Remember me
Big riders need big bikes, and when production model sizing ain’t cutting it, many people go custom. And then some go all out and build themselves a bike. Nick sent in his XXXXL SuperBoost all-road for this week’s Readers’ Rides. Let’s check it out!
Whenever I used to post a picture bike that I made on the internet, someone would inevitably ask if I’d heard of 36” wheels. I had, but hadn’t heard of any 36” tires that weren’t made for unicycles.
Just in time for the 32” revolution to finally come in earnest for us super-tall people in the form of one (or maybe now several?) decent-seeming tire(s), I present my super-boost-spaced road bike built for 29×2.6” tires. Until there is a 32” Schwalbe Ice Spiker available, it will be good enough for me.
My goal for this bicycle was to make a fast all-roader that could maybe go out and race that would also help me get through winters without going stir-crazy once I was separated from my old local trail. I built it at my old house in a hurry, ran out of time before I had to start moving equipment. It hung in a storage unit for a year as I moved and got a workshop set up again in the last month. I wanted it to have as many components in common with my hardtail mtb as was reasonable and feasible. Finding reliable components is hard when you are my size, and I wanted to be able to swap trusted wheels, seat posts, and most of the drivetrain between bikes in a pinch.
I still need to add braze-ons and shorten brake lines, but I got the front brake working this morning and wrapped the bars, so it started to feel like a real bike. I took it out on the ice, and it was fast, fun, and reasonably comfortable for a new bike. I need to spend time dialing it in, but I am optimistic that it is going to have a major positive impact on my coming spring and summer, as well as my overall fitness, which is not where it used to be.
For the last three years I have had only one bike: a long travel hardtail MTB. It was fine when I lived a mile from the trail in East Saint Paul, Minnesota, but I have moved to Ashland, WI, and good singletrack is now a half-hour drive away. I am looking forward to being able to venture from my house and explore a new area without driving to a trailhead.
Build Specs:
Bars: Nitto/Crust Shaka Brakes/Shifter: TRP Hylex RS/Gevenalle 1×11 SRAM Seatpost: One UP V3 240mm dropper(not yet cabled) Saddle: Brooks Cambium C19 Crank: Zinn 190mm MTB Winter Pedals: Chromag Dagga Chainring: Garbaruk 0mm offset 42 tooth Derrailleur/Casette: Sram Gx 11 speed/ 11-42 XD cassette Hubs: Dt Swiss 350 157×12/110×15 32 hole, 6 bolt Rims/Spokes: Sun Duroc sd42/DT Swiss alpine III Frame: Reynolds 853 tubes and Paragon parts for Syntace dropouts. Stays bent from .049” wall chromoly aircraft tube.
We’d like to thank all of you who submitted Readers Rides builds to be shared here at The Radavist. The response has been incredible and we have so many to share over the next few months. Feel free to submit your bike, listing details, components, and other information. You can also include a portrait of yourself with your bike and your Instagram account! Please, shoot landscape-orientation photos, not portrait. Thanks!
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