N+1 Stanton sherpa

Every once in a while I have a strong desire to build a new bike, thats because for me at least there is no one bike that does it all, and thats where the N+1 rule comes into play.

What is N+1 I hear you ask, well it is the number of bikes you own plus one more, so you technically never have enough bikes.

At the moment my bike fleet is rather thin, Just my amazing Yeti SB6, and an ageing Trek road bike, I did have a Stooge Mk2 but I'm to soft now to ride rigid bikes any more, so that was moved on to make way for an all new build, the Tandem has gone as well, as has the obligatory Single Speed MTB, Folder, BMX, Dirt Jumper and Unicycle all gone due to lack of space or urge to ride them.

​I love building bikes, I spend ages thinking about the setup that would work best for me, you see for me there is no perfect bike, you can buy or build something that works well for where you ride and how you like to ride, but a nice light XC bike will not make a great downhill bike and vice a versa, my Yeti come very close as a great Enduro/Trail bike but it should do, it cost as much as a good second hand car, plus, in my opinion if you are into your cycling you really must have at least two bikes, that way when one is being fixed or you haven't gotten round to cracking the mud off if it from the last ride you always have a second bike ready for use.

So for this bike I wanted a bike that reflected my personality and the things that mean the most to me about cycling, for the frame material, well there was only one choice and that was steel, its what my first bikes used, titanium is lovely and truth be told if budget would have allowed I may have gone that way, however, I really wanted a painted finish, and there is no way I would ever consider a titanium frame that was painted, plus with the money saved on the material choice it leaves me more for the components.

So the natural choice after lots of research was the Stanton Sherpa, Reynolds 853 tubing and a respected British company it's a big tick from me. Geometry is long and slack so it should be a fun handling bike.

This will be the first 29" bike I've ever owned, I wanted a bike that was more XC but is still capable of doing Enduro/Trail type riding, I love my Yeti bike, its so capable but unless you are on the ragged edge I don't get the same thrill as I would skipping around on a hardtail.

​I will update this blog as the bike comes together, I will explain my reasons for the parts I pick and the challenges in piecing it together.

---