ou don’t get much sympathy from your riding y buddies when you complain, “I have to ride another review bike,” and you’re pedaling some shiny new bit of steel. It’s true that when pondering a list of dream jobs, riding new bikes for a living is pretty high up for any real cycling nerd. But for many riders — the people behind Adventure Cyclist magazine included — researching, debating, comparing, and finally building the right bike for you is all part of the fun. That’s why, on a perfectly sunny spring day astride some brand-new, well-tuned machine that I THE BIKES OF get paid to ride the wheels off of, sometimes all I can think is, “I want to ride my bike.” ADVENTURE CYCLIST Besides, if bike builds say something about the rider, then a parts list is more than a spreadsheet — it’s a little glimpse into a cyclist’s strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, maybe even blind spots and biases. ILLUSTRATIONS BY Here then are the bikes of Adventure Cyclist, the daily drivers and purpose-built machines that we assembled away from the office, with our own money, and continue tweaking in a constant state of evolution as we look for the same thing every cyclist is always searching for: the perfect . –Alex Strickland

to a 1x SRAM Rival crank with a 42T ring for simplicity, but a 42/28T mountain double remains in my parts bin for any loaded touring that would demand a wider range. The Soma’s biggest character shift has come from the wheels and tires it rolls on. After running 700c wheels with 40mm tires for more than a year, I swapped on some 27.5in. (650b) wheels with WTB’s 47mm Horizon “Road Plus” tires. The change was staggering. In fairness, the smaller wheels were also a little higher end, tubeless, and sporting thru- axles instead of quick releases (a benefit of the Paragon sliders was an easy swap to accommodate the new axle), but the bike’s personality completely shifted once the tanwall tires were mounted. Somehow the Soma felt simultaneously sharper and more comfortable. In fairness, the Horizons’ smooth design is entirely worthless once the snow flies, so Editor-in-Chief Alex Strickland 42mm Surly Knards go on for winter. SOMA WOLVERINE, SOMAFAB.COM The last major change is a carbon fiber fork from . The stock lugged steel fork (in matching orange) My orange Wolverine has worn a few different setups looks classic and features traditional mounts but was much as it also serves as my primary test mule for reviewing too flexy — you could watch the front wheel dive beneath products that appear in Adventure Cyclist. Simple, steel, and you as you shuddered to a stop. The Sparta has slightly less with mountain bike measurements between the dropouts trail, which has sharpened the bike more than some might (and a belt drive cutout), this thing is a pumpkin-colored like, but it’s also stiffened up the front considerably. all-rounder. For me it’s a year-round commuter pressed Familiarity may breed a bit of contempt with my trusty into occasional light touring and gravel duty. (rusty) Wolverine, but the fact of the matter is that I ride this My base build features SRAM Apex shifters, a 10-speed 11– bike every day. It’s done everything I’ve asked and more while 32T SRAM cassette, Salsa Cowbell bars, Thompson post, and receiving some brutal treatment at the hands of Montana’s TRP Spyre cable-actuated disc brakes. Underfoot, I switched long winters and a lazy mechanic. Hard to argue with that.

30 ADVENTURE CYCLIST augu s t/sep t ember 2018 Staff Writer Dan Meyer SALSA EL MARIACHI, SALSACYCLES.COM

I somehow got it in my head that I needed a new mountain bike, preferably one with 29in. wheels, one gear, no suspension, and a frame made of steel. Lucky for me the last remaining Salsa El Mariachi SS models were on closeout, I considered keeping Helga as-is and buying a whole so I bought one, size large. It was a steal. ’nother bike, but in the end I decided that the El Mariachi Helga the Boneshaker, Gatekeeper to the Pain Cave (or is a great bikepacking platform and I’d be doing Helga a just Helga if you’re into the whole brevity thing), came disservice by preventing her from living up to her potential. from the factory with serviceable parts, but I replaced most So on went a 100mm Rockshox Reba, a dropper seatpost everything. I gave her a carbon bar, Thomson bits, bigger (internally routed on a frame without internal routing, but brake rotors, and — most important — high-quality, handbuilt that’s a story for another time), a new rear wheel, and a full wheels. If the shoes make the man, then the wheels make the Shimano XT group with an 11–46T cassette. Only two parts bike. (Me? I wear slippers.) remain on the El Mariachi that came from the factory: the With new parts all around, Helga was a light, strong, and seatpost clamp and the headset. still pain-inducing singletrack weapon. But there was one My beloved El Mariachi is a very different beast than when thing that Helga wasn’t very good at — bikepacking. It took I bought her. No longer a stripped-down singlespeed pain two seasons for me to realize that singlespeed bikepacking is machine, Helga nevertheless feels like the same bike — sharp dumb. I needed gears. And a suspension fork. And a dropper angles, slender steel tubes, and classic looks. A few gears and a post. And better brakes. bit of buttery suspension can only change a bike so much.

