This is my latest attempt at building a bike for the majority of the riding I do. I have a Cove Stiffee, an Azonic 4in full suss and a recently acquired Norco Fluid 3, but the riding I do most is locally in not so hilly/rocky Hertfordshire.

I have been trying for ages to perfect my “local” bike. I’ve tried single speed and rigid (Ibut I’m “2unfit”), geared with bounce, various types of finishing kit to adjust the geometry… I even bought a CX bike but hated the drop bars and crappy brakes. But I still never found my ideal.

But then it struck me. Why not combine the best bits of all of them? Rigid forks from the SS, gears from the hardtail and 700c wheels from the CX bike.

So I started gathering the required bits together. I actually bought very little specifically for this bike. Other than the wheels and tyres and a second-hand Middleburn Duo spider, its all stuff I already had in the shed or on other bikes.

The final spec reads as follows:

• Frame Pipedream custom Ti, double butted, polished decals
• Forks Pace RC31 carbon rigid
• Wheels Bontrager Select road disc
• Tyres Hutchinson CX Pro folding 30x700c
• Brakes Formula B4SL
• Headset Hope XC
• Stem Thomson, 110mm/5°
• Bars Salsa Pro Moto carbon
• Grips ODI Ruffian lock-ons
• Shifters Shimano Deore XT
• Mechs Shimano Deore XT
• Chainset Middleburn RS7, 32/44 rings
• Bottom bracket Race Face Taperlock Ti
• Cassette SRAM 11-34
• Pedals Crank Bros Eggbeaters
• Saddle SDG Bel-Air I-beam
• Seatpost SDG I-beam carbon

The bike rides well and is easy to put the miles in on as it weighs in at about 20lbs. It has its downsides – it’s a little flexy and somewhat unforgiving on roots and stony ground, but hey, I always knew it would be limited. It’s built for my type of local riding and it does that brilliantly. I’ll just have to pull another bike out of the shed to better suit the riding when I go further afield…