MEDUSA KANGAL
ULTIMATE BIKEPACKING RIG
To me, the design of the Kangal is something special. It has its roots in an idea for a frame that I had back in 2019, before I had ever even picked up a brazing torch. It was something that I had mulled over whilst pedalling my 26 inch wheel touring bike across the Anatolian Steppe and mountains of Central Asia. I dreamed of a bike with a more forgiving ride that would plough its way through the thick Turkish winter mud, and also soak up the seemingly endless sections of washboard road on the Pamir Highway. I had my minds eye set on something with chunkier tyres, and at that point, the trend of 'mid-fat' tyres looked to be in full-swing. 29 x 3.0 inch wheel/ tyre setups became the subject of my dreams as I lay in my tent at night, and from those days on, the seed of the fat-tryred beast of a trekking bike had been firmly planted. Fast forward to early 2026 and it came to be that the seed planted in 2019 had grown and mutated, and the result was the Medusa Kangal bike you see in the photos here. It was when I was trying to figure out what to build for the 2026 edition of the Bespoked UK show that I thought 'now is the time', and began putting together a design.
As mentioned, the huge tyres were a must, but I also wanted the the frame to support a drivetrain that I knew would be super reliable, offer a wide range of gear ratios, and be cheap to service, with a higher likelihood of replacement part availability. It is my firm opinion that bicycle drivetrain systems peaked at 8 speed, and everything since then has been a compromise in one way or another, so this bike absolutely had to run on a 3 x 8 drivetrain. An 8 speed chain and cassette will run forever, no matter what the chain-checker tool reads, and finding replacement parts in more remote parts of the world is much likelier, not to mention kinder on the wallet of the humble pedal-tramp. But, fitting a 3x8 setup around a tyre as wide as this, with boost rear hub spacing too, was one of the challenges the Kangal frame's design had to overcome. I did this by moving the lower section of the seat tube outboard 3mm to enable to front derailleur to operate properly with a boost chainline. This offsetting of the lower seat tube section was facilitated by raising the chainstays in the way I did here. This gives the chainstay positioning a dual-purpose, in that it also helps a lot with tyre/ mud clearance, naturally.
The name Kangal comes from the large breed of dog that can be found roaming the Anatolia Steppe. Often seemingly feral, these dogs left a mark in my psyche, and for a good proportion of the trip in 2019, it felt like we were very much living in their domain. Sometimes they sat with us, sometimes they chased us. They could be docile and curious one minute, ferocious and territorial the next. Whatever their temperament, these dogs were hardy, and to me, they embody not just the spirit of the Anatolian Steppe, but the wild lifestyle of long distance cycle tourist. The Pedal Tramp's best friend, but also a nemesis.
The fork of the Kangal is a semi-truss design, featuring low-rider rack mounts and an integrated front bag mounting strut, with a simple mount for a headlight. Since taking the pictures during photoshoot of the bike you see here, I have modified the fork and added some extra triple cage mounts for a bit more versatility. I took the Kangal on its first bikepacking trip in early summer 2026 and found that the capability of the bike would have been improved with triple cage mounts. I added them and took it out on another trip, finding that they were a great addition. It's been a particualrly hot summer here in the UK, so having the option to carry two 1.5L nalgene bottles via the new fork mounts is a lifesaver.
I design the Kangal frame with the lowest feasible bottom bracket, to promte as much stability as possible. However, how low I can actually go is very much dictated by the length of crank arm you decide to use. The frame you see photographed here has a huge BB drop of 120mm, but I can get away with this because I use a very short 150mm crank. I find that shorter cranks work well for me as I have a historic knee injury, they help to stave off knee pain. The low BB is an important part of the Kangal's design. I find its planted and stable ride characteristics to be very fatigue limiting on the body. The feeling or being sat 'in the bike' rather than 'on the bike' come into their own when on long and testing all-terrain rides.
The frame is built with twin top tubes for extra compliance. It rides nicely with its extra spring on rougher surfaces, lending itself well to longer days in the saddle over rough terrain, day after day. The idea was to make a frame that would be as fatigue limiting as possible, without the need for a suspension fork or rear shock.
The Kangal frame can be built to custom sizing, and other requests for custom specification will be considered. I can build the bike with a suspension corrected fork and thus adjust the geometry to suit.
