Dr Jekyll is born.
Dr Jekyll the early days:
Dr Jekyll is a slighty too heavy commuter who is bored with riding to work every day, with his slightly too fat tyres and heavy steel frame. So one night he got naked, threw off his mudguards and tried on a couple of panniers…..
Mr Hyde is born:
Once he’s wearing 10-25kg of panniers plus water, food and spare parts, and gets his eyes on a bad road or track he comes to life. A beast is awoken, a beast that just wants to move faster and further without a care in the world. Now that’s the travel companion I want to travel through Africa with.
The details:
Handmade custom bike built by www.m-gineering.nl
Frame: Reynolds 725 steel, with EBB for Rohloff and S+S for easy transport.
Wheels: 26″ Rigida sputnik, Rohloff 14 speed hub, Son hub dynamo, (32 spoke)
Tires: 26×2″ Schwalbe Marathon supreme for onroad, Marathon XR for offroad touring (and later various other tires).
Seatpost: Ritchey Comp.
Saddle: Brooks Flyer of course (needs a liter of sweat to brake it in, but after that its like a pair of old shoes).
Handlebars: Nitto dream bar, modified with “M-gineering splitendz” to allow a Rohloff grip shifter on drop bars.
Headset: Stronglight, good old fashion roller bearings instead of expensive well marketed crap.
Stem: Ritchey AH.
Transmission: Rohloff speedhub (EX), blackspire chain ring, 40×17 for Africa (quickly changed to Surly Stainless chain rings for better durability). Shimano LX/XT chain one of the few things Shimano is good at.
Pedals: Wellgo platform pedals (means I can use my hiking boots/sandals on tour).
Cranks: Sugino 104×4, 170mm.
Brakes: Shimano LX V-brakes, Diacompe 287V & pauls crosstops.
Pump: Zefal hpx ( a full size pump, for the real work, no messing around with a little crappy pump that takes all day).
Kickstand: Esge. A heavy extra, but makes life alot easier.
WinterHyde:
After our return from Africa we tried a couple of winter trips. With a few small modifications, Mr Hyde became Winterhyde.
Lapland
Canada
After Canada I converted him to a single speed for lightweight and low maintenance commuting to work.
