Gravel bike for Kurstin

Kurstin is no stranger to bikepacking the wilds of Nevada. I admired his blog and his adventures long before moving to Reno. So I was way beyond stoked when he asked me to make him a drop bar bike for fast and light desert trips.

Ask any bikepacker what their number one concern is when planning a trip in the desert and they’ll unanimously answer, “Water!” Although you can find a surprising amount of the wet stuff if you know where to look, it’s always good to play it safe and carry a lot of it with you. To accommodate this need, we put bottle mounting points all over the frame and fork. I brazed in a total of 29 bottle bosses! A record for me. Now Kurstin can’t blame the bike if he gets thirsty out there.

The bike is outfitted with 27.5×2.2 tires and a sensible 11-speed 1x drivetrain controlled by a Microshift bar-end shifter. The original plan was to run a Shimano GRX setup, but with the parts drought still plaguing the industry, Kurstin concocted a fine solution. The White Industries crank and headset makes for a bulletproof and beautiful build.

For the color scheme, Kurstin wanted to acknowledge the history of gold mining in Nevada. Dark Matter Finishing applied a black powdercoat with gold flake and gold graphics. In the sun this thing is glorious!

If you’d like me to make you a similar bike or something wildly different, don’t hesitate to contact me.