This week’s Readers’ Rides comes from Las Cruces, NM and features a bike from Silver City, NM’s own Moné Bikes. Let’s check out RM’s Moné El Continente below!
My second Mone, my first was a La Roca which Cjell Moné delivered to me at the first Dangerbird makers market held at my LBS Outdoor Adventures, which has been a continuing source of support over my 10+ years as a full-time bike commuter. The La Roca I literally strapped to a backpack and rode home and built up in time for the bikepacking summit that afternoon.
But on to the El Continente…
Initially, I built this bike up to be a gravel/commuter for a new job with a 20+ mile commute each way with the possibility of a gravel ride along to Rio Grande or the far less pleasant but more expedient roads. So reliability and the ability to haul enough stuff for the workday were key, along with having a generator hub for lighting as I anticipated riding home in the dark during the winter.
My initial plan for the build included Surly corner bars, but I could never get a set and ended up with Wren perseverance adventure bars which were and still are awesome but I really wanted to see the build complete as I had first planned.
So, in a very roundabout way, I ended up having James from Blacksheep Bikes make a set of “no one puts baby in the corner” bars modeled after a set of bars Burnsey from Oddity Cycles had made. And now, 2800+ miles later, the build is finally complete.
The Grogu eeWings are a custom design by Peter at Agave Finishworks, who I discovered when Matt Mason sent me a pic of his Ti dye eeWings which led me down a titanium rabbit hole for another build…And a reminder that whimsy has a place in bike builds and that riding bikes is fun. Even on a daily grind commute.
Build Spec:
- xl El Continente frame
- Mone fork and stem and stack spacers
- Custom Blacksheep titanium bars
- Tomii topcap
- Spurcycle bell
- Chris King headset and bottom bracket
- Paul Love levers
- TRP spyke brakes
- Galfer rotors
- Industry 9 hydra hub rear, Shutter Precision front hub laced to WTB rims
- Surly Extraterrestrial tires
- Cane Creek Ewings cranks custom ano by Agave Finishworks
- Wolftooth 32t stainless oval
- Shimano XT shifter and cassette
- Shimano XTR derailleur with Kogel bearings pulleys
- Bags by Buckhorn bags and Swift industries
We’d like to thank all of you who submitted Readers Rides builds to be shared here at The Radavist. The response has been incredible and we have so many to share over the next few months. Feel free to submit your bike, listing details, components, and other information. You can also include a portrait of yourself with your bike and your Instagram account! Please, shoot landscape-orientation photos, not portrait. Thanks!
