Since my first bivi bike ride I've been trying to find perfection in looking for a long distance, low maintenance, comfortable bike that can carry me and my kit.

I've got 29er's and Fat bikes but I've never found perfection that was until I test rode my first 29er+ at Fat Forth in Scotland over 12 months ago in April 2013. It was here I rode a Surly Krampus for the first time, it felt just right for what I had in mind but was set up as a fun bike rather than a tourer, luckily for me a couple of guys were over at the event from Surly and when questioning them about a bivi version they hinted at the upcoming ECR that would be out later that year ready for 2014.

So I waited and waited then when the ECR was announced I liked the look of it but I didn't like the sound of its weight, it was about that time I noticed the Titanium Travers Rudy Fat, offering all this things that I wanted. Luckily a mate has a medium Rudy Fat so I test rode his although he is taller than me I felt for long distance rides the large frame would suit a more stretched out riding position even for someone like me who is only 5'8" tall with a 31" inside leg.

Dozens of emails passed between myself and Michael Travers I made up my mind, Michael was a star and did me a really good deal on a prototype version of the Rudy Fat called the Angus named in honour of the single speed world champion who was also getting one at the same time as me, but whereas Angus Edmund's bike was single speed specific mine was built slightly different with an extra bottle cage mount on the underside of the down tube and extra cable guides for the Rohloff geared hub. It was also Michael's first go at building a belt drive specific bike so with questions firing back and forth the email count rose and rose.

Eventually it arrived for Angus just in time for his first race of the season and with no practice on it he rode it home in 2nd place, I collected mine from Michael's gaff and went for an evening ride with his racing snake mates, it was love at first ride although I'm sure Michael and his mates did play "try and kill the Northerner" that night but I survived.

So here I am 1000 miles later and what can I say about it, well rather than a bike review because Travers bikes are more custom built to suit the rider I will review the parts separately but not go into too much detail as I'm no reviewer, I'm not a journalist, I failed English so I'm rubbish with big words and I'm just an average rider.

Starting off with the negative

The belt drive, although fantastic in the dry dusty trails of summer the first bit of gloopy mud with flint chippings in clogged up the belt then although the cogs are meant to clear mud the belt with very little effort snapped forcing me a 7 mile walk and a hitched lift from a guy in a pickup truck. BELT DRIVE = AVOID

The Rohloff, 2 or 3 times it's not quite engaged into the gear I wanted, at times I've missed the slight gear changes that a 27 or 30 speed set up gives you and it is a tad heavy over the back end when lifted, but as it's used for cross country rides where my wheels are firmly on the ground it's 98% perfect. I like it so much so that I'm investing in another for my Single Speed fun bike.

The Jones Ti H bars, like my other bikes with their bent handle bars they are just amazing, the ones I have on my Sasquatch are the ones with a gap in the front which are perfect for clipping on roadie aero bars to make it easy on longer rides.

The Brooks C17 saddle, this is a new rubber saddle from Brooks and at last I have found saddle nirvana, so much so that I have bought 2 more for other bikes. If you're not comfortable on your saddle test ride one NOW
Surly Knard 3" tyres, fantastic for 99.5% of the trails I ride, the 0.5% where they fail are over wet roots and very loose gravel strewn downhill's where braking is important to control speed. I've got Surly's heavy inner tubes in and up until now the tread is still as new and I've never punctured.

The wheel set, 29er North Paw 45mm wide rims with a Halo hub on the front, I was tempted on the Surly 50mm Rabbit Hole rims but the heavier weight put me off these in favour of the North Paws which have been faultless and still as true as the day I picked the bike up. The Halo hub bearings died 2 days after the first axle deep puddle they went through, not happy for such a quality item, but they are running fine now with new bearings.

The Angus/Rudy Fat/Sasquatch (as I call it) with the Carbon 29er+ forks, it rides like a dream, there is no brake flutter on the carbon fork no matter how hard you brake, there is zero lateral twisting in the frame even when fully laidened which I have noticed on other bikes, but the spring in the frame to give me an amazingly comfortable ride, only my Fat fronted Jones 3D Space frame and my 29er full susser are more comfortable over rough trails but only just.

The full package, for rides over 2 hours and not in highly technical (for me) terrain it's my go to bike every time.
It's been several bivi rides, I'm no racer but it carried me to a record breaking ride over the full length of the Leeds/Liverpool canal breaking the 9hrs 30mins time with a average speed of 14.3mph over the 135 miles length of the route out of Liverpool. the whole bike is absolutely perfect for what it's meant to do, riding over gravel, fire roads, off road trails and non technical single track, It's never been round a trail centre.

Would I change anything? It's only nit picking but the inner frame bottle cage mounts could be a little lower on the frame to make room above it for a medium sized frame bag that wraps around the bottle. Michael knows this is my only thing I would change if I could.

A couple of pictures