I got the call recently to build a 27.5+ bike packing rig for a photographer who has a knack for taking epic trips and even more epic photos. Perhaps you already follow Mr. Wilson’s work via Instagram. If not, give him a follow! Apparently, he’s working his way down to Peru and needed a special build. John Watson from the Radavisst inquired as there should be some photo galleries in the future from the trip and introduced me to Ryan. We got to talking, settled on all the details and I was left to do the heavy lifting to create his ultimate bike packing setup. We increased the head tube length a bit more to make room for a larger frame pack. The fork was built to take internally routed generator hub wiring along with Salsa Anything Cages, a Pass and Stow Rack or traditional low rider mounts AND a 15mm TA. Every once in a while I’ll make a mistake but typically catch it mid build or before it goes to powder… Well, luck was not on my side here as I got a call from the shop assembling the bike for Ryan declaring there was a clearance issue between the ISO mount and the rotor: Not enough room. Hmm… A little super sleuthing and I discovered I was using the 2mm spacers instead of the 3mm spacers for Anvil’s ISO mount tool. The spacers are so close in size I was unaware that the lips were different between road and mountain dropouts from Paragon. Well I am now! Exactly 1mm off. So Ryan and I put together a plan: Rebuild the fork at no cost and get it the heck out there ASAP. That was completed. The bike was finished. And Ryan’s on his way. Big thanks for John from the Radavist for hooking Ryan and I up. And a HUGE thank you to Ryan for being so understanding for my untimely mistake. As they say: Mistakes happen. I just wish it had not happened with this build but all is back in order. Here’s a few more shots of the build and be sure to check out Ryan’s Instagram feed up above!
Marauder : 27.5+ Bikepacking
I got the call recently to build a 27.5+ bike packing rig for a photographer who has a knack for taking epic trips and even more epic photos. Perhaps you already follow Mr. Wilson’s work via Instagram. If not, give him a follow! Apparently, he’s working his way down to Peru and needed a special build. John Watson from the Radavisst inquired as there should be some photo galleries in the future from the trip and introduced me to Ryan. We got to talking, settled on all the details and I was left to do the heavy lifting to create his ultimate bike packing setup. We increased the head tube length a bit more to make room for a larger frame pack. The fork was built to take internally routed generator hub wiring along with Salsa Anything Cages, a Pass and Stow Rack or traditional low rider mounts AND a 15mm TA. Every once in a while I’ll make a mistake but typically catch it mid build or before it goes to powder… Well, luck was not on my side here as I got a call from the shop assembling the bike for Ryan declaring there was a clearance issue between the ISO mount and the rotor: Not enough room. Hmm… A little super sleuthing and I discovered I was using the 2mm spacers instead of the 3mm spacers for Anvil’s ISO mount tool. The spacers are so close in size I was unaware that the lips were different between road and mountain dropouts from Paragon. Well I am now! Exactly 1mm off. So Ryan and I put together a plan: Rebuild the fork at no cost and get it the heck out there ASAP. That was completed. The bike was finished. And Ryan’s on his way. Big thanks for John from the Radavist for hooking Ryan and I up. And a HUGE thank you to Ryan for being so understanding for my untimely mistake. As they say: Mistakes happen. I just wish it had not happened with this build but all is back in order. Here’s a few more shots of the build and be sure to check out Ryan’s Instagram feed up above!