Bikes Of 2025: Singular Cycles Gryphon

 It's another end-of-year period on the blog. You know what that means? Yep! Another round of my bikes I used in 2025. This round-up will not include some of the bikes I did not use this year much, or at all. I focus only on the bikes that played a big role in my riding during this year.  As always, any changes or future plans for any bike I feature will also be detailed. I hope that you enjoy this year's round-up.

 The Singular Cycles Gryphon Mk3 is a bicycle I have which is part modern and part throw-back. With its 29" X 2.8" wheels and tires, drop bar specific design, and through axles it is right up to date with current trends in adventure bikes. But I have kitted it out with a 3X chain set, 9 speed shifters and derailleur, and a friction shifted front derailleur. 

It's perfect.

I used this bike on some demanding gravel out in Westcentral Iowa for the Tree In The Road Ride. The bike was absolutely no problem. I could access all the gears and the granny was definitely a low enough ratio I could crawl up the steep gravel hills there even though the Sun was baking me alive. 

I regret I don't have enough time to ride this bike more. It is a really comfortable bike. I added a Redshift Sports ShockStop stem, one of the new short versions, and it really helps out smoothing the vibrations to almost nothing on the hands. I have a Luxy Bar on it as well, which also helps me out ergonomically. (I hope they reissue this as rumored)

So, there is not much of anything I'd change with the Gryphon. I would like to add something to its versatility though. An alternate wheel set. 

The Gryphon utilizes a 15mm through axle standard up front, so I happen to have a spare DT Swiss hub which would match. I'd just need a nice rear hub, a set of pretty wide rims, and then lace those up. I then could use different tires. Maybe something not as wide and faster. I don't know. It is jus6t an idea, not anything I would be super-pressed to do anytime soon. 

More than changes to the bike, I need to change how much it gets used. As in "more", that is all!  

Country Views: Hazy

Escape Route: Sergeant Road bike path.

 Recently we have been under a cloud of haze emanating out of Canada. Wildfires again. We had a similar June two years ago. Then it was quite nasty, but so far, this has only been an annoyance.

It gets old really quick though. Something about it casts a pall over the land and mentally this isn't the same thing as normal skies, so I don't really care for this at all. This is also responsible for lower air quality as well, which was forecast to worsen throughout the day on Monday. So, I decided I'd better ride in the morning.  That way I might get away with not having a scratchy throat and watering eyes.\

Welcome to The Haze!

 

There was another purpose for this ride. As I wrote in my "Two Things" post yesterday, I had installed some new bits on the handlebar of the Gryphon Mk3 and those needed a test run. So, this was the bike I rode and I only was out for a short run. 

 

So, there is a look at things as they are now. The test ride was successful and the Redshift Cruise Control bits are where they need to be. Oddly enough I found I was happiest when I "choked up" on the lower grip and when I hung about a quarter of my palm off the back end of the lower grip.

The upper grip was great to lay on with my forearms as a pseudo aero bar rest, and they were nice for upright climbing as well. By the way, I double wrapped about 3/4's of the bar from the extensions with some random cloth handle bar tape I somehow acquired. An old touring biker trick there. 

I was happy everything seems to be operating at a high level, so now I can put the bike set-up worries away and get on with getting myself tuned up for this little event! 

Two Things

Karolina Migon wins the Women's Elite 200 (Image courtesy of Life Time)

Thoughts On Unbound 2025: 

Well, Unbound is over for another year with record-setting results. I went back and read my reactions to last year's Unbound and you know what? I could almost copy and paste the entire article again. 

So, instead of rehashing the same ol' stuff again, I decided to look at a few other resources for my take on the event, since the Elite/Pro story is not really all that different.  Yes, there were some differences. There was no big sprint finish in the Women's field as Karolina Migon rode everyone off her wheel with around 50 miles to go. There were 20 more women and a few more men in the Elites this time, but the percentages of Elites to "regular folks" was still really lopsided toward the amateurs and the coverage was all about the Elites.

Now, what was interesting was the reaction to what cannot be described as anything but a media blitz on Friday before the event. Folks online were posting a lot of "I'm getting tired of this" sentiments, and while this might be seen as "negative" I read as "fatigue" when it comes to how the cycling media covers this stuff.  As one poster opined: "If I see another 'bike check' so help me...." They weren't wrong either as the tech side was hammered on pre-Unbound while true, engaging story lines were largely missing.

