I met Joe Jagusch while waiting for someone else to finish the
Tour Aotearoa the other day. I was impressed by his inventive bike build. It's largely self explanatory.
This is what Joe said:
"It's a build that has evolved from 2011 when I used it in China/Tibet from new. From new it had a flat bar on a VRO stem for adjustability. The Alfine 11speed which it had from new proved to not be up to the task (drive mechanism in 2nd and 4th gears failed). I had a Ragley Luxy bar on it up till until recently with heavy Ultegra road brifters for braking and it was great for racing 6hr/12hr team lap races - short fast rides - but the drops were aggressive race low. At this time I ran it 1 by 9 but no availability of a clutched 9speed rear derailleur mean't unexpected chain drops or a big cash lay-out for a 10speed brifter (at the time clutched rear mechs were very new too). So I did the obvious next evolution and upgraded to a rohloff.
The grip shifter never had a proper location with the Luxy bar however. I noticed that flat-bar thumb shifters were being made made a couple of years ago for the first time but having two shifters was defeating simplicity of what the rohloff offers and wasn't ideal on a drop bar. I was hanging out for a drop bar with mountainbike bar diameter. Lo and BEHOLD! Soma made one. I was over the moon. The rest is history.
The avid vbrake type mtb levers did not fit on with the grip shifter taking up so much space on the right side and since I had the road BB7s on I decided the TTbrake levers (bonus being ultra light) fit the bill. I still consider going 1x10 orthodox gearing on occasion (for lightest build) using the luxy bar. It would be a simple conversion with the modular swinging rear drop-outs. These drop-outs are custom to either a rohloff or a derailleur system. obviously the lightest option is singlespeed which I am going to use for a coast to coast self supported trip in April, via packraft and bike, carrying all gear through the whole course."
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| Soma Gator bars, in a diameter that fits MTB peripherals. TT brakes. Stem extender and riser stem for comfort and height, Rohlof shifters. Mini UCI legal tri bars for more comfort. |
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| Belt drive, Brooks B-17 Saddle. Check out the elegant slot in the seat-stay. |
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| Low drain smart phone with GPS. Ez-yo container on fork. |
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| S&S couplers in frame for breaking it down for travel. |
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