Stray Cycles

Long climbs to sun-drenched alpine meadows, trundling descents along forgotten military roads to quaint villages and boulangeries with delicious pain au chocolat. Spectacular views that made the unrelenting climbs worthwhile.

The Alps Divide delivered everything it promised until a twisted knee from a stumble on a hike-a-bike and a fierce bout of dysentery from bad water cut my ride short. Not every adventure goes as planned and that’s part of the allure, for better or worse.

But the bike was a dream throughout - from grinding up steep technical climbs, picking careful lines through rock gardens, to softening the chatter of endless washboard roads. Exactly what it was designed for.

Adventure had, friendships forged, mission accomplished. 🤙

Fit dialled, chain lubed, brakes bled, pads checked.

Swapped in a few choice bits for the Alps Divide: cushy Eriksen Sweetpost, fast-rolling 2.6 Mezcals, my ever-so-comfy Chromag Bikes Trailmaster saddle and new Ergon GS1 grips; a nice all-day, trail-worthy balance between the GA3s and GP1s.

20.5kg on the nose. Might ditch the solar panel (a “whopping” 600g) just to sneak in under 20. Still deliberating.

Lining up in Menton on Monday morning for the . The route planners have done extraordinary work and I genuinely can’t wait to experience all the rugged, challenging beauty ahead.

Here we go! 🤙

Getting my setup dialed for next week’s ALPS DIVIDE.

Swapped out our first prototype fork for our final launch version. More clearance, front rack and light mounts, 225g lighter - and noticeably more vertically compliant on chunky gravel and roots while staying stiff fore-aft and torsionally for confidence in corners and under hard braking.

The right fork for 32,000m of climbing over 1,000km of high alpine terrain. 🤙

A sneak peek at a couple of our first Workshop Edition frames getting ready for paint.
A little over 2kg of heat-treated, custom-formed chromoly steel. All the right stuff: Reynolds 853 top tube, head tube and DZB down tube. Columbus Zona stays. Paragon yokes, sliders and relieved BB shell. Made one at a time, by hand, in south-western Germany.
Took a few weeks away from Instagram to focus on getting some hard miles in the legs in preparation for the upcoming ALPS DIVIDE (rally not race!).
If all goes to plan, I'm hoping to get one of these beauties saddled up for what promises to be a fun, spicy-and-scenic 1'000km adventure. Can't wait! 🤙

Beyond Normal was a fantastic and inspiring event. More than anything, it was amazing to experience the collaborative and vibrant spirit within the local framebuilding community. Advice, feedback, tips and tricks were shared freely; much more a feeling of “we’re building something worthwhile together” than competing for customers in a niche market.

At the same time, I found myself on the receiving end of a lot of puzzled looks from visitors trying to reconcile a steel bike without suspension, gears or a dropper post with their expectations of what a “mountain bike” should look like.

“It’s an off-road adventure bike.”
“Yeah, but why no suspension? Why no gears?”
“Why make it harder?”

I struggled at first to explain the ethos behind Stray in practical terms - features, benefits, geometry, ride feel. Then I remembered why I started it.

I wanted a bike that harkened back to a time when adventure was less about marginal gains, FKTs, biohacking and following a line on a screen, and more about curiosity, uncertainty and self-reliance. A time of waxed canvas, paper maps and compasses, cedar canoes, leather boots, some derring-do and perhaps a little naiveté.

Yes, you can go faster. You can go lighter. You can optimize until the hard becomes easy, until the daring becomes assured, until “having done” matters more than “doing.”

If that’s what you’re after, this may not be your bike , and that’s perfectly okay. Really.

At some point, more becomes enough.

🤙

I don’t build show bikes. I build bikes that go to shows.

Just finished getting one of our Swiss Edition frames - which until very recently was wearing a healthy layer of Jura dirt - scrubbed, polished and into its Sunday best for this weekend’s .bike handmade bike show in Zürich.

We went with a capable and timeless build: sturdy DT XM481 rims (loud decals removed, sorry!) laced to time-tested DT350 hubs, 29x2.6 Mezcals for speed, durability and, admittedly, the matching grey sidewalls. One of our own setback titanium seatposts topped with a honey B17 Imperial, and a comfy, cruisy cockpit built around a bar and Ergon’s new GS1 grips.

Braking comes courtesy of Shimano BL-780 dual-pull levers paired to a gorgeous set of Equal mechanical disc brakes. These beautifully engineered pieces perfectly capture the philosophy behind our bikes: Simple, serviceable, functional art built to last.

A bike that will feel at home rolling up the Bahnhofstrasse for a cappuccino or crossing an Alpine pass loaded with a week’s worth of gear.

This one has a lot of stories waiting to be written. Looking forward to seeing where it ends up. 🤙

A lovely, occasionally spicy 85km / 2,800m day out along the Jura with , riding a couple of Stray prototypes.

Seven hours in and out of the saddle across rolling hills, forest trails and alpine meadows on gravel roads and ancient footpaths - relentless climbs, chunky descents, pushes and carries. Legs done, but wrists good, back good, neck good.

No suspension, but wide rims and plus tires, short reach, a slackish seat angle, generous wheelbase, snappy tubeset, compliant fork and wrist-friendly bars all add up.

Theory is one thing, practice is another. Good to feel the difference an intentional rigid design can make. 🤙

Same bike. Two forks.

How much difference can a few millimeters make?

I’ve been riding our first prototype back-to-back with two different fork offsets, trying to get a feel for how much it really changes things.

Everything else stayed the same - same favorite loop, same setup, same pace. Just one variable.

The differences aren’t dramatic, but they’re there.

With more offset, things feel a little lighter at slow speeds or with a front load, and a bit more neutral and settled when the trail gets rough.

With less offset, the front end feels a bit sharper, more direct, a little more playful. More personality.

Neither is right or wrong. Just different ways of getting to the same place.

A good reminder that not everything needs optimizing - sometimes it’s just about choosing what feels right 🤙