Even with the modern trend towards 650b for someone of my height and weight 29er wheels just make sense: bigger wheels on a bigger bike.  This 29er was built with the same attention to detail that I give to every customer’s bike – and is made for me and the type of riding I enjoy.

I come from a background of racing mountain bikes and prefer to run shorter travel forks – the 100mm on the front of this bike is actually quite plush for me, and combined with the larger volume front tyre gives great traction. I brought the slightly smaller rear tyre as close to the seat tube as possible (note the cutouts to allow chainring clearance from those splayed stays!), this makes the bike easer to get over obsticles when climbing on singletrack. On a similar note I’ve raised the bottom bracket height to give me greater rock clearance.  The front end is also custom, and to my taste. A Slacker than normal head tube angle of 70.5 degrees helps the bike feel planted on fast descents, but a short stem keeps the handling responsive and allows me to time lifting the front end over obsticles slightly better.  A few trips to Wales since the bike has been finished has confirmed my choices – I’m super happy with the way this thing handles!

The frame is constructed from Columbus 29er tubes and I’ve used Syntace dropouts at the back for a clean, minimal look. A few more custom touches on the seat stays allow for brake caliper clearance. Having been riding mainly road for the last few years this was my first time to experiment with some of the more modern components that have entered the MTB world and I couldn’t be more impressed with the 1 x 11 group from Sram. Solid, quiet, direct shifts and more than enough range for UK trails. The dropper post is also a bit of a revelation! Slam the saddle and this thing flies down hill!

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