Doug is our local Shimano sales rep who looks after all of BC. He came to us with an idea to showcase the new Shimano GRX group set, which is the first gravel focused group set on the market!
DOUG'S CUSTOM GRAVEL BIKE
Doug needed a bike that he could take with him on sales trips to showcase Shimano’s innovative new drivetrain, and also go for some epic gravel rides while on the road.
He’s envied our toasted steel frames we hand built in our shop and wanted his own custom built gravel version.
Doug wanted something that was light, comfortable, stable and fast. So we set out to build him the perfect Columbus steel gravel bike.
Obviously, the bike would be tricked out with all the newest Shimano GRX Di2 gear as well as the newest Gravel group set from Pro Components with their new bar, stem and seat post. We finished this build off with a Whiskey Parts Co’s gravel fork. We then laced the Shimano Carbon RX Wheels with the ever capable Panaracer gravel king tires.
The frame is a compact gravel frame using Columbus’s SL and HSS tubing and components form Paragon Machine Works. We slackened the front end for off-road stability and put some sweet curves in the rear to dampen the ride. This means Doug’s bike will be aggressive yet comfortable and capable.
When we started this project the GRX group set wasn’t on the market yet. Doug brought us the first version to land in Canada. He was only going to spec the bike with the 600 Level cable group set and two day before we were set to build up the bike he got his hands on the higher end 800 series Di2 group set. This meant we needed to make some last minute frame adaptations. To route the Di2 lines, we had to take a drill to the freshly finished frame and making some swiss cheese modifications.
Now that Doug has been riding the bike for a while, he hasn’t felt the need to get back on any of his other bikes, even mentioning that he prefers it over his other fancy carbon gravel bike.
