I have been tooling around on Frank’s old Rawland Nordavinden which is nice and all but I need a bit more since moving to Vermont.
This is my first time consistently riding up actual hills (oof) on actual dirt roads (fun!) and I really need dick brak and good clearance. I’m thinking I’ll want to get into the bike packing and all that jazz too.
What should I get that’s reasonably priced (1500 all told?), room for goodies, dick brak, etc? I could take stuff from the Rawland initially and upgrade as I go. Any suggestions
I’ve been kinda in and out of bikes in the last few years so I am not up on everything yet.
As a dude who’s ridden all over VT a weak-braked Rawland, I’d get an Endpoint.
My Rawland rSogn is 90% of the way to being my ideal adventure bike. The light tubes, plethora of braze-ons, huge clearances, and front rack are wonderful. The rim brakes are trash.
My smart friends have amazing custom disc frames that are similar; based around 650x48 tires and some front-loading. The H/G and CG frames seem the best way to get there for under 1500.
If that’s out of the budget, you could look at the Kona Rove, Surly Midnight Special, or Salsa things.
500 shipped for the frame.
500 shipped for a force 22 kit
I’ll throw in a cambium, a stem, a nice aluminum bar. I’ll even throw in a some nice road tires! And maybe a post.
Health insurance covered a lot, but still need these gone. It sucks. I’m sad, but trying to keep debt at a minimum and I have more pricey tests coming up.