{"id":891778,"date":"2026-09-11T13:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/891778\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T13:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:10:14","slug":"readers-rig-harrys-self-built-sweet-treat-bikepacking-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/891778\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader\u2019s Rig: Harry\u2019s Self-Built Sweet Treat \u2013 BIKEPACKING.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s Reader\u2019s Rig comes from Harry in British Columbia, who shares the first bike he built under the Sweet Treat name. Check out Harry\u2019s custom single-speed hardtail with homemade bags and original graphics here\u2026<\/p>\n

Words by Harry Tudor, photos by Miles Arbour<\/a><\/p>\n

Hi all! My name is Harry. I\u2019m a teacher, environmental educator, bike coach, occasional racer, and full-time bike nerd living in Nelson, British Columbia. I grew up in the woods around Williams Lake, BC, riding Canadian Tire bikes on sketchy homemade jumps and trails. <\/p>\n

\"Sweet<\/a><\/p>\n

I discovered bikepacking through mountain biking as a way to access far-off trails and mountain areas I couldn\u2019t reach on day trips. What started as pushing freeride bikes up scree slopes with a 70L hiking backpack has evolved into a passion of its own, and my partner and I have done a ton of bikepacking and route development since then. I tend to gravitate toward interesting, challenging riding rather than long distances, and I love building singletrack and stupid hike-a-bikes into the routes I ride. <\/p>\n

\"Sweet<\/a>
\n\"Sweet<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the first (but not last; I\u2019ve got another currently cooking!) bike frame I\u2019ve built under the moniker Sweet Treat. I got a ton of help from Kevin Armstrong of 6 Mile Bikes on this (look him up!). He was patient and held my hand through the process of bringing my vision to life. It\u2019s a pretty aggressive 130mm hardtail, with a reach of 510mm, HTA of around 64 degrees, and chainstays that can bounce between 425mm and around 440mm. The goal with this bike was to build something comfortable on long, gravel-heavy routes that could also handle any trail I threw at it, loaded or unloaded. Success on all fronts; this bike has been so great and is ridiculously versatile. <\/p>\n

\"Sweet<\/a><\/p>\n

Frame: Sweet Treat (self-made)
\nFork: Marzocchi Z2 130mm
\nRims: Ibis aluminum (front) \/ Reserve aluminum (rear)
\nHubs: Ibis (front) \/ Onyx Classic (rear)
\nTires: Maxxis Forecaster 2.6 and Rekon 2.6
\nHandlebars: Chromag FU 40. 800mm
\nHeadset: Half Cane Creek, Half Hope
\nCrankset: Shimano Deore 170mm
\nPedals: Oneup Clips
\nCassette: Surly single speed cog
\nBrakes: Shimano Deore
\nSaddle: WTB Silverado
\nSeatpost: OneUp dropper, 210mm
\nStem: Chromag, 40mm
\nFront bags: Dry bag in homemade cradle
\nFrame bags: Homemade 3\/4 bag
\nRear bags: Drybag on Mica Rack, a couple of Mica gear cages as well for extras
\nAccessory bags: Homemade bottle holder and top tube bag, borrowed Dispersed feed bag
\nOther accessories: Coros Dura, Wolf Tooth Mega Fat paw cam grips, SQ Labs inner bar-ends<\/p>\n

\"Sweet<\/a>
\n\"Sweet<\/a><\/p>\n

Loaded up, it\u2019s stable and comfy, and is super easy to ride all day. Unloaded, it\u2019s playful but can still get rowdy, which I love. I\u2019ve ridden this with some heavy-duty MTB tires, and it\u2019s a bit of a trail-eating monster. I\u2019ve ridden it geared and single-speed and prefer single-speed, as something about this frame comes alive with one gear. It\u2019s been a very fun platform to try different setups with. This is currently my favourite, but who the heck knows what it\u2019ll look like in a couple of months. I\u2019m biased, but I think it\u2019s the coolest bike I\u2019ve ever ridden. So practical! So fun! <\/p>\n

\"Sweet<\/a><\/p>\n

I built most of the bags I use, mostly from scraps from a local backpack maker. They\u2019re pretty simple and utilitarian, but they keep surviving. I also made the sketchy front cradle for about $40 from stuff I found online. It ain\u2019t pretty. Miles summed it up well when he first saw it by exclaiming, in the gentle, kind, and wise-beyond-his years way that\u2019s made him a beloved and cherished member of the bikepacking community, \u201cWhat the hell\u2019s this janky shit?\u201d It\u2019s probably quite heavy too, but damn, it works really well. I\u2019ve loaded it up for some seriously bumpy trips, and it has never budged a millimeter. All the graphics on the bike are painted-on versions of linocut prints I\u2019ve made. I really love the little skeleton.<\/p>\n

Send Us Your Bikepacking Rig<\/p>\n

Use the form below to submit your bikepacking rig. We\u2019ll choose one per week to feature in a Reader\u2019s Rig Dispatch and on Instagram. To enter, email us your best photo of the bike (preferably at a 90\u00b0 angle), your Instagram username (optional), and a short description of you and your rig. If your bike is selected, we\u2019ll need a total of five photos and a little bit more info. <\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/p>\n

Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Please keep the conversation civil, constructive, and inclusive, or your comment will be removed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week\u2019s Reader\u2019s Rig comes from Harry in British Columbia, who shares the first bike he built under…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":891779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[214454,214451,214452,214455,61956,192611,49,48,61955,635,82,214457,214453,900,214456],"class_list":["post-891778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-adventure-cycling","tag-bicycle-touring","tag-bike-touring","tag-bike-tours","tag-bike-packing","tag-bikepacking","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycle-touring","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-stealth-camping","tag-touring-bikes","tag-travel","tag-world-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}