Did the crab and winkle way a few weeks ago. Couldnt decide between the soul with semi slicks or the roadrat, then a 9700 dura ace rear mech fortuitously appeared so i shoved it on the rat as id been wanting to try gears on it for a while.

In hindsight the soul would have been the better choice as the rat has 25c 4seasons and some of the route is fairly offroad, the beach path had some heavily pebbled sections that were pretty sketchy (but fun) and the rest had evil headwinds… Also as much as i would have died a death if i’d left it SS (42:16), it’s just not fun anymore, that bike was meant to be ragged!

I love geeking out on theorycrafting and all these wheel threads has had me pondering on some kind of ultimate do it all to replace both rat and soul. Now these wont be to everyones taste but my main criteria are: SS, steel, flat bars, discs, no sliding dropouts and at least 2 rear cogs.

There are so many ways to approach this that i have more questions than ideas but heres where ive been headed…

Frame: SIR 9. Geo is very close to the rat and the EBB and X12 axle sound like an elegant solution for swapping gears on the fly. BUT the big question is how much adjustability does the EBB give? If i run 32:12 to match my current ratio with the BB as far forwards as it will go whats the largest cog i could put on the rear if i turn the BB all the way to the rear and would that be enough for offroad use? How much of a faff is it to adjust, would i be better of just carrying some quicklinks?

Wheels: Pro 2 Trials on http://www.light-bicycle.com/bead-hook-less-rims-carbon-29er-light-bike-rim-tubeless-compatible.html with CX rays. Question is, is the SS hub really worth the ~200g penalty over say a dt240? It does sound very tempting as something that would really suit the way the bike will be ridden but thats allot of weight! 28 hole or 32? Are those rims stiff enough? They seem very light compared to http://www.light-bicycle.com/carbon-700C-25mm-wide-road-rim-clincher-35mm-deep-U-shape-tubeless-compatible-basalt-braking-surface.html

Tyres: Now this is the tricky one! Do i go for one pair of do it alls and run them tubeless? Will they go up high enough to be efficient on road? I was thinking Conti speedking rear and raceking front. Would some more CX type tyres be better? Am i missing a trick by going 29 rather than 700c? There seem to be alot more options there for this kind of use… Or just sack it and swap tyres as needed, it will be used 90% for road and towpaths afterall.

General queries: is there another solution than the EBB? The idea of realigning the discs on sliding dropouts when i want to swap gears sounds like a nightmare and im not a fan of hub gears (though i havent tried any modern ones). Should i be looking at a more road/cx type frame as theres allot of weight to be shaved there? How light can i go on the groupset/finishing kit, would road stuff be suitable or should i stick to MTB parts? Forks, carbon vs steel? Will I die?

Would love to hear your thoughts, theorys, any setups your running that are similar. Or just tell me why i’m wrong.

❓

Would love to hear your thoughts

Too much text so i hit the ‘back’ button.

Won’t work as a singlespeed using just ebb. Pretty certain I had to add a link to the chain when changing between a 34 and 32 tooth ring on my jones with the ebb so no way you can satisfy both requirements just using that.

If your mtb riding is pretty gentle then I suspect a cx style bike that can take something like a 42c WTB nano is your best bet. Tripster comes to mind although you’d need to faff re ss. New pinnacle arkose SS?