After a looooong wait (original deposit on the frame was in August), the Gryphon has landed.
In my quest for my ultimate commuter/dirt tourer, I had several key criteria that I wanted.
- 29er mountain bike/gravel grinder, designed around a rigid-only fork and relaxed geometry
- rack mounts and capable of mounting standard fenders
- clearance for up to 2.4" tires for offroad fun (singletrack, bikepacking, fire road touring)
- Ability to use an IGH without a tensioner (sliding dropouts or EBB)
- Ability to use flat or "dirt drop" bars
- Chromoly or titanium
- 100mm front spacing for dynamo hub (I eliminated several contenders with 135mm front spacing)

I considered many options, and my final list included the Surly Ogre/Karate Monkey (geometry was steeper than I wanted, and both are designed around a suspension fork), Jeff Jones "diamond frame" with custom fork (or NOS Salsa V1 fork), On One Inbred 29er, and a few others that dropped off the list pretty quickly.
I was somewhat familiar with a small company based in the UK by the name of Singular, who has a small but passionate following in the 29er world, and their Gryphon model fit the bill for my needs. When I learned of their intentions to integrate rack mounts in their 2012 lineup, I deposited my money for a pre-order in August 2011.

The bike is VERY similar to the Salsa Fargo, but with an EBB, with the tradeoff of having fewer braze-ons for stuff.

In the mean time, I was riding my son's Motobecane 29er with scabbed on rack, saddle, handlebars, daynamo lighting, etc in hopes of a new ride in the fall.
After a slightly slower than planned fabrication process (the frames are designed in the UK and fabbed in Taiwan) and an unprecedented (for them) 2 month delay in customs, the frames were ready to ship from Marty's Shop (The Prarie Peddler) last week. Marty was great to work with, and was beside himself with all of the shipping issues. I think we're both releived!

So, when my wife called me yesterday with the words "there's something on the porch for you", I took the rest of the day off, and was greeted with this:



I got right to work, installing the headset and playing with the Phil Wood licensed Eccentric Bottom Bracket:



According to marty, these frames shipped without head badges for some reason, and mine is on the way.





Ready to build!



I had done the geo and knew a shorter stem would be in order, so I installed a Thomson 80mm instead of the 120mm that was nearby.

Fast forward, and here she is, ready for action!

I used a mix of on-hand and new parts. The Brooks, lighting/dynamo wheel, brakes, grips, pedals, and rack have all been around for a couple of years on other unsuccessful versions of my ideal commuter/all-rounder.

I chose the Nuvinci over the Alfine 11 due to concerns with the Alfine 1-2 gears blowing out in off road use. Possibly unfounded fear, but I've been curious about the Nuvinci for a while now, so it was a $1000 cheaper option than a Rohloff <cough>.

All built up and ready to go!





I took the bike out for a little spin to dial everything in, and it rides GREAT. Super smooth, not jarring at all (like my Norco Vesta was), and the Nuvinci is really nice.
I'll give her a trial by fire in the morning, as it is raining (yeah, this is Salt Lake City - it SHOULD be snowing).
I'll post more as I settle in to the new ride.

Here's a rundown of the build
- Frame/fork: XL Singular Gryphon
- Handlebar: Jeff Jones Loop bar
- Stem Thomson X4 80mm
- Crank Truvative Stylo 1.1 180mm
- Seatpost: Salsa
- Brakes: Avid BB7, 185mm rotors - Shimano XTR front, Avid G3 rear
- Saddle Brooks B-17 Narrow
- Front wheel: Alfine Dynamo hub with Velocity Dyad rim (soon to be replaced with Salsa Gordo)
- Tires Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 700x50 (28/29x2.0)
- Cables: Jagwire ripcord
- Chain Wippermann 3/8"
- Rack: Civia
- Rear Wheel: Nuvinci N360 hub, Salsa Gordo rim

Gorgeous build! What kind of headset press is that in the third picture? Is that a Park tool?

Thank you, and yes it is a Park Tool. Park's "home mechanic" headset tool, which is extremely well made, and a fraction the cost of a pro shop model. I bought mine a few years back from Universal Cycles for $50 or so. It is far more solid than an allthread/stacked washer setup.

Although it's not my cup of tea, that's a hell of a nice looking bike. The colors all work together well. The brooks seat is a bonus. Nice job on the fenders. You certainly wasted no time putting it together! It sure looks like it meets your requirements. Excellent!

Sweet build. Your wife is a keeper if she lets you wrench in the living room!

Sweet. That's the smallest chainring I have ever seen. Why so small?

Hehe, yeah, it is small.
it's a 32, which is a pretty standard MTB single speed size, and the one that came with the crank (it is a MTB SS crank). As it is set up now its gear range is 27-98 gear inches, which is pretty optimal.
Since this bike will also see duty on single track, the ground clearance with a smaller chainring is a benefit.
My intent is to do the "quick change" (remove fenders/rack, swap tires) - a 30 minute job - and hit the trails.

