By Michael Barry
Photography by Walter Lai
Over the last two years, the cyclo cross bike I built has had a few additions made to it as I tested parts and tires, and added bits and pieces to it to make it even more vertatile (last year, I built a second fork to accommodate carriers). It has now become the ideal bike for my lifestyle and the type of riding I do. And, it is the bike I ride most, as I’m comfortable on all terrain whether with a group of riders on the tarmac, on an overnight trip on gravel roads where panniers are required or alone on technical trails. In early January, after one particularly cold and wet day of riding, I stripped the bike down and I added eyelets for mudguards on the rear dropouts and bridges as I grew tired of having a wet bum, cold feet and grit in my eyes while riding on wet winter days. Now, with mudguards, a steel or carbon fork and the possibility to add or remove carriers, and the ability to use a large 42 mm x 700 c tire, it is as versatile a bike as I’ll need. After the frame work was done, Peter Morse, the Mariposa painter, gave it a fresh coat of paint and painted the mudguards to match.
Peter has a similar bike he built in the workshop last year. Through the winter, he’s ridden it every day to and from work, in the snow, sleet or rain. As the spring arrives, he’ll take off the mudguards and the bike will become a cyclocross bike he can race on.
Recently, we’ve built a number of all-road bikes in the workshop. The bikes are a joy to build as we know they’ll take people on great adventures where they’ll be able to enjoy some novel experiences away from the noise of the city traffic where they can find some peace, and, hopefully, for an hour or two, feel like kids again.
All-road touring with steel fork, custom front bag support and low rider carriers, Gilles Berthoud panniers, Compass Barlow Pass tires and Honjo custom painted mudguards.
Panniers removed
Custom bag support
Handbuilt Mariposa bottle cages and a Lezyne HP pump painted to match.
Seatpost painted to match.
Low-rider carrier
Fenders, carriers and Mariposa steel fork removed and replaced with a lighter weight Carbon fork.
Mudguards and carriers removed. Mariposa steel fork swapped for a lightweight carbon cyclocross fork. Tires swapped for Bruce Gordon Rock ‘n Road 42 mm tires.
