Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Our Reader’s Rig of the week comes from Blazej in Poland, who shares his custom steel all-roader from Karamba Frameworks that’s fully kitted out in bags from Baby Legs. Get to know more about Blazej, his one-of-a-kind rig, and how he found a passion for ultra-distance cycling here…
Words and photos by Blazej Komander (@eustachywincenty)
Hi there! I’m Blazej, and I live in a small village near Warta Estuary National Park, Poland, where I work as an environmental educator. After work, I typically help my partner Ewelina with her bikepacking bag brand called Baby Legs Bags.
I’ve been into cycling since 2008, when I got a Tommasini Tecno steel bike from my good friend, who was a pro cyclist. That was a pretty nice bike with a Shimano Dura-Ace groupset, and he gave it to me for free. My cycling evolved through fixed-gear riding and skateboarding into adventure and ultra-distance riding, where I’m at now. Ultra-distance racing is some kind of purge, and it clears my mind of all negative thoughts. It’s very cathartic.
The idea for this bike came a few years ago. I was always thinking about a full-custom steel bike with some individual features, even though I had a good old cyclocross frame from Planet X, and it was enough for me as an adventure bike. Despite that, I always annoyed Ewelina with stories and ideas for my dream bike.
Last year, Bartek from Karamba Frameworks made my dreams come true. Ewelina, in secret, summarized all my ideas and asked Bartek to make this stunning frame. This bike is absolutely a game changer, especially after years of numbness and pain riding on an ultra-stiff cyclocross carbon frame. Now, I have a comfy frame with a steel fork, which works like suspension. After a few thousand kilometers and finishing Race Through Poland in five days, I can only wonder why I waited so long for a steel bike.
- Frame/Fork Karamba Frameworks
- Rims H+Son The Hydra
- Hubs SON28 dynamo (front) / Hope Pro 4 (rear)
- Tires Pirelli Cinturato H 40mm
- Handlebars Zipp XPLR 42mm w/ Grepp tape
- Headset Wolf Tooth
- Crankset SRAM Rival 2.2 + Garbaruk 42T chainring
- Pedals Hope F20 or Shimano PD-M8000
- Cassette Shimano CS-M8000 11-46
- Derailleur Shimano RD-RX810 + Garbaruk cage and pulleys
- Brakes Shimano BR-R875
- Shifter(s) Shimano ST-RX600
- Saddle Brooks C17
- Seatpost Thomson Elite
- Stem Thomson X4
- Front RackKaramba Frameworks custom
- Front bags Baby Legs Bags Rando Bag or ChildSize Kibosh (long-flap bag)
- Frame bags Baby Legs custom made of ULTRA200
- Rear bags Baby Legs ultralight saddlebag made of ULTRA200
- Accessory bags Long toptube for snacks and phone made by Baby Legs Bags
- Other accessories Supernova E3 Pro front light, King Cage bottle cages, Ass Saver mudguards
This bike has everything that I need, including 50mm tyre clearance, internal cable routing, a front rack for a big front bag, a dynamo hub with Supernova E3 Pro headlight, and a 1×11 drivetrain. Even its minimalistic paint job is right to my taste, and the beige matches perfectly with the light pink details. I’m not into super modern carbon bikes and electronic groupsets; I prefer old mechanical groupsets rather than some SRAM AXS. So, I decided to install a Shimano GRX groupset mixed with an old SRAM Rival crankset. This Sram/Shimano mix came about because I wanted silver details. In short, Shimano didn’t make any good-looking silver cranksets. I know, there is the option to buy a White Industries or Hope silver crankset, but this SRAM Rival was cheap and looks super good. The bike is finished with super bags from Ewelina.
I can’t see ever parting with this bike, and I plan to ride it until it’s totally wrecked. With it, I can now ride more than 600 kilometers at a time through the mountains, which makes it my favorite wheeled machine ever. As for future plans, I’m going to enjoy riding long distances without any time pressure. One race a year is enough for me and meets my need for a little competition every now and then.
You can find more from Blazej on Instagram.
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