Gravel / Adventure Road Bike: Shand Cycles Stoater with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and Gates Carbon Drive

This Shand Cycles Stoater adventure road bike was built for a local customer in San Francisco. He wanted a no fuss commuter/adventure bike that was fun and comfortable to ride to help him get back into a regular riding routine. A friend of his had worked with us to get a Rohloff-equipped touring bike and raved about the drivetrain, so he decided to get in touch with us to test ride the internal gear hub and Gates belt and to discuss potential build options. He really like the aesthetic of the Shand Stoater demo bike we have at the office, so we based the build around this frameset.

Shand Cycles is a small bike manufacturer located in central Scotland producing steel frames and bikes inspired by their local roads, trails, and mountains. Most of their frames are built to accept multiple drivetrains, including our drivetrain of choice, through use of interchangeable dropouts and flexible bolt-on cable guides. They have years of experience building frames for use with the Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and like us, love the dependability and performance it has to offer.

Shand also offers custom geometry upon request, which we utilized in this case to fit this customer's shorter legs and longer torso. When deciding on the final geometry, we also took into account the customer's request to be able to switch from riding with flat bars to drop bars. We came up with setup that gives him appropriate standover clearance, a comfortable handlebar position level with the seat, and the ability to use both styles of bars by switching between a long stem with flat bars and a shorter stem when he wants to use drop bars.

Once we ordered the custom frame from Shand, our Wheel House got started on building custom wheels to go with it. Both wheels are laced to Velocity Dyad rims using Sapim Race spokes and brass nipples. The front hub is a Schmidt SON28 dynamo to power the lights, and the rear hub is a Rohloff Speedhub. Both wheels are wrapped in Schwalbe's fast rolling Marathon Supreme tires, which still have a bit of grip to take on the dirt roads planned in this bike's future. 

The rest of this Stoater was finished with the flat bar set-up the customer wanted to ride first. Soma Odin bars offer more back sweep than typical mountain bike bars for increased hand comfort, especially when combined with Ergon's GP1 grips. Selle Anatomica's X Series saddle is comfortable on long or short rides with or without padded cycling shorts.

This customer came to us looking for an all around bike to use on and off road. He wanted it to have a Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and Gates Carbon Drive belted drivetrain, and loved the look of the Shand Stoater. He had special needs that required custom geometry, and with Shand, we were able to meet them and build him a bike that offered options for cockpit set-up while still fitting him just right. This bike met all his expectations and gave him a bike to commute on and use to explore.

If you are looking for a versatile bike to use as your daily commuter and gravel grinder when you're off the clock, consider the Shand Stoater.  Check out our Stoater bike packages or give us a call for more information.


Build details

• Frame: Shand Cycles Stoater

• Fork: Shand Steel

• Headset: Chris King NoThreadSet

• Stem: Thomson X4

• Handlebar: Soma Odin

• Shifter: Rohloff twist 

• Grips: Ergon GP1
• Seat post: Thomson Elite

• Saddle: Selle Anatomica X Series

• Seat Clamp: Salsa

• Front Hub: Schmidt SON28

• Rear hub: Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14

• Spokes: Sapim Race

• Nipples: Sapim Brass

• Rims: Velocity Dyad

• Tires: Schwalbe Marathon Supreme

• Cranks: Shimano XT

• Bottom Bracket: Problem Solvers Eccentric

• Chain ring: Gates Carbon Drive

• Rear Sprocket: Rohloff

• Chain: Gates Carbon Drive Belt

• Brakes & Levers: Magura MT4

• Rotors: Magura Storm

• Front Light: Schmidt Edelux II
• Rear Light: Schmidt SON