My first proper job was the trigger. I commuted by public transport and kept thinking I wanted to get home on my own legs.
Around that time Barcelona launched Bicing, the city's bike-share. I used it daily and felt the change fast, in body and mood. The catch was that Bicing only worked inside Barcelona, and I needed to leave the city: I was riding out to Sant Feliu and Sant Sadurní. So that same year I bought my first folding bike: a Dahon Curve SL. Bromptons had me hooked even then, but the price was out of reach.
The Curve was great with its 16-inch wheels, until it wasn't: the kilometres kept growing. Next came a Dahon Vector, a premium folder with larger wheels and racing lines. Faster to anywhere, still folded to stay with me.1
From there I jumped into mountain biking with a Trek 6300. I started exploring the hills around me and realised what I loved was hunting out singletrack, and technical descents above all. That's where the hardcore-MTB seed was planted: I kept chasing harder, more technical lines, so I went all-in on enduro with my first proper frame, a Santa Cruz Butcher. Then a long list: YT Capra, YT Tues, Liteville 601 Mk4, Pole Stamina 140. Built several gravels (Genesis CdF, On-One) and fatbikes (On-One Fatty). Tried 29+ with a Singular Rooster and a Surly Krampus, rigid steel enduro with a Last Fastforward, and dirt/pumptrack on a Pole Tomu, now a Saracen Amplitude. My current daily MTB is a titanium rigid Velouria Sober from a small Alicante builder.2
That many bikes only made sense because I learned to wrench. I do all my own maintenance and have built more than one from a bare frame. 14+ wheelsets hand-built by me. I'm self-taught, independent and curious by nature, and that's exactly why I love doing this stuff myself. I've got plenty wrong over the years, but that's how you learn: the mistakes are what give you the experience, and the satisfaction of not depending on anyone. So when I write here about a Muc-Off tubeless conversion or a Quad Lock mount on the G-Line, it's something I've actually done with my own hands.3
Back to folders. Bromptons always fascinated me, and a move into a smaller house forced me to shrink the bike collection. So I finally bought a C-Line. The moment I rode it I realised it should have been my first folder all along — the same thing thousands of Brompton owners will tell you.
Just a few weeks after I got the C-Line, Brompton announced the G-Line: larger wheels, the same legendary fold, ready for trails and rougher tarmac. That hit every box I care about: exploring paths without being limited by 16-inch wheels, real kilometres possible, and the most perfect fold ever shipped on a bicycle.
Folding Gravel is what I wish I'd found before buying any bike: someone independent who actually owns the bikes and rides them, tells you the good and the bad, and shoots his own photos instead of using catalogue shots.
Find me: Instagram · @gersteel
