Reader’s Rig: Josh’s Black Sheep Speedster Titanium

Words and photos by Josh Hicks

Hey! Josh here, an occasional contributor to the site, currently living in Salt Lake City, Utah. I relocated to the Wasatch Front one year ago from Golden, Colorado, where my love for the outdoors, singletrack, and off-road cycling fully reignited from my childhood.

Born and raised in central Kansas, dirt bikes and BMX bikes were two of my main ways of transportation and recreation from a young age. We built our own dirt tracks in open pastures, through thick tree groves, and along rivers to find new ways to push our adrenaline. As a young lad, I was also fortunate to belong to a family that explored the outdoors annually, mostly in Colorado and the Smoky Mountains. This built a strong yearning for always wanting to explore more throughout growing up and to this day.

In my early 20s, I was commonly traveling to find the next backpacking trip, or out hiking and camping anywhere I could find. I had an entry-level mountain bike but rarely used it as the singletrack in Kansas just wasn’t to the level that got me excited. Additionally, I found myself connected to several people who were closely involved with major gravel events across the Midwest, so naturally, I delved headfirst into those before moving to Colorado. Think Unbound, MidSouth, etc.

Moving to the foothills of Colorado sent me headfirst into off-road cycling and multi-day exploring. Several of my first experiences were with Neil Beltchenko, as we lived minutes away from each other and spontaneously met on the local trails one afternoon. Overnighters up the canyon, the Peaks & Plateaus route in Moab, and snowy fat bike rides all quickly turned into my first few racing events, including Pinyons and Pines and 12 hours of Winter Park, both on singlespeed hardtails.

I’ve been a photographer and artist for more than half my lifetime, in many different disciplines. It’s the easiest explanation for the reason I’m so drawn to custom bicycles and fancy components that aren’t stock on the everyday mountain bike. I met James Bleakley in Fort Collins for an afternoon at his shop to document his framebuilding experience and process. This was the hook, line, and sinker moment. Shortly after, I was loaned one of his titanium Speedster hardtails and was asked to ride it as a long-term demo, providing my thoughts, feedback, and input for him to gather and use in developing a new version of his Speedster design with modern features and trail geometry.

Two years of riding that frame weekly brought me to this frame here today. James decided to build a small batch of six titanium Speedsters late last fall, and this is number two of those six. I got to be there on the day of building and watch raw titanium get cut, bent, and welded into the frame I now have the deepest privilege of riding almost daily. At Black Sheep Bikes, James has been building his Speedster model for over 20 years, and this is the most rowdy version yet. It’s a medium/large in size, and is an all-day mountain ripper and bikepacking mule mixed with a timeless design. Call it art on wheels.

• Frame: Black Sheep Speedster Titanium
• Fork: Fox Performance 140mm
• Rims: DT Swiss EX511
• Hubs: Industry Nine Hydra
• Tires: Maxxis Rekon 2.6”
• Handlebars: Black Sheep Midriser Titanium
• Grips: Ergon GA3
• Headset: White Industries
• Crankset: Cane Creek eeWings Titanium
• Chainring: Wolf Tooth 32T
• Pedals: Crank Brothers Candy 11 Titanium
• Rear cog: Boone 20t Titanium
• Brakes: Shimano XT 8120 4-Piston
• Saddle: Ergon SMC4
• Seatpost: RockShox Reverb AXS
• Stem: Paul Components Boxcar 35mm
• Frame bags: Dispersed Bikepacking
• Accessory bags: Cedaero Long Distance
• Other accessories: Cane Creek Ergo
• Derailleur hanger: Still need to cut that off…

I’ve logged 500 miles and 55,000 feet of elevation gain on it since building from the frame up earlier this year. My intention since the beginning with this bike and build has been bullseye focused on the Colorado Trail Race, which is now less than a month away. Every time I throw a leg over it, I feel more and more connected to the trail. One of my favorite parts, though, is having people shout from the trail.. “Sick bike dude!” and “Rad Black Sheep!” or even better, “Wow, who made that?” and then I get to tell the story all over again.

The frame bag was made by the Strempkes at Dispersed Bikepacking. It’s my second custom frame bag from them, and it fits perfectly. This bag has all the modern features, but I added the extra toppings such as a non-drive-side pocket, horizontal baffle inside, and a second drive-side zipper down low. They even accounted for the twin top tube gaining width from the headtube to seatube. Fancy. It has a velcro hole at the pointy end to run a bladder hose or charging cables through, and inside, I keep everything from tool kits, first aid, additional clothing layers, tubes, burritos, and Red Bull, of course. I’ve had the Cedaero Long Distance top tube bag since my gravel days circa 2021, and it holds a Dynaplug and gummy bears most days.

You can see more from Josh on Instagram.

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