At the beginning of quarantine, my old Cannondale CAADX was stolen from our garage. More than anything, I was bummed because cycling was the one thing I could do to get outside while living in a city and being accustomed to the weekend warrior lifestyle.
I quickly turned to craigslist to see what could work for me and debated over buying something quality enough to replace my old bike, or just something to tide me over through the remainder of the 'stay at home' order. I found a solid deal on a 2016 Kona Jake and it did just the trick to get me through this time. I even surprised myself by putting more miles on this little bike during this time than I had any previous bike I've owned. And it felt great!
While I'm definitely not a very good or fast cyclist and I have yet to go very long distances, I decided that I had put in enough effort to feel good about whole-heartedly replacing my stolen bike with something that will last a long time. I knew I wanted a gravel bike, with the hopes that some bikepacking trips will enter my realm in the near future. A few search results led me to find someone in my neighboring city that was selling their Brother Cycles Mehteh frame. I hadn't heard of this brand yet, but it stopped me clear in my tracks due to it's subtle, gorgeous turquoise hue (obvi) and lovely branding. I decided it was high time that Kyle (the husband) teach me a thing or two about bikes. Kyle gave me a crash course in bike parts 101 while on a long drive... let's just say it was more captivating than any podcast and the drive flew by. That, paired with my insatiable appetite for learning about gear, and I was sold. We bought the frame, scoured the internet for all the best parts, and built my new dream bike! I'm in love.
Anyway... all this is to say that I'm really proud of my bike build and stoked for the adventures that await. So, here she is... glamour shots right before getting appropriately dusty.
P.S. Kyle has gotten really good at making custom frame bags, and perhaps if you're nice, he might just make you one too!
The build deets:
Frame - Brother Cycles Mehteh - Steel
Fork - Brother Cycles Mehteh - Carbon
Groupset - Shimano GRX rx810 - 40t chainring - 42-11 cassette
Headset - Chris King
Rotors - Sram 160mm
Stem - Thomson Elite
Post - Thomson Masterpiece
Wheels - Stans Grail MK3 / Ibis Hubs
Tires - WTB Venture 700c x 40
Pedals - Shimano SPD
Saddle - Specialized Oura