One Bike to Rule Them All

[MajG]

2 hours ago, MudLark said:

It is surprisingly forgiving. It's light years different to a hard tail. I was really surprised when I first rode a Procaliber at a Trek open/demo day. I rode it across sections that I know well from my dual sus in Delta Park (my dual sus has the Fox Re:Aktiv two way shock, which is not as forgiving as 3 way). That what was triggered the idea of building an all purpose bike on this frame. Plus I have long wheelbase XL and with the slack head angle its a hugely stable bike but with good clearance too. The Isopseed requires no maintenance. 

Good info, now even more keen on the procaliber for sale in the classifieds 

[Baracuda]

2 hours ago, MudLark said:

It is surprisingly forgiving. It's light years different to a hard tail. I was really surprised when I first rode a Procaliber at a Trek open/demo day. I rode it across sections that I know well from my dual sus in Delta Park (my dual sus has the Fox Re:Aktiv two way shock, which is not as forgiving as 3 way). That what was triggered the idea of building an all purpose bike on this frame. Plus I have long wheelbase XL and with the slack head angle its a hugely stable bike but with good clearance too. The Isopseed requires no maintenance. 

I have also been looking at this and great to see you impression. If one is going to build a gravel bike out of a Procaliber, why not just buy a Trek Checkpoint, their gravel bike with the Isospeed?

 

[dasilvarsa]

16 hours ago, Grease_Monkey said:

Haha not even a joke. I replaced 4 bikes (XC, trail hardtail, gravel, and enduro) with a mid travel trail bike because to me that is the perfect one bike to do anything from bikepacking to XC to Enduro. Luckily we are all different

Same Here

[Baracuda]

6 hours ago, Zebra said:

My own ‘choice’ surprised me; my Epic Carbon 29er, with a spare set of Roval wheels, and Roubaix Pro 700 x 30 tyres, has become my ‘road’ bike, commuter bike and MTB (since I sold my Spez Tarmac Pro)….

yes, you would think it is just an MTB with option of road/gravel wheels, but two things WORK for me; lockout front and rear, for road, and then theBIG revelation for me was fitting SQLabs mid bar ‘ends’, which mimics riding on the hoods on a road bike, so much so that when I commute (30km in, 30km out) I figure I spend easily 80% of my ride on these mid-ends, a game-changer since they give me a road bike feel.

cheers, nice thread you started!
chris

When one swaps wheels, do you also swap the cassette across? i.e., one common cassette? and is your bike 2x?

[MudLark]

2 hours ago, Baracuda said:

I have also been looking at this and great to see you impression. If one is going to build a gravel bike out of a Procaliber, why not just buy a Trek Checkpoint, their gravel bike with the Isospeed?

 

Indeed, why not. And fit a Fox 32 or something else to the front?

Uncertain if the flex is the same across the range. AFAIK Procaliber has about 11mm of vertical 'give' in the chain and seat stay setup as well. Don't know if this is true of the Checkpoint too. Might be. Check it out?

PS: In my case I got a brand new unused new old stock Procaliber for R18k. So it made cost sense. It was my cheapest option to experiment. And it weighs about the same as a gravel bike. Suspect it's slower than a gravel bike but also way better when things turn quite gnarly. You can comfortably handle a bit of single track etc on it. It's also easy and cheap to reconvert it to stock. So in a sense it's more versatile. But as I say, I suspect slower. I put Panaracer SK 43s on it. I suspect this was a mistake and I should rather have gone with Race King 2.2s. They seem to actually have a lower rolling resistance and I suspect will give an advantage on really bad surfaces etc. I may well give it a try.

Edited July 3, 2021 by MudLark

[Mountain Bru]

23 hours ago, Eldron said:

Ibis Hakka MX and Ridley Kanzo FAST are my two favorites.

Sigh.... 
These bikes are the equivalent of a super model. Absolutely beautiful, but it's never gonna happen ????

[Mountain Bru]

18 hours ago, Grease_Monkey said:

Haha not even a joke. I replaced 4 bikes (XC, trail hardtail, gravel, and enduro) with a mid travel trail bike because to me that is the perfect one bike to do anything from bikepacking to XC to Enduro. Luckily we are all different

 

1 hour ago, dasilvarsa said:

Same Here

If you don't ever ride on the road, that makes perfect sense. But on a 100km road ride, your mind will spend a lot of time dreaming of skinny tyres, and drop handlebars. ????

