Touring - Well I Did It! New Bike

I finally did it!
I ordered a custom made made touring bike. Almost 3 hours of fitting and discussing ideas. So far a great (but not cheap) experience. Have not finalized parts yet, and won't be getting the bike before spring (my choice). The hardest part so far was to choose a colour, (I hope this is the last bike I will buy), I went with Metalic Green.
What makes me feel a little more justified in springing for the custom, is that when I sat on my current bike to take some measurements, the size and geometry where so far wrong that I had to use a bike from the shop. I have road this bike 4000 kms this year, just think how far I can go on the new bike!

Well ya didnt tell us what it is and how you are building it up. I chuckled at your post. I built a custom and one of the hardest was choosing a colour. Coincidently enough...metallic green. I have good feelings about you new ride.

Well ya didnt tell us what it is and how you are building it up. I chuckled at your post. I built a custom and one of the hardest was choosing a colour. Coincidently enough...metallic green. I have good feelings about you new ride.


Green bikes are fastest. Always get green when you can, even for a touring bike. Red bikes are nearly as fast.

It's a True North Touring Frame built by Hugh Black. As to how I'm building it up: much of that is up in the air. The ideas so far:
-SalsaDrop Bars
-LX Deralier Front and Back
- Phil Wood Bottom bracket
- Race Face Turbine Crank
- Bar End Shifters
- Seat Brooks B17
- Seatpost Thudbuster

Wheels? Leaning towards DaVinci V22 Rims laced to White Hubs or Velocity Rims and/or XT Hubs

Brakes? V Type? or Perhaps front Mechanical Disk

I am open to comments or ideas on any of the above choices

If you want disc brakes, the frame will have to be made to accomodate them. But, it sounds like you have enough time.

Congrats! The bike I had built was a True North as well. Hugh does nice work and is very patient and accommodating. I had him build a rigid mtn style frame for my all purpose commuter/tourer/day tripper. Other that one nagging problem (that he will fix), I am very happy. I have about 4000km on it including several short trips and my 2wk summer tour. Unfortunately I have been sidelined with an injury since the end of Aug and havent ridden it since then and wont be for some time.

Sounds like you will have a different set up as far as components go (rd vs mtn) but I can really vouch for discs. Unless this will be a distance tourer only, discs are the way to go. If you use it for road touring only you might give it a second thought. I dont think we use our brakes a lot on tour, unlike commuting in the rain etc so the extra expense and minor hassles might be saved with good V's or calipers.

Good luck.

Sth I'm kind of going for a mix of road/mountain components. Anywhere I need strength I'm leaning toward mountain stuff. (I'm a big guy) Good advice on the disk brakes.
Where I am really still up in air is over hubs, I really can't afford Phil Woods, and I seem wear out XT's in less then 3 years.

I'm glad your happy with Hugh's work. I almost got a frame from him years ago when he was just starting out. It's kind of neat that the guy designing and building your frame is a Mechanical Engineer.

I had a hard time fretting over what hub to use. I was going to go with sealed cartridge bearing Hope hubs. Phils or Kings would be nice but the cost was just too great to justify. In the end I went with the tried and true XT hubs. With proper maintenance they should last years for me...a light weight. Are you using 26" or 700 wheels?

Hugh did a great job and Stefan, his painter, did a great job with the finish.

700 wheels, should be faster, and I'm 6'5" and I've always thought 26 inch wheels looked a little small for me.