As these things usually go, I came up with the idea of building my own bike by pure accident — or disappointment, if you will. I had purchased an NS Bikes Crust in size M as a little gift for myself. It was supposed to be a workhorse of a bike that I would use, abuse, and reuse for years on end. For some strange reason, though, the frame size of the Crust was insane. The geometry was very laid back, and even though it was a 54 cm frame, it felt like an XL. I ended up selling it to a dad who was 195 cm tall — it fit him just fine.

Knowing me, I had to have a project. Not having one is usually quite terrifying for me. I started looking at frames after a friend of mine had her bike almost stolen. What I mean by that is that someone tried stealing it but didn't succeed — they ended up breaking her carbon frame in half instead. Her bad luck was kind of my good luck, because she decided to sell all of the components and use the insurance payout to buy a new bike. I ended up getting her wheels, which became the foundation of my new build.

Initially, the goal was simply to have a rideable bike, period. I didn't care too much about fancy parts, since I knew those could be upgraded later on. I got most of my parts from the Bike-Discount webshop, and a lot of them were brand-new but intended for bike mechanics — so, without original packaging. That made them really cheap. They were still brand-new parts, but instead of coming in a box, they came in a ziplock bag with a barcode sticker. I went with GRX cranks, as I knew those were something I wouldn't want to change later on. I also went with the cheapest 68 mm Shimano bottom bracket. Bottom brackets scared me — the whole Q-factor and indexing thing was a mystery. I just went with what I could find that worked and hoped for the best. I was very lucky (and blessed) to have a colleague who just happened to be a Swedish National MTB team mechanic — shout-out to Selby! He helped a lot with part identification and figuring out what would fit and what wouldn't.

For the drivetrain, I again went with cheap but functional. I made a mistake and got an MTB derailleur intended for 11-51 cassettes only — the Shimano Deore M5100 rear mech. For this, I blame Omnium, LOL. On their website, they list this specific mech as the default one that comes with their CXC Shimano builds. What I actually needed was the 5120 model, which works with my cassette range of choice — 11-42T. Luckily, these mechs are dirt cheap on Bike-Discount (about 20 euros for a brand-new one). I got the 5100 to work — that's what you see in the initial images — but I swapped it for a 5120 soon after, which shifted much nicer and smoother. Let's talk brakes. I wanted decent hydraulic brakes — nothing too technical. I live in Copenhagen, and it rains here often. Having a closed, strong system seemed like a no-brainer, so I went with Shimano's entry-level MTB range, the Deores. They have cool-looking one-finger levers, a servo system, fins on the brake pads, and overall, they just look cool. If they can work for MTBs, they can work for me too.

Not much to say about the build other than it’s crazy fun. Narrow wheelbase provides a quick and agile bike. If you’ve ever ridden a 100mm stem roadbike and know how it feels - this is the exact opposite. Kind of. Shorter stem and narrower wheelbase but also rigid fork with thicker tires make for a very strange but satisfying combo. Bike is agile and quick. Wide handlebars give you a ton of confidence and ability to quickly and confidently maneuver your way in traffic. Narrow wheelbase does come with its share of down sides. There is the toe-overlap for example. Doing tight turns often results in rubbing between the front tire and your shoe. Put on some mudguards and you’re definitely gonna pay extra close attention to avoid tight turns. There is overall long-term comfort and speed. From what I know this bike is modeled after indoor bikes - with its steep headtube angles and whatnot. I imagine there’s a reason why big brands like Canyon and Rose Bikes opt for more relaxed headtube angles, as well as more clearance between the bottom bracket and the ground.

Having more ground clearance could give you the possibility to run longer cranks but for me it’s about the ability to strap water bottles to bellow the frame. I’ve tried and succeeded in strapping a 1l Nalgene bottle on the bottom tube but I would be very vary when going over obstacles as that thing would probably fall off. One of my big goals when building the bike was to have as much GRX components on there. No specific reason but I felt like it was what the bike needed. Mtb mech’s are great with the clutch and overall robustness but I don’t need the crazy ranges they’re made for. That’s why when I found a 2nd hand GRX 810 mech I jumped on the opportunity to convert the groupset from 11-40T to 11-34T. It just makes more sense given where the bike is mainly used - the city. I opted for SunRace’s all black cassette purely because I thought it looked cool, nothing more than that. Getting Shimano’s ultraglide Ultegra cassette would have probably resulted in better shifting performance.