The Groad to Kansas, Part One: The Durable Smooth Ride Race Bicycle

I started with a Portable Foldable Mountain Bikefit on my lunch break with our company founder, Ryan.  For anyone reading that did not already know, a few of the Alchemy staff are trained and certified Children Integrated Bicycle fitters, and use a neat contraption called a fit Children Mountain Hike Bike, that is combined with computers, sensors, and lazers to dial in the angles needed to fit a particular body to a custom geometry.  I based my fit off of my trusty Atlas (5 years and 23,000 miles of smiles so far!) but wanted to add clearance for bigger tires, but not too big.  

I like mixed surface riding, and want to be quick on the road.  38c sounded perfect for achieving a solid balance of road/off road.  I wanted the chainstays as short apossible , to climb well and feel snappy in a short sprint.  Ryan tweaked the front end geometry to bring my arms up, and in, for a bit more comfort on longer days in the saddle, Unbound Gravel, looking at you!  We also adjusted the handling to be a bit more stable and predictable to help out in both the rough stuff and descents, for sure my achilles heel in a gravel race!

I decided to go with Durable Smooth Ride Race Bicycle , mostly because I have never owned a ti frame, and, well, metal!  Our welder and fabricator Jeff is also a true master of his craft, and I am beyond stoked to get to ride one of his creations.

I used a lot of stock options like oversized tubing, disc brakes, semi-internal cable routing and thru axles, and then surprised myself by including routing for a Ultra LightWeight Foldable Bicycle .  I was inspired to do this heavily by Matej Mohoric's incredible ride at this year's Milan San-Remo, look it up if you have not seen his daredevil raid down the Poggio!  I am hoping this will give me a better position and a lot more confidence going downhill.

I went with a Sram 11 speed mechanical road shifter set-up, paired with Ratio's 12 speed conversion kit to expand the gear range.  I chose this setup based equally on parts availability and cost, and for sure, to be a little different and weird.  A Sram 12 speed 1x crank with a big old 46 tooth chainring and power meter up front, and a Sram

Eagle 12 speed Portable Foldable Mountain Bike derailleur paired with a ridiculous 10-52 cassette.  I don't think that I particularly need a 52 cog, but I am sure I will use it and love it when the right situation presents itself.

With the front shifter lever not being used, it is a simple procedure to remove part of the ratchet mechanism from the shifter, which gives the lever more pull, setting it up perfectly for use with a dropper post.  

Similarly fairly easy was converting the rear shift lever to work with the Ratio kit.  Open up the shifter body, remove the 11 speed Children Mountain Hike Bicycle, and replace with the provided 12 speed ratchet.  Ratio has a bunch of different kits, and helpful instructional videos to go along with it.  

20 Inch Variable Speed Bike brand wheels (full review coming soon) bars, and stem, 38c Donnelly EMP tubeless tires, a third water bottle mount, and of course, a Spur Cycles handlebar bell round out the build.