recently for help with some of the final setup details and was such an appealing bike that we had to get a closer look. The customer had recently purchased this titanium dream commuter from Moots to get around town with style and speed. It features nothing but top-shelf components and is one of the most lust-worthy commuters we’ve seen.
Sometimes the team here at Cycle Monkey dreams up a project that is not specifically for a customer but rather to satisfy our own curiosity. We chalk it up to product research, but these projects also have a bit of a selfish motivation: we like to build cool bikes! We put together this Surly Krampus to showcase in the Rohloff booth at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas last September.
This Nirve “Switchblade” chopper, styled after a classic motorcycle, is one of the more unusual bikes we've had in for a Rohloff conversion. We have experience installing Rohloff hubs on almost every type of bike, but this was a new one for us. The goal was to give this extremely relaxed, comfortable bike the low gearing to pedal up and over more hills.The owner of this bike lives in San Francisco and uses it to cruise around the waterfront and flatlands, but he also wanted to be able to pedal up some of the city’s many steep hills.
Matte black Independent Fabrication "Independence" framecustomized with S&S couplers and Rohloff-specific cable routing.Independent Fabrication is known for building beautiful, eye-catching bikes and this matte black touring frame, although understated, is no exception. We built this custom “Independence” model for a customer who lives in Thailand and has done plenty of off road touring throughout Southeast Asia on his trusty mountain bike.
This eye-catching Twenty2 Cycles 29+ is custom-built for adventure touring but is also well suited for fast singletrack.This gorgeous Twenty2 Cycles frame is the latest in a handful of builds we have put together using the new “29+” platform. These bikes use three inch wide 29er tires mounted to 50mm rims, which provide ample float and traction like a fatbike, yet roll fast like a standard 29er.
Custom Soulcraft frame in sea-foam green.We built up this custom Soulcraft for a customer who had a very specific road bike in mind. He had searched in vain for a production frame to suit his needs, but couldn't find anything available on the market. After deciding that a custom frame would be his best option, he contacted Soulcraft, a local Northern California framebuilder, to make his dream bike a reality.
Surly Krampus with belt drive and a Rohloff.It’s not often that we’re asked to build the ideal bike for someone commuting in Siberia. We dreamed up this build for a customer of ours who is a British expatriate working in the snowy climate of central Russia. He intends to do a mix of snow, dirt, and paved riding in sub-freezing temperatures and wanted a dependable bike that could handle a range of conditions but still feel speedy.
S&S couplers, a belt drive splitter, and a forest green paint job make this Surly Troll one of a kind.This modified Surly Troll frame was put together for a customer who lives in Southern California, but spends a fair amount of time in the rural East Coast every year. He wanted a versatile full-sized bike that he could easily pack up to take on an airplane and was sturdy and reliable enough to know he could jump on at any time for a ride.
