- Location: Portland, OR
- Loves to ride: in-town, road touring, and branching into gravel/bikepacking
Shimran does his best thinking and feeling on his bike. We can definitely relate.
He rides purpose-built machines, designed to react exactly the way he likes. Custom wheels make the ride even better. We’re honored to have been able to help him with wheels that feel just right.
WHAT DO I LOVE MOST ABOUT BIKING?
“The adventure and solidarity. Honestly, I don’t think there isn’t a time where I felt like my bike was not an adventure. Feeling the wind in your face, feeling the ground below you put you so in tune with the earth. There’s something spiritual about riding a bike and being able to think critically about how you can tackle challenges. Emotions are magnified tenfold. It’s a great time for reflection — and as humans I feel like being able to reflect and gain clarity are essential. Why not do it while pedaling for hours?
PERFECTLY UNIQUE
“I like to have purpose-built bikes, and I am pretty pleased that the bikes I own have very different riding characteristics. Building custom wheels with Sugar further augmented these characteristics.
“The first wheel build was for my singlespeed. I wanted a bike that was lightweight, simple to maintain, and worked wonders in the stop-and-go traffic of a city. By virtue of being a singlespeed and having 650c wheels, the bike was already nimbler than anything I had ridden before. But the Velocity A23/Phil Wood combo I built at Sugar transformed my riding experience! It was almost effortless to pedal, easy to control, and a huge weight difference. Despite being an old, unremarkable steel frame, it felt like an expensive track bike!
“I also built a second set of wheels for my Salsa Vaya, my primary get-out-of-town rig. I use this bike for touring, and the stock wheels work well for a wide variety of on-road, and gravely off-road conditions. However, I wanted to squeeze out better on-road performance without spending money on a new bike. Jude helped me choose a Hed Belgium/White Industries combo, allowing me to ride my touring bike more like a regular road bike. Plus, the hubs match my bike!”
MOST MEMORABLE RIDE: ACROSS AMERICA
“In the summer of 2011, I had the privilege to ride across the country from Providence, RI to Seattle, WA.
“I came to really appreciate every state I passed through and really felt like I got to meet wide swaths of America and people from different walks of life. I travelled roads that I would never have seen by car and visited towns that I never would have been to.
It’s true what they say: the best things are often off the beaten path. Being on a bike and riding through these quiet places, I felt like I was a member of a secret club, a local.
It’s a beautiful country, and even prettier on a bike. Seeing the Rockies and the Tetons for the first time, riding through some of the most pristine Earth imaginable on the Sioux reservations in South Dakota, looking up at the stars in a unpolluted—almost cinematic—night sky at the feet of Washington Pass: these images are etched into my memory forever.”
