This week’s RR is Kevin Harley-Roberts and his Long Pink Panther.
Your Name
Kevin Harley-Roberts (Hardtailonly)
Bike brand and model
Pipedream Moxie MX3, Long (aka ‘The Pink Panther’)
Why this bike?
I’ve always had hardtails, and singlespeeded a lot of them, usually using a rear sprung tensioner or a BB-mounted tensioner. Which has been fine, but I have recently started to think about a frame with dedicated dropouts.
Considered the Kinesis FF29, Pace 529/629, the Moxie/Sirius, and a few others. Saw this Moxie on the Facebook Pipedream Owner’s page, agreed a deal, and a few days later, it was mine!
Fork
Pike Ultimate (silver), 150mm travel. It’s a 2020/21 model I think, bought from STW classifieds, and it’s done sterling service on 2 bikes before the Moxie.
Shock
N/A (my 58 year-old legs!)
Suspension Set-up
I’m 75kg-ish with kit. Fork is 70-75psi, rebound set 2/3rds of the way to slow, and HSC and LSC each 1 click from fully open. Fork recently serviced, including something done to the bushings, and is running sweeeeet!
Wheels
Hunt Trail Wide 29er Boost, HG freehub.
Tyres
Bontrager XR4 2.6 (F) / 2.4 (R)
Brakes
Mismatching Shimano XT/SLX 2-pot, 180/160mm rotors
Drivetrain
An old and well-used Shimano XT 165mm crank, VeloSolo 32 SS chainring, 20t SS cog, XT BB. SRAM 9-sp chain. Nukeproof Horizon pedals (used to be blue, now silver with the help of an old toothbrush and Oven Pride)
Cockpit components
Gusset (I think?) silver stem, Nukeproof Horizon Carbon Bars, 800mm (need a trim), 31.8, DMR Deathgrips. Silver Burgtec spacers
Seatpost
Brand-X dropper, 150mm
Saddle
Planet X (or possibly Brand-X?) – a freebie from a mate which I intended to swap out, but is actually very comfortable, so haven’t felt the need.
Accessories
Ti bottle cage. Knog Oi bell. Currently sporting an SKS Mudrocker rear guard, but that’ll come off as soon as dry lines start appearing on the trails!)
Size
Long (ie, Medium-ish; 470mm Reach).
Weight
No idea; it’s not svelte, but it’s not overly beefy.
Additional Comments
It’s just brilliant! I love the colour. It rides really really well, it feels taut and damped and composed, different to my other (Ti) hardtail, and noticeably better than any of the other steel/Alu hardtails I’ve owned.
It was built from a (used) frameset, forks that I took off another bike, wheels that I had spare, and the rest was mostly parts-bin, with some new/choice used parts.
I love the dropouts, although did – ham-fistedly – round out one of the bolts when adjusting the chain tension after it’s first ride. The local bike shop sorted it, and put on beefier bolts (I also bought a better quality set of Hex-keys!)
The gearing (32/20) is perfect for around here (trails in & around N / NW Leeds), but I’ll drop to a 19 when the trails dry out a bit more. (‘perfect’ is doing a lot of heavy-lifting here, seeing as it’s describing a singlespeed set-up!)
I’ve another rear wheel that I’ll fit with a 22t cog, and will try out at my local-ish steep spot, to see if I can get up the tricky rooty climbs, and hopefully have (a different kind of) fun on the enduro-y off-piste runs there.
Show us yours!
We’ve rejigged the Reader’s Ride online form and pic uploader to make it clearer, quicker and simpler
We’ll be rewarding any submission published with a piece of STW merch. NB: they don’t have to be new bikes. Or expensive bikes. Or even clean bikes. We want to see real bikes from real riders.