Christoph’s NeoRetroRando bike, in short the “NRR”, represents the perfect blend of old and new technology. Some of you may have noticed that I love to mix old and new parts and components on my custom bikes and try to create the best-performing bikes for my clients. When Christoph came into my workshop explaining his needs and mentioned his love for classical cantilever brakes, but also how much he enjoys the benefits of the wide-range Campagnolo Ekar 13sp gearing, it was like a perfect match. I was immediately hooked by the idea to create the first ever mechanical braking Ekar 13sp groupset, and to be honest, I already had that idea on my bucket list of things to do for a long time… it was just waiting for the right client ;)
And so we finally did it, I called up the Campagnolo team in Germany and thanks to their amazing technical support it became clear that something like this could be done. We would just have to take apart mechanical Chorus 12sp controls and replace the shifting mechanism with the 13sp ratchet of the Ekar to make it all
work. Everything else was pretty much straightforward. Christoph already knew about the benefits of slender steel forks, and our friends at Pelago sent me one of their beatiful double-plate fork crowns, which went into the project after some modification work. The famous Mr. Paul’s Neo-Retro Canti brakes were a must-have for that bike for sure. Lightweight parts by our friends at Tune and Deda, dynamo and lights from SON / BUMM, smooth and supple 650B x 42 mm René Herse tires, Velo Duo carbon fenders — just the best of the best parts. The Allygn Diamond front rack is equipped with a custom-made Gramm Tourpacking Diamond Bag. All other bags are also custom made from the lightest available Challenge Ultra material. Fantastic Porsche red to dark grey fade paint job made by my friend, the infamous Swiss Army knife of frame building, Mr. Jacek Orlowski.
Hey Christoph, I wish you lots of happy riding moments and a lot of good pass hunting on your new Swiss Army knife–like bike! ;)
Photography: Florian Haeussler / FERN Bicycles.