Nice build. It makes want to build something more stylish for myself

Yep. We're pretty laid back folks. She was the one who suggested it, knowing that the workshop (a 1920's garage) is a pretty chilly place to work this time of year.
My wife is definitely a keeper.

Nice looking ride.

First commute on the Gryphon this morning, and the main word that comes to mind is SMOOOOOOOOOTH.
Between the Marathon Supremes, the frame, the best riding position I've had in recent memory, and the Nuvinci, I felt like I was riding on a satin sheet the whole way into work this morning.

First impressions of the Nuvinci: Quiet and smooth. The feel at the twist shifter is a little stiff, but not bad. I think I need to fine tune the cable tension to eliminate the small amount of play that I detected when transitioning from upshifting to downshifting.
The hub interface is really simple to disconnect for rear wheel removal, though <knock on wood> I'm not wishing for a flat or anything
I could not detect any noticeable "resistance" in the hub - again it felt very smooth, and I was able to maintain a comfortable spin - no sensation of grinding or vibration.

This is the first time that I have inverted my Jones Loop bar, and I think I prefer it this way. It just suits me better and feels more ergonomic than the normal way.

I'm REALLY glad I went with the 80mm stem instead of the 120mm. My body position feels very good. I used some recommended dimensions for saddle-BB, saddle setback, reach, saddle-handlebar drop (0 in this case to center of stem) and think it is pretty close to my ideal for commuting and general riding.

The rack mounts are pretty far back on the dropouts, and the MTB-dimensioned chain stays are longer than a typical road/cross bike, so the rack is mounted about 50cm farther back than I've had it before. Needless to say, heel clearance is NOT an issue, even with the rather bulky Ortlieb Backrollers that I loaded this morning. I had loaded some supplies/food into the panniers (in addition to my normal assortment of clothing/tools/etc), so the panniers were about 30 pounds total.
The bike handled surprisingly well, despite the load being so far back. I eyeballed it and the centerline of the panniers was somewhat behind the rear axle, but not far.
The balance felt really good - not "waggy" on the out-of-saddle efforts. I also tested the "no hands" tracking and it passed with flying colors.

Handling is very good. I'd read reports from folks who said that the Gryphon begs you to "rail the turns" on singletrack, and I can see why. I had fun testing out the handling on my otherwise mundane urban route.

I'll keep posting back here as the miles pass with ongoing impressions of the frame and the Nuvinci - raves, rants, and everything in between.

Wow, that is a really really nice build. Nice job all the way around. Kudos to you for creating your dream bike. Now go ride the wheels off the thing!!!!!

I like it. I'd never heard of that rear hub so I had some more reading to do.

Exceptionally sweet!!!!

Very, very, nice. I'm envious!

Can I have it?

Seriously, it looks really nice, and I enjoyed all the build pictures too. The specs are pretty close to what I'd consider an ideal do-it-all bike too - 29er so you can have wiiiide tires, disc brakes, fender mounts, etc.

Weird - the "finished" pics are broken links until I log in.

That bike looks great! I want to try those bars one of these days.

Can't go wrong with a Singular! I love my Swift.

Great build!

Classy ride! You did a really nice job on this build.

Couple quick questions, what are your impressions of the wheels and what is the overall diameter of the tires mounted on those wheels? I'm thinking of getting an offroad touring wheelset, and have heard good things about the Gordos. Just not sure if 700c would fit my bike with the 50s.

I'll measure it up when I get home.
I did get the calipers out the other day, however, to measure the front (mounted on a 24mm rim) vs the rear (35mm rim), and if memory serves the measured width (gross width of casing) was 44mm for the front and 48mm for the rear, or thereabouts.

The Gordo is a super stout rim. The rear wheel built up REALLY fast, I believe mostly due to the rigitity of the rim. Once the wheel was laced (maybe 30-45 min for me - I like to take my time) I had it to final tension in under 45 minutes, and it is dead true and perfectly round.

In my chats with Jeff Jones (when I bought the loop bar last year) he was recommending the Velocity P35 29er rim, as it is lighter and (in his experience) plenty strong. I have no experience with those, but an very happy with the Gordo.

Nice bike you got there, i hope you enjoy it.

Nice. I just started riding a Peregrine, I like it a lot.

Very nice! It makes me miss my old tank (which wasn't nearly this nice).

That is a really slick bike! Those handlebars are incredibly cool and they look very useful. What is that box mounted on the seat tube?

Very nice build. I'm becoming more and more a fan of this kind of bike. The only thing that would probably keep me from getting this frame is the seat stay mounted rear brake. I have a cross bike that has that and it was a pain to get a rear rack to fit. I much prefer the chain stay mount that some manufacturers do now like on the Salsa Fargo. Though the Fargo wouldn't have been as easy to set up in your situation due to not having an EBB. If I were going IGH like yourself, I'd do what you did for sure.