Bicycle Grand Build Campaign

Enthusiasts will support, generalists will find it unbefitting to other causes.

Imagine riding your bicycle for a couple hours and in that time you’d get to see beaches, farms, mountains, waterfalls and many ever-changing landscapes. Or, competing in 100-300km gravel and mountain races over the weekend or that spans over 2-3 days.

This is the beauty that my city and country has to offer, evolving landscapes and cultures in the span of a couple of hours.

My name is Shannon, I’m 29 years old. I live in Cape Town, South Africa and have been commuting with my fixie for 7 years and still counting. I got my fixie when I was ending a job where I was car pooling with others, my new job was in close proximity of my fellow car poolers but our operating days and times were now different and I would not be able to travel with them any longer. I did not enjoy taking public transport (our public transport infrastructure does not have any structure, unreliable, and sometimes dangerous) and I could not afford a car so the next best thing was a bicycle.

As time went on and I saw other cyclists/commuters on the road I’d come to learn more about different types of bicycles and in particular gravel bikes. Why this type of bicycle excites me so much is that I love being in nature, mostly the mountain (bonus when waterfalls are involved) and by the ocean - you’re able to go almost anywhere with a gravel bicycle.

I’m aware this is not the most important cause and I would thereby like to ask enthusiasts to support my request to aid me in building a gravel bike that will continue to get me to and from work, to changing landscapes by cycling throughout the day, so that I can compete in 100km challenges or bikepack to discover my country, its people, and cultures. I know that once the bicycle is complete there will be many causes that I can cycle for and contribute toward in whatever shape or form.

With my current financial circumstances and what I can contribute it would equate to me spending around 7 years to build the bicycle and the reason is that I want to build a bicycle that is durable and reliable over any distance and to last forever. Below is a breakdown of the cost of all the components and I’ve already spent a year to buy the frameset:

Frameset 16 500.00  ZAR (Done)

Seatpost + stem 12 885.00 ZAR

Headset 3 290.00 ZAR

Rear mech 7 000.00 ZAR

Front/rear brakes 9 260.00 ZAR

Shifters 6 490.00 ZAR

Cassette 12 500.00 ZAR

Crankset 10 150.00 ZAR

Chainring 1 550.00 ZAR

Chain 2 400.00 ZAR

Wheelset 44 150.00 ZAR

Rim tape 1 900.00 ZAR

Tyres 2 800.00 ZAR                  

Handlebar 4 690.00 ZAR

Saddle 3 200.00 ZAR

Pedals 3 060.00 ZAR

Gear cable set 1 350.00 ZAR      

Brake cable set 1 350.00 ZAR

Total 128 020.00 ZAR

6 160.00 EUR

6 715.00 USD

If you have gotten this far, thank you for taking the time to read. If you have contributed please check out the Instagram page I’m starting @shannon.cycles to see progress on the build.

With All good Wishes.