Sour Purple Haze

Sour Purple Haze, The Comeback Kid. I swapped over parts onto this new and updated Purple Haze frame, and got it on some matching "gravel" wheels and rubber. Air quotes because these wheels and tires swill shred any gnar in your path... Except for mud maybe, they aren't great in mud... But still: Everything. Shred. Gnar. The!

These frames are a wonderful silver bullet of a frame. Big ol' wheels to roll over big ol' rocks. High stack height for days of comfort. Flex where you need it, none where you don't (okay, probably some). And now Sour has mixed in their fancy new dropouts, dropper post routing, better tire clearance, and did I mention you get to choose your own powdercoat colour!?

This specific bike is of to a life spreading it's wings on the sand roads of Midden Nederland and getting lost in the woods carrying way too much gear and probably drying underwear along the way... F-ing bikepackers, maaaan.

My opinion of Purple Haze 2.0: ace in the hole. My knowledge of poker? Absolutely zero. But this bike is ace (in the hole?). Damnit, it's just really good, let's leave it at that.

I know y'all got questions. You know I got answers. Let's trade Q's for A's. I loved building this bike up after being away for so long, let's chat! In any case, enjoy the gallery below!

Pole Taival - Hardcore Hardtail

Pole is one of my guilty pleasures, so when this client asked if I could build them one, I couldn't resist. Hailing from Finland, Pole makes some of the more unique, progressive, and long MTBs around, and the "Taival" is their extra-shreddy steel hardtail. This one will be riding laps here in NL and also heading out on all sorts of bikepacking trips once the weather breaks.

Let's all take a look at that cockpit while we're at it. OneUp components continue to impress me. Every component is just so well thought out and purpose driven. Even their grips give you a sort of "Oooh that's makes so much sense" moment. The dropper is user-serviceable, and has one of lowest stack heights I've ever seen. And just look at how clean it all is with those Magura Trail brakes.

SRAM is at the helm for all the clicky bits, and Hope of course for the rolly bits. And those rims? That's a secret I'll be taking to the grave.

Questions about the build? About MTBs in general? Send Parallel an email today!

Boltcutter Peacemaker

The client brought this frame in asked for it to be built to suite. And, well, our preferences aligned, because I think this bike is rad AF! I'm not sure you've heard of Boltcutter, if you haven't consider this an introduction.

Okay, here's the meat and potatoes of the post... but dang, where to begin? That Ingrid crank, just look at it! That frame colour, it is beautiful! The SRAM Mullet group, c'mon! This bike slaps. Now focus Joergen, the people need to know what's on this bike.

This bike got suited up with two sets of wheels, one business, one party. In the picture is a 650b set of White Industries G25a rims, SON 28 hub up front and Hope RS4 with Pro4 internals to support that big ol' cassette. You tell me if this set is party or business...

The rubber is from René Héršé, and yes the logo sticker is still on. Bummer. Headset is stainless, the BB as well. The pedals XT, because why would you want anything else. Gawldarn, this bike man.

Enjoy the gallery below!