Reader’s Rig: Daniel’s Singular Swift

Words by Daniel Scott, photos by Josh Meissner

Hello, I’m Daniel. I’m originally from Adelaide, Australia, and while I lived there, I sampled most flavors of bike life, including BMX, MTB, a stint as a fixed gear fakeer, and a good few years healing from polo injuries. When I moved to Berlin on a whim over a decade ago, polo was a great door-opener that helped me to piece together a new life.

Berlin is pancake-flat but otherwise a great cycling location; it’s also here that bike travel started to be a bigger part of my life. It’s just so easy to get on a train, get far from home, and start down an unfamiliar gravel road with signs written in a language I don’t know. I’d been wandering around Europe for years on a motorcycle with a tent strapped on the back, so the transition to pedal power was pretty straightforward. Plus, it’s so much easier to deal with a locked gate when you can climb over it. When I’m not riding, which is far too much of the time of late, I pay the bills by designing and building all manner of things for restaurants and bars.

About my Blue Bike: years ago, I was planning a weeklong trip in Süd Tirol with some mates, so I needed a bike that would fit more rubber than the mutated CX bike I’d been riding. The Singular Swift frame kit fit the requirements of budget, mounts, drivetrain options, and delivery time, so despite the colour, one was ordered. Once that box arrived, the parts were unceremoniously stripped from a too-small mountain bike I had, and then the problem-solving started.

• Frame/Fork: Singular Swift (2015?)
• Rims: Dartmoor Tomcat (front) Stans ZTR Flow (rear)
• Hubs: SON (front) / Hope (rear)
• Tires: 2.35” Vittoria Mezcal
• Handlebars: Richey Venturemax XL 520mm
• Headset: Silver
• Crankset: Shimano XT 2x
• Pedals: Shimano XT
• Cassette: SRAM 12-38 10-speed
• Derailleur(s): Shimano XT (front) / SRAM XO (rear)
• Brakes: TRP Spyre
• Shifter(s): SRAM Apex
• Saddle: Brooks Cambium C17 Carved
• Seatpost: Thompson
• Stem: Short, steep, and black
• Front bags: Alpkit drybag
• Frame bags: Revelate frame and top tube bags
• Rear bags: Revelate Spinelock (reinforced with chopsticks)
• Accessory bags: Acepak feedbag, Salsa Fork bags
• Electronics: K-lite front light, Fahrradlader V3.1 USB charger
• Other accessories: Various bits of scrap aluminium and stainless

This bike is like most of my gear in that its hard to say where it starts and ends; is it still the same boat if every plank is replaced? The parts come and go when the need or inspiration arises. This front rack found its way onto the mounts when I realised the previous iteration was too bulky for rinko life. The seat-stay bottle mount was previously a “bottle sinking mount” to fit under a half-frame bag. It’s been set up with drops and flat bars over the years, and I still need to satisfy my Jones Bar curiosity.

I just solve the problems as they arise; the light mount is a prime example. An old stem chopped in half holds an arm that pokes the K-Lite far enough forward to clear the GPS and support the feedbag. That role is needed since the space behind the stem is non-existent due to the wonderful Revelate flip-top bag (that received a mounting plate to stop it from sagging on the small diameter top tube). The Nalgene and fork cages are similar stories: I’m going on a trip soon and want to try something new, so I scan around the workshop and see what I can throw together rather than doing the sensible thing and buying a ready-made solution.

You can see more from Daniel on Instagram.

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