Mildred’s Not A Banana Tourer

“I don’t want it to look like a banana.”

A strange request, but I knew what she meant. Mildred wanted an off road touring bike, with plus tyres, full rack set, lights, modern 1x drop bar gearing, dropper post compatibility – all the good stuff.

But beyond that, the key thing she was looking for was a sense of proportion.

A lot of Mildred’s bikes had the kind of geometry compromises the bike industry often makes on smaller sized bikes – odd head angles, weird proportions with tiny seat tubes that give them the banana look Mildred meant.

Her new bike is designed to fit a 90mm dropper post in the future while keeping the proportions elegant. We chose the 26″+ wheel size to help package everything within the smaller frame, and I built an extra wide version of my twin plate fork crown to fit those huge tyres. The full rack set integrates the dynamo light wires internally, with a plug so the rear rack can be quickly removed for lighter trips, along with the removable lowriders.

With a custom stem and careful design, Mildred now has a bike that fits her just right, and isn’t a banana.