Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Our Reader’s Rig of the week comes from Ana Pimsler in California, who shares her made-to-measure steel hardtail from Sycip Designs and a little about her five-year journey through bikepacking. Get to know Ana and find a closer look at her custom build here…
Words by Ana Pimsler, photos by Adam Havner
Hello! My name is Ana Pimsler, and I live in Santa Rosa, California. My partner and I took up bikepacking about five years ago, and we’ve enjoyed over 2,000 miles touring through California, Oregon, Arizona, and Utah since then, with many more miles and locations on our to-do list.
Route planning in new-to-me areas and watching it come to life on my bike is one of my favorite parts of bikepacking. Long days pedaling, or pushing, is where I love to be the most. When I’m home, I ride in Annadel State Park. We’re pretty lucky to have this 5,000-acre park right smack in the middle of town and within riding from our front door. When I’m not riding, I am a high school math teacher, which means I get to maximize my summer time for exploring.
My forever-bike shown here is a Sycip Designs custom steel frame. I’ve had this bike for about as long as I’ve been bikepacking. When I first got hooked on bikepacking (my first adventure being on our gravel bikes in Death Valley), I started looking for a hardtail for more singletrack-focused routes. There was really nothing out there that checked all my boxes. I’m really tall but not proportioned like most off-the-shelf bikes are built for—long reach and shorter legs—which is the exact opposite of what I fit. The low standover common in the industry at the time for capable hardtails seemed like a waste of optimal framebag space, too.
- Frame: Sycip Designs Custom
- Fork: Fox 34 Step Cast 120mm
- Rims: Santa Cruz Reserve
- Hubs: White Industries
- Tires: Specialized Eliminator/Ground Control
- Handlebars: Enve M5
- Headset: White Industries
- Crankset: Praxis
- Pedals: Shimano XT
- Cassette: Shimano XT 12-speed
- Derailleur(s): Shimano XT
- Brakes: Shimano XT
- Shifter(s): Shimano XT
- Saddle: Specialized Myth
- Seatpost: Bike Yoke Revive 185mm
- Stem: Paul Components 50mm
- Front bags: Lezyne Bar Caddy & Revelate Egress Pocket
- Frame bags: Rogue Panda double-decker bolt-on
- Rear bags: Wayward Riders Louise Dropper Post Harness w/ 8L dry bag
- Accessory bags: Revelate Mag Tank, Blackburn Outpost Carryall, Outer Shell rolltop
- Other accessories: Tyvek insert for my bar bag sewn by my mom to make it waterproof
Lucky for me, Jeremy Sycip is located here in Santa Rosa, so it was a no-brainer to seek him out to build me exactly what I wanted. Little did I know the bike would end up not only being the perfect bikepacking rig but also my favorite bike for just about every ride. Flowy singletrack in Mendocino, chunky rocks in Downieville, long days connecting trails and fireroads, bushwhacking and hiking through untravelled terrain, or all of the above smashed together in our daily rides in Annadel. You name it, I’d rather be riding this bike! There’s nothing a capable hardtail can’t do, I just need to swap the tires to match the job.
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.
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