Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Our Reader’s Rig of the week comes from Andrew in British Columbia, who shares the do-it-all Sklar PBJ he uses for slow rides with plenty of stops for photos. Meet Andrew and find a detailed write-up with a vibrant gallery of film shots here…
Words and photos by Andrew McNeil
Hey, I’m Andrew, and I live in Ucluelet, out on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Most of my time goes to surfing and shooting film for fun, and then work. But I’m always looking forward to escaping cell service on a loaded bike.
Let’s get the most important fact about me as a biker out of the way first: I am slow. Incredibly slow. Given the choice, I’d rather stop for the photo, take too many breaks somewhere pretty, drink six liters of water, pee every 20 minutes, and actually enjoy the journey instead of rushing to camp. What do I have to do once I’m at camp? Cook dinner and sleep. It’s the same reason I still shoot film. Slowing down and paying attention is the whole point. Once I made peace with that about myself, many decisions about bikes got easier.
It took me a while to get there, though. When I first got into bikepacking, I had an Ibis Hakka, a great gravel bike that was a touch too racey and never quite comfortable for the riding I actually do. I looked over geometry charts and landed on a Salsa Cutthroat as my next bike: more upright, bigger tires, more comfort. It was a real improvement, and for a few years, it was my main bike. Around the same time, my full-suspension mountain bike slipped out of the rotation. I’ve ridden it maybe once in the last two or three years. Looking back, I’d been moving toward comfort and slowness for years. I just hadn’t admitted it to myself yet.
The bike that changed my mind
What finally made it click wasn’t a new bike. It was the oldest one I own.
Last fall, I breathed new life into my late dad’s 1993 Giant Sedona ATX, a bike he bought brand new. I’ve got memories of riding on the back of it as a kid, strapped into a kid carrier while he pedaled. After he passed, it sat in a shed gathering dust for years, until I found my way back into bikes and rediscovered it. My first attempt at reviving it didn’t really take. New tires, new saddle, and that was about it. I used it to commute while I was living in the city, but the drivetrain was rusted, and the bars were so narrow they were never comfortable. When I moved away, the Sedona went right back into the same shed at my mom’s place.
A couple more years went by before I gave it a proper go. This time, I rebuilt it the way I’d actually want to ride it: a 1x microShift Advent X drivetrain with a big 48-tooth cassette, a set of sweepy Magic Components Mothbars, and a front rack and basket bolted on. And I fell completely in love. I rode that thing everywhere. Riding it for the sentimental value alone would’ve been more than enough, but somewhere in all those kilometers, I noticed something I couldn’t un-notice: I was just as quick on my dad’s 30-year-old “mountain bike” as I was on the Cutthroat.
So why was I hanging onto a drop-bar bike built for speed I don’t have and don’t want, when I could just be more comfortable, more upright, and happier?
- Frame/Fork: Sklar PBJ, Salmon (XL)
- Rims: Nobl TR37
- Hubs: Onyx Classic, anodized blue
- Tires: Vittoria Mezcal 29 x 2.6″
- Handlebars: Sklar PBJ Bars
- Grips: Ergon GA3
- Headset: Sklar
- Crankset: White Industries M30, 30T
- Bottom bracket: Enduro MaxHit
- Pedals: SimWorks Taco
- Cassette: SRAM 12-speed, 10-52T
- Derailleur(s): SRAM X01
- Brakes: Paul Klamper (short pull)
- Brakes levers: Paul Klamper short-pull canti levers
- Shifter(s): SRAM X01
- Saddle: Gilles Berthoud Aspin
- Seatpost: OneUp V3 dropper
- Stem: Paul Components Boxcar, 35mm
- Front bags: Ron’s Bikes Large Fabio’s Chest
- Frame bags: Custom Rogue Panda
- Rear bags: Rockgeist Microwave
- Racks: Rod Steward Pec Deck (front) / Sklar (rear)
The answer: one bike, on purpose
That’s the bike I set out to build with the PBJ, my one and only. Quick rips for ice cream, grocery runs, multi-use paths, bikepacking, and the occasional bit of flowy singletrack. I don’t care about being fast on the road, and I’m not chasing the technical riding I used to do. The PBJ covers the actual span of how I ride now, and so far, it’s exactly right.
The principle for the whole build was simple: parts that’ll last a long, long time with as little maintenance as possible. Buy once, cry once, then go ride. I think that’s what they say?
My favorite part of the whole build is probably the Onyx Classic hubs, specifically the silence. There’s no buzz while you’re coasting, just the sound of tires on dirt. The anodized blue wouldn’t have been my first choice, but the moment I mounted the wheels, they started growing on me, and now I wouldn’t change a thing. I found the Nobl TR37 wheels and Onyx hubs secondhand here on the BIKEPACKING.com Bike Camp co-op, which felt fitting for a bike I’m building to keep for a long time (thanks, Michael!). While I was at it, I grabbed the White Industries crankset off the co-op, too (thanks, Mark!).
The rest of the build follows the same buy-it-for-life logic. There’s so much Paul Components on this bike that it’s almost embarrassing: the Klampers, the canti levers, the Boxcar stem, the dropper lever, even the stem cap. It’s the kind of stuff you can service forever instead of replace. The drivetrain is mechanical SRAM X01 with a 10-52 cassette: simple and reliable. And the Gilles Berthoud Aspin saddle is unbelievably comfortable, which is saying something, because Brooks saddles and my butt have just never gotten along.
The one thing I’m still sorting out is the dropper. I originally bought a BikeYoke Revive for its reliability, but after a bike fit I discovered it was 11 mm too long for my saddle height, so I’m running a OneUp V3 for now. It works great, but I plan to go back to a Revive down the road.
I also set out to build this entire bike myself. The goal was to teach myself more about maintenance, get better at handling repairs in the field, and come away knowing my own bike inside and out. I failed. But I learned a ton in the process, and I’m far less intimidated by my own bike than I used to be. A big shoutout to Jumping Slug in Port Alberni for bailing me out on the headset, bottom bracket, derailleur, and brakes. Basically, all the parts that matter.
On sizing and just enjoying it
If you read the comments on any PBJ review, you’ll find a lot of back-and-forth about the reach, which had me worried the XL would be too big for me. In the end, I trusted Adam, went off the Sklar size chart, and squared it all away with a quick email exchange with Nicholas. And I’m so glad I did. Paired with Adam’s recommended PBJ bars and a short 35mm stem, it fits perfectly. I had a professional bike fit to dial things in and ended up at about 50mm of headset spacers, and I couldn’t be happier with where it landed. If you’re stuck on the fence between sizes because of the reach chatter, my advice is to trust the chart and the people who built the bike.
And the reviews are true: this thing climbs great, is super stable, is really fun, and loves being loaded up. There’s something about it that gets better the more weight you hang on it. That’s exactly what I want from a bike whose whole job is hauling me and my stuff slowly through nice places, camera in the bag, no rush.
Two bikes
I’m keeping my dad’s Sedona, of course. It’s special to me, and it’s a fun, carefree bike I’ll always enjoy riding around town. The PBJ is the more capable one. It does everything better. But it’s just as fun, in its own different way. That’s all I really want out of a bike.
You can find more from Andrew on Instagram.
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