The other thing I saw which I found interesting was a post from an Emporia resident who opined  concerning how the event had changed since the DK200 days. There was mention of the finish line chute, as they run it now with segregated chutes for Pro/Elite and everyone else, as being something which lessened the experience for this person.

The DK200 used to have a tagline which went something like "Everyone is a Rock Star" which spoke to the experience the early organizers tried to give each and every rider. The common finish line chute, with cheering fans which were there for first place through till the bitter ends of the field, are now more focused on where Unbound places the spotlight. Obviously, a huge focus shift to Elites has taken the shine off the ordinary rider, and it would appear some people are noticing this.

Grip It and Rip It:

As stated earlier, I am choosing the Gryphon Mk3 for the Tree In The Road Ride coming up later this month. I've been doing a few minor tweaks to the bike. Things like de-racking it and streamlining the set up for this 70 mile group ride. One thing I decided to do was to try the Redshift Sports Cruise Control system on this bike.

This system is already on my Gen I Fargo, so I already know what to expect, and it was one of the reasons the Gen I Fargo was one of the two bikes I considered taking on this ride. Since I had a spare kit sitting on the shelf, I decided to throw it on the Gryphon which has Luxy Bars on it and see what I thought.

The Luxy Bar is an odd-duck of a flared drop bar, but it has a couple characteristics which are being picked up on by cutting-edge flared drop bar makers. The Luxy was never considered as an "aero-advantage" handle bar, but recent developments have shown the Luxy could have been a contender in this category today. I wrote a post about this which you can check out HERE. 

With the Gevenalle shifters, I now have a pseudo-aero bar position I can use utilizing the Cruise Control upper portion as a place to rest my forearms.It will be just one more place I can go to and relieve tension and pressure during a longer ride. The lower grips I already know will be a boon to avoiding numb hands. 

Tree In The Road Ride: Update & Bike Choice

 The Tree In The Road Ride is June 28th, 2025 out of Atlantic, Iowa. The details of this ride can be found HERE. Update 1 HERE., Update 2 HERE. Update 3 HERE. 

Time we are starting is 8:30am. We will be there at 8:00am for coffee and chit-chat.

There will be an after the ride hang at some place, but we will likely decide that day just where it will be based upon who is there and interest.

The route file is in one of those updates linked above, in case you want to check that out. Otherwise all you need to know is that this is a free ride, you are responsible for you, and it is in no way supported. You must bring your own provisions and there is no bail-out, sag, or guarantee of fun whatsoever. Bring a good attitude and an appetite for suffering a bit and for a challenge. It is a NO DROP RIDE so there will be many stops and gathering-ups. Don't like the sound of that? Don't come. No big deal to me.

Don't ask questions unless you've checked all the links for answers first. The ride will be cancelled if the weather looks bad. We will ride if the weather is iffy. If any of this bothers you, again - do not come to this ride. 

Now, on to more fun things to talk about, like bikes! 

Singular Gryphon Mk3

So, Matt Gersib asked if I would ride my Singular Cycles Gryphon Mk3. So, of course I obliged him and will be taking this bike to the Tree In The Road Ride. I stripped off the racks for now and as you see it above is how I will be riding it in about a month from now.

I got it out and did a little fine tuning of the set up. I tilted the bars a bit differently, since I had taken them off for a handle bar review and had installed them but never really checked out the set up since. I'm pretty sure I have the handle bars set up spot-on now. I may add those Redshift Sports grip thingies on the extensions. I'll think about that for a bit. It does have a Redshift Sports ShockStop stem on it, by the way. Also, those are the rare Luxy Bars on this bike.

By the way, I should point out that the Singular Gryphon Mk3 does not support a front derailleur natively. So, if you've wondered how this bike has a front derailleur, check out this post HERE. It isn't pretty, but it does work perfectly. I'll take a working part over beauty any day.

I slid the saddle forward all the way, straightened out the levers height-wise, and  straightened out the stem so it is pointing forward, not slightly off to one side. Now it will be time to do a few shake-down rides just to make sure I am not missing anything and I will be good to go.