Dumitru's Classic Rando-Montreal

Dumitru came to us with a mandate for his dream drop-bar build, and the result came out just right! He wanted a few things: an upright and comfortable position, brifters and a 1x transmission for ease of shifting, light weight stuff where it counts, and classic silver and brown styling. 

He sized between the 52 and 55cm frames, so we opted for the latter to achieve this "French Fit", with the handlebar significantly higher than the saddle. Nitto's super-short, super-tall Technomic quill stem helped out here to get the bars nice and close. 

For brifters, we opted for SRAM's Apex1 group, which we've tested time and again on our Hog's Back builds over the years. The double-tap shifting is intuitive and fast, and the ergonomics of the levers is excellent. Instead of using their crank, we opted for our Narrow-Wide Low crankset, which has a smaller 38t chainring than the Apex1 offers as a minimum, and can even be lowered to 34t for future-proofing or outfitting this bike for hillier rides. Plus, it's silver!

To shave some weight, we opted for where it counts: the wheels. Velocity Quills are our favourite lightweight road rims for wide(r) tires, and they built up perfectly to a Velo Orange rear hub and Shutter Precision front, with double butted Sapim Race spokes that are both lighter, and stronger. Clad in Rene Herse Babyshoe Pass tires, these are smoooooth spinning wheels! 

Speaking of silver, we needed to make this ride classic. The Montreal is a great platform for this, and we kept things shiny all around. Honjo's beautiful aluminium fenders might appear old-timey at first glance, but they're actually light, solid, and wonderfully functional. The Brooks B17 saddle, which needs no introduction at this point, checks all the boxes when it comes to comfort and good looks. 

Catch Dumitru riding long distances on this guy! It's since been outfitted with racks, bags, and lights, and continues to evolve over time and age like a fine wine. 

Photos by Troy