OK, so I’m well and truly off the bike at the moment with a broken back & I’ve decided to use my time off the bike to sell all my kit and treat myself to a new bike ready for getting back in the saddle – my current favourite is a Shand Bahookie Rohloff – I have a Rohloff on one of the bikes I’m selling and love it so thought I’d go the whole hog and go Gates belt drive too.

My reasonaing is that it’ll be a bit of an all-rounder, low maintenance and I’m not going to be hooning around for a long long time so I don’t need any suspension, etc – and i want something nice that I’ll enjoy being out on….also, following the build will be great to keep me motivated while I’m cooped up here.

Would love to see photos and hear stories of yours as a bit of inspiration – I reckon I’ve got at least 12 weeks off the bike so planning to place an order in the next week or so to time it’s arrival nicely……

Inspire me!!

You can have quite a bit of fun on them… 🙂

Some photos of mine:

Bit of bike packing, Strathpuffer and general messing about (Laggan, I think).

Great bike. Lovely to ride (Steel’s real!), great workmanship. It’s a short-travel hardtail though so wouldn’t be the perfect do-it-all bike for where I live (Aberdeenshire) but I’ve got other options for something a bit slacker with bounce at both ends when I’m on the lumpier trails.

Looks ace – I’m actually planning on going rigid, with 650b/2.8’s – like I say, i won’t be doing anything “technical” in anyway for a long time, so just want something to look forward to riding – it’ll be a “do it all” bike for me for some time, as “do it all” will mean “stay on the flat, easy trails for a good while!!”

Where’s that second pic from? Looks familiar – think I rode it back when I was starting out and it scared the life out of me

Where’s that second pic from?

+1
It *may* be descent into Bridge of Balgie from Tarmachan.
But I am also likely a hundred miles out.

Where’s that second pic from?

isnt it the rock slab at Lagan?

It is.
I was looking at the 4th pic….

I found a secondhand one in December, it’s now a singlespeed rigid.

It’s my first 29er and I kept it as chain drive as belt drive would be expensive to experiment with ratios if I wanted to change the gearing.

I love it, it’s a hoot to ride and is quick.

Fourth pic is (actually 3rd and 4th pic) from a wee loop out of Linn of Dee.

Third about here (north of Derry lodge): https://w3w.co/goat.bordering.wrenching

Fourth is River Avon just before it joins the Builg Burn, not far from Inchrory, according to the map. Somewhere about https://w3w.co/host.unlimited.flag

Looking at the pics just makes me want to out and explore again.

(Second pic is Ayer’s rock at Laggan)

Is there/was there a trail centre near that slab? I rode a few of the 7 stanes more than a decade ago, and that’s the only time I’ve ridden in Scotland (sadly), must have been back then

You may be thinking of Dalbeattie which has its own slab?

The photo’s of Ayers Rock at Laggan. It is a trail centre but it’s near Newtonmore (between Aviemore and Fort William) not one of the 7 stanes.

Ah you’re a lucky man @spooky_b329 – I was watching that at the time – wish i’d gone for it now!!

Got one in singlespeed with belt drive.  It’s ended up being my bike of choice for almost everything much to my surprise.  Thought I would get tired of the SS aspect after a while and change the dropouts for geared ones but never have.  Belt needed tightening slightly to begin with but after that I haven’t touched it.  It’s the bike that is always working 🙂

@leffeboy – that is very nice indeed – pretty much exactly what i want, but with the Rohloff added!

@velocipede 8hr round trip to collect it, it had literally never been ridden but the guy would have had kittens to see it now!

He re-packed it in the back of my van as a hub and the fork dropouts were touching the plywood floor.

It does have a little heel rub now! I was looking at a new one but Shand were a bit slow off the mark and I had a deadline so I decided to hold off until later this year so I could test ride one whilst on holiday in Scotland. And then this popped up and I decided I could take the chance and resell if I didn’t like it…I don’t think it’ll be going anywhere!

That’s lovely Leffeboy with the matching forks. 650+?

650+?

Yep. 3in tyres iirc.  It’s a nice trade off with being fully ridgid

euain

You may be thinking of Dalbeattie

That might be the one

I do like that “Gloss Olive” paint scheme on both of yours @leffeboy and @spooky_b329

I’m not sure on colour choice for me – love the Matt Grey colour here:https://www.shandcycles.com/shop/bikes/bahookie-rohloff

And this “Gloss Banana” here: https://singletrackworld.com/2016/07/shand-cycles-handbuilt-hoolie/

Or maybe just the bright yellow you see a few Shands in, like here: https://www.shandcycles.com/shop/bikes/bahookie-rohloff-dropbar

Choices, choices……

Gloss Banana wins for me out of those three but if you have the imagination then there are some amazing possibilities:

https://www.instagram.com/paintedbyeuan/?hl=en

Oooooh, thanks @leffeboy – that’ll keep me occupied for a bit!

