Is Single Speed MTB dead? Well some will tell you it is, while others will tell you it can't die! I find that it may be more of a Lifestyle, A way of Life, or even a Cult!! Check out our Single Track Single Speed Shredding here in the Piedmont area of NC!!
Courtnee and I went out on a Sunday Funday ride at Salem Lake. We did a few laps, headed out the greenway, and decided to go get a beer from Fiddlin' Fish Brewery. It was a pretty fun way to end the weekend!! Courtnee is sporting a Salsa Journeyman that I have added some custom vinyl to, to cover up some of the orange, and dial in the pink :)
We were grinding those gravel hills in Wilson Creek for an epic gravel bike weekend adventure. This was the first day of riding and it did not disappoint. Lot of miles and lots of climbing! The Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina are so beautiful and awesome! This ride is hosted by some friends and happens every year. Its a nice small tightknit crew and I am glad they have invited me to this 2 years running now!
We rolled up the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed over to Jonas Ridge where we landed on the first stretch of gravel, Pineola Road. Its an epic 9 mile descent and lands us in the middle of Wilson Creek Gorge. From there we headed out to Maple Sally, then down Adako Road, and over to Anthony Creek Road. From there we went north up Edgemont Rd and back to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a 9 mile cruise back to the cabin.
I have been randomly thinking about my camper build a lot over the last few months but have not been able to start it just yet. So I will throw out some ideas that I have been considering. The frame itself well be constructed out of 2x2" steel tubing and 2" C channel. I think this will be the easiest and reasonably light without losing some strength. The tongue will be constructed of tube channel for the center with C channel for the angles coming down. I wanted to keep it the standard 50 degree angle incase I want to fit a standard tongue box up front. All the cross members will be constructed of C channel as well. This should allow me to drill through them to allow for wiring to pass through for any electrical needs like lights and breaks.
Another item I would like to mount under the camper would be a ProPex HS2211 propane furnace. I would probably mount this in the last open section under the camper and then make one large skid plate for the water tank and the heater. This unit is designed for the exterior of a vehicle, so it should do just fine under the camper. This would require gas to be plumbed from a 20lb tank mounted on the tongue to the back. this would be needed for a cook stove and for a shower anyways.
I will also be using the axle-less system from Timbren Axles. Above are some with the brake kit installed. Since this will be an off-road/overlanding style camper, these made the most sense when it come to the design of the camper frame itself. They still require a 2x2" cross member that will add strength to the axles and also a mounting point for the skid plate.
So far these are the ideas that I feel pretty solid about. I am always open for suggestions on what works and what won't work, but would really try to utilize the above mentioned items for the frame build and try to plan around other items if needed. I know I will probably have to build out my own custom fenders and such. Also the use of angle iron under to act as a wire or gas line tray is probably something that would allow me to both secure and protect those items under the trailer.
If you ever find yourself in Winston Salem, NC with a bike, then you should really check out the greenways that the city has to offer. From an old abandoned rock quarry to several routes into downtown, Winston Salem has it going on for greenways. If you have a gravel bike, then take one of these wonderful greenways down to Salem Lake. It offers a 7 mile loop of mostly sand rock type surface. All of this is interconnected by bike paths, greenways, and bike lanes.
My adventure took me on a lot of what Winston Salem has to offer. In the video above I started off the Adventure doing a few laps around Salem Lake Trail before heading off to the Salem Creek Greenway. From there I visited the Quarry at Grant Park and soaked in the view of downtown from the observation pier. Once I had left the quarry, I headed to downtown via the Long Branch Trail. You can really get a great view of Winston Salem's east side of the downtown area.
This concluded my sightseeing and I decided to finish out the Salem Creek Greenway and head on back to the car. Please checkout the video above, hit that like button, and subscribe to my channel as I will be release more videos of different Adventures around the area.
We have Walls!! Episode 5 shows us what we all are wanting to see, an object that resembles a CAMPER!!! It has taken several weekends to get to this point and here it is... hope this video doesn't disappoint!
You can see that we have cut all the biscuit joining cuts, drilled pilot holes for crossmembers and installed a few temporary crossmembers. This should help support the camper while other items are installed and constructed. All the hard work is starting to pay off.
We determine that at some point a big mistake (though only a fraction of an inch) was made. We cut the floor for the camper just a touch short. We had to fix this by cutting the floor again from another sheet of Baltic Birch.
Mike also used a new handy tool called the DrillBlock. This tool will aid in getting the pilot holes for the screws pretty close to straight and vertical. You can see this little tool in action in the video above.
While you are there watching that video, click the like button and subscribe to the T1E Adventures channel!
In this episode we change out the spindles on the Timbren axles from the long spindles to short spindles. We test fitted the wheel/tire combo from this original build to insure a good fit. You can see in the video that its a tight fit, but will probably work just fine.
T1E Adventures is a name and logo that comes from a previous company that Mike and myself ran for Radio Control Rock Crawler chassis. These campers are pretty much the same concept but in a larger scale, obviously.
This was the very first design that T1E RC had. Hopefully in future video releases you will be able to see what Mike was talking about with the TVP style concept.
Also had a mishap with the GoPro... but you have to watch the video for that story ;)
Please like the video and subscribe to my channel for future build release videos!
The day started off a little rainy and chilly, but that's OK... cause where we are going, it keeps the crowds low!
This video I joined up with Pedal Vision's Greg for some fun laps around the Salem Lake in Winston Salem. We do explore out from around the lake, taking the Salem Creek Trail to Quarry at Grant Park. It has this awesome views over the water filled quarry of downtown Winston Salem, NC.
We headed up Long Branch Trail and explored some downtown sites and cruised around some of the local downtown attractions. From there we navigated the Strollway from downtown back to the Salem Creek Greenway. Checked out the wooden bridge at Old Salem and went back on our way on the greenway.
We finished the ride out by doing some hot laps around Salem Lake again and taking it back to the car. You can see in the video that we had a blast.
If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up, and also while you are at it, subscribe to the channel for more gravel adventures videos in the future.
In Episode 3 we are cutting the hole for the window and then cutting the template. We used a top bearing flush router bit to do this. Things went really smooth today on this build for sure. It won't be too long before this will start to look like a camper.
Mike describes the Kreg Track Saw that he uses for cutting straight lines without the use of a table saw. You can see in the video that Mike decided that the smaller windows will work better in this application. Red Sky Campers uses Baltic Birch plywood for its builds.
Once the window and door are finally cut, we take another one of the side pieces and place the ones with the holes on top and will use it as template. This template will be used for another camper build as well as possibly my camper build as well.
In this episode of the Red Sky Teardrop Camper build we are prepping for the cuts to be made for the doors and windows. These doors and windows will sandwich the camper wall components. We get the holes drawn and then start cutting them out. We used the Kreg track saw and a jig saw for this job.
We didn't cut out the windows due to some size difference then what was originally expected. The door was cut and once we get the window cut we can use this as a template for the other side as well as other camper builds. More on that to come. Please subscribe to the cannel to see other videos on this camper build.
Is Single Speed MTB dead? Well some will tell you it is, while others will tell you it can't die! I find that it may be more of a Life...
