Our Reader’s Rig of the week comes from our pal Alex Andreß in Berlin, who shares his raw steel Drust Cycles all-roader. Learn more about Alex and how discovering a love of bicycle travel led him to a custom bike of his own here…
Words by Alex Andreß (@alanensn)
My name is Alex, I’m 42 years old, and I live in Berlin, Germany. I am a social educator in a primary school. I started riding bikes when I was three years old during summer holidays with my family. My father taught me how they work, and I grew up in a small city surrounded by mountains, close to nature—the perfect playground for riding bikes.
My passion for cycling and bikes was born all the way back when I was a kid, and over the years, bikes have become more and more a focal point in my life. From then until today, I’ve been exploring different kinds of bike riding. In 2007, I started to enjoy seeing more of the world through traveling by bike, which still means a lot to me.
I met framebuilder Konstantin Drust (@drustcycles) a couple of years ago here in Berlin. One day, I saw the first MTB he’d built up for himself. I was totally impressed by how unique it looked, and I fell in love with its exceptional style. Two or three years later, I was still thinking about his bikes, and I knew it was time.
- Frame Drust Cycles
- Fork ENVE Adventure Fork
- Rims H Plus Son The Hydra
- Hubs SON Dynamo (front) / Hope Pro 4 (rear)
- Tires WTB Venture 700 x 50mm
- Handlebars Beast Gravel Bar (460mm)
- Headset Chris King
- Crankset Cane Creek eewings (172.5mm)
- Bottom Bracket Chris King External (68mm/T47)
- Pedals Time Atac 8
- Cassette Garbaruk 10-52
- Derailleur SRAM Force with Gabaruk Cage and Pulleys
- Brakes Hope RX4
- Shifter(s) SRAM Force 1×11
- Saddle Brooks Cambium Carved C13 Carbon
- Seatpost ISP
- Stem Extralite Hyper Stem (90mm)
- Front bags Outer Shell
- Lights Sinewave Beacon headlight / Supernova taillight
- Other accessories Titanium King Cages and bottle opener
So, I got in touch again with Konstantin. We spent some time talking about my ideas and wishlist for the bike. It was important to me to create a bike that would be fast and stable for weekly rides through the forests around Berlin and would also be great for longer bikepacking journeys. That mean bosses—lots of them—and clearance for big tires.
I really like the internal cable routing. I find way it enters and exits the top tube incredibly aesthetically pleasing, and it catches my eye every time I look at it. I also really appreciate the integrated seatpost mast, which is quite unexpected on a bike like this and has quite an unusual height.
You can see more from Alex over on Instagram @alanensn.
Send Us Your Bikepacking Rig
Use the form below to submit your bikepacking rig. We’ll choose one per week to feature in a Reader’s Rig Dispatch and on Instagram. To enter, email us your best photo of the bike (preferably at a 90° angle), your Instagram username (optional), and a short description of you and your rig. If your bike is selected, we’ll need a total of five photos and a little bit more info.
Readers Rig
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