World Everesting Project Curve Belgie Spirit
The World Everesting Project requires a suitably eric rig. It has to hit all the right notes: lightness for the insane amount of climbing, comfort for the many, many, many (many) hours in the saddle, and rugged for the brutal conditions it'll push through. Below is the full build spec. Cue the aubergines.
Words - Dave Edwards
Frame - Curve Belgie Spirit size 56. Perfect bike for this, light, stiff, compliant, tough and can take bigger tyres.
Wheels - Curve G4 Carbon disc rims laced to a pair of DT Swiss 240's with 12mm thru axles both ends. 1.35kg for the pair, and 25mm wide. đź‘Ś
Tyres - Compass 32c standard gumwalls for the gravel and cobbled climbs, Compass 26c ultralight gumwalls for the pure tarmac. PLUSH with banging style. These tyres are for winners.
Shifters - SRAM Red 22 Hydraulic, they offer great variety of hand positions and function sweetly. That click when you shift... 🍆
Bars - Syntace Racelight Carbon 420mm. Beautiful shape with a slight backward sweep, and a great angle on the drops. Light as balls too.
Tape - BBB Synthetic cork base layer, double wrapped with Lizard Skins 2.5mm. With the gravel and cobbles, I needed plush, and this is a winning combo.
Stem - Tune 110mm 17 degree. Light, stiff, and looks BAWSE.
Headset - Curve's own brand. "I have too man Curve branded chevrons on my bike" said no-one ever.
BB - Ceramic Speed BSA 68mm in red, because it looks rad. And it's threaded - ken oath. Creaks from press fit BB's can piss off.
Cranks - SRAM Red GXP 172.5mm 110 BCD. Nude unidirectional carbon layups make me weak at the knees.
Chain Rings - Praxxis Works 50/34, cold forged, they are stiffer than a pint of scotch.
Pedals - Shimano XTR Race, because MTB shoes are way easier to walk in, and you spend a bit of time off the bike when everesting.
Brakes - SRAM Red Hydraulic with metallic brake pads (with plenty of spares...)
Rotors - Shimano XTR Saint Ice Tech 160mm centrelock. Extra cooling fins and bigger rotors for the significant amount of descending coming up.
Seatpost - Syntace P6 Hiflex. Light with directional flex to make for a very smooth ride. Plus the saddle clamp is just tops.
Seatpost clamp - Curve titanium. Yeah, that's right, more chevrons.
Saddle - Specialized Toupe. Knicked this off of my other bike as I have ridden it loads, love the shape, and it's light AF.
Cages - King Cage Titanium. When you have a Ti bike, I'm pretty sure it's the law that you have to use these. Plus, 58g the pair, and they are harder than a coffin nail.
Derailleurs - SRAM Red 22 yaw front, and SRAM Red 22 WiFli medium cage rear. Using a Wolftooth Roadlink to accommodate THAT cassette.
Cassette - Shimano XT 11-40. This bike has a shit-tonne of climbing coming up in a very short time frame, so ultra-easy gearing is needed. Shifting is definitely compromised, as chain length stops cross chaining on either big/big or small/small, but if mindful of that, then everything else is as precise as you would expect of a SRAM shifting combination.
Chain - SRAM Red 11 speed
Front Light - My Tiny Sun 1000 lumen front, tonnes of light in a good colour. Send both a wide angle and a penetrating beam. Mounted to a Race Ware Direct custom 3D printed dual Garmin/GoPro mount.
Rear Light - Niteflux Red Zone 4, also mounted to a Race Ware Direct custom 3d printed mount, attached to the saddle rails. Both lights are bright AF, compact and awesome. Plus Full Beam Australia supplied them with the mounts, and had my name printed on them, so bloody rad.
Check out some more sweet pics of the rig:
