Tanglefoot Hardtack DEMO Microshift SWORD 700c Build

All complete bikes are shipped via bikeflights with full insurance.  We'll box it, weigh it, and send you an invoice for the balance.  You'll pay 25 bucks for the box, plus the shipping.  We don't charge 80 bucks or whatever to put the bike in the box for you.  We do it well, and we do it for free.  

The 10 inch chef's knife of bikes.  The solid state Travnor of bikes.  You can dime it, but you'll never have to.  The Tanglefoot Hardtack leaves you will plenty of headroom.  You won't feel like you are riding at the limit of its capabilities unless you try to race the Tour de France with it or do a lift serv run.  

Here we have a nice Hardtack demo bike we built up for folks to ride.  It has maybe 20 miles on it.  Microshift dropped the excellent SWORD group last year, and we dig it for more affordable builds.  

Let me tell you a quick story about our builds vs other builds.  Today, August 2nd, in the year 2024, I had a gal come in for a bike fit.  She had a new carbon gravel bike.  Two weeks old.  It needed to be refit. New bars, stem, seatpost, bar tape, bar gel.  The tab for that, with me cutting her a break on labor, was gunna be 670 dollars or so, including the fit.  She had paid 2774 without pedals for the bike.  It was a major, well known brand, which is named after a bird.  

The bike had SRAM Apex parts on it, which are not evil, but it also had a seatpost that was not safe to ride hard on, really terrible bar tape, no bar gel, a riding position that no one was gunna like, and cheap wheels.  The cheap wheels is really the point of this digression.  And the SRAM brakes.  Serviceability is important if you are gunna have a bike for a number of years.  In 10 years you are not gunna easily fine replacement bits for your leaking hydraulic brakes.  In 2 years, when your no-name freehub blows up, you will not be able to find a replacement freehub.  You will be replacing the rear wheel.  Major, expensive parts of your bike are not made to last.  That's not good, especially if your bike frame can last 25-50 years.  

We use Bitex hubs laced with butted spokes to US made, super tough Velocity rims.  Bitex hubs are probably either the best hub on the market or the second best, depending on what metric you use.  Fast engagement, high quality bearings, strong axles, easy to find replacement parts.  We spec these same hubs on 5000 dollar bikes.  They're that good.  We only use mechanical disc brakes.  Why?  No seals to fail over time, no fluid to leak, no syringes involved in servicing, or gloves or safety goggles.  Mechanical disc brakes are more expensive to make than Hydro brakes, but they're field serviceable and you can easily fine tune their feel.  If you have an issue, any bike shop has spare cables and housing.  

We use Ritchey bars on most of our builds, including this one.  They're actually rated for off road use, which VERY few other dirt drop bars are.  

When you look at the price of this bike think about how long the frame will last, how you can service it for years to come, and get parts to do so.  Think about how tough the wheels are when you are sending it down some gnarly ass trail.  This is a bike that's tough.  There are plenty of cheaper bikes out there, and lighter ones.  There are very few that are as thought out and designed for long term use as the Hardtack.  

Medium frames for riders between 5'8" and 5'11.  PBH range 79-84cm.

SWORD brifters and rear derailleur.  SRAM SX crankset and SRAM dub bottom bracket.  TRP Spyre brakes with compressionless housing and mandrel polished shift and brake cables.  Aluminum machined ferrules.  Yeah.  That matters.  Microshift 11-48 cassette, the lighter one.  PYC fully nickel plated chain.  Never gunna see that on another bike in this price range.  Ritchey Beacon bars, with Spank gel under the BTP tape.  Readymade off road rated seatpost, with the only bolt orientation that makes sense.  WTB Pure saddle with Chromoly rails.  That's the good stuff.  Cliffhanger rims laced to Bitex hubs, butted spokes, good rim tape.  Discord Creemee aluminum stem.  Rollcii sealed bearing headset.  Rever rotors.  They make rotors for other folks, including Jagwire.  Panaracer Gravelking tires, 50mm.  Has tubes, can be tubeless for $30 more bucks.  Spank's excellent Oozy pedals.   Custom cerakoted King Ti cages in swamp green.

Regular price: $3671.  Because you don't get to pick anything out, and it has a few miles on it, it's 'on sale' for $3100