Bikes We Ride: Brandon’s Paddy Wagon

We’re back with another Bikes We Ride post. This time it’s Brandon’s strikingly beautiful Kona Paddy Wagon. There’s a lot to be said for the visual simplicity of a singlespeed bike, but the nuance of this build puts it in a category of its own. Brandon has put a lot of time and care into this build rivaled only by the miles he’s put in riding it. Like most of our employee builds it gets deeper the closer you look. We’ll let him explain some of its history in his own words:

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This was my first Kona from 7 years ago, when I first started at the shop. I’ve done many century’s on this bike, a lot of gravel rides, several ultralight, multi-day bikepacking rides, and one monster of a ride circumventing Mt. Hood, in winter, at night, in 20 degree temps. (yes, seriously. Click the link!), including up and over Lolo Pass, at a grand total of 185 miles. Started a little before sunset, got home in time to watch the sunrise on my front porch. So, I have some memories with this bike.

Current build:

Chris King headset
Thomson seatpost
P.R.O. PLT bar/stem
old-school Flite saddle
Campagnolo Record track crankset w/ 47t x 19/16t, Wipperman chain
Arundel bottle cages
PDW fenders
Vittoria Corsa 28c tires
Ultegra pedals.

The wheels are Hed Jet 4’s but the rear wheel was too worn at the brake-track to keep using as a geared wheel, so I repurposed the rim to lace the 24h rim to a 48h track hub. Because the spoke hole offset on each flange is different on a 24h hub than a 48h hub (even when skipping every other hole), I had to go with different spoke lengths and lacing once I realized the discrepancy.