The Monkey Lab: Super Commuter / Adventure Road: Calfee Designs Luna with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and Gates Carbon Drive

11 August 2016

Super Commuter / Adventure Road: Calfee Designs Luna with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 and Gates Carbon Drive

This custom carbon fiber Calfee Design Luna went to a customer in Juneau, Alaska. He was looking for a bike that he could use for his 15 mile daily commute as well as some weekend gravel road rides. He wanted it to be lightweight, versatile, dependable, and built-up with all the bells and whistles available for a great commuter.

He and his wife have been very happily riding on a carbon fiber Calfee tandem with Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14 internal gear hub and Gates Carbon Drive belt drivetrain for several years, and he wanted the same reliability on his new commuter. He liked the idea of having Calfee build him another frame and ultimately decided on the Luna model. We worked with him to outfit the bike with dynamo hub-powered front and rear lighting, hydraulic disk brakes, fenders, and a rear rack/pannier system for a properly outfitted commuter.

Calfee makes their frames in-house in their shop outside Santa Cruz, CA and has been a major pioneer in carbon fiber technologies. They offer a wide variety of custom options and have been making frames to accommodate the Rohloff SPEEDHUB and Gates Carbon Drive belt for many years.

Calfee's experience makes it easy to work with them to provide high quality dedicated builds to meet our customer's needs. The Luna model is their most affordable and among most durable models, making it a perfect commuter option.

While the frame was being hand crafted in Santa Cruz, our Wheel House built up a set of custom wheels. We spec'd Velocity Dyad rims for their strength and mid-range weight laced them with double-butted Sapim Race spokes and Sapim brass nipples. Up front, a Schmidt SON28 dynamo hub will power front and rear lights.

In the back, Rohloff's SPEEEDHUB 500/14 provides reliable shifting in all weather conditions.

This Calfee Luna adventure road bike was built to be the ultimate commuter and give our customer the option of heading off road to explore. He wanted it to be light weight and run the ultimate drivetrain, and with Calfee, we were able to deliver. The rest of the build was selected to make his rides hassle-free and dependable.

If you are looking for a top shelf commuter that's ready to hit the road every time you head out the door, give us a call. We are here to help make your dream bike a reality.

Build details

• Frame: Calfee Luna

• Fork: Spot CX (painted to match frame)

• Headset: Chris King NoThreadSet

• Stem: Thomson X4

• Handlebar: Ritchey WCS Carbon Curve

• Shifter: Co-Motion

• Bar Tape: Lizard Skins DSP

• Seat post: Thomson Elite

• Saddle: Selle Anatomica Titanico

• Front Hub: Schmidt SON28

• Rear hub: Rohloff SPEEDHUB 500/14

• Spokes: Sapim Race