Neil's SuperSomething Steel Gravel Bike
The SuperSomething is our lightweight, compliant, comfortable and confident steel gravel bike. With a geometry born out of hundreds of custom built frames, the SuperSomething does not try to be anything that it is not. It is a bike you could really take anywhere and a well crafted companion that will be with you for a long, long time.
This build was recently put together in our San Francisco workshop for Neil who lives just up the road in Northern California. We lovingly assemble each of our complete bikes here one at a time. Recently we have been getting more questions from folks about customization on completes - swapping tires or a drivetrain - and while we do complete each build to order, one of the things that allows us to turn around a build in a reasonable time frame and keep pricing friendly is by standardizing parts. If you have been paying super close attention you may have noticed that the builds have boiled down to something a little more concise over the past few months and that is no mistake. We have been putting a lot of work into builds that we feel deliver the very best value to our customers while allowing us to keep the process streamlined and work with vendors we love. That is so, so, so much easier said than done but as this little company grows we anticipate doing fewer frames and more completes so we are happy to be on that path.
Anyhow, let's chat about this complete we just put together for Neil. The frameset is a size M-L in the "Golden Hills" color. Neil is 5'10" with a 730mm saddle height and while he is just on the cusp of M-L and Large his longer torso and inseam length lend themselves to the M-L with a longer stem, 90mm in this case.
If you ever have questions on fit, please send us a note. We love getting people on the correct size bike! Also, make sure you scroll down the product page and check out our handy sizing calculator. That is a great way to get an idea of your sizing.
The Build kit on this gravel bike is our Force/GX Mullet. This combines the super nice Force shifting, braking and crank set with the GX mountain bike gearing which means plenty of range for the variety of things that a gravel bike can throw at you. We love this combo and run it on our own bikes often. One other question we have been getting is what size cranks the completes ship with and the answer is that it depends on the size of the frame. We spec the XLs with 175mm cranks, L with 172.5mm cranks, M-L and M with 170mm cranks and S with 165mm cranks.
Other things to note on the build are the nice Astral wheelsets. For now we are speccing a Ritchey bar but in the not too distant future we will have our own SuperSomething bar that we are excited to spec on the builds. Also we have been loving the Maxxis Rambler in 50mm, it just has to be one of the best gravel tires ever.
It is always a pleasure to see a complete bike roll out the door. Please drop us a line if you have any questions on completes and learn more about the SuperSomething steel gravel bike here.
