Whoever has had a beloved bicycle stolen from them will know what anger and anguish it can cause. Woe betide those who perform the unspeakable act of bicycle theft, especially when the bicycle they steal is the custom Geekhouse Woodville tourer of John ‘Prolly’ Watson, author of the Necronomicog and one of the world’s most popular bike culture blogs, Prolly Is Not Probably.
This is the second incarnation of John’s treasured Woodville, built to order by Boston’s Geekhouse Bikes. In many ways, it’s a more evolved and simplified version of his first, which was tragically stolen shortly after an 850 mile tour from Portland to San Francisco in 2011. There’s no S&S couplers, triple-triangle frame layout and no fancy anodizing.
What’s left is a military strength, long distance #adventuremobile built, once again, to John’s personal specification with the experienced touch that only Marty Walsh and his Geekhouse team could contribute, like a custom fork, detachable low-rider pannier mounts and a custom stem with integrated cable routing (the cables for the SON delux dynamo hub cables also neatly route through the fork leg).
Bradford Smith, master of colors at the Geekhouse workshop, created a matte khaki scheme that started with powder coating the down tube logo black, a cleanup around it, a layer of khaki, including the stem and forks, a cleanup on the black logo, and a final matte clear coat to the entire ensemble. Those racks were also fabricated in-house and weigh less than a full Tubus system.
A lot of thought went into the component choice, emphasized by John’s ‘Hatchet Approved’ Made In America ethos: A SRAM XO rear mech is matched to a 11-36 cassette and a Chris King hub which, chained to a White Industries VBC crank set and a 50T outer ring / 32T inner, provides a wider range than a triple ring setup. The Paul brakes and post and Thomson collar are also US-made.
The Woodville sure is a beautiful thing, for those of us who appreciate the utilitarian, pared-back functionality of, say, a Series 2 Land Rover. But the real beauty will be the all-American adventures this bike will carry John Watson on. Thankfully, John being Prolly, we’ll all get to witness them. See more on his blog, Prolly Is Not Probably.