Here we are in the rainy season, and I find myself staying dry after last year's move to "sunny California" when nobody warned me about the rain and king tide in Marin, but I have learned my lesson since. Earlier in the year, I had the opportunity to build my own custom Scarab, and as some of my builds tend to go, the theme evolved as the project progressed. I wanted a road bike out of necessity but also some practicality, so I opted for fender mounts and a third water bottle mount on the underside of the downtube because why not? The original thought was to build a modern rando all-road that can accommodate a 40mm gravel tire optimized for fenders and 32s.
The process with Scarab is pretty neat. You meet with a project manager and a designer to discuss the use case, your inspiration and what you'd like. They build a custom bike based on your body measurements and bike position data.
For paint, Scarab offers a 70-page paint brochure to provide inspiration as well as a design consultant to translate your ideas into life. For my design, I took inspiration from Dane, one of AC's mechanics who's got a sweet Mosaic MT-2 hardtail that's jet black and has pearl silver logos. I like how understated and classy his bike looks. I wanted to combine this with Scarab's Chiva design, which is, in turn, inspired by Chiva bus culture, the artisan rustic buses that are so popular in Colombia. Each is hand-painted and turns into a party bus at night. The paint was, therefore, "business up front and party in the back".
I've put several thousand miles on the bike with a few versions of the parts spec; I initially started the build with alloy components and later upgraded to carbon fiber. Switching to carbon components took some weight off the bike, making the already great ride feel even better. As I use the bike primarily for commuting the 30-mile round trip, I recently installed fenders for the rainy season here in California and think the bike looks just right.
The ride - the bike surprised me with how it "floats" at speed. The bike is pretty stiff because of how silky and smooth the ride is. I can feel the power transfer through the frame when I mash on the pedals, but not in a sluggish way. Looking at some of the tubes of the frame, you can see some thought went into the design and tube diameter to lighten the bike in some places and stiffen it to withstand abuse in others. It's not a carbon frame, so the weight's definitely there, but it's not overly done. This ain't your granddaddy's steel bike, though it does bring back those happy memories of ripping around and not having a care in the world. And if I really want to feel old school, I've got this bad boy built up to be able to run mechanical, so I'm thinking maybe Campagnolo's Super Record 12-speed mechanical disc brake groupset along with some Lightweight's in the future? Perhaps.
It's hard to think of cons or places the bike could be better; the only things that come to mind are the rear derailleur hanger that became bent beyond saving during my last trip (thanks Delta); luckily, it's an inexpensive and readily available part to replace. The other was the paint around the drop-outs that flaked off after moving the bike off and on the trainer, which was inevitable. The only other "problem" with the Apuna is the different models that Scarab offers. If I could get fender mounts on the Letras, the brand's lightweight climbing model that utilizes a mix of Italian and Japanese tubes from Columbus and Kaisei, I think this would be my ideal road bike. Then again, I wouldn't be able to use it on gravel; I guess that's where the N+1 model comes to show its face and my desire to build a rim brake, mechanical, lightweight climbing bike after my trip to Colombia, as the next bike to add to my collection.
For now, I find myself putting on my full rain gear and throwing a leg over my fender-ed Apuna doing exactly as the bike was intended for. Hopefully, the high tide doesn't flood the bike path on my way home.
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