Rocky Mountain Sherpa 10 - from touring to commuting
03-29-23, 01:01 PM
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Rocky Mountain Sherpa 10 - from touring to commuting
I've had this bike (a 2008 Rocky Mountain Sherpa 10) for going on 15 years now. I love it, but after several long tours it had kind of lost its place in the stable, and I wanted to update it.
I was looking for something that would replace my 3 speed road bike commuter (https://imgur.com/a/yYhz1g4) which I've used for the past 8 or so years to commute to my office job.
The Sherpa is an absolute tank. Reynolds 853 tubes, room for 29x2s. I used it on a few tours through the years, and was my primary commuter back in 2009-2014 or so. Over the year it lived its first iteration of more like a road tourer that went from Finland all the way down to Montenegro.
A few years later it handled the gravel roads of central asia without missing a beat.
It finished that trip home with a stopover in europe and rode the route des grandes alpes too.
Now I don't have any long distance tours planned, when I do get out it's weekends in the rockies, and i've got a soma wolverine for those duties.
The needs/wants I had to make this a commuter were hydro discs and an IGH for winter riding (so I could use a hebie chainglider, those things rule if you're in a grimy winter climate). The sherpa 30 of that year was complete with a disc brake tab in the rear so I knew the frame was up to it - the 10 however didn't have that option - so that was my first order of business. It took me the better part of a year to muster up the courage and practice to take the torch to the bike, but it went together reasonably well and looks pretty solid (if a little janky). I did destructive testing on a couple practice welds and didn't have any failures even after reefing on them in the vice so I'm comfortable. Still not complete though - next step is a brace between the chainstay and seatstay and then repaint where required.
With the disc brake, I needed to solve the vertical dropout problem. I used the First components EBB (https://www.firstcomponents.com/bott...entric/p237sa/). This thing is great - it works with hollowtech or GXP cranksets and I've got 0 dramas with chain tension, way more adjustability that I even need. I threw on a cheap alfine crankset and a steel surly chainring for longetivity, scavenged a Kona Rove P2 fork (aluminum, still casually looking for a steel fork to come up, but this does it for now), TRP Hylex SS hydraulic brakes, and picked up a microshift alfine shifter.
The Alfine is the early 8 speed (SG500) that I picked up for the local coop and built it into another coop wheel. ripped it apart and it looks mint.
It still needs a rack that fits around the disc brakes, but this is where I stand currently. Just waiting to put the summer tires on.
Full album here: (be nice on my janky brazing)
https://imgur.com/a/F0Z0NIq
I was looking for something that would replace my 3 speed road bike commuter (https://imgur.com/a/yYhz1g4) which I've used for the past 8 or so years to commute to my office job.
The Sherpa is an absolute tank. Reynolds 853 tubes, room for 29x2s. I used it on a few tours through the years, and was my primary commuter back in 2009-2014 or so. Over the year it lived its first iteration of more like a road tourer that went from Finland all the way down to Montenegro.
A few years later it handled the gravel roads of central asia without missing a beat.
It finished that trip home with a stopover in europe and rode the route des grandes alpes too.
Now I don't have any long distance tours planned, when I do get out it's weekends in the rockies, and i've got a soma wolverine for those duties.
The needs/wants I had to make this a commuter were hydro discs and an IGH for winter riding (so I could use a hebie chainglider, those things rule if you're in a grimy winter climate). The sherpa 30 of that year was complete with a disc brake tab in the rear so I knew the frame was up to it - the 10 however didn't have that option - so that was my first order of business. It took me the better part of a year to muster up the courage and practice to take the torch to the bike, but it went together reasonably well and looks pretty solid (if a little janky). I did destructive testing on a couple practice welds and didn't have any failures even after reefing on them in the vice so I'm comfortable. Still not complete though - next step is a brace between the chainstay and seatstay and then repaint where required.
With the disc brake, I needed to solve the vertical dropout problem. I used the First components EBB (https://www.firstcomponents.com/bott...entric/p237sa/). This thing is great - it works with hollowtech or GXP cranksets and I've got 0 dramas with chain tension, way more adjustability that I even need. I threw on a cheap alfine crankset and a steel surly chainring for longetivity, scavenged a Kona Rove P2 fork (aluminum, still casually looking for a steel fork to come up, but this does it for now), TRP Hylex SS hydraulic brakes, and picked up a microshift alfine shifter.
The Alfine is the early 8 speed (SG500) that I picked up for the local coop and built it into another coop wheel. ripped it apart and it looks mint.
It still needs a rack that fits around the disc brakes, but this is where I stand currently. Just waiting to put the summer tires on.
Full album here: (be nice on my janky brazing)
https://imgur.com/a/F0Z0NIq
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