[Mountain Bru]

8 hours ago, Zebra said:

My own ‘choice’ surprised me; my Epic Carbon 29er, with a spare set of Roval wheels, and Roubaix Pro 700 x 30 tyres, has become my ‘road’ bike, commuter bike and MTB (since I sold my Spez Tarmac Pro)….

yes, you would think it is just an MTB with option of road/gravel wheels, but two things WORK for me; lockout front and rear, for road, and then theBIG revelation for me was fitting SQLabs mid bar ‘ends’, which mimics riding on the hoods on a road bike, so much so that when I commute (30km in, 30km out) I figure I spend easily 80% of my ride on these mid-ends, a game-changer since they give me a road bike feel.

cheers, nice thread you started!
chris

These things? Can you send a pic?

I'm sure they work wonderfully, but I'm not sure I could ever defile my epic with bar ends. 

[Mountain Bru]

3 hours ago, RocknRolla said:

So It’s 3 bikes to rule them all?

Have you not watched Lord of the Rings? There can be only one Lord of the (chain) Rings!!

So far, it looks like the number 1 contender is a Trek Procaliber with a Lauf fork, 2x groupset, and 2 wheelsets. 

Or something that's a hack of a bike that you love just because you're the one that hacked it together. 

That Niner MCR 9 looks nice, but I'm not sure how I feel about having the rear shock in the firing line of the mud flinged off the rear tyre.  I guess that's why it has an integrated mud guard. 

[Zebra]

2 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

These things? Can you send a pic?

I'm sure they work wonderfully, but I'm not sure I could ever defile my epic with bar ends. 

Those, exactly. Like a microwave oven, or Air Fryer, or Crocs  once you’ve tried them, they are a game-changer, and that’s no hyperbole!
pics tomorrow, or Mon.

cheers

chris

[Zebra]

4 hours ago, Baracuda said:

When one swaps wheels, do you also swap the cassette across? i.e., one common cassette? and is your bike 2x?

Bike is 2X, and each wheel set has its own cassette, near-new wheels cost R2.5K on this here hub, affordable cluster, cassettes are matching, yet affordable

[justinafrika]

4 hours ago, Mountain Bru said:

Sigh.... 
These bikes are the equivalent of a super model. Absolutely beautiful, but it's never gonna happen ????

Nah it happens, if number 1 on the FHM list of the 100 hottest women counts… 

Don't count out that Hakko or Kanzo FAST.

Edited July 3, 2021 by justinafrika

[Jewbacca]

54 minutes ago, Zebra said:

Those, exactly. Like a microwave oven, or Air Fryer, or Crocs  once you’ve tried them, they are a game-changer, and that’s no hyperbole!
pics tomorrow, or Mon.

cheers

chris

I use Spir grips when doing AR or something long and arduous. Hand positions are key. 

Before I had actual spir grips I had stubby bar ends with silicone grips stretched over. I place them inside my brakes at roughly shoulder width.

It is fantastic even if they are ugly as sin

[Mountain Bru]

20 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

I use Spir grips when doing AR or something long and arduous. Hand positions are key. 

Before I had actual spir grips I had stubby bar ends with silicone grips stretched over. I place them inside my brakes at roughly shoulder width.

It is fantastic even if they are ugly as sin

Do you wear a buff to cover your face and put your hand over your race number when you ride past photographers so that there's no evidence of your sins?

 

21 hours ago, Zebra said:

Those, exactly. Like a microwave oven, or Air Fryer, or Crocs  once you’ve tried them, they are a game-changer, and that’s no hyperbole!
pics tomorrow, or Mon.

cheers

chris

Do the SQ grips come with the genie that cuddles you from behind?
https://sq-lab.co.za/Innerbarends/

[RocknRolla]

Crocs? Never. I’ll fit a seatpost bottle mount before I wear crocs. 

[Moult]

Im current on a Momsen Vipa and totally adore it! But i do have the itch to buy and older model road bike and stick a pair of gravel tyres on it. I had a Merida Scultura which I regrettably sold last year. I was a lovely little bike. 

No man can have just one bike!