Lead Designer Ally Mabry Buying mostly used parts allowed me to build a much SURLY STRAGGLER, SURLYBIKES.COM higher-quality machine than if I’d bought a complete bike from a manufacturer. I’d never built a bike from scratch, In anticipation of my first proper bike tour, I built my first and because I planned to tour remote areas with this one, I nonstock bike from the ground up: a 2013 Surly Straggler. wanted to feel as comfortable as possible with the mechanics. Thanks to some eBay luck, the frame already had an impressive Assembling it myself was invaluable. touring résumé: turns out it was Sarah Swallow’s first gravel rig. The result is a seemingly modest steel steed that I know like The only brand-new components on my build were a the back of my hand. Named for its glittery purple paint, Brooks saddle, cassette, chain, and TRP Spyre disc brakes. riding this bike is so smooth it feels like magic. With Merlin Everything else was hunted on eBay or scavenged from my I’ve toured the length of Oregon, the washed-out backroads of friend’s random parts bin. Up until very recently, I was running Arkansas, and up and down the fire roads of Montana. I often mismatched SRAM Red and Rival 10-speed shifters. commute and I occasionally race on it. I learned how to ride singletrack on Merlin, often being the only woman on a ’cross rig at the mountain bike park in Austin. The bike handles it all. Merlin has been everything I’ve needed in a bike for the past three years, and it definitely shows. As the components begin to wear out, I’ve started the slow journey of upgrading. The mismatched shifters have been replaced with 11-speed SRAM Rival 22s, which means I’m eventually due for a new rear derailer and 11-speed cassette (I don’t mind the extra click for now, and neither does my bank account). I’ve taken it upon myself to master the painfully tedious art of Harlequin handlebar wraps, so I’m sure I’ll be going through a lot of Newbaum’s as well. One thing’s for certain: no matter how many components change, Merlin will continue to be my go-to bike.

31 extra tire clearance for 650b x 2.1in. tires. While all of those bikes worked well for a very specific type of riding, for my bike I wanted something more versatile. Dropbars keep my hands happy. Wide 29er tires give me comfort and traction. A rigid bike keeps maintenance to a minimum. When Salsa’s Cutthroat came onto the scene, I told my wife, “that’s my next bike.” After riding a Cutthroat, I knew that its dropbar 29er geometry was for me. But as a fan of steel bikes and threaded bottom brackets, the Cutthroat didn’t actually tick all my boxes. So instead of ordering one, I gave my friend Aaron Barcheck of Mosaic Cycles a call. He works predominantly in titanium road bikes. So my bike is a departure from the norm for Mosaic, but Barcheck’s ability to realize an idea whatever its form is beyond reproach. While we based the geometry on Salsa’s Cutthroat as Technical Editor Nick Legan a starting point (the fork is a carbon Salsa Firestarter MOSAIC CUSTOM, MOSAICCYCLES.COM model painted to match), we did make a few changes. We lengthened the top tube to accommodate my monkey arms The evolution of the bikes I use for bikepacking has and carefully positioned the cages so they would clear been an interesting process. It started with a borrowed one-liter bottles. We also dropped the top tube, using more Salsa Spearfish, a cross-country, dual-suspension mountain exposed seatpost so that I could run a dropper post if I bike. After a great trip in Utah’s Wasatch range, I moved on wanted to in the future. to a Ragley TD1, a now-discontinued titanium 29er. It was We also made sure that I could use 29er mountain bike replaced by yet another Salsa, a titanium El Mariachi. So wheels as well as 27.5in. (or 650b) wheels with plus-sized, far all my bikepacking rides used a flat bar. Next up was a 3in.–wide tires. I’ve also ridden the Mosaic with 700c x custom randonneur bike by Harvey Cycle Works that had 40mm tires at several gravel events.

Road Tester Patrick O’Grady VOODOO NAKISI, VOODOOCYCLES.COM

Aristotle postulated that nature abhors a vacuum. I have deduced further that these voids attract . At the moment I count 15 in the garage and five in the house. Two are review models, but still, any more and we’ll need a bigger void. The one I reach for most often is a dusty, scarred Voodoo Nakisi. It debuted as a $399 black-and-silver chromoly frame and fork in 2009, but I didn’t get mine until a year later. Out of the box the Nakisi could be all things to all people. Rim brakes or discs, singlespeed or geared, fat tires or thin, flat bar or drop; you could even add fenders and racks if you liked. As designer Joe told the blog Cycloculture in 2012: “It turned out to be a great commuter as well as a dirt-road I eventually replaced the San Marco with a Selle Italia cruiser … an all-around bike.” that didn’t keep a death grip on my shorts. Likewise I Dropbar? Yep, a wide Salsa Pro Road. I went the monster- experimented with pedals (Crank Brothers, Time ATAC) ’crosser route because I had a bunch of suitable parts and tires (Panaracer Fire Cross, WTB All Terrainasaurus) scattered around my bike shop. Garage. Whatever. That before settling on SPDs and Bruce Gordon Rock n’ Roads, handlebar, some beat-up aero brake levers, cantilever brakes, which the astronauts did not take to the moon but should a prehistoric Shimano triple crank with a steel 22-tooth have. They don’t make much noise on pavement and hook up granny ring, Ultegra rear derailer, Thomson seatpost, Selle marvelously in the Southwestern grit. San Marco saddle, pedals, and so on and so forth. Thus equipped the bike is a simple, field-repairable A few items had to be scrounged or bought — a SRAM all-terrain vehicle. It starts, goes, and stops via mechanical nine-speed road cassette and chain, XT front derailer, Dura- levers and cables. There are tubes in the tires. The only Ace bar-cons, and wheels. suspension is of disbelief.

32 ADVENTURE CYCLIST augu s t/sep t ember 2018