Ruta Del Jefe 2022: Adam Sklar and His Super Something Gravel Bike – john watson | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

Earlier this year, I was thinking about how cool it’s been to see Adam Sklar grow his brand. I met him very early in his framebuilding career and in that time, he’s accomplished a lot. He now has production designs as well as still taking on the occasional custom touring bike or the like.

A few years back, he mentioned that one of the things he doesn’t like about framebuilding is how expensive his bikes are. With that reflection, Adam began looking at getting small batches of Taiwanese bikes made and offering them in addition to his standard, US-made bikes. The Taiwan bikes would be considerably more affordable but still have the Sklar Bikes DNA he’s known so well for.

The Super Something is the first offering that is made in Taiwan and I got to see Adam’s personal build up close and personal at this year’s Ruta Del Jefe. Let’s see what these bikes are all about…

What is the Super Something?

Is it super? Is it something? As gravel bikes have gained enormous popularity over the past decade one thing remains the same. Getting out on a bike that can handle most any terrain is a lot of fun. The Super Something is an incredibly versatile platform, here to handle all of your needs for traveling through a variety of terrain and riding. A bike that can grow and change along with your riding style.

Through designing hundreds of custom bikes, Adam found that there is no tool for a specific job like a truly custom-built scalpel of a bicycle. Many of those one-offs ended up in Adam’s hands to try out new geometries, parts, and ideas. Those bikes were fun, but they came and went. The bikes that stuck around seemed to be the generally built, all-purpose bikes. Ones that could be fun season after season, or reimagined with a new handlebar, tires, or some new setup when it started to feel stale. The Super Something is a bike you will want to keep around forever. Adaptable for anything or something.

Design

Keep it simple. In our eyes, every “Gravel Bike” falls somewhere on the spectrum between a fat tired road bike on one side and a mountain bike on the other. This one is about 40% of the way along that spectrum. Not going for full-on new school MTB geometry – because there is something really fun about riding a road bike where you aren’t supposed to – but also not turning a blind eye to the developments we have made on bicycle geometry in the past few years. Generally, these bikes have a slightly longer reach. They are made to be ridden with a 60-90mm stem for optimal handling. They are designed with 700x42c tires in mind, but will clear larger or smaller depending on where you want to ride or what you want to try. Trends come and go, but this frame is set up to stick around for a long time and handle those standards you will always fall back on.

Specs

3 bottle cages, one under the Down tube
68mm BSA Bottom bracket Shell
Compatible with EC34mm/44mm Headset, 1-1/8” steerer
Clearance for up to a 42T single chainring
External Cable routing
Rocker Dropouts for adjustable chainstay length uses Paragon Machineworks Inserts
Frame & fork Material: Butted Chromoly Steel
Frame is also compatible with ENVE Adventure Fork (not included)
142x12mm rear, 100x12mm front spacing
160mm Post mount or flat mount rear (With Pargon Machineworks rocker dropout inserts), ISO front brake mount on steel fork.
Clearance for 700×55 c or 27.5x 2.2”
27.2mm Seat post