The Swedish Chef , yeah was a short lived build … did a quick 3 day bike pack trip on it and a few evening rides but then was offered a deal on a frameset I never could justify buying at full price so had to have a massive cull of bikes to raise money.
merlinshearer, I would definately build one up if you have the parts kicking about .. alot of fun.
Bars are Midge bars .. I would try and try some different styles first but my first choice would be Ragley Luxy bars .. rode some on a Singular Gryphon and they were alot ‘deeper’ on the drops .. and you should set up to be on the drops 90% of the time.
That Sam chap, who those there bikes; he’s not wrong:
Just about gurned up some SDW hills with the 48T and 11-34. I’d get a smaller ring up front if I was doing it again.
EBB gives the option of setting up single speed as the mood takes you.
If you fancy a monstercross, but not sure if you’ll like it, but also fancy a nice road bike, and a tourer with space for racks and mudguards, and you want disc breaks and an easy SS conversion, You can’t go far wrong with on of these.
@paul78 I love the Van Dessel WTF and have pinning away for one recently. I am curious as to what the WTF was like to ride? Were there any negative issues? The only one I can think of this max width of tires (29×2.1) it will allow, but then again if you use a different fork then you could go fatter up front.
@merlinshearer and I were tweeting back and forth recently about SS gearing when I showed him my Monster (see below). Over the past two years it’s see many variations including SS with Gary Bars, Geared with Wood Chippers and Misfit Pyscles FMe bars, and now back to SS with a Soul Cycles CroMo Fork (with a little more rake) and back to the Wood Chippers. Awesome Gravel Grinder bike (dirt roads, dual track, graveled rail trails/bike paths).
What a Monster ‘Cross bike is;
Drop bars
622 ETRTO
knobby tyres more (pref much more) than 35mm wide
What it isn’t;
Anything with suspension
Anything with flat bars
Anything with slicks
Anything which would be better defined as a tourer, commuter, or in fact any other kind of bike.
Though as above, it needn’t be too strict a definition, in fact it needn’t be a definition at all really, just a type of bike which has started to gain some popularity and had no neat handle. I think Wade at Vulture is attributed with coining the term.