Tom's flat bar SuperSomething gravel bike

I just spent the afternoon helping my pal Tom building up his new SuperSomething gravel bike. After 6 or 7 years on an old Surly, Tom wanted something a little more dialed and a little more custom and this is what we came up with. Lets dive in.

What's so SuperSomething about it?

Tom decided to go with flat bars instead of the drop bars that the SuperSomething is designed around. Why? Because Tom is a one bike kind of guy and he'll be riding this thing on trails about as much as the road. He also just prefers a sweepy flat bar for those long bike tours and Country side rides he'll be doing. For the flat bars we sized up from a 56 to a 58CM frame and ran a bit of a longer stem to get the handle bars in a nice riding position. 

Tom went with 650b wheels to get a little more tire clearance. As you can see here we built the bike with 2.2" SuperYummy gravel tires from our friends at SimWorks, what a Super pairing.

Why a 12-speed drivetrain?

Tom lives in Berkeley at the foot of the Oakland hills and those are some steep roads and trails to climb, so a 12-speed drivetrain was the perfect choice for his SuperSomething build. That will be plenty of range for the biggest hills and because we are going full flat bar, we went with the sram GX kit which works so well and doesn't break the bank

I'm excited to see this bike around the bay and the Oakland hills, we might just take it on it's first overnighter this weekend.

Learn more about the SuperSomething here