Grinduro Caledonian Carrier
I got a phone call from Andrew Denham from The Bicycle Academy shortly after the dust had settled from Bespoked 2019. He was assembling this year’s cohort of framebuilders for the annual custom bike display for Grinduro Scotland. That conversation ultimately resulted in this bike.
Grinduro is right up my fireroad. Some kind of party/race/party, the event is essentially a mostly off road ramble around the singletrack and fireroads of Arran, combined with a suitable amount of lounging around in Lamlash Bay and eating.
My brief was to build my interpretation of the perfect bike for the event, along the lines of an adventure touring bike. I took my “off-the-peg” Carrier model and made a few adjustments to it, to experiment with geometry a bit. With 2.4″ tyres and the Jones bars, this bike is pretty competent at being muscled through Scottish single track; it’ll go as fast as you are brave. The bike has my high stack front setup so it was supremely comfortable, and I built my full racket so that I could bring plenty of tea and biscuits with me for the ride.
It’s a perfect example of how my Carrier can be built up with all the comfort and practicality you need for long distance bikepacking or touring, but still be a rugged, fun and beautiful bike.
You can see more about this bike at The Radavist, alongside the bikes from the other builders. They’re all awesome.
This build wouldn’t have happened without the support of these wonderful folks:
Photos by Adam Gasson Photography