NAHBS 2013 - Adventure touring bikes [Bicycle Times]

By Bill -

By Adam Newman

Riders are always looking for new challenges and new places to ride their bikes. Adventure touring and bike-packing are two of the fastest-growing segments of the industry, and like every year, the North American Handmade Bike Show is setting trends that the rest of the industry is likely to soon follow.

Though adventures can be had on any bike, more and more riders are designing, building, and riding bikes specifically designed around touring or racing on unpaved roads or rough terrain.

Not quite mountain bikes, they often incorporate aspects of cyclocross and traditional touring bikes to make them more versatile. Rigid forks, disc brakes, 29-inch wheels, and soft-sided luggage are common sights.

Here are some of the adventure touring bikes we saw at NAHBS 2013 here in Denver, Colorado.

Moots

Moots designed and built this bike for a customer who plans on racing the Colorado Trail Race and then continuing on for even more adventures. Based on a standard Moots mountain bike with with modifications made for geometry and the Rohloff hub. It features full titanium construction, from the frame to the stem, seatpost, and aerobars.
The frame bags were custom made by Revelate Designs and the matching fork was made from steel by Engin Cycles. Those bottle cages on the fork blades will eventually carry stuff sacks, but for now they carry olive oil. The owner met up with a custom leatherworker to create the saddle, based off a Brooks B17. Farrhoots is also the name he dubbed the bike.

English Cycles

English Cycles is named for owner and builder Rob English, who is of course, English. Now based in Eugene, Oregon. English built this touring bike for a customer back in the UK who sews these custom touring bags by the name of Black Rainbow Project.


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