ADL First Ride

The ADL (All Day Long) was show for the first time at Bespoked Bristol last week however we had not ridden it before the show as we finished the bike on the show stand. We are still short of a few parts (like the correct belt-drive sprockets) however I tried to put all of those behind me today and managed to get a ride in. I needed to ride it as I want to use this bike on the Devon C2C with friends next week. The ADL was designed with these kinds of all day adventure rides in mind. Rideable on the the tracks and roads on the flat and the climbs but with a set up that allows you to enjoy the down hills when gravity lets you play. The head angle is 69deg and has been designed for a 140mm fork. The drive combination of Gates Belt and Alfine hub also mean that there should not be too much to think about at the drive train end.

Todays ride was a simple one around local woods. The bike was incredibly easy to ride and it was real fun to pre load the forks an pop over obstacles on the trail. This was way easier than the XC bikes that I normally run. I had a lot more confidence in the drops and whoops that are part of our local trail riding. Today I rode with a traditional chain as the belt sprockets were not available. The bike would have been easier to set up with a belt and I would have liked to ride that combination however running the chain with an Alfine is also a pretty low maintenance combination. I think this bike with an 11spd Alfine would be my ultimate all year round ridding machine. If you are a racer you would probably also want a race bike set up but I feel like this bike has many smiles to provide in normal riding....