Readers’ Rig: Adnan’s Drummond Cycles Custom

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Readers’ Rig: It’s good to see a sensible bike for the winter and wet days with mudguards, but also one that looks right stripped down for the sun. Adnan in Portland has a custom Drummond Columbus tubed frame built up with Campagnolo kit. A real beauty.

Name: Adnan Kadir
Location: Portland, OR, mostly, but some months each year spent in Europe and Asia
Frame: Drummond Cycles custom (drummondcycles.com) from Columbus Life tubing; built for long-reach brake calipers
Group: Mix of Campagnolo Record (shifters) and Athena (derailleurs) 11 speed with Verve InfoCrank 177.5mm power meter (53×39/11×29)
Handlebar/Stem: Ritchey WCS Evocurve alloy (44cm) and Zipp Service Course SL stem (120mm)
Wheels: Campagnolo Eurus tubeless with IRC Formula Pro X-guard 28c tires
Pedals: Time xPro 10
Saddle: Selle Italia Flite Superflow
Other: Columbus Hiver fork, Chris King headset and bottom bracket; Velo Orange Grand Cru brakes; Kogel sealed derailleur pulleys; Lezyne Mega C computer; Ruckus composites carbon fenders (the only known set still in existence, apparently!) made here in Portland; NFS chain lube always
Weight: 9kg.

When did you buy it?
I’ve had this bike since 2010. It was built for me in exchange for some promotional work I did for Dick Drummond when he started his bike shop. I was really surprised because I thought I was just helping him out and suddenly I had a new bike.

What made you choose this bike?
In Portland the weather for about 9 months can be very wet. I had been using my cyclocross bike fitted with fenders as a winter bike, but that only works for so long before it becomes annoying. The brakes aren’t as good (this was before discs became common), no fender mounts, the fit is more suited to CX, etc. The one thing that had been missing from my bike stable was a proper “rain bike”.

Have you done any modifications/additions to it?
It’s changed a bit over the years. It used to have a PowerTap wheelset and Record carbon crankset. I’ve found Campagnolo wheels to be more dependable and easier to set up tubeless, while InfoCrank are by far the most reliable power meters, especially in continual lousy weather. The bars and stem get changed every 4 years or so. The original fork was an Alpha-Q, but I replaced it when the dropouts separated from the fork legs one day.

How many miles/kilometers do you do a year?
About 10,000km per year.

What do you love about this bike?
I love the fit and feel of the bike. I specified the geometry I wanted, but Dick basically ignored me and built what he thought would be best. As it turns out, he was right and I got exactly what I had hoped for but lacked the experience to design. It’s a really calm, stable bike – more like a touring bike than a “race bike”. It’s just what you want when descending on wet, moss-covered roads in poor weather.

Favorite riding areas?
I love riding in Spain and Italy. It’s hard to beat Catalonia and Tuscany, respectively. My all time favorite place to ride on the road, though, is northern Thailand. It’s pretty much perfect in every way – considerate drivers, warm weather, excellent inexpensive food everywhere (I mean EVERYWHERE), and better quality roadways than in most of the US.

Top riding experience on your bike?
This bike doesn’t travel with me, so on this bike it would have to be riding the hills of the San Francisco Bay area. Places like Mt Tam, Mt Diablo, and the legendary roads of the south bay like Alpine and Old La Honda are fantastic.

Future upgrades?
Dick said that I could send it back to him for a disc brake upgrade and fresh paint. I think about that sometimes, but it’s such a beautiful bike and the brakes it has don’t leave me wanting. I’ll probably change the groupset to a Chorus 12 speed with a 34 tooth low gear, and right now the fenders are with Ruckus for refurbishment. I’m keen to try a set of Coefficient Wave handlebars when the bike is due for a bar/stem swap in the spring.

Last words:
Trust your framebuilder. They often know what we need better than we do!

Thanks to Adnan for sharing his ride with us. Got a bike that you walk into the room just to stare at? Well, how about sharing it with fellow PEZ fans and getting it featured in Readers’ Rigs so we can all stare at it! Send us a Readers’ Rigs submission direct to [email protected] and your bike could be featured in all its glory here on the pages of PEZ.

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