My Bike

OK one of my bikes, is a Maverick Durance with a Rohloff Speedhub. I admit that kit is an important part of my mountain biking but don't feel the need for the latest stuff. 

The Maverick bike was an experiment to see if components bought on Ebay could make a dream bike and if building a top spec bike would be stimulating for the Bristol Bike Project. They do fantastic work training bike maintenance and recycling bikes. They and deserve all the help we can give them.

I found the Durance frame after enjoying the Maverick DUC forks on my Whyte 46. The forks appealed to my sense of design being upside down compared to most mountain bikes which has helped them have long travel while remaining light. 

Equally hub gears always seem more logical to me not least at keeping the muck out, allowing a more precise type of engineering. The overlap of gears on a deralia seems silly to me, the only improvement I can think of with the Speedhub is to have a little more gap between the gears to give a wider spread. I do change the front sprocket if I want high top speed or an ultimate climbing granny cog. The aftersales service from Rohloff is second to none and thats not just bike kit but with any company selling any product! Asking for new bearings provoked an apology for them wearing out rather that a hefty bill. Sad then the Speedhub will not fit the 46 so will make sure it's replacement is compatible. 

I have yet to get a dropping seat post but am a convert to old school leather saddles after trying a Brooks on this bike. Its the shiny surface that seems to help keep things moving a little to prevent any sore or numb bits. I hope to try a Gilles Berthoud Aspen on the Whyte 46 soon which has not got the beautiful hand peaned rivets but a nice modern screw fixing nearly as seductive. I also notice Brooks is bringing out a new model called a Cambium which looks innovative.

I have yet to push it to anywhere near its limit downhill but found MY limit early on, coming a cropper on some wet roots and getting one end of the Monkeylight bars in my chest on landing!

Tyres have always been important to me and the Nobby Nic's are fantastic. I have yet to try tubeless or anti puncture gloop so had the usual spate of flats at hedge cutting time. I run them at higher pressure than in the past finding plenty of grip on everything but those pesky roots.

I hope to push it a bit further at least at Haldon Hills red run if not the Alps later this summer and will report back.