New frame set has arrived... -:)

I sold the lovely old Dawes Galaxy a few months back....

Used for commuting i soon realised riding it daily the advantages of the big wheels and drop bars along with the magic carpet `steel is real` comfortable ride on our country roads.
However the reason for selling the Dawes is that what i really want is a bike that can do many things as well as commute.
A bike to ride Sustrans routes, old railway walks/ gravel roads in our local hills, and also easy trails whilst still having drop bars and a bit of road speed.
This bike will also do short tours, days and weekends (next year now at this summers weather!) so needs to have rack mounts, fit my Epic Designs Frame pag that already fits all three of my Surly bikes, and ideally have bottle cage mounts on the forks and under the down tube.

Also on my wish list is MTB drive chain the same as i run on my Surly bikes - Shimano XT/LX
And i want disc brakes -and  Avid BB7mechanical brakes so most service spares will mostly fit all bikes.

Options...
First thought was the new Surly disc trucker, a tried and tested bike now available with disc mounts as an option. UK RRP is just under £1100...

But i do not really like the finishing component choice on the complete Surly bikes, though i do like the green!.


A better buy looks to be the Genesis Day 01 Alfine, UK RRP is also around £1100...

With the Alfine 8 speed Internal Gear hub this is a neat bike and would be ideal, finishing kit is better than the Surly, and that orange colour is cool...
Both of these bikes are near ideal, one with a good pedigree, the other with ideal parts spec. Both would still need parts changed /added to be perfect and i would again end up with unused spares like saddles etc...

There are a few other choices of suitable bike but these two looked the best for what i want out of the bike.
Also these two bikes are around the maximum amount of money i want to spend on a bike that will be ridden daily and be dirty a lot of the time, hung up on trains, locked outside cafes, commute on salted roads etc...

And that's when it dawned on me that it will this time be cheaper to build a bike as i have a few new/very little used spares, spares more suited to my riding intentions... er also because i do not have £1200 to spend on another bike as i like Cider and Cake too much... -:)

Spares in stock...
A rummage in the Man Cave found this lot...

29er wheelset originally from the Karate Monkey minus rear hub. 29er wheels will be a lot stronger and as i am not getting any lighter a more sensible choice for riding offroad,  this will come at a small sacrifice to the road speed of lighter 700c wheels...
Returning an unused and boxed Hope Pro 2 single speed hub to Chain Reaction Cycles Ireland that had been on my shelf since February i made use of their excellent returns policy and  bought a Pro 2 evo rear hub with £20 spare change -:) to rebuild the 29er wheel (original hub was robbed for the Moonlander)...

Also i have as new from the Moonlander; Cane Creek headset, Deore rear mech, stem, Shimano LX cassette.
An as new Brooks B17, a kind present from friend Tom for lending him the Surly Pugsley back in Spring for an Epic NW Scotland fatbike trip...
An unused LX front mech, a carbon seat post too.

These Halo Twin rail tyres are a bit heavy for my intended use but they roll well and offer good puncture resistance...

To build a bike i need:
Rear wheel built,
Crankset
chain
Tubes
Drop bars
Road brake levers/shifters
Control cables
Bar tape
Bottle cages
Rear rack

There is of course a bike available as a complete build or frameset which in its 4 years has proved the `real deal` as an all round do it all bike and is marketed as an `Off road Tourer` and `Bikepacking` bike...


The Salsa Fargo seems to tick all the right boxes, complete build is more than other considerations at around £1600...

Blogged and reviewed on some of the following blogs i read;

Guitar Ted

Yeti rides

Fat Tire MN

So what if i can build a Fargo for the same price or even cheaper than £1100 using all the spares lying around?. I also then have components of my choice like my favourite Hope Pro 2 hubs etc.

Well that's the plan and i got a great deal on an 18" Fargo 2  frameset which arrived today...

Have to say this is one of the best built and finished frame sets i have bought...

Be a month or so before i get all the parts and the bike finished but cannot wait for long days out further afield. Really excited about this bike...