Nice looking build and a nice wee blog too, will add it to my blogroll.

See the bottom square profile bar section of the rear drive-side dropout? Mine is bent in an almost perfect arc. Upgrade have offered 25% off a replacement, as they say it’s not a warranty issue, but I’ve kinda lost faith in the design so figured I’d go the slightly cheaper route of a Kaff.

Until it bent I was really liking the Tripster; it feels fast and direct, I was doing similar paced sprints on it as I can on my carbon road bike, while still being suprisingly comfortable. I don’t think the Kaff will be as efficient but as I have the roadbike for fast stuff it’s not such an issue and I’ve a bad feeling that I’ll want a custom frame in the new year when I’ve see dirtygirlonabike’s Shand so there’s no point spending too much on a replacement 🙄 .

Be careful how much weight you carry if you are putting a rack on the Tripster as that is the only thing I can think of that could have caused the dropout to close up (what Upgrade say has happened) as it hasn’t had any impacts (that I’m aware of). It is also the first one they know of that happening to, so maybe I was just unlucky…