Prefer the bright yellow to be honest, but it would be dull if we all liked the same!

Ok, so any more out there for me to have a look at?

I’m about to order one, but don’t have to agree the paint scheme until we’re at that stage, so have a few weeks yet to mull over what to go for.

In the meantime, I’m planning – 29er, Rohloff/Gates, Jones bars, Cambium saddle & current fave paint is the Gloss Banana……

I’m going to start a Facebook blog to track the build and my back recovery, hopefully culminating in some ride pics once the back is mended…..

Drove counts?

Don’t get green and bronze it’s horrible 😉

View this post on Instagram

Snow day updates. #shandcycles #rohloff #gatescarbonbeltdrive #thudbuster

A post shared by SteveH (@steveh_550) on Feb 1, 2019 at 8:25am PST

Yeah I knew that wasn’t going to work.

edit: oh, there you go .. here’s another one then

View this post on Instagram

It’s a green and bronze world! My slipped disk earlier in the year put paid to the Cairngorms Loop plan, but not all adventures must be huge. An hour in the woods on a morning like this, feeling strong after 8 months of pain, will do for now. #thankful

A post shared by SteveH (@steveh_550) on Dec 17, 2018 at 4:15am PST

I recommend the ThudBuster.

@Dorset_Knob – interesting that your the third (out of 4!) poster to have more or less that colour scheme!!! (to be fair, it is nice!)

Ah but who ordered it first? 😉

Yeah, it’s nice, and a classic combination.

Also, Shand paint seems to be very hard wearing – three years in and only very minor scuffing on mine, no chips or flakes to speak of.

I wanted a matt colour when looking at all the pics, had some reservations about the olive green one until I saw it in all its glossy loveliness. Now I love it.

But…I didn’t realise how popular it was!

Great bike – order it. This is mine a few hours after picking it – I rode it home from the workshop. Matt sage green, 27.5+ 3.0, Rohloff and gates belt drive. The Rohloff is worth every penny and I cannot understand all of the poor reviews about shifting uphill etc – smooth and quick to shift. Compared to cassette there is far less drag in the real world (mud and gritty/ sandy moors) and my Strava times are faster. I ordered carbon Jones bars and they do such a good job eliminating the chatter I should have gone for 29 wheels with 2.6 front and 2.5 rear. Also with a Hope carbon seatpost. I have changed the saddle for an Infinity – expensive but the best saddle I have ever had, no discomfort on multi-day trips. I did have a problem with my seatpost slipping which caused damage to the carbon and Shand had it replaced under warranty (very good service). I have replaced the clamp with a Salsa Lip Lock which is much better than the Hope clamp.

Here’s the photo:

@jonl – looks lovely – interested in your comments about the wheels (I’m struggling making the choice) – why do you regret the 27.5’s??

Wheels: I got tubeless 27.5 3.0 for the comfort factor. With carbon seatpost and bars I think this was maybe overkill. Of course, without having a second set of wheels this may be a bit academic. The bike as setup is very comfortable – better than my son’s Beast of the East with tubeless 27.5 2.8’s and 130 front forks. I just having a feeling that 29 with 2.6 front and 2.5 rear would be as comfortable but lighter and better rolling. The 27.5’s take a bit more work to get going but then keep their momentum. I don’t think that the difference is that great that I will change them for the French Divide – just putting on 2.8 tyres instead of 3.0 to reduce weight and improve rolling resistance.

Just looked at the Shand website. They only have 29 W23 rims. I would be asking them to get in some 29 W30 rims if I was going down the 2.6/2.5 route..

Thanks @jonl – I’m currently edging towards the 27.5/2.8 option – really for the comfort factor that you mention

I already have a Rohloff on another bike I have (a 26″ Nicolai Helius that I bought s/h last year) and I must admit I’ve fallen in love with the hub – brilliant things! – and hence when this idea for a “big treat” came into my head, I had to go Rohloff!

It’s giving me something to plan/think about during my recovery (and I’m hoping I’ll be just about ready to ride as the bike gets delivered!)

Mine took almost 5 months. I would suggest getting the order in so you are in line, details are something they are not interested in for some months. having said that I don’t know what the current production time is.

@jonl : deposit is paid – the journey begins!

If the Bahookie is high end all singing all dancing, and the Scandal is cheap and cheerful, what is solid mid-range into which you could plug that Kinesis Maxlight fork?

I can’t shake the feeling that the Niner Sir ought to be a c.£650 frame and would therefore fit the bill, but its pricing is out of kilter on this side of the pond.

Resurrecting this thread again!

I never did go ahead with mine – a few things got in the way during lockdown and I cancelled the order but now I’m in better shape, including physically, so I’m back in the game!

So, a new order is about to be placed!

Before I press go, I wondered if anyone out there was looking to sell theirs first, just in case!

And even if you’re not – more photos and stories about yours would be great!