This week’s Reader’s Rig comes from Ilja in Germany, who shares a refreshingly practical Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts (OCCP) commuter/work bike that’s built to withstand the demands of daily use around the city without attracting too much attention. Learn more about Ilja and the OCCP here…

Words by Ilja N., photos by Johannes Kiefer (@johannes.kiefer)

Hi, my name is Ilja, and I live in Germany. I’m happy to present you with my latest bike. I got into riding bikes quite a while back, basically around the time when most people decided to get a driver’s license. Since I didn’t see any sense in getting one myself, I looked into other ways of moving around and found bikes.

Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts, OCCP

I started out with a basic three-gear city bike but quickly realized that, with a few tweaks here and there, you can take any bike on longer bike trips, so that’s what I did. In the beginning, the trips were pretty basic, sleeping on benches in parks or anywhere they popped up and drinking beers after a day on the bike.

  • Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts, OCCP
  • Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts, OCCP

I’ve been going on bikepacking trips for the last 10 years now, quitting my job for the summer months to spend hours on end in the saddle. A couple of years back, I decided to visit CPH Open (a skateboard contest in Copenhagen) and have been taking my bike through Scandinavia every year since then. For me, Scandinavia is the perfect destination. You can legally camp outdoors, they have endless paths to discover, and the people are super nice.

Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts, OCCP
  • Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts, OCCP
  • Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts, OCCP
  • Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts, OCCP
  • Frame/Fork Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts (OCCP)
  • Rims Mavic
  • Hubs Mavic
  • Tires Continental Contact Plus 42
  • Handlebars Local Bikeshop Leftover
  • Headset Cane Creek S-3
  • Crankset SRAM Apex
  • Pedals Acros A Flat
  • Cassette Microshift 11-46 Advent
  • Derailleur Microshift Advent
  • Brakes Magura HS11
  • Shifter(s) Microshift Advent
  • Saddle Brooks C17
  • Seatpost Syntance P6
  • Stem Reverse
  • Frame bags Restrap Large
  • Mudguards Full-coverage (front) / Ass Savers (rear)

After my last four-month bikepacking trip in 2022, I was back hunting for a job and had the opportunity to start working for a local bike messenger company in Würzburg, Germany. I sold the Brother Kepler frameset that I’d used for the bikepacking trip, and with the money I got from it (and with the help from local bike shops and endless hours spent on eBay Kleinanzeigen), I built a new bike within three weeks. The end result was robust, as carefree as possible, and not too pretty to get stolen instantly in the city.

Oliver Corpus Cycling Parts, OCCP

Lastly, I want to thank Jo for the photos, Flo for helping me with the English text, the local bike shops, and all my friends and family.

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