We sat down with Micha Rudolph to talk about his Trail Building Commuter, a project bike that recently won the Leaf Cycles Klunker Custom Challenge. As the forebears of modern day mountain bikes, Klunkers hold a special place in history and adding the utility of bringing your trail building tools to the spot presents an interesting bridge to the cargo bikes and micromobility solutions of the present day. We get to hear all the details of the bike and the tools, the trials and tribulations of the build and, of course, the emotional rollercoaster of finishing the project in time for the contest. Micha’s enthusiasm and passion for bikes, trail building and the community really comes through in our chat and it was great to catch-up on his recent move back home, his work at Schwalbe and how that may have changed his view on what makes a great skid!
Micha also put together a lovely document about the project with all the details and many more photos for you to have a closer look (in German) – download here.