NWT teaser
Went on a short ride towards Seletar Air base on a warm Sunday evening. The place turned out to be very rustic and very beautiful and rarely do you see unpaved roads in this Country. Took the opportunity to take a picture of the NWT (sorry for the crappy iPhone shot). The bike is itching to go on longer rides.
I find the bike without fenders a bit naked and am planning a bunch of upgrades in the coming weeks (fender included). I dislike the flat bar 
. But overall, the ride is pretty much spot on.
As you can notice, the bike Friday Folding Rear rack allows me to put in some Inline skating wheels (20 SGD for the upgrade, sweet) to prevent damaging the rack and for rolling it when folded. Good when rolling it from one corner of the room to another and pushing the while storing. Not much use on the road. Neat, none the less!
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September 15th, 2009 20:00
U didnt tell me u had acquired the NWT! Well done Nat… looking forward to your experiences with her in the coming months.
I’m still undecided on getting a NWT or Expedition for my touring jaunts. May I know why your chose the NWT?
Al
September 15th, 2009 22:58
Al, good to hear from you. Yea, NWT seems to be a great bike for riding around town and feels like a baby LHT
More nimble and spiffy over all but a nice cushy ride thrown in.
To answer your q, Off the bat I decided to base the bike on a NWT and not the tikit, that made the decisions simpler. Nothing against the Tikit, I am just holding it out for a future purchase
I was considering between the Sport / companion / expedition. I guess a large portion of the decision was factoring in the cost for a custom build. BF does some awesome custom specs but I did not want to decide up front (Didn’t have much lead time either, the bike was delivered in 2 weeks flat… Awesome).
I wanted to build the components on my own schedule. So I decided on the bike that gives me enough options. Sport has a narrower fork and I believe it can take up to 38mm tires without fenders. I wanted fenders and so that was easily eliminated. The expedition, it seems, is built with a more robust tubing and a wider fork. I was looking at the clearances for the fork and figured that I could do up to 2″ tires on the NWT without fenders and 1.75 with fenders. That was plenty good for me. Regards the overall strength of the tubing, I believe there is not much separating the NWT / Sport / Expedition, people tour in all of them. So it essentially boiled down to the cost of a custom spec.
I was in discussion with BF and figured that I can get a custom spec NWT for as low as $948. Now that is a really good price point and I decided to upgrade to a Chris King headset with the savings. It is well worth it.
My idea currently is to make a slow and steady upgrade. The following are in the pipeline:
1. SON equipped front wheel.
2. Dual drive equipped rear wheel.
3. Rear D with a shorter cage. Stock rear D is too long (spec’d for Triple front) I like the idea of a dual drive heaps, especially for a 20″ wheel.
4. Handle Bar upgrade (midge or Moustache, still on the wall)
5. Bar end shifters (and a twist shifter for the Dual drive)
6. Front rack. I hear the bike handles extremely well with load up front, I got to try that some time
Since I did not want to go the whole hog upfront, I went in for the cheapest custom. Turned out to be the NWT
September 15th, 2009 23:51
Thks for yr detailed n useful response Nat. I may join u for a NWT soon. I find the folding rack though a tad expensive and may plumb for the std one. The tikit is more a commuter than a tourer though I’m seeing how it will perform as a tourer when I land in Borneo in 2 weeks. It may surprise, or not.
I’ve got it down to a 42t chain ring for better climbing ability.
September 16th, 2009 10:12
Al: Check with the sales person who is helping you at BF. they usually seem to have some promotions on accessories when you make custom orders. I got the rear rack and a couple of other knick knacks at a decent price.
I think the Folding rear rack is very well made, almost like the tubus in simplicity and tubing / build quality. Am pretty impressed with that design. The cheaper rack will have a trouble due to the long thin metal stays. Someone commented on that issue here.
I would say the Folding Rear rack is probably on the higher side with regard to price but looks like it will be worth it…