Thursday, March 02, 2023

Singular Cycles Gryphon: Update

Singular Cycles Gryphon Mk3. (Image courtesy of Singular Cycles)
The money has exchanged hands and the frame is set to sail to America. In fact, it should be on its way as you read this. Soon, a  Mk3 Gryphon from Singular Cycles will arrive at Guitar Ted Headquarters. 

If this is news to you, or if you've forgotten why I wanted this, here is the post where I make my case for this bike over a couple other choices. 

And if you are wondering how I might build the bike up, I posted this in January explaining my intentions. 

So, those are the explainer posts. I won't belabor the points again here. But I will say that this build should come together fairly quickly. Most every important part is here and I think I have most of small bits to finish this off as well. 

The only thing I wanted to accomplish besides all that has been said in those two linked posts is to get rid of a few bikes I will be decommissioning and clear out some space in the Lab. I am hopeful that this will end up in a "minus two" bikes in the hoard. Yes, adding one, ending up with two less. That's the plan. 

I'll have more on cleaning up my bike inventory later, but this is not the post for that.

I'm excited to finally add a plus-tire option to my "quiver" here. I miss my old "Fat Fargo" bike, which was the perfect bike in a couple of instances in the past, but ..... Yeah, I cannot remember what it was that wasn't quite "right" with that bike. (Probably had something to do with the no-single speed option, for one thing) Anyway... Ever since I sold that bike and have been on skinnier wheels there have been times where I wished for those plus-sized tires. Like last year where running South of town would have been a whole lot more fun on fatter tires.

The "Fat Fargo" with 27.5 X 2.8" tires tamed the "mud year" at the DK200. Image by Ari Andonopoulous.

I'll have that 2.8" sized option now with this bike, and I think it will come in handy over the next several years plus it will be able to do double-duty as a mountain bike around here where suspension is not much of a necessity. 

Stay tuned for more after the frame set lands here.....

7 comments:

Scott said...

Great news! Excited to see this build. What handlebars will you be using? Will the cockpit be setup so that drops are the primary hand position? Or will you go for something similar to your normal gravel riding position?

Guitar Ted said...

@Scott - Hey! Thanks! The handlebars will be silver anodized Luxy Bars which have been long out of production. I have three of these bars, and the one I will be using here hasn't been used much at all. Lots of life left in that one.

I think it is apropos to the bike as well since Sam of Singular Cycles was a primary force in the deign of that handlebar.

The set up should provide me with the drops as being primarily the hand grip of choice. Sam designed this bike with a nod to a bit more of a relaxed front-center position, so the stack height kind of dictates an "in the drops" grip for the rider. This is in contrast to bikes like the Singular Peregrine which have a more classic front-center.

Tomcat said...

I'm excited to see the final product of this build, GT! Thanks for sharing.

That chunk south of town last year was ridiculous! I'm already feeling like it's going to be the same story this year as I feel like it chunkier than usual for this time of year. Regardless, with those monster truck tires it should make for a smooth ride!

Guitar Ted said...

@Tomcat - Hey, thank you! I'm sure it won't be as colorful as your latest build though! ;>)

MG said...

I’m so stoked for you… That’s gonna be an instant favorite, I predict.

Derek said...

Curious what tires you are planning to use on this bike, smoother tread or knobbier?

Guitar Ted said...

@Derek - I have a set of 29 X 2.8" Teravail Coronados which are more of an XC tread pattern. I also have a set of 29" X 2.5 Extraterrestrials which I could use from time to time as well.

I might have two wheel sets I can dedicate to this bike, so if that turns out to be the case, then both would get used a lot. If not, I'm choosing the Coronados.